How To Drink Alcohol While Building Muscle and Losing Fat

03 Dec

Posted by Caleb Lee as Fitness

by Caleb Lee

You most likely know by now that drinking beyond 1-2 drinks of alcohol (in any form) each day is NOT good for you. Here’s why:

* Body treats it like estrogen, which is your enemy

* Delays fat loss.

* Full of empty calories.

* Affects quality of sleep.

* Dehydrates you (main cause of hangovers)

* Surely bad for your liver.

My professional recommendation: Don’t drink at all if you want to achieve ultimate muscle gains and get lose as much fat as possible.

But let’s face it. This is the real world, and you probably like to drink as much as the next guy (the younger you are the more you probably like to drink). So here’s some tips to keep your muscle building and fat loss on progress when you choose to “indulge”:

Load up on Water

A lot of the bad stuff that comes from drinking can be curbed with water consumption. Alcohol dehydrates you, so drink lots of water before, during (if possible) and definitely before going to bed. Alcohol also helps your body eliminate the massive amount of toxins you just doused it with in the form of alcohol.

Avoid Sugary mixers

Stay away from sugary mixers in your hard alcohol. Eating sugar while drinking alcohol is about the worse thing you can do for fat gain.

Get rid of carbs

Don’t consume carbs before, during or after if you’re drinking alcohol. In short: The carbs get turned to fat much easier because your body is trying to process the alcohol. Plus Protein will stay with you longer so you won’t eat as much and the higher thermic rate makes it less likely to promote fat gain.

Follow the 1-2 drinks a day during weekdays

There’s already enough evidence to suggest that 1-3 drinks a day is good for you. If you like drinking a beer or two a day or glasses of wine of any kind, don’t worry about it. Try not to overdo EVERY night. If you’re going to binge

Drink hard only two times a week.

Such as Friday and and Saturday, or something like that. Here’s what to do: Don’t eat plenty during the day if you’re going to whoop it up that night. After that make sure you get some good protein into your system to help protect your stomach. In addition, some foods high in fiber like beans is good as well. It will remain with you and help you feel fuller, perhaps absorb some toxins-definitely help flush them out the next day when you “eliminate”.

Workout 2-3 hours before you get down

Because your muscles get depleted of glycogen after you workout doing this might make it easier for your body to turn even more of the empty calories you ingest later on that night into muscle, instead of fat.

Don’t stuff yourself as soon as you get drunk

Most people drink till they’re really drunk, then get hungry and decide to eat a bunch of crap food. This is NOT going to help. Follow the protein tip above, and drink more water to help you feel full.

Have fun playing beer pong or other games

As a matter of fact, you could actually burn 20-30 calories in a “Vigorous” game of beer pong. You’ll almost certainly drink more though as a result. My advice: Drink a lesser amount to make your aim better - therefore you drink less during the game (because you’re winning) which overall leads to less drinking! Play “strip” versions of these games for even more fun.

If you just want to get drunk, be disciplined

It’s NOT healthy (emotionally, mentally OR physically) to drink to “get drunk” but I realize this is why most people do it. They drink because they think it makes them more confident, more brave, or more well liked. That’s all bullsh*t, you really need to get your confidence issues handled, but I realize most people still do it.

So if you’re drinking for “effect” then remember: be efficient. Get a high alcohol spirit like Everclear or 151, cut it with ice and water, or do a couple shots, you’ll get drunk faster. And you won’t have to drink as much. (at least it’s better than drinking 36 beers right?)

I can’t believe I’m giving this advice, but I know people will still do it, so just be “efficient” about it and maybe it’ll help you not to go overboard next time.

Decide on beers and wines with minimal calories

Light beers are lowest. Dark stouts (like Guinness!) are next. Followed by the rest. Red wines are lower in calories (and contain more resveratrol), followed by the rest.

Hangover relief:

In the morning, you might be hungover here’s some tips:

* Keep away from NSAID’s such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and all that because blended with the alcohol it is extremely bad for your liver and stomach, and so on…

* Get some water and Gatorade to top up electrolytes, etc…

* Take multivitamins/multi-mineral supplements to replenish more…

* Eat eggs, bacon and the like. They are great sources of protein and it’s good for you!

* Exercise moderately to sweat some toxins out (make sure you keep drinking water)

* Get some shuteye…

You know you wouldn’t though if you do

Come to a decision to “over indulge” you should at least go by the guidelines I’ve set out here. The real issue you should tackle is:

“Why do I feel the need to drink too much?”

You’ll probably find out that it’s an issue with your self confidence not being able to say “no” to your peer group or trying to “Fit in” or some other such nonsense. Or you don’t like reality and you’re just trying to escape from it by getting trashed. None of these things are healthy and you need to get these issues handled before you do some damage.

About the Author:

Go to the author’s website for more on bodyweight squat, hindu squats and how to manage stress.

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