It is not easy to correlate alcohol intake with weight gain, meaning that alcohol itself most likely will not be the cause for significant weight gain, but it certainly does not help matters and here is why it may affect your weight goals. Alcohol is full of empty calories and some alcoholic drinks are full of sugar.  If you have one drink a week then clearly alcohol is not a main factor in your weight gain or weight loss, but if you have a few drinks at a time, a couple days a week then alcohol may be a big factor with your weight.  The average sized beer is about twelve ounces and has about 130 calories, and a glass of wine has about 120 calories but a drink like Mikes Hard Lemonade has about 220 calories.  One drink a few nights a week will not add that many calories to your daily intake but if you have 2 or 3 a night, it quickly adds up.

Not only do the calories from the drink you consume add up, but usually after a few drinks your judgment becomes impaired and it lowers your inhibition.  You start to feel hungry or see snacks lying around and feel like you can eat anything.  Add to the fact that alcohol inhibits leptin which is the hormone that promotes the feeling of fullness and you could be snacking for hours and not even realizing it.  I can tell you that anytime I’ve been with friends having a few drinks, I get really hungry.  It is why all the diners are full after the bars close.  People have been drinking all night; they feel hungry and want to sober up a little bit so let’s go eat some greasy food.

Alcohol, in moderation, has been reported to  have protective effects on your arteries and your health but if you over do it you will most likely see your jean size increase! If you don’t have the will power to just have one or two drinks a week (which I so do not), then remove alcohol from your daily calorie intake and it will really help you in your goal for quick weight loss.