The subject and information in this article may seem negative or depressing at first, but it’s very appropriate for this time of year.
Plus, we’ve been bombarded with questions regarding the subject of alcohol and fat loss, so we wanted to take the time to answer all these questions.
There’s actually a very positive long term take-away at the end of this article, so take this information seriously because it can really make the difference.
We give you a list of action steps that you can pro-actively start taking today. Whether you’re a beer lover or just a social drinker, these action steps will help you on your fitness journey.
Ok, time for the negative and depressing stuff first.
Aside from the fact that alcohol decreases reaction time, slows muscle contraction, digestion and thinking, people perceive it to be a stimulant.
That’s probably because it knocks down your inhibitions and makes you act like an idiot. Even though I do like to drink occasionally, my opinion is there’s very little to be said for the positive “benefits” of alcohol.
Although many of us have our “moments” where we celebrate a little too much, lets look at what it does to you nutritionally.
Alcohol is a carbohydrate, or a simple sugar, void of any vitamins or minerals. Since it is a carbohydrate, one ounce of alcohol provides 70 calories. The problem arises because these calories don’t have any vitamins or minerals so the alcoholic finds his hunger satisfied without ever getting proper nourishment leading to serious deficiencies.
One gram of alcohol yields approximately 7 calories, almost twice as much as protein and carbs. From a health standpoint, these calories are empty and useless.
Alcohol is such a simple sugar so it actually enters the bloodstream through the walls of the stomach as opposed to most nutrients, which are absorbed in the small intestine. This quick absorption explains why you may feel the effects of alcohol shortly after having just one or two shots.
It also goes directly to work on the central nervous system and starts to damage valuable brain cells. So far alcohol consumption doesn’t seem like the greatest idea in the world, does it?
But wait! There’s still more. Alcohol damages these brain cells by withdrawing water that is essential for cellular health. Next, it moves on to other cells in your body, which leads to dehydration. That’s the primary reason you’ll get the famous “hang-over-headache”.
We’ve already educated you on how simple sugars impact insulin and fat mobilization.
Alcohol is the equivalent of the most notorious simple sugar, carrying with it all of these other dastardly effects. It requires no digestion. It is a form of fuel, but in this case, that’s not necessarily a good thing. Your cells uptake it because it is so simple, your body will use it for fuel before using other carbs, proteins, or ingested fats. It is considered “nutrient sparing.” Since it becomes the quickest available food since, it spares all other nutrients that follow it.
When calories are prevented from being used as food, what do they likely become? You know the answer by now. Accumulated body fat stores!
If you’re trying to reduce body fat, you should also know that alcohol is very rapidly synthesized into triglycerides and stored as fat. It is also an appetite inducer! If anyone you know has ever gotten drunk (l would presume you might even have , the first thing they wanted to do when the excitement slowed was EAT!
So is alcohol really a stimulant? By now you should see that it isn’t, and in addition to all the effects listed above, it does a number on your motivation and sense of well-being. Of course, this is what we call the famous “hangover”.
Can you drink alcohol and still stay lean?
In the final analysis, this topic seems to be a common struggle I hear from a lot of people…they want to get lean and stay lean, but they don’t want to give up drinking alcohol.
Will a few beers during the football game destroy your fitness program? Probably not. It comes down to a matter of commitment. If you are totally committed to health and fitness, you will probably minimize your alcohol intake.
You’ve heard rumors of the positive cardiovascular effects a daily glass of wine might have because of the antioxidants. Just remember, you can get these antioxidants in many supplements and even from whole food sources without getting all the sugar from the red wine.
If you enjoy an occasional drink or two, that’s fine. Just be aware of the whole picture when alcohol enters your system.
First, I think the best thing anyone can do is live alcohol free until you reach your initial goals or a maintenance type of schedule and then add alcohol back in 1 or 2 times per week in moderation.
The second best option is to limit alcohol intake to once a week after the first 4 weeks of beginning any serious fat loss lifestyle.
I believe most of us can drink in moderation, and still stay perfectly healthy and lean after some initial sacrifice to get to our goals, but there are a few tricks that can help you to not pack on the pounds.
Alcohol Intake Damage Control Plan
1.Get plenty of water to prevent the dehydration. If you decide to drink beer after working up a sweat, I suggest killing your thirst with a few large glasses of water first. Or if you pull a late-nighter, make sure you have damage control in place by drinking extra water before bed and having a water bottle by your nightstand.
2. If you know you’re going to consume more alcohol than you’re supposed to, it helps to make sure that dinner is based only around protein and vegetables.
Eating a good portion of appetite-satisfying protein along with nutrient-rich vegetables can help to control your appetite and give your body the nutrients it needs.
Just like we explained above, too many carbs + alcohol intake = “fat-spill-over”.
3.Make sure you stay away from syrupy, fruity drinks that are loaded with sugar…this has a two fold negative effect for your belly and butt fat. You’re not only getting all of the empty alcohol calories, but also loads of empty sugar calories. These drinks can have as much as 500-600 calories per serving!
The best thing to do is stick with a clear alcohol mixed with water or club soda. Vodka with fresh squeezed grapefruit or lemon juice is my favorite, but I make sure I add water too. Another option is vodka with club soda and extra lemon/lime. This is easier if you’re at a restaurant, bar, or nightclub.
Also, most people don’t realize this, but tonic water is loaded with almost as much sugar as regular pop and club soda has no calories at all.
If you’re a beer drinker, you’re better off choosing just 1 or 2 dark beers rather than 5 or 6 light beers. Although dark beers have more calories than light beers, they also have more B vitamins and antioxidants than light beers, so you actually get more nutrition from the dark beer. As long as you keep it to just 1 or 2 dark beers you’ll be ok, but if you go beyond that you should start counting calories and go with a low-calorie light beer option instead.
