Drinking alcohol has become a way of life for many Americans.  Most individuals drink alcohol to celebrate, have fun, release stress and many other diverse reasons.  However, when it comes to exercising and working out, alcohol and exercise do not mix. Drinking alcohol can seriously mess with your fitness regime.  If you are trying to stay in shape, it would be better to stop drinking. Here are the 4 top reasons why alcohol and exercise don’t mix

Alcohol Promotes Fat Gain

Alcohol tends to raise the cortisol level in the body, and this promotes fat gain especially around the waist.  Moreover, since the body considers alcohol toxic and tries to get rid of it, it significantly reduces the fat burning capacity of the body during that particular time.

You End Up Eating Unhealthier Foods

When you are drunk or drinking, you usually make unhealthy decisions.  Most individuals end up losing what they gained from the entire week by eating right after drinking.  Also, alcohol makes you feel thirsty and will trigger you to reach out for unhealthy appetizers which add to your calorie counts.  Drinking alcohol makes you end up eating unhealthier foods which will greatly affect your workout and fitness regime because instead of burning fat, you store more fats coming from these unhealthy foods.

Alcohol Adversely Affects Your Workout Routine

If you drink alcohol before you work out, it will surely mess up with your routine because it takes plenty of time for the body to process the alcohol.  This is due to the fact that the alcohol that you have consumed will be converted by your liver starting from ethanol turned to acetic and then acetate which well then be released in your urine.  All of these are done by your liver, therefore it gets diverted from its main task which is to produce glucose to the body.

Alcohol Affects The Body Negatively

Aside from messing with your fitness routine, drinking alcohol can also mess up with your digestive system making it even harder for your body to obtain or absorb nutrients such as amino acids.  This also slows down protein synthesis which can also hold back muscle growth.  Studies also revealed that drinking alcohol also lowers a person’s testosterone level.

While exercise and alcohol seem to go hand in hand in some instances, these two should not be mixed.  Just for the reason that you and your friend enjoy drinking alcohol together does not really mean that doing this before or during working out means it is a good idea.  There have been studies conducted proving that drinking alcohol is not advisable while working out for this clearly interferes with getting ideal results.

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