London - If you find that your diet is going well until you have a night out, you’re not the only one.
A survey of 1 000 slimmers has found that over the course of a week’s boozing, 26 percent of slimmers typically consume a quarter of their weekly calorie intake in alcohol alone.
Four out of ten consume 1 000 calories in alcohol on just one night out.
The result is that many dieters are failing to shift their unwanted kilos because they are ignoring the effects of alcohol.
Not only do alcoholic drinks contain hidden calories, the ensuing loss of willpower finds many slimmers falling off the wagon and tucking into junk food. More than half said boozing made them hungrier, while four in five said it lowered their willpower, causing them to indulge in forbidden food, such as a burger (490 calories), pizza (675 calories), or a bag of chips (312 calories).
Over the course of a week’s boozing, 26 percent of dieters typically consume a quarter of their weekly calorie intake in alcohol alone.
Lee Smith, of the company Forza Supplements which carried out the survey, said the key to successful dieting is cutting out alcohol.
He added: “Studies show that alcohol increases your appetite by suppressing leptin, the hormone which normally tells your brain to stop eating. It also negatively effects many other brain chemicals that are involved in appetite suppression. It makes us lose our inhibitions, making the decision to have a slice of pizza all the more easy.
“The other really damaging thing is that as few as two standard alcoholic drinks can slow down your body’s fat-burning process by a whopping 73 percent.
“Your liver recognises the by-products of alcohol as toxins, so your body stops processing nutrients from food you’ve eaten while it takes care of the ‘bad guys’ first.
“As a result, your body burns empty alcohol calories (those low in nutrients) for energy while the digestion of nutrient-rich food is put on the back burner.
“By the time your body gets around to burning food calories, it might not need the energy and ends up storing the extra calories you’ve eaten as fat cells. So the key to successful dieting is cutting out the booze.”
The most popular tipples are a large glass of wine white wine (185 calories per 250ml glass) for women and a pint of lager for men (230 calories). Most people will have two glasses or wine or two pints of beer on a typical weekday night.
Women on a boozy night out typically drink three glass of wine (555 calories) plus a cocktail (260 calories) and a shot of spirits and mixer (120 calories for a vodka and coke) – just less than half their daily calorie intake of 2 000 calories. - Daily Mail