I am in business to help people lose body fat and become fitter- you know that. That’s why you are with us.
I love to help people reach their goals, but every now and then I develop little pet peeves.
Right now the one thing that drives me bananas, is when people come to me for help and declare their goals, but then defend their current actions. I am not here to attack or criticize anyone’s current diet/lifestyle choices. I am simply here to assist people with their fitness and fat loss goals. In order to do that, I have to- from time to time- point out how certain habits are unproductive for goals like fat loss and improved fitness.
Why?
Because what we put into our bodies and what we do (and don’t do) with our bodies has a big impact on how we look and feel. Bottom Line.
I hear a lot from people about how they drink “in moderation” and how they “don’t want to have to give up their favorite drink in order to lose weight”. I get it. I like a bit of red wine or a nice cold beer just as much as the next person but drinking can definitely interfere with your health and your progress.
Because I’ve been having a lot of conversations-again- lately about alcohol, patios, parties, summertime drinking etc. I’m wondering if people don’t really understand the consequences of drinking too much.
It is really simple- drink too much and you will not lose body fat.
But how much is too much?
The Center for Disease Control considers moderate alcohol consumption for women to be no more than 1 drink/day and for men 2 drinks or more/day.
For men, heavy drinking is typically defined as consuming an average of more than 2 drinks per day. For women, heavy drinking is typically defined as consuming an average of more than 1 drink per day.
What is binge drinking?
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
binge drinking is defined as a pattern of alcohol consumption that brings the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level to 0.08% or more. This pattern of drinking usually corresponds to 5 or more drinks on a single occasion for men or 4 or more drinks on a single occasion for women, generally within about 2 hours.
So what counts as a drink? Believe it or not it isn’t 16 ozs of beer or that generous glass of wine.
According to the CDC a standard drink in the United States ”is equal to 14.0 grams (0.6 ounces) of pure alcohol. Generally, this amount of pure alcohol is found in
- 12-ounces of beer.
- 8-ounces of malt liquor.
- 5-ounces of wine.
- 1.5-ounces or a “shot” of 80-proof distilled spirits or liquor (e.g., gin, rum, vodka, or whiskey).”
More than 5 oz of wine
So what will you do with this information?
Take new and better action, I hope. Translation: drink less or not at all if you are serious about fat loss.
The only reason I’m telling you this is so that you can consider the choices you make and the negative consequences they have on your progress.
In good health,
Megan K
PS If you are a current client and you are in the private facebook group(s) reach out to your fellow boot campers and plan activities that don’t surround alcohol. If you’re friends want to go to frequently go to Happy Hour you’ll need to recruit them for other activities or moderate yourself in order to expediate your progress.
