Is Alcohol Ruining Your Fitness Efforts?

For many adults, alcohol is a part of life. Whether it’s a beer after work or a couple of shots on the weekend, drinking is a common way for people to relax. What you may not realize, however, is that it has drastic consequences for your fitness goals.

Dehydration

Proper hydration, during and after a workout, is extremely important if you want to see good results. Alcohol has a couple of ways in which it dehydrates the body. First, it acts as a diuretic. This means it tells your body to get rid of fluids much quicker than it would on its own. Second, drinking causes blood vessels to dilate. This causes you to sweat more than you normally would. Combining these factors make it nearly impossible to maintain proper water levels in the body, especially if you exercise.

Formation of Lactic Acid

Alcohol increases the production of lactic acid. This has a couple of consequences for you. You’re going to feel even sorer the next day. The aching feeling you get the day after working out is due to the lactic acid your body produces. Adding alcohol will only increase this effect. You’re energy levels will also be affected by the increased lactic acid production. This means your workouts will be less effective because you won’t be able to exercise with the intensity that you need to see results.

Weight Gain

Even small amounts of alcohol make it very difficult to lose weight, and very easy to gain it. Caloric intake is dramatically increased as each drink is roughly 100 calories, depending on what you drink. That means each drink is about as many calories as a chicken wing. Making matters worse, your body doesn’t burn fat while alcohol is in your system. Your body knows that alcohol is a poison, and it makes getting rid of it a priority. Unfortunately, to do this, it must deprioritize the elimination of fat and carbs.

Impaired Protein Synthesis

As you probably know, growing muscles happens during rest. The small tears your muscles are healed, making muscles stronger than they were. Alcohol interrupts your sleep cycle, which is the primary time that the healing process takes place. It also inhibits the formation of HGH and testosterone, which are essential for building muscles. It then encourages the production of cortisol, which breaks down muscles and increases the formation of fat.
As you can see, alcohol can really hinder the progress of your fitness journey. If you’re really serious about getting healthy and losing weight, you should consider eliminating or severely reducing your alcohol consumption.