Beer or Bikini?
20 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment
Beer or Bikini… because you can’t choose both! Can you?!
It’s hot outside, so what do you do? Do you head to the local drinking hole to sit out on the patio, guzzle a few pints and get one of those wicked half body tans? OR do you suggest that everyone slip into a bathing suit, slap on some sunscreen and head to the beach? A lot of personal trainers will tell you that if you want to lose weight, your alcohol consumption needs to be nill. I am here to separate fact from fiction and let you know that you can have your beer, and drink it too!
Ahhh, the infamous beer belly… I mean, sounds pretty straight forward right? But consuming copious amounts of beer will not cause you to grow a gut… or even gain any weight at all! But before you go running out to the keg with your funnel… there is some truth to this myth.
The key to weight loss, gain, and maintenance is calories in vs calories burned in a day. This includes calories that we drink of course, which people sometimes fail to take into account. As long as you sacrifice equivalent calories from food that day, you won’t gain any weight by sipping on some brewskies. But I’m not telling everyone to go out and drink their faces off…
So if drinking beer will not make me gain weight, what’s with the beer belly you ask? Well the problem is not the beer, it’s the alcohol. When we drink alcohol a few things happen in our bodies that can contribute to a less than flattering bikini bod:
#1 Alcohol increases your appetite… calories in vs out remember… and for some reason you never seem to crave a salad when you’ve been drinking. You grab that bag of chips and before you realize it… there is an entire bag of cheetos in your belly.
#2 Alcohol goes to your liver and gets turned into an energy source for your body, which is then used as your body’s fuel for the next 24 hours instead of burning… you guessed it… fat.
#3 Alcohol slows the rate at which fat is burned and conveniently stores it for you instead. You may not gain weight but you could very likely be gaining fat (which are completely different things). Where does it decide to deposit this fat? Well, that all depends on where your body tends to store fat and for some people that happens to be the… belly.
#4 Alcohol temporarily supresses testosterone production which can inhibit muscle gain and slow weight loss (that is after the initial surge in testosterone release which has been linked to feelings of the super-human sort).
The lesson here is ditch the patios, pack your bathing suit, some fruit and veggies to nibble on, a bottle of red… and head to the beach… all things in moderation 
I know this is only my second post… I am just getting into the swing of things, the weekly posts will be here soon! Let me know about any tips you may have on developing a good balance of fitness and fun in the summer!
