Hitch Fit Living Magazine Volume 4 - January/February 2016 | Page 19

Appetite is generally decreased by alcohol because it is fairly dense in calories. Your body’s ability to break down nutrients is also negatively impacted. Your liver is what turns food into energy for our cells, usually in the form of glucose. Alcohol is also processed by the liver but to your body it is considered a poison so your liver will prioritize breaking it down and often fails to grab the essential nutrients you should have been taking in. As a result, your protein synthesis is lowered by 20% meaning your body struggles to utilize proteins. This makes it much harder to repair all that hard work you did in the gym before you had that drink. This is also why you might notice soreness levels are increased by combining exercise with alcohol consumption. Alcohol is a diuretic and while people are drinking they don’t typically feel thirsty or the need to consume water so they are becoming even more dehydrated. If you’ve ever had a night of drinking out with friends you can bet that the next day you will be essentially worthless. Needless to say, your workouts will not be as good as if you had come into the gym fresh. I am not saying to never drink or that I never have a drink although be it very rarely. All I want to get across to you are the facts and the effects of alcohol on your fitness goals. Now that you know all of your hard work in the gym is negated from alcohol consumption, it’s your choice. After all, that is what life is about, making choices. If you want to drink for a good time knowing what it does to your body and accept the consequences then by all means, go for it. Just know someone else out there didn’t go to the bars and is using their time effectively to get ahead! Also, consider the fact that alcohol is an addictive substance. If drinking becomes habitual, you start to remain in that state of crippled lipid oxidation, lower hormone production, bad sleeping cycles, less efficiently breaking down nutrients and poor workout intensity. Sorry to say, but you’ll never reach your goals in the gym that way. Kurtis McLellan is a Hitch Fit Transformation Trainer at the Overland Park Kansas Location. To schedule a free consultation and start on your transformation please contact him. Phone: (816)-204-0220 or E-mail: [email protected]