Written By: Coach Mairead
As a dietitian, I get a lot of questions about how alcohol can impact our fitness goals. Whether or not to drink – and how much – is a completely personal choice and this post isn’t meant to sway you either way.
The goal of this blog is just to provide you with some information that you can apply (or not!) to your own goals.
First of all, there are usually questions about calories in alcoholic drinks. One or two glasses of wine, regular sized beers, or hard alcohol mixed with soda water may not add too much to your day, but the calories can add up after more than a few, or if we’re mixing with pop, or choosing sugary options.
If you’re someone who’s looking to change your body composition and you’re not seeing the results you want, looking at your drinking habits may give you some insight.
It’s also no surprise that alcohol can make you more dehydrated. It’s a diuretic, which means you will be peeing more. Especially during the summer, dehydration is the last thing we need! Your body won’t respond as well during workouts and you’ll have to play catch-up with your fluids.
If you are going to drink, having a glass of water between or with drinks can limit how dehydrated you get.
Alcohol can impact how well our body is able to recover. One way this happens is by messing with your sleep quality. Even if alcohol makes you sleepier, you might be waking up more, or not able to have the deep sleep your body needs to recover and build strength. If we’re drinking and impacting our sleep quality regularly, your body is not recovering properly pretty often. This could be affecting your strength gains and how hard you’re able to push in a workout.
Are there benefits to drinking? Quite possibly! There is some research to say that very moderate drinking is associated with better health markers and lower risk of some chronic diseases, although the benefits may not be very significant or apply to everyone. This also does not mean we should start drinking or drink more for any potential health benefits.
The safe drinking guidelines are no more than 10 drinks per week for women, with no more than 2 drinks per day, and no more than 15 drinks per week for men with no more than 3 drinks per day.
Questions about drinking and strength, or about other nutrition factors that can impact your goals? Let’s chat! Email
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