Health and Fitness: Alcohol Eats Away At Muscle Mass

Health and Fitness: Alcohol Eats Away At Muscle Mass: If increasing muscle mass is one of your goals, think twice before you go out for a night of heavy drinking. Consuming alcohol in large quan...

Alcohol Eats Away At Muscle Mass

If increasing muscle mass is one of your goals, think twice before you go out for a night of heavy drinking. Consuming alcohol in large quantities has a direct effect on your metabolism, causing fat to be stored instead of being utilized as an energy source. Alcohol contains seven “empty” calories per gram, meaning that these calories don’t provide you with any of the essential nutrients you need to build that muscle mass you desire.

12 ounces of beer = ~150 calories
5 ounces of wine = ~100 calories
1.5-ounces of distilled spirits = ~100 calories

Alcohol is a known depressant that suppresses the brain’s ability to function. The after-effects of a night of excessive drinking can be detrimental to your fitness goals. Alcohol is a diuretic that may result in dehydration. This dehydration is known to decrease physical performance, so that previous night of drinking will continue to affect you the following day.

Alcohol’s affect on sleep patterns results in increased fatigue and physical stress to the body.

 A study examining how alcohol affects caloric intake found that subjects who drank wine with their lunch consumed an additional 200 calories and did not compensate for those calories by cutting back at dinner.

When alcohol is consumed in moderation (no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men), it has been shown to have some positive effects:

Increased HDL cholesterol

Reduced stress levels

Reduced Insulin Resistance

In conclusion, if you want to increase muscle mass, decrease fat or improve general health, make sure alcohol is only consumed in moderation.