Alcohol and weight gain...Or weight loss?

One of the most difficult things to accept when on any bodybuilding or weight loss  program is the news about alcohol and weight gain. When  your personal trainer tells you that even one drink a week will slow down yuor weight loss, I bet your heart sinks. You may really want to have that beer with friends once in a while. Or a glass of wine after a hard working day.

You hear from fat loss experts that alcohol slows down your metabolism and sabotages your weight loss. The slower is your metabolism, the slower you burn fat. Sounds straighforward, doesn't it? 

This may be true, but just like with everything else in life, the answer is not black and white. 

What about that decades old research that shows that the French drink more wine than the North Americans, and remain one of the leanest  among developed nations?  

And now, what about this new beer research that shows that drinking beer not necessarily gets you beer belly?

Alcohol and weight gain: beer research

Finally, new  research has been released that proves that the people of Spain enjoy both their pint of beer without gaining weight. Moreover, they improve their heart health, and reduce the risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. No one in the test group of more than a thousand people over 57 y.o. experienced weight gain from alcohol in beer. Some people even lost weight.

So why did the British get an infamous  "beer belly" while Spaniards got all these health benefits? 

The answer is moderation, and healthy Mediterranian diet.

Those 1,249 men and women, subject of the research from Spain, drank on average two to three small glasses of beer consumed with healthy meals. 

There are only 200 calories in a pint of beer, and they come with vitamins, folic acid, and iron. 

 There are tons of calories in chicken wings, fish and chips, finger foods, dips, and pizzas that beer is consumed with in North America and Great Britain. And who really stops at one pint? These two factors, more than alcohol in beer, contribute to weight gain and beer belly.

So the answer is, if you are in for a long healthy weight loss program, allow yourself a drink of beer or wine once in a while. Don't feel guilty.  It's good for you and won't hinder your effort as much as you may have heard.

If you work on a super-lean physique with very low body fat, if you do this for a certain deadline, everything you do counts. Try to refrain from alcohol so that it doesn't hinder your weight loss. Those last several pounds are the hardest ones to lose. Stay away from bars and pubs.

Everyone else, enjoy your beer!