So it’s summer and you want to enjoy the back porch, the lawn games, or floating down the river with an ice-cold beverage. BUT you are also working hard to lose weight. Here’s some things you should know about consuming alcohol and impacts on weight loss.

Alcohol is worth 7 calories per gram. This is almost as much as fat at 9 calories per gram and almost twice as many as carbs and protein, each at 4 calories per gram. It doesn’t matter what type of alcohol, however a beer has more than a shot of vodka or other spirit. Wine has different caloric values based on the type of wine. This is because the amount of alcohol and mixtures are different in each. Add a fruity, sugary, or creamy mixture and some drinks may contain a whole daily allowance in one glass!

The next thing we need to be aware of is that the body processes alcohol as poison. This means it takes priority for elimination AND it slows down all other digestion to make this happen. So food you ate just before, during or after your drinking episode gets stored as all extra calories do – fat. This process continues until you have processed through all the alcohol, which is about 1 drink / hour, depending on your liver function.

DON’T Skip a meal to make room for the alcohol calories…