And you’ve probably noticed that you get the munchies after a night of drinking, even if you ate a full dinner. If you’re looking to lose weight, you may not need to cut out alcohol completely. But cutting back on your alcohol intake can have plenty of health benefits either way.

• Most studies on alcohol’s effects on appetite have been conducted in animals.
• What’s more, all that extra imbibing likely isn’t aiding any slim-down efforts.
• “The extra calories from moderate drinking (one serving of alcohol for women a day or two servings for men per day) can certainly fit into the calorie allotment for weight maintenance,” Angelone says.
• Be careful of adding vodka to mixers, however, since they are frequently high in sugar.
• Some research has found that dry vermouth contains significantly more polyphenols than white wine.

Frozen Beach Drinks (280 Calories per 5 oz Serving)

Weight loss — or, more appropriately, fat loss — has to do with a number of factors, including genetics. But at its core, it relies on creating a calorie deficit, or consuming fewer calories than you expend each day. When you remain in a calorie deficit for a period of time, your body will begin to burn fat stores for energy.

Can Alcohol Cause Weight Gain?

He has over 15 years of experience as will vodka make you gain weight a personal trainer and nutrition coach. He strives to bring inspiration and results for people to live healthier lives through smart diet and exercise. One of the main reasons alcohol has gotten such a bad rap is for this very reason. Many can’t control their alcohol and the choices they make afterward. So doctors are hesitant to recommend drinking alcohol at all for this reason. You can also mix them with soda water or another mixer if it doesn’t have any calories.

Diet Mixers: What’s Really in Your Vodka Drink?

Changes in the way your body stores energy from food can make it very difficult to lose weight. Alcohol has sedative effects that may help you relax and make you sleepy after a drink. Still, research has linked excess alcohol use to poor sleep duration and quality.

The Best and Worst Booze to Drink if You Want to Lose Weight

• Most heavy drinkers will develop a hefty beer gut or wine tummy.
• Cocktails and mixed drinks often have more calories than beer and wine.
• Your body will prioritize burning the calories from alcohol first over other calories you consume from food.
• That doesn’t mean you have to totally swear off alcohol if you want to lose weight—you just need to be smart about drinking.
• Additionally, I examine the way mental and physical health as well as our relationships with others impact the reasons people drink and their role in maintaining sobriety long-term.
• Studies have also found that your self-control is lower after a poor night’s sleep (7).

“If you’re trying to lose weight, what you really want to happen is you want fat burning to be turned on as much as possible,” Wyatt says. In addition to being full of empty calories, alcohol can lead to overeating. Not only does alcohol decrease inhibitions that might otherwise help you regulate a desire to overeat, it appears to stimulate parts of the brain that evoke hunger. However, more human testing is required to verify this relationship. In addition to those properties, vodka is quite the versatile alcoholic beverage, rendering it a good selection for pairing with mixers for a tasty drink that packs a punch. And for the most part, vodka is fairly affordable, with plenty of brands selling bottles that don’t taste all that bad, even without a mixer that masks the alcoholic flavor.

• More research is needed to fully understand how much alcohol may affect weight and why it may do this.
• That will create an unhealthy ripple effect in other areas of your life.
• While many enjoy vodka for its clean taste and versatility in cocktails, concerns about its effects on body composition linger.
• If you consume too much of it, you can develop alcohol poisoning or even die.
• That’s compared to beer, which has the same serving size but 13 grams of sugar per serving!

Increases Abdominal Fat

Your Alcoholics Anonymous body will feel fuller and you’ll boost your metabolism by eating high protein foods. This is the trick to drinking alcohol and still losing weight (10). The next most significant tip is keeping healthy habits and making sure you don’t eat bad foods with alcohol intake. Most of us like eating pizza, hamburgers, and pasta when drinking alcohol, but these are the worst choices.