Someone asked me whether or not I drink, and I replied, “I enjoy it, and I used to, but now it just impedes on my goals, so I don’t currently.” I gave them a brief explanation, and they didn’t really pay attention. That’s okay, though, as they don’t have the same goals as I do, or as you may have. There’s a running theme on this blog, and that is, if you’re trying to lose weight and / or build muscle, you should pay attention to this post– To the perils of drinking. Now, it’s worth noting that this is more important for those interested in muscle mass, but there’s information here for everyone.
Most importantly, alcohol halts the production of testosterone, and instead, promotes the flow of estrogen. If you don’t know this already, it is impossible to build lean body mass without testosterone– The reason why men are naturally more muscular is because we naturally have more testosterone flowing through us, and it’s easier for us to keep those levels high– Those levels will plummet though, if you drink excessively, or on workout days.
Not interested in building mass? Well, maybe you’re interested in developing muscle definition, or muscular endurance (Which is similar to cardiovascular endurance)? It’s going to be rather difficult to build up your muscles in any way, whether it be for mass, strength, or endurance, when your body can’t synthesize protein. What does that mean? Protein synthesis is when your body takes all of the amino acids floating around in your body, and turns them into complete chains of protein, which are used to repair your muscles. Alcohol consumption slows this process by as much as 20%.
Do you only care about losing weight? Well, alcohol disrupts the TCA cycle (A.k.a. Citric Acid Cycle, Krebs Cycle, etc.), which is your body’s natural energy burning mechanism. (A very, very long post about this will come some day.)
Another slightly indirect effect is that of your body’s natural growth hormones (nHGH), which are at their highest levels early in your sleep cycle. While alcohol does not directly affect your nHGH, it does effect your body’s sleep cycle, which can lead to the disruption of the secretion of nHGH.
Do you know what an “empty” calorie is? It is one with no nutritional value. While beer and wine may have carbs, distilled spirits do not, so they add calories, but no carbs, fat, or protein to your day. This will cause your macro-nutrient ratios to be off if you’re staying within your caloric goals, and will leave you lacking nutrients.
On top of all of this, alcohol drains your body of vitamins, minerals, and severely dehydrates you, which will leave your body lacking the nutrients it needs and not feeling as it should. Keep in mind, as well, that your body does not recover in a day. If you think that alcohol’s effect on protein synthesis won’t matter because you worked out yesterday, remember this: It takes almost a week for a muscle to fully recover from an intense workout, and in that time, it is still repairing itself.
And one last bit of information. . . Your body treats alcoholic calories with preference, which means, if you consume any carbs at all while you’re drinking, they are immediately stored as fat because they can’t be burned up until all of the alcohol you’ve consumed has been metabolized.
Now, I’m not telling you to stop drinking. . . Just consider how much you’re drinking (As some of these effects only occur with excessive consumption), how your body reacts, how you feel, and what your goals are. There’s evidence to suggest that a single glass of wine will have no effect on Testosterone levels (And may be healthy for you), yet, I refuse to drink at all because I am so focused on my goals.
(It’s worth noting that, there are many other effects that drinking has on your overall health and goals, but these are the major issues.)