Does Alcohol Keep You Fat?

[make me believe]

For a couple years, when I was abusing alcohol, I was 105 lbs at almost 5'8"- you could see my ribs.

 

Now that I have my crap together, and I only drink on social occasions- I am back to almost 130lbs.

 

Why? When I was a drinker, I only drank, I really didn't eat anything.

 

If YOU LIKE TO PARTY, AND eat- you're going to get fat.

Alcohol is laden with calories.

 

If you have 3 square meals a day and then go on to party every night- you're going to get fatter.

 

Yeah, I used to have a coworker who drank a lot and she was really skinny because she hardly ate and she ran 5 miles a day most days to make up for the calories in the alcohol. I agree with you that basically it comes down to calories taken in being less than calories going out. I mean, you're obviously not going to gain any muscle by drinking a lot of alcohol, but if your overall calorie content is low enough, it's not going to make you overweight.

[Shakz]

While what you say is partially true (with regards to fats), low carbohydrate diets have been shown to be successful not because of the macronutrient breakdown, but primarily because of a generally lowered caloric intake. Carbs are not inherently bad. Timing of intake and the quantity of carbs is generally more important. Since carbs trigger the greatest insulin response of the three basic macronutrients (fat triggers no insulin response), they need to be taken in closer proximity to exercise in order to avoid being shuttled to storage (fat cells).

 

Food avoidance pretty misguided practice in general, with exceptions taken for medical conditions (of which obesity is one, I'll concede). Variety and moderation is a better way to go for overall health and performance. Protein intake can be modified depending on the needs of the individual (strength/power athletes vs. endurance athletes).

 

Correct. Timing, variety and moderation are words to eat by.

[Lauriebell82]

Alcoholic drinks dehydrate you. Also, depending on the drink it could be loaded with calories and carbs. And if you are sitting on a bar stool all night and passing out then that will all turn to fat.

 

I find that I retain water the next morning (like look "puffier") after a night of drinking. I have trouble working out the day after drinking (maybe because of the dehydration?) so usually it takes me two days to take off the water retention.

 

I drink rum and diet coke, it doesn't have the huge caloric intake or carbs in it. If I drink very sugary drinks like a Margarita then forget it!

[Not strong enough]

Yes.. alcohol makes you fat. it also makes your skin old and leathery.

and tobacco makes your skin green.. and yucky..

 

 

?????Every body builder i know drinks and smokes. I'm no body builder, but i drink smoke, and dip... Quiting the diping, but im not little green martian. I'm not old leathery or green. I've got a good complexion, my skins not dry or leathery, and im tan not green.

[USMCHokie]

?????Every body builder i know drinks and smokes. I'm no body builder, but i drink smoke, and dip... Quiting the diping, but im not little green martian. I'm not old leathery or green. I've got a good complexion, my skins not dry or leathery, and im tan not green.

 

Uh...really...? And these are serious bodybuilders...?

[Lauriebell82]

Uh...really...? And these are serious bodybuilders...?

 

Doubful. You have to be very healthy to be a bodybuilder. I would think that drinking and smoking would both have an effect on how much you would be able to lift.

 

My fiance is a bodybuilder and he drinks, but not a lot. He doesn't smoke. I believe that some bodybuilders may in fact smoke, but I would think they would not be able to get as good a work out as someone who doesn't.

[tman666]

?????Every body builder i know drinks and smokes. I'm no body builder, but i drink smoke, and dip... Quiting the diping, but im not little green martian. I'm not old leathery or green. I've got a good complexion, my skins not dry or leathery, and im tan not green.

 

Sound advice! You've got a good complexion, therefore, drinking and smoking must be OK!

 

Are these "bodybuilder" friends of yours actually competing?

[PrettyinInk]

Doubful. You have to be very healthy to be a bodybuilder.

 

this is not neceassarily true, i frequent bodybuilding.com and some of the bodybuilders on there freak me out with their diets. men who are six feet tall, nearly 200 lbs cutting to 1200-1300 cal a day, that just is not right.

diets of bodybuilders leave a lot to be desired. many people believe it is about calorie in-calorie out and you will lose weight, this is true, but it wont make you healthy.

 

again drink in moderation, if you are going to do it at all. if you don't like the results you get, give up drinking for a month and see if you get the results you like. simple as that.

[Not strong enough]

I wasn't saying its good for you, but its not the worst thing either. As far as if they are competing, one does statewide body building comps. One is not a body buildier really, hes does strong man comps here and there though, hes never been the guy to go for tone over strength. The one that really sticks in my mind doesnt compete but can run a mile in 6:30 without winding himself to badly, and smokes 2 packs of newports a day....

 

I'm not any of its a good thing, just saying most of the people in bad shape from it have other issues too.

[e.clipse]

I drink an ass tonne of scotch. I was looking into the calories the other day and one bottle of scotch has about 3600 calories. Jimminy christmas!

 

Anyway, onto your post. Fat cells never go away. Once you've got them, they're there for life. When you "lose weight" all you're doing is dehydrating the fat cells, but they're still ready and eager to get filled up again whenever you're bad.

 

The only way to get rid of fat cells properly is lipo, suck them out of you completely. I'd suggest that in addition to your cardio, you do some weights. Specifically squats / deadlifts. It'll increase your basal metabolic rate and make it easier to keep the fat cells under control without taking ginormous amounts of cardio.

 

this post just clinically depressed me.