You Are Also What You Drink

So far, the bulk of this guide has looked at exactly what foods should and shouldn’t be entering your body.

As the title of this next chapter might have indicated, we’re now going to look at fluids.

To start with, we’re going to look at water (or other viable alternatives) and just why you need plenty of it to facilitate your fitness goals.

However, the bulk of the chapter will focus on alcohol. Even if you have a completely perfect diet and exercise regime, alcohol can really impact your results. This guide will highlight how, and exactly what you can do to minimize the risks when you do opt for that big night out.

Hydration isn’t a myth

Let’s start with a brief overview of water, and exactly why you need plenty of it if you are to succeed with your fitness journey. It’s something that you’ve probably read time and time again but in short, this is for good reason.

When you drink plenty of fluids, your energy levels increase. Not only this, but your metabolism will be working much faster which is the ultimate aim for weight loss.

You should be looking to drink as many as ten cups of fluid a day and preferably, sticking to water. One of the biggest errors you can make is turn to sodas, or any other sugary drinks.

Even if they are marketed as being calorie free, you will again be providing your body with sweeteners and other non-natural components which are just not going to do any favors for your weight loss journey at all.

If you are desperately against water, try and get used to it or turn to the likes of herbal teas without the sugar.

What is the problem with alcohol?

If you searched hard enough, you could probably find dissertation-length articles on the perils of alcohol. We’ll try and keep this section of the chapter as top-line as possible, just so that it gives you an indication on why you should exercise immense caution with this fluid and how it affects your fitness goals.

Every time you turn to alcohol, about a quarter of it will head to your bloodstream straight away. The remaining three-quarters will go to your small intestine, before then making its way towards your bloodstream.

The message we’re trying to give here is that it takes an awful long time for alcohol to exit your body, and this means that the effects can remain prevalent for a significant period of time.

What sort of effects are we talking about? Let’s run through some of the most common here.

There’s a spike in insulin production

Something that has, or most certainly will, become apparent is the importance of insulin production. When our insulin levels are higher, we also store more fat. Alcohol is known to cause a spike in these levels and the rest, as they say, should be history.

Your hormone regulation goes out of the window

Something else that has proven to be a common pattern are hormones and the effect they have on your body. When they are unregulated, so is your “weight loss”.

Alcohol causes so many problems with your hormones that we’re not going to get into the minor details, but suffice to say the vast majority aren’t good.

You will become dehydrated

We all know about the perils of dehydration, and this is one of the most obvious repercussions of drinking alcohol. It will dehydrate you to record levels, and make your body lose a large amount of fluid which again impacts the overall way it’s going to function until it is fully recovered.

It will be used as a primary energy source

This is probably one of the least well-known causes of alcohol, but it’s one that you should most definitely be aware of. In short, as soon as you drink alcohol, your body will be trying everything in its power to remove it from your body (it’s a toxin, after all).

Because of this, it will be the primary fuel source as it remains in your system. This means that carbohydrates start to become stored as fat and suffice to say, this is exactly what we don’t want to happen.

Your sleep patterns are affected

You might not be aware of it whilst you are in the land of nod, but alcohol affects your sleep patterns more than you’d ever imagine.

You are less likely to fall into that deep sleep stage, which serves your body so well in the depths of the night, and this means that you are not going to be fully rested and your body (including your muscles) is not going to recover sufficiently.

Even though you might fall asleep quickly, this is completely unrelated to the quality of your sleep which is actually exceptionally poor.

You won’t receive any nutrients from alcohol

Ever heard of empty calories? Well, alcohol is full of them. It might contain a lot of calories depending on your drink of choice (more on this later), but in terms of nutrients you’re getting absolutely nothing from it.

You’ll make dismal food choices

This is something that some of you might get away with, but what tends to happen after a big, alcohol-ridden night is that your decision-making goes out of the window.

You’ll think nothing of stopping in the kebab store to grab that greasy food and ultimately, make a mockery of your progress so far. It just adds to your total calories and really impacts your overall fitness journey.

Is it possible to drink alcohol and succeed with fitness goals?

In an ideal world, none of us would ever feel the need to consume alcohol. As we’ve specified numerous times through the guide, this is something that we don’t live in though.

There will be times where you need to turn to alcohol; whether it’s after a stressful day of work, or for the big party at the weekend.

This has to be accepted; even though it’s not healthy for you. Instead of being so hard on yourself, understand that you do all sorts of other things that aren’t healthy though; whether it’s limiting the amount of sleep that your body receives, or spending too much time in the sun.

As such, if you do decide to drink at least think a little sensibly about it. It’s not going to do you any good, but at the same time one night isn’t going to completely ruin your progress either.

To help you along your way on those nights, or days, when a drink is on the menu try and abide by our following golden rules.

Avoid mixers which are awash with sugar

One of the big problems for a lot of people is the mixers which accompany their beverage. Many of these mixers are absolutely awash with sugar, meaning that the negative effects of the whole evening are just multiplied.

To put some numbers into the equation, a Long Island Ice Tea will push over 700 calories into your body. If you can at least consume your drinks with ice or water, you’ll go a long way into benefiting your health.

The alternating tactic

It might be hard for some of you to do, particularly if you are aiming to get as drunk as possible in the evening, but alternating between alcohol and a non-alcoholic beverage can also be a recipe for “more” success.

If your “other” drink is water it’s even better, but the aim here is to limit the alcohol that’s entering your body whilst also retaining a degree of hydration.

Guzzle water like there’s no tomorrow before bedtime

If you can stop drinking water an hour before sleeping, and also guzzle as much water as possible during this period, you will be amazed at the results as well.

This won’t cure the sorehead in the morning, but as your body will be severely dehydrated anyway it will make a monumental difference to you.

What are the best drinks to have?

Even though a beer might contain less alcohol, it’s generally recommended to not turn to such a beverage if your aim for the night is intoxication.

This is because you’ll end up drinking more beers, and therefore consuming more carbohydrates and calories, than you would if you turned to a spirit or glass of wine which provides the “buzz” at a much faster rate.

It’s for the above reason that there are good drinks and bad ones. Red wine falls into the former category, specifically because it usually contains fewer than 6g of carbs and less than 130 calories. It also contains a lot of nutrients; far more than white wine we should add.

Other drinks of choice come in the form of whisky and vodka (yes, you read that right), both of which have very few calories (less than 70) and barely any carbohydrates.

Now, let’s turn to some of the bad drinks. As we’ve already said, beer most certainly falls into this category and you can expect to consume around 150 calories and as many as 15g of carbohydrates.

We’re also going to leave a placeholder for Red Bull. While it might give you wings, as per the marketing slogan, mixing it with alcohol is a recipe for disaster. It’s full of caffeine, meaning that it goes against the slow effects of alcohol, and the result is that your body doesn’t have a clue what to do.

Bearing this in mind, on the days that you do decide to drink, at least try and follow these rules and stick to the so-called “better” drinks to give your body a little break.