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Following up on yesterday's offhand link to Martin Berkhan's Leangains site, today we have: The Truth about alcohol, fat loss, and muscleI don't drink much at all anymore, but I used to. And when I first took an active interest in my health and body composition, I wanted to know about the effects of alcohol on my diet and fat loss efforts. I ended up at leangains because of this article, and it's a great one - not just for what it has to say about alcohol, but for the way it lays the groundwork of explaining (and supporting) some basic metabolic principles that will be helpful for anyone looking to gain or lose mass, whether or not alcohol is involved. For example: Quote:Acetate in itself is an extremely poor precursor for fat synthesis. There's simply no metabolic pathway that can make fat out of alcohol with any meaningful efficiency. Studies on fat synthesis after substantial alcohol intakes are non-existent in humans, but Hellerstein(from quotation) estimated de novo lipogenesis after alcohol consumption to ~3%. Out of the 24 g alcohol consumed in this study, a measly 0.8 g fat was synthesized in the liver.
The effect of alcohol on fat storage is very similar to that of carbs: by suppressing fat oxidation, it enables dietary fats to be stored with ease. However, while conversion of carbs to fat may occur once glycogen stores are saturated, DNL via alcohol consumption seems less likely. That the article takes those concepts and explains how you can cheat your calorie budget if you want to drink till you boot, is just gravy. In a nutshell: alcohol is preferentially metabolized by the body. It doesn't end up as body fat, but because of the preferential metabolism, it's the other foods in your system when you drink that will. Dietary fat in particular. If you want to drink without counting calories - front-load your fat and (to a lesser extent) carbs on the day you want to go drinking. Protein is less of a problem, as the pathway for that to end up on your gut or thighs makes it more or less a non-issue. The whole article, and many of the links supporting his claims, are worth reading in their entirety. Cheers.
Diet Calendar Entry for 23 May 2012:
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2813 kcal
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Fat: 93.05g | Prot: 217.78g | Carb: 367.28g.
Breakfast: quest bar, strawberries, california stir fry, cocoa roast almonds, carlson fish oil, meijer lowfat cottage cheese, blueberries, tomato, monster rehab. Lunch: cocoa roast almonds, spinach, raspberries, peach, tomato, meijer organics vegetable medley, chicken breast, bumble bee salmon. Dinner: kraft twists, orange, campbell's chunky vegetable beef. Snacks/Other: dannon light & fit blueberry, quest bar, krema, fiber one chewy bar, meijer lowfat cottage cheese, dannon light & fit pineapple, dark chocolate dreams, QUEST BAR, cocoa roast almonds, apple, extra gum. more...
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 Comments
At this moment I am glad that I am allergic to alcohol when it comes to losing weight. Don't have to worry about the extra calories and the choice to drink or not to drink. One last thing to adjust and control....I have enough of those already between bread w/butter and now that summer is coming icecream!! yummmmmmmmmmm!!!!
23 May 12 by member: Rubie-sue
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Rubie-sue: I hope you make room in your calorie budget for a modest amount of ice cream now and then. And if you don't have a lot of room to spare with those calories, Ben & Jerry's has frozen yogurts that are lighter, but taste better than most other brands' regular versions.
23 May 12 by member: Nimm
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Good article, I read this one a while back. My problem with alcohol is what it generally leads to -- late night junk food :)
23 May 12 by member: Bkeller1023
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BKeller: The way I see it (or saw it, I guess) is that if late night junk food is the worst offense that gets committed after a night of drinking, it's a success.
23 May 12 by member: Nimm
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Whoo hoo! The booze-hound in me thanks you for the tips. And I don't know what you're talking about guys, I don't do anything bad/regretable when I overindulge :/ er....nevermind.
23 May 12 by member: JessWhatINeeded
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