Why alcohol calories are more important than you think...

Successful weight loss is all about burning, more calories than you eat. When they go on a diet, many people choose low-calorie alcoholic drinks, mainly because they contain fewer alcohol calories than their regular counterparts.
However, drinking too much has a far more damaging effect than you can predict simply by looking at the number of alcohol calories in a drink. Not only does it reduce the number of fat calories you burn, alcohol can increase your appetite and lower your testosterone levels for up to 24 hours after you finish drinking.

Alcohol calories

According to conventional wisdom, the infamous "beer belly" is caused by excess alcohol calories being stored as fat. Yet, less than five percent of the alcohol calories you drink are turned into fat. Rather, the main effect of alcohol is to reduce the amount of fat your body burns for energy.
Some evidence for this comes from research carried in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Eight men were given two drinks of vodka and sugar-free lemonade separated by 30 minutes. Each drink contained just under 90 calories. Fat metabolism was measured before and after consumption of the drink. For several hours after drinking the vodka, whole body lipid oxidation (a measure of how much fat your body is burning) dropped by a massive 73%.
Rather than getting stored as fat, the main fate of alcohol is conversion into a substance called acetate. In fact, blood levels of acetate after drinking the vodka were 2.5 times higher than normal. And it appears this sharp rise in acetate puts the brakes on fat loss.

A car engine typically uses only one source of fuel. Your body, on the other hand, draws from a number of different energy sources, such as carbohydrate, fat, and protein. To a certain extent, the source of fuel your body uses is dictated by its availability.
In other words, your body tends to use whatever you feed it. Consequently, when acetate levels rise, your body simply burns more acetate, and less fat. In essence, acetate pushes fat to the back of the queue.

So, to summarize and review, here's what happens to fat metabolism after a few drinks.

•      A small portion of the alcohol is converted into fat.

•      Your liver then converts most of the alcohol into acetate.

•      The acetate is then released into your bloodstream, and replaces fat and sugar as a source of fuel.

The way your body responds to alcohol is very similar to the way it deals with excess carbohydrate. Although carbohydrate can be converted directly into fat, one of the main effects of overfeeding with carbohydrate is that it simply replaces fat as a source of energy. That's why any type of diet, whether it's high-fat, high-protein, or high-carbohydrate, can lead to a gain in weight.

Appetite

The combination of alcohol and a high-calorie meal is especially fattening, mainly because alcohol acts as a potent appetizer. A Canadian study shows that an aperitif (an alcoholic drink taken before a meal to increase the appetite) increased calorie intake to a greater extent than a carbohydrate-based drink.
Researchers from Denmark's Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University report similar results. When a group of men was given a meal and allowed to eat as much as they wanted, they ate more when the meal was served with beer or wine rather than a soft drink.
Not only does too much alcohol put the brakes on fat loss, it's also one of the most effective ways to slash your testosterone levels. Just a single bout of heavy drinking raises levels of the muscle-wasting hormone cortisol and increases the breakdown of testosterone for up to 24 hours. The damaging effects of alcohol on testosterone are made even worse when you exercise before drinking.

This doesn't mean you need to avoid alcohol completely.
A study published in the International Journal of Obesity, compared the effect of two different diets over a three-month period. Both diets contained 1500 calories daily, one with 150 calories from white wine and one with 150 calories from grape juice. Weight loss in the grape juice group and white wine group was 8.3 pounds and 10.4 pounds, respectively.

How many calories are there in my drink?

Alcohol itself has around 7 calories per gram. That is almost as much as fat (9 calories per gram), and nearly double that of protein and carbohydrate (4 calories per gram). That’s a lot of calories that you have to burn off before getting to the kebab you just consumed, not to mention the fat already around your middle!

Another big problem with alcohol is also that every drink weakens your resolve not to have another or that fat laden kebab!  
 
What is a standard drink?

A standard drink is any drink containing 10 grams of alcohol. One standard drink always contains the same amount of alcohol regardless of container size or alcohol type (ie beer, wine or spirit). This is important, because most of the time, when we have a drink it is more than 1 standard drink. For example, a stubbie of beer with 5% alcohol is actually 1.5 standard drinks. A standard drink of wine is 100ml. Does anyone ever pour only 100mls into their glass for those couple of vinos with dinner?!!

So, what's the bottom line?

Although an alcohol-rich meal does increase your metabolic rate, it also suppresses the number of fat calories your body burns for energy — far more so than meals rich in protein, carbohydrate or fat. While the odd drink now and again isn't going to hurt, the bottom line is that alcohol and the body perfect do not match.  (And if everyone suddenly achieved perfect bodies, we’d be out of a job!) Just be careful when drinking alcohol, everything in moderation. And always remember that each drink is probably 1.5 – 2+ standard drinks. However, the benefits from stress relief and relaxation are a good enough reason for me to enjoy a couple of icy cold beers after a hard day at the office!