So you’ve been exercising regularly, and following your Unislim plan to the letter to meet your weight loss goals. Everything is going great with your new changes but you notice the number on the scale isn’t moving much and your body isn’t changing shape as quickly as you’d hoped. There may be one more habit interfering with your weight loss efforts- alcohol. Perhaps you enjoy a glass of wine with dinner, have a couple of beers while watching the big game, or even cocktails on a Saturday night with friends. All common practices but they may be getting in the way of your weight loss efforts.

Alcoholic beverages have been enjoyed throughout recorded history. For some, a drink with dinner may be relaxing. Others may enjoy the inhibitions that alcohol can create to “let loose” with friends. Many people drink for the health benefits. After all, evidence shows that moderate drinking, especially red wine, may lower the risk of heart disease. No matter what your reasons are for drinking, alcohol can interfere with your weight loss goals.

Alcohol is a product of fermenting carbohydrates- both sugars and starches. This means it does provide calories. Specifically it provides 7 calories for every gram compared to 4 calories per gram of carbohydrates and protein, and 9 calories per gram of fat. Drinking 4 beers will supply about 600 calories or roughly 6 Units. To burn those Units, you would need to walk non-stop for 3 hours.Skipping the taxi ride and walking home may be a plan, but for most of us a 3 hour walk is a bit daunting even when we are in good shape.

Although wine contains fewer calories than beer, this can also lead to extra calories. Having a glass of wine provides 80- 100 calories or 1 Unit, but this is dependent on the glass size. A serving size of wine is 100ml. The larger wine glasses hold about 200ml, turning your one glass of wine into two glasses. To put this into perspective, drinking two glasses of wine each night with dinner will add an extra 200 calories (2 Units) each day. If these Units are not burned through exercise and daily activity it can lead to a 1½ stone weight gain in a year.

Besides adding calories, alcohol may affect your weight for other reasons. There is some evidence that suggests drinking alcoholic beverages may stimulate your appetite and cause you to eat more than you normally would. It also decreases your inhibitions so you don’t care how much more you are eating. How many times have you enjoyed crisps and dips or salted nuts with your cosmopolitans while out with friends? How many crisps did you eat?   Or how many handfuls of nuts?   We bet you weren’t counting!

Another factor to take into account is that your body processes alcohol first, before fat, protein, or carbohydrates which may slow down the burning of fat. There is also evidence that drinking too much seems to increase fat carried in the stomach area- otherwise known as the beer belly. Studies show that people with a higher amount of fat in the abdominal region are at a greater risk of heart disease.

Ok, this is looking dreary but it doesn’t mean you can never enjoy alcohol again. It just means that it is time to take stock to see how much you are drinking and pay attention to how many Units your favourite drinks supply. Learn how to enjoy alcohol in moderation so you don’t end up sabotaging your weight loss efforts.

Log onto drinkaware.ie for more safer drinking hints and tips.