Does Alcohol Make You Gain Weight?

Welcome to My DoFollow Blog! As a Big Thank You, I'd Like to Give You FREE Access to my "19 Tips to Build Muscle & Gain Weight" Report That Gives You The Key Ingredients For Success in YOUR all your workouts! ~ Marc David; CPT

A common question I get from my friends who drink is “does alcohol make you gain weight?”  They are probably referring the common imagery of the classic beer belly.

It’s long been a myth that alcohol alone can make you gain weight.  Unless the drink includes eating food or the drink itself contains more than hard liquor (sugar, wheat, hops, etc), you won’t really gain weight from drinking alone.  You may get a host of other problems however.

Alcohol itself contains about 7 calories per gram.  And while it is sometimes classified as a carbohydrate, the energy derived and it’s potential to be stored is not the same as a carbohydrate food source.  Once you start drinking, the body will use alcohol as a primary fuel source.  It can and will store anything else potentially as fat until the alcohol is out of your system.

So if alcohol doesn’t necessarily make you gain weight, what about drinking might?

If you drink and eat, the alcohol will be used as fuel and the food stored.  So any potential weight gain is coming from the food energy that is not being used and gets stored.  It’s why there are many skinny alcoholics!

Alcohol may only have 7 calories per gram but the other stuff in the drink can add to that:

sugarbarleywheathopsand many other carbohydrate sources that contain calories that will be stored!

Pure Alcohol is a silent partner in the potential to gain weight.

Let’s make up a story and say that some person can start drinking in the morning and sustain themselves all day and into the night  This is how you might have a skinny alcoholic.  They will get energy from the alcohol and barely store any of it.  They will be malnourished and again, a slew of other issues but the alcohol itself is not normally the culprit when it comes to excessive weight gain from drinking.

This is a really good reason why some people can drink alcohol and not get fat.

While it’s technically possible to gain weight from drinking alcohol, you’d need so many drinks you’d probably die first (and I’m sure people do).  Eating while drinking which is extra energy (calories) they do not need and can be stored (into fat cells).

It’s important to keep in mind that when discussing the possibility of weight gain coming from an alcohol beverage, pure alcohol has the least potential to be stored as fat.

Please see this post for a more detailed look at alcohol and bodybuilding.

Be Fit, Stay Strong!

Marc David – CPT

View the original article here