Often I get asked can you drink alcohol and still get lean? In short the answer is YES you just need to be smart. Choosing to drink alcohol is still consuming calories just like any normal food choice. If you’re not accounting for these liquid calories then of course you will spill over your maintenance calories for that day and then in turn add un-wanted body fat.
If you do choose to drink alcohol you need to be smart and then you still CAN achieve your goals. Now I want to be clear as obviously drinking heavily and often is for sure going to be detrimental to your goals BUT if we choose to have a drink in moderation and make smart choices around it then there is no reason why we can’t enjoy a fine wine or beverage of choice and still achieve our Health and Fitness goals.
Give my tips a read BELOW on how you can enjoy a drink or two and still stay on track with your goals:
- My first tip is to do with your drink of choice. If your wanting to drink, stay social and have fun at your social parties and still stay on track then my biggest tip is to aim to consume vodka, lime and soda drinks. The calories in these are far lower then the sugary cocktails, full strength beers and glasses of wine. To stay lean opting for vodka, lime and soda should always be your drink of choice.
- If you are wanting to drink full strength beer and have a few cocktails of choice no problem but you must understand the importance of NOT consuming these drinks on top of your daily food. This will only put you in a calorie surplus which is not what you want.
- This takes me to tip #3 where you must calculate your drinks into your daily macros. Predict how many wines your going to have or how many beers you are thinking of consuming (hard for some guys I know lol) and then simply add these drinks into your daily calories. For example if a full strength beer has 205 calories in it (www.calorieking.com.au) and 11.4g of carbs then you need to take these calories out of your daily foods prior to going out drinking. You can calculate this via ‘my fitness pal’ or the website outlined above.
- My next tip is to do some form of exercise that day and the day after which I think is an important one. This allows you to BURN some calories so if you do end up going a little over your calculated drinks that night then it’s OK as you have burnt some calories that day and the next to give you a little buffer.
- My last tip is around the food. When we are drinking we tend to eat more and this also then spills onto the next day when we are hung over. If you’re choosing to drink calories but you also choose to consume heavy calories that night as well then there is no way this won’t put you in a calorie surplus and add unwanted body fat %. If you’re drinking then be smart with your food choices that night.
I hope these tips help 🙂
If you would like your very own custom meal plan designed for you where we take all the guess work out of it and I use my qualifications and experience to design you a plan featuring all your favorite foods AND an alcoholic beverage or two through-out the week in a calculated and controlled manner then hit the link BELOW:
YES I WOULD LIKE A CUSTOM MEAL PLAN!
