Alcohol 🥃🍷🍹 has major effects on our fitness and health. Consuming too much can have lifelong effects. Even the casual drinker is at risk for major missteps.
Weight Gain: If you’re serious about losing weight, you need to stop drinking all together 🤷♂️ Alcohol is a calorie our bodies cant process or utilize for energy. Alcohol also kills good bacteria in our gut that is used to breakdown foods. Digestion slows down greatly while drinking, your previous meals get stuck without breaking down. All of this leads to great weight gain & could lead to heart disease and diabetes.
Dehydration: If you’re more than 2% dehydrated when starting a workout, your performance will be below par. Alcohol is a diuretic, causing you to lose excess water (not effective for muscle building/toning 💪🏼). Alcohol doesn’t absorb like normal fluids. It’s a toxin, that once consumed, your body starts to remove it. The liver wants to start neutralizing it right away, causing great effects on your metabolism. The liver has over 400 functions, including processing fats and proteins from digested food & burns fat. Alcohol consumption slows down this process.
Dehydration + Slow Metabolism = Not Cool Bro!
Recovery: Alcohol extends recovery time & effects sleep. 💤 Deep sleep is where the immune system gets rejuvenated & effects muscle synthesis, drinking will withhold these processes. Alcohol also impairs the bodies ability to repair injuries. Our body naturally releases white blood cells to an injury site to help heal, but if you’re a regular drinker this diminishes drastically & muscle repair slows down.
😮Not-So-Fun Facts😮
- Drinking to the point of getting drunk, sets you back 3 workouts
- Alcohol withdrawal can kill you
- Depression is a major side effect from drinking too much & coming down
- Drinking can cause sleep paralysis
A lot of people are social drinkers, it gives confidence & relaxes anxiety. Challenge yourself for some time to stop drinking & see how healthy decisions can give you the same effects. You have nothing to lose, but everything to gain.
Lee Gonzalez
