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Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle
Syndicated Q & A Column (Ask Tom / Ask The Fat Loss Guru) Which Alcoholic Drink is Best When You're Dieting? Affiliate instructions: You have permission to publish this Q & A column in your e-zine, on your website, on your blog or on your forum, provided the entire column is unaltered and the bio/about the author box is included in its entirety. This column may be titled, "Ask Tom", "Ask Tom Venuto," "Ask The Fat Loss Expert, or "Ask The Fat Loss Guru." All you need to do is copy and paste. You may of course, replace all www.burnthefat.com links with your affiliate hoplink. It's also great idea to include a clickable book cover graphic and or an author photo with each Q & A column you print. Please note that some of these Q & A columns have been rewritten as "articles" (with question removed), but they are mostly the same content. Our Q & A column has become immensely popular because it can provide you with an entirely new content category for your newsletter or website. However, if you prefer article format, please check the "articles" section. Title: Which Alcoholic Drink is Best When You're Dieting? Which Alcoholic Drink is Best When You're Dieting? QUESTION: Dear Tom: If you are going to go out and have a drink or two with friends, which drink is the best when you’re on a fat loss program like BFFM? Would it be wine or a vodka mixed with soda? Is champagne better or worse than the other two? ANSWER: The first thing I would suggest is that you ask a better question! The answers you get are only as good as the quality of questions you ask. “Which alcohol is best?” is not a very good question when your goal is to get leaner.
“Which alcohol is best” contains the presupposition
that:
(A) that you ARE going to drink and (B) a “good” choice exists. What if ALL alcohol is a bad choice? what then? If you asked, “How much damage would I do to my body and how much would I slow down my results if I drank during my fat burning program?” you might get a different feeling towards alcohol. This type of question presupposes that there WILL be a down side, it’s only a question of how bad it will be. If you focus on the consequences of drinking, (like getting a beer gut), instead of how you can best “get away with it,” it may change your attitude. Then if you shift focus to the abs and lean body you want, and change your question to what is the best way to get great abs and a lean body, it will change your attitude and motivation even more.
I get asked about alcohol and fat loss a lot. Almost every time, I have
a sneaking suspicion that the person asking the question is really just
looking for me to give them “permission” to drink.
I’m not going to do that. Well, not exactly. But I do have 4 major guidelines I’d suggest you consider if you’re thinking about drinking: [1] On fat loss programs, I don’t recommend drinking alcohol at all because alcohol suppresses fat oxidation and adds unnecessary calories to your diet, which either displaces nutritious calories or erases your caloric deficit. [2] For lifelong maintenance, I recommend that if you choose to drink, that’s fine, but only if you do so in moderation (1-2 drinks a day is considered moderation according to most health authorities) [3] I do not recommend daily drinking as part of a fitness lifestyle, because daily drinking can become habit forming. My recommendation is limit drinking to weekends, holidays and or special occasions.
[4] I recommend ALWAYS being cognizant
of the calories that are added to your diet through alcohol and above
all else know how many calories are in your drinks.
If someone really MUST know which alcohol is worst on a fat burning program, then it would be the one with the most calories. Conversely, the lesser of evils would be the drinks with fewer calories. For example, that would mean choosing light beers over regular beers. Bass ale and Sam Adams lager both contain 160 calories per bottle. Guinness extra Stout packs 176 calories per bottle. (a bartender at an Irish pub once told me with a totally straight face that there were 1,000 calories in a Guinness… he really had me going for a minute). By comparison, Amstel light contains only 99 calories, Michelob Ultra has 95 calories and Beck’s Premier Light has 64 calories (Beck’s pulled off that feat simply by lowering the alcohol content… I’ve never tried it, but I bet it tastes pretty watered down) On a tangent, I think it’s a sin that light beers are marketed as low carb and advertised with diet and fitness images… but that will have to be a rant for another day… Champagne has about 96 calories per 4 oz glass. White wine such as chardonnay has about the same caloric content as champagne. Any pure distilled liquor will contain about 65 calories per fluid ounce at 80 proof. When mixed with other calorie containing liquids, the calorie count goes up. A 6 ounce screwdriver will give you about 130 calories. A whiskey sour about 169 calories. Rum and coke - 180 calories. Naturally, mixed drinks may contain even more
calories due to the
sugar in the drink mixes. A margarita is one of the worst,
with an 8-ouncer packing about 500 calories and a huge dollop of sugar!
A couple of those with your cheese nachos and enchiladas, refried
beans, sour cream and guacamole, and you’ve just knocked
back about two days worth of calories in one meal - calorie bomb city!
Fat loss is first and foremost a matter of calories in vs calories out, so the calorie counts are what you look at first. If you wanted other criteria to judge the “best” alcoholic drink, you could also look at whether there is any health value, as in red wine, or whether there are any nutrients in the drink, such as what you might find in the vegetable juice of a bloody mary or the orange juice in a screwdriver. However, I think that’s a pretty moot point when you consider the far superior way to get those same nutrients: eat whole vegetables and oranges. The fact is, you can certainly get leaner while drinking, as long as you stay in a caloric deficit, but that doesn’t mean it’s the smartest thing to do for your body and your health. Your friend and coach, Tom Venuto About the Author: Tom Venuto is a
natural bodybuilder, certified
strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) and a certified personal
trainer (CPT). Tom is the author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The
Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or
supplements using methods of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness
models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your
metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com
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