Why 2016 fat-loss goals will fail for alcohol users

The most popular New Year's resolution: Drop weight. The least successful New Year's Resolution: The same one. Drinking may have a role in the missed goals. (Watch the YouTube video or read the entire article. )

The body uses as fuel macronutrients stored from the things you eat. Macronutrients is the expensive way to say carbohydrates, fat and protein. Pure alcohol has none of those. The macronutrients in alcoholic beverages come from what carries the alcohol or the mixer used. For example, a shot of whiskey is 40 percent pure alcohol, the remaining 60 percent is water and colors/flavorings. Mix the shot with a glass of ginger ale, and you add more carbs with the sugars. These carbs do not get burned and no stored body fat is going to get burned until the body first gets rid of the toxin, alcohol.

Alcohol is the first fuel to get burned in other words. Fat burning is postponed for alcoholics and non-alcoholics alike because fat won't burn when there's alcohol in the body.

Pure alcohol also is calorie dense at seven calories per gram. Only fat is denser at 9 calories per gram. Alcohol's seven calories lack the macronutrients beneficial for a healthy metabolism, so even if a dieter swaps out food for alcohol, the alcohol calories aren't useful. In fact alcohol calories hasten fat storage since they don't benefit digestion.

Speaking of fat burning, men… listen up. Alcohol reduces testosterone. Sure, some of us alcoholics may act like caveman and all lumbersexual as if the alcohol tripled testosterone, but alcohol actually cuts it by a third. Testosterone is the body's anabolic hormone that contributes to lean muscle gain. Lower testosterone from alcohol use means less muscle, less muscle means a lower metabolic rate, and the metabolic rate dictates the body's potential to burn fat.

If you want to burn off fat pounds, your body is designed to do that, too, naturally. But it won't happen with alcohol. It's another reason why sobriety is a better thing to have than to lack.
Visit alcohologist.com for a replay of CBS Sports' Power Up Your Health featuring Scott Stevens.  Host Ed Forteau led a discussion on risky myths of about "healthy" drinking.  Lucy Pireel's "All That's Written" included a feature on Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud called "When alcohol doesn't work for you anymore."  Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud and the first for Adding Fire to the Fuel also can be found on www.alcohologist.com. Download the FREE Alcohology app in the Google PlayStore today. Stevens also is the public relations officer with AddictedMinds.com and works with TheAddictionsAcademy as well.