What Is the Effect of Alcohol on Your Fitness?

Just about everyone likes to come home and have a cold one after a hard day at work. Monday Night Football is a great time to tip a few. We all know that the effect of alcohol really depends on how much you drink. But, what if you are trying to transform your body, get in shape and lose some weight? What is the effect of alcohol on the results you will get with your fitness?

There are studies everywhere that show on a regular basis that people who drink moderately live longer than those who don't. Hey, that's great! Drinking must be healthy! Well, not so fast. Let's take a closer look at the effect of alcohol when we are working out to get in shape.

Alcohol is basically the byproducts of decaying or fermented plants. Just as the food industry has put chemicals in our foods, the alcohol industry has done the same thing. But when you get down to it, alcohol is alcohol. Whether it's pure or not, you are going to have many of the same attributes. Alcohol has about 7 calories per gram. So, a 12 oz. glass of beer is about 150 calories. It's slightly less for wine or a shot. The problem is that there is absolutely no nutritional value in these calories at all. And, let's face it, very few people go out on a Saturday night and have just one beer. The short answer is that if you are trying to transform your body, then alcohol should be avoided. This is not to say that you can't have a drink, but the effect of alcohol can show in your results.

If you currently drink, I am not saying that you have to stop. My suggestion is that if you do a 90 day workout program that you don't drink for that 90 days. If you aren't able to stop drinking for 90 days, the effect of alcohol may be stronger on you than you think. If you do stop drinking during this time you will see better results. However, if you just want to have a drink once in awhile, keep it to a minimum and the effect of alcohol on your fitness will be minimal as well. Enjoy your life and be a healthy drinker.

As I stated before, alcohol has calories and no nutrition. The whole idea when you are trying to get in shape is to change from high calorie/low nutrition foods to low calorie/high nutrition foods. The effect of alcohol on your body is going to be extra calories stored as fat. When you have two or three beers, you have added 300- 450 calories to your body and it will be stored as fat. This means that the effect of alcohol is that you will need to exercise a lot more to get the same results. Once again, if you really want to transform your body, it's best to stay away from alcohol while your working out. Then if you want to pick it up again when your finished with your program, go for it.

I'm not a doctor, or an expert on the effect of alcohol. However, I do know enough about the subject to give sound advice as a fitness coach. In my opinion, the effect of alcohol when you are getting fit is really dependent on how much you drink. Just like food. The best thing to do is to cut it completely out. If you do this, you won't have to worry about the effect of alcohol on your results at all.

Jim Nash is an Independent Beachbody Coach. He has been involved in health and fitness for over 20 years working in Physical Education, Recreation and Coaching people in fitness and nutrition. Join Jim in the quest to end the trend of obesity at http://www.fitnesspluscentral.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_A_Nash

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