How many ml of gin/vodka a day won't make you fat?

[omega3]

Wasn't able to find a clear answer online but maybe others have researched this better. Basically, how many ml of gin/vodka (40%) can you drink per day that won't make you more fat. Not sure if i believe the science that says moderate alcohol consumption can even lead to weight loss.

 

[hightree]

Not much science needed for this. One shot (45 mL) of vodka has about 100 Calories. These calories have the same effect as calories from fat or sugar or whatever.

 

[cbrunny]

alcohol is far worse than other foods because of the effects it has on your body. as one example, http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/md19.htm

• 
  05/03/2003 - The main problem with alcohol is not the number of calories it contains but rather the effect is has on fat metabolism. A recent study, for example, has shown that even small amounts of alcohol have a large impact on fat metabolism.

Effects Of Alcohol On Fat Metabolism

In this study, eight men were given two drinks of vodka and lemonade separated by 30 minutes. Each drink contained just under 90 calories. Fat metabolism was measured before and after consumption of the drink.

For several hours after drinking the vodka, whole body lipid oxidation (a measure of how much fat your body is burning) dropped by 73%.

The reason why alcohol has this dramatic effect on fat metabolism has to do with the way alcohol is handled in the body. When alcohol is consumed, it readily passes from the stomach and intestines into the blood and goes to the liver. In the liver, an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase mediates the conversion of alcohol to acetaldehyde.

Acetaldehyde is rapidly converted to acetate by other enzymes. So rather than getting stored as fat, the main fate of alcohol is conversion into acetate, the amount of acetate formed is dose dependant on the amount of alcohol consumed. For example, blood levels of acetate after drinking the vodka were 2.5 times higher than normal. And it appears this sharp rise in acetate puts the brakes on fat loss.

The type of fuel your body uses is dictated to some extent by availability. This is one of the reasons for the induction phase of the Metabolic Diet. By severely limiting your carb intake your body is forced to rev up its fat-burning machinery, so you become fat adapted, and increase the use of protein for some of the functions, such as anaplerosis, that carbs are usually heavily involved in.

In other words, your body tends to use whatever you feed it, and after a time becomes adapted to the macro nutrient intake. Unfortunately when acetate levels rise, your body burns the acetate preferentially, since acetate is basically the same product of beta oxidation of fatty acids and glycolysis (glucose to pyruvate to acetate), but it doesn't require the metabolic work to produce.

So the body simply burns the acetate first, and with the rapid rise seen with alcohol intake, basically pushes fat oxidation out of the metabolic equation.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I would treat it like any other calorie source. If you include it in your diet and it doesn't put you over maintenance calorie levels then you won't gain weight. Alcohol isn't magical. It's 7 calories per gram.

 

[hightree]

alcohol is far worse than other foods because of the effects it has on your body. as one example, http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/md19.htm

I don't see anything dramatic in this. It says that alcohol is metabolized first. Of course if you drink alcohol and calories from alcohol are used, less calories from fat will be used. It does not say anything about alcohol having more impact on weight gain as you can conclude from its calorie content.

 

[cbrunny]

Sure. I'm not a doctor. I'm also not a scientist. I can speak for myself only but I cut out alcohol completely when I'm in heavy fitness modes. For me, even small amounts of alcohol cause relatively large weight gain, and since I work out just about every day and often twice a day, I'd rather have my muscles recovering for the next day than my body spending energy dealing with alcohol. that's what works for me but to each their own.

Given the way that alcohol exists in modern society though I can't help but wonder if some of those companies are buying off pseudo-science. Seems like a lot of stuff that I read on the subject says it's no big deal, but the more "serious" science says alcohol consumption can cost up to 25% gains from a workout. (http://www.hammernutrition.com/know...shes-performance-gains-from-training.288.html <- pseudo-science, imo, but I think this guy knows what's up).

TLDR, if you're worried, just don't drink alcohol. Not drinking hurts nobody.

 

[amyklai]

I don't see anything dramatic in this. It says that alcohol is metabolized first. Of course if you drink alcohol and calories from alcohol are used, less calories from fat will be used. It does not say anything about alcohol having more impact on weight gain as you can conclude from its calorie content.

Yeah, if your total calory intake and output stays exactly the same with alcohol vs without, you won't gain weight.

The difference is that the calories pulled from fat resources will not make you feel hungry but the calories pulled from glycogen will.

If you drink alcohol regularly, you're blocking your fat metabolism for a certain percentage of your time which will shift a certain amount of calories to be pulled from your glycogen reserves instead of from your fat reserves. Which will make you slightly more hungry.

So, the question is whether you'll actually be able to keep your total calories intake at the same level.

 

[ronbo613]

I drink a fifth of vodka every day and don't notice anything

 

[hightree]

Yeah, if your total calory intake and output stays exactly the same with alcohol vs without, you won't gain weight.

The difference is that the calories pulled from fat resources will not make you feel hungry but the calories pulled from glycogen will.

