Cutting out alcohol, is one of the first things I recommend, when a client tells me they want to lose weight.
I am sure you have heard the phrase, “empty” calories. That is what happens when you drink. Alcohol provides your body with calories, but contains little to no nutrients. A night out drinking can set you back hundreds of calories before you even add the mixers.
Drinking alcohol can also affect your sleep patterns. You know when you have had a big night out and you crash in bed initially, but then in the middle of the night you wake up and can’t get back to sleep? Well this sleep deprivation can lead to hormonal imbalance, grumpiness and hunger.
Plus drinking alcohol can lead to poor decision making, especially when it comes to food intake. You are more likely to order pizza, get the burger and fries and binge eat when you are intoxicated.
So how do you cut it out when you use it as a “release” from a long day or challenging week? Or you are at a social gathering where everyone is drinking and you feel the pressure to keep up?
We have just come out of the most challenging year ever, where most people drank more alcohol in 2020 than they have their entire lives. We almost have to relearn our boundaries and how to have fun without it.
Here are some of my favorite tips when trying to cut out alcohol from your daily routine.
If you are out in public, order a sparkling water with a slice of lime. It has a little more taste than regular water, and to others around you it can look like a gin and tonic or vodka soda.
Rather than rewarding yourself at the end of the day with a drink, chose something else. Perhaps it is a bath, a small piece of chocolate, a herbal tea with a biscuit. Something comforting but not as high in calories.
Make a plan to go to the gym, walk or do some sort of physical activity, that way you are less tempted to drink, as working out after alcohol is not really an option.
And if you really have to drink, keep it just to the weekend, perhaps just Saturday night. My advice, have a vodka or tequila on the rocks, no mixer and sip it slowly