All You Need to Know About Alcohol and Weight Loss

One of the most common questions about weight loss is "Can I drink alcohol while losing weight?" Becoming more vigilant about what you are consuming is a key part of losing weight. That is true for what you are drinking as much as for what you are eating.

The calorie content of alcoholic beverages

In general, it can be really difficult to lose weight without removing alcohol from your diet or cutting back significantly. When you are losing weight, you need to take in fewer calories. Alcohol has 7 calories per gram, which can add up quickly.

Here is the calorie count of several different types of alcoholic beverages:¹

• A typical glass of beer has around 100 to 150 calories. Light lagers have the fewest calories, while darker beers, IPAs, and wheat ales have more calories.
• A typical glass of wine is 125 calories.
• A single 1.5-ounce serving of liquor has around 100 to 125 calories.
• Mixed drinks can have a lot of calories depending on which mixers are used. They can have several hundred calories per drink!

When you are losing weight, it can take a lot of effort to reduce calorie intake. Most people aim for reducing their intake by 300 to 500 calories per day. That means if you have even just one 125-calorie drink that you haven’t accounted for in your calorie count, your efforts are erased by 25 to 40 percent! You can see how doing that on a regular basis would reduce the pace at which you can lose weight.

Does alcohol fit in?

Losing weight is not just about hitting a specific calorie target. It’s about nourishing your body through the foods you get your calories from. If you have to eat less food overall, it is best to pick nutrient-rich foods that will nourish your body to make up your calories.

Beyond the calories that alcohol contributes, alcohol gives very little nutritional benefit. And that means that it should not be a substantial contributor to your calorie intake.¹

Here's an example

Let’s think through an example to illustrate. If your weight-loss calorie needs are 1,400 calories per day, let’s imagine what would happen to your diet if you tried to fit a couple of 200-calorie drinks into that 1,400 calories. That would mean your calorie intake from food would reduce from 1,400 calories to 1,000 calories.

A total of 1,000 calories' worth of food is not much. That is the equivalent of 2 small meals. Getting enough fiber and protein in your diet by eating just 1,000 calories per day becomes really hard. Most people do not have the nutritional knowledge or desire to make sure they get adequate fiber and protein from 1,000 calories.

Not getting enough fiber and protein has immediate and long-term effects. One immediately noticeable effect is that you will feel more hungry, and it will be harder to stick with a reduced-calorie diet. And if this diet pattern becomes a habit, eating less fiber and protein can lead to constipation and loss of muscle mass, respectively.^2,3

The bottom line

If you can avoid drinking alcohol while eating fewer calories to lose weight, that would be the most ideal choice for your health and weight loss. If you feel the need to have alcohol occasionally or socially, some good rules of thumb are:

• Stick to 1 to 2 drinks, at most.
• Drink only occasionally – once or twice per month.
• Avoid mixed drinks unless the mixer is a zero-calorie beverage.
• Do not count alcohol within your target calorie count for weight loss.
• It is better to lose weight more slowly and have a few more calories from alcohol than to deprive your body of important nutrients from other foods.

If you stick within these guidelines, you should find that your weight loss stays on track and that your health improves!