Stupid question, how does beer affect weight loss?

Obviously it's bad for your body and is full of empty calories. But say you set a plan to drink 7 beers for a total of 700 cals, while you eat approximately 900 worth of cals that day to maintain your daily calorie limit + exercise before the drinks.

I know it's not just about the calories, otherwise people wouldnt get "beer bellies". So what does this to do your body? Does it store fat?

EDIT: - I MEANT 900 CALORIES OF FOOD FOR THE DAY OF THE BEER CONSUMPTION. ON A NORMAL DAY I EAT 1400-1800 CALS. OK THANKS.

With all due respect, drinking 7 beers every day for ANYONE, whether they're on a diet or not, is a lot...

Well, I usually try to work my alcohol calories into my diet so I still have a deficit.  This isn't actually that hard considering I get tipsy off so little alcohol.  I haven't gained weight doing this, but I don't know if it ruins weight loss...

Drinking beer is just like drinking a load of sugar, it's full of it.

In fact, that's what caused my weight problem, I was lucky to knock it off.

Not only that, the sugar in the beer will give your blood an insulin spike which will cause you to feel hungry (hence why a lot of people go for take aways after visiting a bar). It's not real hunger, just the sugar going nuts in your body.

2 beers is probably fine, 7 is pushing it I think.

I definitely DID NOT mean every day

Original Post by sara308:

Obviously it's bad for your body and is full of empty calories. But say you set a plan to drink 7 beers for a total of 700 cals, while you eat approximately 900 worth of cals that day to maintain your daily calorie limit + exercise before the drinks.

 

 How are you getting all your needed nutrients only eating 900 calories from food?

The mistake a person following that kind of plan would be making would be to confuse 'alcohol' (calories and toxins) with 'food' (calories and nutrition).   It's never a good idea to replace food with alcohol for that reason.  Alcohol is only ever an add-on not an 'instead of'. 

Being a toxin, alcohol has to be processed by the liver... which reduces its ability to metabolise fat so efficiently.    Alcohol has dehydrating properties which tends to cause people to retain a lot of fluids - typically around the stomach area.  It's a depressant... so if someone was an emotional eater that wouldn't exactly help.  The sugar, as someone has mentioned, triggers terrible hunger pangs and if the person in the example was only eating 900 cals of food anyway, they'd probably go headlong into a binge.

You're not going to get the same nutrients from alcohol that you get from good food so you still need a minimum of 1200 food calories a day.  If you can fit some beer in after that and still maintain a deficit you will do ok.

"Beer Belly" is not a scientific term.  People who consume more cals then they burn will store fat where ever their bodies want to store it.  Men tend to store fat around the middle and men tend to drink beer.  Women that drink beer won't end up looking like men.

Women do end up with beer bellies....   You've only to see a gang of teenage girls in their low-slung jeans with the flab and the muffin-tops spilling out on all sides....  Round here they call it a 'Stella Belly'.  Not a great look. LOL!

Original Post by gi-jane:

The mistake a person following that kind of plan would be making would be to confuse 'alcohol' (calories and toxins) with 'food' (calories and nutrition).   It's never a good idea to replace food with alcohol for that reason.  Alcohol is only ever an add-on not an 'instead of'. 

Being a toxin, alcohol has to be processed by the liver... which reduces its ability to metabolise fat so efficiently.     

So Jane, if I drink alcohol, should I then eat no food and only drink spiced lemonade for the following week to get rid of the toxins? Kidding... :) 

 (For the record, this is the first time I've seen someone mention "toxins" on this site and not gotten mad at them.)

Alcohol is actually a very slow poison.  The whole reason that you get "drunk" is because you are ever so slightly poisoned.  Consume enough and you can kill yourself.  Google on alcohol poisoning.  So basically, beer = poision + calories.  Don't get me wrong.  It's a very tasty poison.  I'm a homebrewer, but you shouldn't be having beer as a significant part of your daily caloric allotment.  In your case, I beleive the split was 700/900 or 44% of your total daily calories.  Doing that every day can't be good for you.  That means you have to get all of your nutrition from the other 900 calories.  Plus alcohol purges nutrition out of your body.  Giving you a double whammy on getting the nutrients your body needs to function properly.

thanks for the answers.

Sara, (ignore the beer haters) for a bender, I'd still recommend a minimum of 1200 calories (making sure you're getting protein, whole grains and water).  Even for a single bender, I'd still try and get your nutrition. 

Just pretend that the 7 beers are a loaf of Wonder Bread.  Personally, I drink a stronger, heavier beer at 175 calories a bottle and I drink less of it.  If I think I'll have more than 2, I do it on a cheat day where I'm already planning to eat a lot and not worry about where it's going. 

I have a really strong beer at 175 calories that I only need to drink one of to get a buzz.

Thanks :) What kind of beer do you normally drink? I just try to buy the cheapest thing I can get, with everything being so damn expensive.

My normal beer is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.  You can't drink more than 4 to keep it at 700.  I hate cheap beer. 

Sara, I'm not sure if your talking about during the week or usually weekends but I am in college and will admit I drink 7-8 beers a night on the weekends.

I usually try to have a 600 calorie deficit during the week. I'm not sure how much you are trying to lose but on weekends I usually give myself one free day and then try to still have at least a 400 calorie deficit the other and start back up again sunday. I have lost 20 pounds doing this. I understand everyone's concerns with alcohol not being healthy and full of sugar but to me a calorie is a calorie and if I can factor in 800 calories for beer and still be under it works for me.

come on - obviously the woman isn't consuming 7 beers everyday. pshh i haven't done that since my freshman year of college :D

 

i know what you mean about going for the cheapest beer - luckily i tend to like light beer, which tends to be cheaper (and lower in cal..) although newcastle is tasty - as is sierra nevada. if i know i'm going to be drinking (which i have drastically reduced lately) i definitely will leave myself with at least a 400 - 500 cal beer cushion

 

have fun! :)

I agree with mrsdagle, not just the Sierra Nevada IPA is excellent beer ale but that drinking a stronger fuller bodied beer will satisfy you with fewer total calories in the long run.

Actually I'm glad you posted this as I was just thinking about this myself since it's girls night out tonight.  Now I am probably going to skip the bar piece and workout instead and meet them all at the movies afterwards.  But still - good to hear what others are doing.  Since my recommended calories as 1200 anyway, I'll stick with that and just include the beer in that.  I haven't drinken anything for weeks, so one night shouldn't hurt.  But i see others point about doing this more often not being a good thing.

So that brings up a question - if you only ate 900 calories and drank 700 - would your body go into starvation mode or just maintain since you are meeting your suggested calorie intake (assuming 1600 is your suggested calorie intake)?

Interesting convo! 

You wouldn't go into starvation mode but you're probably lacking vital nutrients.  You really need to eat a lot to get 25+ grams of fiber, 100% calcium, enough protein to get through the day.  I don't have trouble finding carbs, fats and vitamins but the other stuff you really need to eat more. 

Alcohol calories tend not to be very filling and as already mention lack nutrients.  Also alcohol lowers resolve and inhabition.  Being hungry and lacking resolve can result in binging.  Better to eat your normal meals and limit your drinking to a minimum.  Starvation mode? Not in the normal sense because you getting your calories but your not getting enough macro or micro nutrients.