Can I Drink Beer and

Lose Weight?

29 August, 2012 | www.leangainsguide.com

Can I Drink Beer and Still

Lose Weight?

Aug29

Can I Drink Beer and Still Lose Weight?

on August 29, 2012 at 1:59 pm

Drinking beer and losing weight aren’t traditional allies but does

beer really inhibit weight loss or is it another dieting legend

that’s been blown out of proportion?

At first glance, it seems that beer would be the worst possible

thing for a body. After all, you never hear someone refer to your

“frito-pie belly” or “doughnut belly”. The ubiquitous “beer belly”

description stands alone in a caloric expression that conjures up

an image of sole blame.

Beer Science

Let’s start with a video that delivers the beer science faqs in

a most humorous way.

Beer and music. That’s just good stuff.

Let’s further explore the science….

Beer is a toxin. A toxin is anything you ingest that has

a physically, harmful effect on your body. Our bodies get rid of

toxins through processes such as sweating and going #1 and #2.

The liver and kidneys have to process the toxins before they are

excreted. Hangovers are actually negative reactions to an

over-abundance of toxins ingested.

I’m not jumping off track so stay with me. Toxins are the link

between beer and fat.

1 unit of alcohol equals 10ml of ethanol so a can of Budweiser

has about 1.5 units of alcohol and your liver can process about

one unit of alcohol per hour. 

The good news is that alcohol has a theromogenic effect on the

body, which is the amount of energy (through the production of

heat) your body spends to use food and store it. The result is

a raise in your metabolic rate.

“Whoa!.. I can raise my metabolism by drinking beer?!”

How much beer do you drink? Even though the theromogenic

effect lowers the “true” number of calories in a gram of alcohol ,

your liver has plenty of toxins to turn away, releasing them into

your bloodstream where they do damage with any cells

they meet.

What is Fatty Liver?

When the liver is busy breaking down toxins for hours at a time,

it can’t effectively perform all it’s other jobs (of which there are

over 500!). This results in fatty substances sneaking in and

building up on the liver. ”Fatty liver” is the result of this buildup

and it’s stage 1 of liver disease ( stage 2 is liver fibrosis and the

final stage being cirrhosis).

Does Beer Turn to Fat?

There’s still much controversy surrounding beer being

fattening. What is known is that beer and alcohol do not turn to

fat. Alcohol is primarily turned into acetate, which is

metabolized. Acetate does inhibit lipolysis (fat burning), but like

eating a high-carb meal, this is only for that period while you’re

drinking and the alcohol is being processed.

I doubt it’s much of a surprise to read that you’re body is not in

“fat burning mode” while drinking beer.

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The Beer vs Weight Verdict

There’s no arguing that beer metabolizes more slowly than it is

absorbed. While alcohol doesn’t seem directly responsible in

turning to fat and getting stored as fat, the slow rate of

absorption into the blood means you’re likely to store both

exiting carbs and fat as fat!

If you’re looking to lean up for a body building contest, drinking

beer is obviously not going to work for you, but if you’re drinking

sensibly and just having the occasional beer, you CAN drink beer

and lose weight.

All things in moderation, right?

Here’s some other myths about beer you might find interesting:

Dark beer is heavy

Ale is stronger than lager

Beer makes you fat

Cold-filtering

Draught gets you drunk faster than bottled beer (or

vice versa)

Imported beer is better than domestic beer

Wine is more complex than beer

Ales are better than lagers

Canadian beer is stronger than American beer

Bottoms Up!

Lean Gains Guide was created for 2 reasons:

1) To create unique and useful diet tools while chronicling my fat

loss from 25% body fat to 6%. I started my journey on January 1,

2012 and am currently at 10%.

2) To inspire. I want to encourage a lean and muscular

“Hollywood Look”, while keeping the content engaging and

entertaining for the readers.

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