And this will have a more significant impact on you gaining weight from alcohol rather than just the calories the alcohol contains. If you drink every day, or almost every day, you might notice that you catch colds, flu or other illnesses more frequently than people who don’t drink. That’s because alcohol can weaken your immune system, slow healing and make your body more susceptible to infection. With continued alcohol use, steatotic liver disease can lead to liver fibrosis.
- All of these can lead to long-term weight gain and contribute to the bloating and digestive issues that cause weight gain after a night of drinking.
- Although we need cortisol, it becomes unhealthy when cortisol levels are too high for too long.
- You might be concerned about your weight and whether your alcohol intake prevents you from losing weight.
- Alcohol can cause puffiness in the face and inflammation in the digestive tract.
What is light, moderate, and heavy drinking?
Weight is certainly not the only factor when it comes to health. Still, there are a few things you may want to know about alcohol intake and body composition if you think drinking may affect your weight. It can cause brain and liver damage, and it increases your risk of cancers as well as your risk of death from car crashes, injuries, homicides, and suicide.
Alcohol has A LOT of calories.
“So it seems like for those highly impulsive participants, reducing their alcohol intake really does benefit their weight loss over time,” she says. But if you’re able to make smart choices about your alcohol diet, exercise the rest of the time, and get a good night’s sleep, drinking alcohol won’t make you put on weight. This can cause you to feel tired and groggy the next day, leading to increases in stomach fat. If you’ve ever been even a little hungover, you know how challenging it is to exercise the next day. Lack of exercising can keep you from burning off those alcoholic calories and eat bad foods the night before.
- All condition, treatment and wellness content is medically reviewed by at least one medical professional ensuring the most accurate information possible.
- Spirits, when drunk neat, can be one of the better choices for alcoholic drinks for losing body weight.
- Some mixed drinks can contain as many calories as a meal, but without the nutrients.
- Even if you think you are “burning off” all the extra calories you drank last night by hopping on the treadmill for an hour or skipping out on dessert, it’s not quite as simple as that.
Mental health
Some even say drinking alcohol actually causes a decrease in weight. Moderate alcohol consumption shouldn’t cause any significant weight gain as long as you do everything else right. But if you aren’t able to eat right when drinking, it’ll does alcohol make u gain weight significantly affect how you accumulate fat. Alcohol can possibly trigger the Whoosh Effect if you’ve been dieting and exercising hard for a while. Your body will stubbornly hold onto some water weight until there’s an influx of calories.
So alcohol will change your body shape with increased body fat, weight gain, and abdominal fat. But keep in mind this is exponentially increased if you’re a heavy drinker, eat bad fattening foods, and aren’t exercising. Alcohol consumption can lead to weight gain and increases in belly fat (4). However, the most significant cause of weight gain in the stomach due to alcohol consumption is the empty calories your body has to burn off and then consume bad foods.
Does Alcohol Cause Weight Gain? It’s Complicated.
What You Eat During and After You Drink
Does Drinking Alcohol Make You Gain Belly Fat
- They also help fend off inflammation and support healthy metabolism.
- Generally, glands in your body release the right amount of hormones at an exact time, which send messages to your tissues.
- With beer, Quinn points out that the yeast in beer can be beneficial, while Macfarlane says the fermentation process creates some beneficial bacteria.
- If you are served a drink that is larger than the standard size, skip a second drink.
- Either way, they’re cutting out any added calories,” Macfarlane says.
- Some evidence suggests that heavy drinking may cause your adrenal glands not to regulate how much cortisol they secrete.
- What’s more, calories from alcohol are typically considered empty calories, since most alcoholic drinks do not provide substantial amounts of vitamins, minerals, or other nutrients.