If you drink alcohol regularly, you're blocking your fat metabolism for a certain percentage of your time which will shift a certain amount of calories to be pulled from your glycogen reserves instead of from your fat reserves. Which will make you slightly more hungry.

So, the question is whether you'll actually be able to keep your total calories intake at the same level.

From what I know, you always first pull energy from glycogen until you have it and only then from fat stores. If you drink alcohol, then you will first pull energy from alcohol, then from glycogen and then from body fat.

I agree that food craving is a major factor in weight loss. For me and for many others they are quick carbohydrates (sugars and starchy foods without fiber) that increase food craving. Alcohol can increase craving for alcohol and for other foods. But this is what everyone can observe without knowing metabolism.

 

[amyklai]

From what I know, you always first pull energy from glycogen until you have it and only then from fat stores.

That's wrong.
Your body can metabolize glycogen 2.5 times faster than fat, but normally, both processes are running in parallel. Which perecentage of energy is pulled from either source depends on how much is needed / your execrcise intensity.

 

[cbrunny]

That's wrong.
Your body can metabolize glycogen 2.5 times faster than fat, but normally, both processes are running in parallel. Which perecentage of energy is pulled from either source depends on how much is needed / your execrcise intensity.

not always true. hightree is actually correct on this one. alcohol disrupts your metabolism in this way. that's why extra calories you eat while processing the alcohol end up as fat.

 

[hightree]

That's wrong.
Your body can metabolize glycogen 2.5 times faster than fat, but normally, both processes are running in parallel. Which perecentage of energy is pulled from either source depends on how much is needed / your execrcise intensity.

Yes, it is parallel to some extent. I don't see anything beyond calorie effect here, anyway.

You've mentiond calories pulled from glycogen vs fat affecting food craving differently. Would you mind to give some link?

 

[SlitheryDee]

From what I know, you always first pull energy from glycogen until you have it and only then from fat stores. If you drink alcohol, then you will first pull energy from alcohol, then from glycogen and then from body fat.

I agree that food craving is a major factor in weight loss. For me and for many others they are quick carbohydrates (sugars and starchy foods without fiber) that increase food craving. Alcohol can increase craving for alcohol and for other foods. But this is what everyone can observe without knowing metabolism.

The craving thing I totally get, and for me is probably the most important reason to limit my frequency of alcohol intake. When I drink I usually end up going over my allotted calories for the day simply because of a combination of cravings and loss of inhibition. In fact, the concept of changes in metabolism due to alcohol intake is a moot point with me because I'm probably going to blow my calorie limit anyway. Still, I've found that there isn't a binge that is too large to recover from. I'll just distribute the overage over the next few days until I've "paid" for my transgression.

 

[cbrunny]

Somewhat related, I stumbled on this pseudo-science blog today:

http://blog.trainerroad.com/alcohol...Faster&utm_campaign=October Twitter Challenge

I say pseudo-science because there are no sources linked, but the content rings consistent with what I've read elsewhere.

How Alcohol Affects Metabolism
Alcohol is not processed like food. As it leaves the small intestine it heads straight to your bloodstream, leaving your liver to do most of the work.

Since your body recognizes alcohol as poison it takes metabolic priority over everything else you’ve consumed. That means your usual metabolic processes of converting glucose and fat into energy are temporarily slowed while your body focuses on processing the alcohol. This results in low blood sugar and makes the effects of exercise, like fat loss, more difficult to achieve. In fact, alcohol can delay or slow the process for quite some time after consumption.

When you combine the effect alcohol has on fat metabolism with its high sugar content and high caloric density, it’s fair to say it’s not a good choice for performance nutrition. In fact, alcohol has 7 calories per gram compared to the 5 calories per gram of carbohydrate. For comparison’s sake, fat has 9 calories per gram. What this means is that alcohol, in a sense, isn’t too far off from pure fat but the major downside is it lacks all the fueling benefits of fat.

From start to finish, processing ½ oz of alcohol can take as little as one hour, but for some this extends all the way up to three hours. During this time your body inhibits antidiuretic hormone production. This results in a loss of liquid, vitamins and minerals, and hinders the process of nutrient absorption from the food you are taking in at that time.

How Alcohol Affects Your Muscles
The goal of structured training is to make you faster through dosing a specific amount of stress, offset by adequate recovery. However, the popular tradition of post-ride beers or podium champagne throws a wrench in these spokes.

Much of your recovery takes place during sleep when your body releases human growth hormone and replenishes its testosterone levels. When alcohol has been consumed, even hours before sleep, it slows the production of both of these reparative processes athletes need. What this means in terms of training is that the intended benefits of increased training stress will not be absorbed at the same rate.

There’s another disadvantage to consider. If you drink an excessive amount of alcohol you can actually poison muscle fibers and significantly impair the way your body absorbs training adaptations. What once took your body hours to recover from, now takes days.

Content related to muscles is more in line with why I choose not to drink during a training cycle - very little if at all. Not quite related to making one fat, however.