How to booze like a champ and lose fat

[Crymson]

http://www.leangains.com/2010/07/truth-about-alcohol-fat-loss-and-muscle.html


Saw this on reddit. Awesome article disspelling some of the myths regarding alcohol consumption and fat gain/muscle loss.

At the end of the article, he lays out an awesome "Drink the night away" day diet.

[J-hop]

hahahaha awesome, not sure if I would want to go on their diet plan though. Interesting how they go through all that, and then tell you to limit your carb and dietary fat intake on days you will be drinking.

The whole article is trying to promote alcohol consumption by demonstrating "all the health benefits" of alcohol. But then admits you have to change your diet to accommodate alcohol. Also this "scientific study" doesn't seem to consider the fact that people going out to the pub and drinking regularly probably don't have time to fit in a decent work out and are subsequently losing(/not building) muscle mass and cheating themselves out of an excellent ways to lose fat.

I thought this line was especially hilarious.


By the way, a nice bonus after a night of drinking is that it effectively rids you of water retention

don't they mean, dehydrates the shit out of you???? which is great for your muscles by the way!!!

I duno man, I see articles like this and I just shake my head, I think i'll stick to my drinking on average 1 beer and 1 glass of wine every couple weeks instead of taking up "moderate" drinking to lose fat.

[Crymson]

It's not about "taking up drinking to lose fat"

it's about

"if you're going do drink, be wary of these issues, which may seem intuitive to the well informed but dogmatic adherence to not drinking alcohol can be mitigated by being wary of these metabolic truths"

[J-hop]

Originally posted by Crymson
It's not about "taking up drinking to lose fat"

it's about

"if you're going do drink, be wary of these issues, which may seem intuitive to the well informed but dogmatic adherence to not drinking alcohol can be mitigated by being wary of these metabolic truths"

Yea I get that, but it also makes the claim that alcohol drinkers are on average "less fat" than non-alcohol drinkers, so it IS in a way trying to show that drinking alcohol can be better for fat loss then say just drinking water for the night.


edit: he also tries to make this claim


It can almost be said beyond doubt that moderate alcohol consumption is healthier than complete abstinence.

[J-hop]

here is a quick article taking the opposing side and looks at the effects of just two drinks on your fat loss


http://www.delmillers.com/Alcohol.htm


of special note is the reduction in metabolism caused by alcohol. Google liver with keywords like alcohol, acetate, metabolism etc and you can see the effects alcohol has on your metabolism and subsequently fat burning

The writer of that thread although seems to has good intentions overlooks many key aspects. He DOES acknowledge that the liver readily converts the alcohol to acetate and very minimal amounts actually gets converted to fat. But what he fails to acknowledge is that the liver metabolizes alcohol more readily than anything else and therefore while ingesting alcohol your fat burning is slowed to a halt.

so basically on the fat end of things the guy that wrote your article thinks:

alcohol not converted to fat = no fat gain

however, from what i've read the truth is actually:

alcohol= halting of metabolism= fat gain

[spike98]

The whole debate is fucking stupid anyways. Who cares about the effects of alcohol on your body/metabolism?!

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle (diet and excersise) is done to increase the quality of life right?

The quality of life of a person is effected by mental factors as well, not just physical. If you are miserable because your diet restricts you from doing things you enjoy (in this case, having beers with the boys) then how good is your quality of life really.

A good quality of life is about a harmonic balance between many aspects. What works for one person often doesn't work for another.

I have a healthy clean diet, excersise regularly (gym and activities) and drink what ever the fuck i want. Usually it is only one night a week but if i have a chance to enjoy a meal with the lady or a friend with a few drinks, i do, without hesitation. Im do not have a model physique but i am slim, on weight and look decent in the mirror. So i am happy, and it works fantastic for me.

[J-hop]

Originally posted by spike98
The whole debate is fucking stupid anyways. Who cares about the effects of alcohol on your body/metabolism?!

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle (diet and excersise) is done to increase the quality of life right?

The quality of life of a person is effected by mental factors as well, not just physical. If you are miserable because your diet restricts you from doing things you enjoy (in this case, having beers with the boys) then how good is your quality of life really.

A good quality of life is about a harmonic balance between many aspects. What works for one person often doesn't work for another.

I have a healthy clean diet, excersise regularly (gym and activities) and drink what ever the fuck i want. Usually it is only one night a week but if i have a chance to enjoy a meal with the lady or a friend with a few drinks, i do, without hesitation. Im do not have a model physique but i am slim, on weight and look decent in the mirror. So i am happy, and it works fantastic for me.


great points. I was merely discussing the myth of being able to "booze like a champ and lose fat". A balanced lifestyle IS the best way to lose fat and stay healthy.

edit: drinking as a social practice or with a meal etc is great, but trying to claim (as the article does) that moderate drinking promotes a healthy body is not...

[spike98]

Originally posted by J-hop



great points. I was merely discussing the myth of being able to "booze like a champ and lose fat". A balanced lifestyle IS the best way to lose fat and stay healthy.

And i can also see your point as well. If you binge drinking all the time then you toss out that balance and will have a gut from hell! I know many guys like this haha

Also, "boozing like a champ" to this guy is less then 10 beers. If you run around these parts toting that title you best be drinking 10 cold ones before you even leave the house haha.

[Unknown303]

But J-Hop also only points out a couple points from the original post. If you read the whole thing and take the whole article in it makes perfect sense. He's not talking about using alcohol as a weight loss device but that if you plan to drink you can take these steps that day to reduce the impact that it will have.

The original article argued both sides to some degree but I understand he did more or less side with the alcohol consuming side.

The very last paragraph of his article sums it up.

Apply this with good judgement and don't go out and do something stupid now. Remember, this a short-term strategy for those that want to be able to drink freely* without significantly impacting fat loss progress or causing unwanted fat gain. It's not something I encourage people to do on a daily basis, but it's one of the strategies that I apply for maintaining low body fat for myself and my clients.

[J-hop]

good points, however he does base his information (IMO) on false interpretations of the effects of alcohol on fat gain/loss by acknowledging things that side with his point while ignoring glaring points that go against his theory, and throughout posts contradictory information to what i've found (ie he claims drinking causes you to eat less, when studies have shown that alcohol actually increases your appetite due to, among other things, its effects on blood sugar and dehydration)

I read the whole article, looked over his meal plan and honestly I wouldn't trust it as far as I could throw it. As part of losing fat I've cut my alcohol intake down to a couple drinks ever 2 weeks or so, sometimes even less (in the last month I have only had about 2 glasses of alcoholic beverages - on christmas eve). Of course this isn't for everyone but I feel like this article is attempting to give people the false sense that they can lose/keep off weight while maintaining a moderate level of alcohol intake when in fact it is likely hindering your ability to lose/keep off fat.

I just don't see why a "health specialist" would be promoting ways of decreasing your intake of healthy food so that you can go out drinking.

If anything I think maintaining a healthy diet on drinking days would do you better for keeping off the pounds from drinking. You want to keep your metabolism up, get all the healthy fats and carbs from nutrient full foods and then add on garbage such as alcohol when you want. Rather than decreasing what you are eating during the days you go out drinking, which would contain other nutrients your body needs to perform best - ie it would be stupid to think that you could decrease your carb and fat intake during a day and it not have an effect on the intake of vital nutrients

[Unknown303]

Originally posted by J-hop
good points, however he does base his information (IMO) on false interpretations of the effects of alcohol on fat gain/loss by acknowledging things that side with his point while ignoring glaring points that go against his theory, and throughout posts contradictory information to what i've found (ie he claims drinking causes you to eat less, when studies have shown that alcohol actually increases your appetite due to, among other things, its effects on blood sugar and dehydration)

I read the whole article, looked over his meal plan and honestly I wouldn't trust it as far as I could throw it. As part of losing fat I've cut my alcohol intake down to a couple drinks ever 2 weeks or so, sometimes even less (in the last month I have only had about 2 glasses of alcoholic beverages - on christmas eve). Of course this isn't for everyone but I feel like this article is attempting to give people the false sense that they can lose/keep off weight while maintaining a moderate level of alcohol intake when in fact it is likely hindering your ability to lose/keep off fat.

I just don't see why a "health specialist" would be promoting ways of decreasing your intake of healthy food so that you can go out drinking.

If anything I think maintaining a healthy diet on drinking days would do you better for keeping off the pounds from drinking. You want to keep your metabolism up, get all the healthy fats and carbs from nutrient full foods and then add on garbage such as alcohol when you want. Rather than decreasing what you are eating during the days you go out drinking, which would contain other nutrients your body needs to perform best - ie it would be stupid to think that you could decrease your carb and fat intake during a day and it not have an effect on the intake of vital nutrients

I don't think it's about making the day as healthy as possible, more of a setting your body up for a night out without effecting your normal days workout/diet plans. From what I can tell he's limiting anything that combined with alcohol would be worse for you.

I'd have to read it a few more times to really provide a decent argument for it. Maybe one day here I will.