4.Try to get in a high intensity full body workout or some type of GL-12 or HIIT before your night out of drinking or socializing. This is always a great way get your metabolic rate cranking for some extra damage control.
Also make sure to get in some long duration cardio the morning after your night out along with extra water intake. Your energy will probably stink, that’s why you should stick with lower intensity and focus on sweating and rehydrating.
5.Avoid late night fast food or junk food after drinking. This will sabotage your fat loss efforts big-time! The worst thing for your body is loading up on burger, fries, pizza, ice cream, or other junk foods after consuming alcohol.
The best method is to plan ahead. Make sure you have an alternative healthy option planned ahead of time so when you get home you can heat it up and satisfy your late-night cravings.
There’s also been plenty of times late at night when I will prepare a whey protein shake with natural peanut butter to help “fill me up” because I didn’t have any other food planned ahead. It’s not the ideal situation, but it’s better than eating junk.
6. Make sure you consume extra water and nutrient rich vitamins, anti-oxidants, and food sources the following morning. Alcohol is very good at depleting your body of the vitamins and minerals we need to be healthy and feel normal, so it’s important to replenish these key compounds to help us recover.
Although ridding alcohol intake from our lives is definitely the BEST option, we also have to be realistic. Most people are going to consume some type of alcohol at least socially. If that’s you, why not do it the healthiest way possible and keep yourself on track by using the steps above. This is also a great way to possibly prevent a “hang-over”.
Please leave us a comment and let us know how you liked this article.
Happy New Year!
Shaun and The GL-12 Team
P.S. As far as smoking, how does lung cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, pulmonary disease, emphysema, backing cough, nicotine breath, stained teeth, respiratory illness, throat cancer, and even death sound? Although I’m guilty of an occasional cigar, that’s all I have to say about smoking.
P.P.S. Before the end of this week I’m going to share an aggressive approach to lose 7 to 10 pounds the first 7 to 14 days of 2010. If you’re anything like us, your body and Leptin levels are “primed” to burn fat next week. You don’t want to miss out on this fat burning window.
How To Lose Up To 2 Pounds While Cheating On Christmas And New Year’s Day
Let’s face it. Cheating on our nutrition plan is a part of life, so the best way to succeed is to find a life-long approach towards this behavior.
We ALL cheat on our nutrition plan (especially this time of year) so why not try to do it strategically.
The following holiday plan is a simple guide Wendy created so you can strategically splurge on Christmas Day or at any of your holiday events this year without the worry of gaining any fat. Most people experience a weight loss of 2 pounds or more when this plan is followed exactly.
It may look familiar to many of you from Thanksgiving or from our other materials, but it’s always good to be reminded of specific cheating strategies.
If you don’t have our meal plans to follow then here are some guidelines for you.
1. Consume 5 to 6 small meals daily
2. Make sure every meal contains a lean protein source and a fibrous veggie
3. Consume 1 tablespoon of friendly fat in 2 of your daily meals
4. Only consume starches with your meals as indicated on the plan below
5. Women drink at least 80 ounces of water daily, men drink at least 100 ounces.
Ok…here’s the plan to follow along with the basics above.
• Saturday December 19th
Baseline Day (2 starchy carb meals with protein
meals before 3pm)
• Sunday December 20th
Baseline Day (2 starchy carb meals with protein
meals before 3pm)
• Monday, December 20th thru Thursday, December 24th –
Deplete Days (no starches) or Carb Down days (1 starchy carb with
protein meals before 3pm) – you choose based on how much
you want to cheat. If you are new to Macro-Patterning, then we
suggest deplete days…which means under 20 grams total carbs
per day.
• Christmas Day – CHEAT!!!
This plan works best if you have small amounts of food every
few hours once you rise, until your big meal then OVEREAT!!!
(Yes that is what I said). This will force your body into an
anabolic response and ultimately help you lose weight. You
might even break into a mild sweat or get hot from the calorie
overload.
• Saturday, December 26th – The Day After: This day is the most
important part of the Holiday Plan. – DEPLETE!!!
You must make this a deplete day (under 20 grams of impact carbs)
and cardio activity is suggested first thing in the morning for 45
minutes to one hour if you are capable.
If you know that you cannot deplete or at least Carb-down
(have one starch with breakfast) the day after then don’t do
the over-eat plan above because it will not work to lose weight.
I personally find that Carbing-down is best the day after a Cheat Day
because my appetite is usually higher, especially after cardio.
• Sunday, December 27th – Do a Baseline Day (2 starches with
protein meals before 3pm) along with your other normal meals,
OR do no starches until your last meal and have what you want.
You choose – if you are new to our strategies then we suggest a
Baseline Day.
• Monday, December 28th - Back to whatever plan you are on or start
carbing down or depleting again to Cheat AGAIN on New Year’s Day.
You can also re-arrange this and apply it to ANY holiday, event, or special occasion. ?
Following a plan like this is what can make fitness fun for the holidays and most importantly help keep you on track.
Hopefully this will allow all of you enjoy all your holidays this year!
Leave a comment below and let us know how you liked it.
Shaun and The GL-12 Team
P.S. After you leave a comment below, you can get all your other questions answered on our new GL-12 forum and message board. Go check it out.
First of all, on behalf of the GL-12 team and leadership we would like to wish everyone “Happy Holidays.”
It’s obvious that we all have the same things in common and face the same challenges when it comes to keeping the weight off permanently.
It seems like we all struggle finding enough time for exercise and nutrition and we all have a hard time staying motivated. I know my wife and I searched for years to find long term solutions on how to find the variety and flexibility to stay motivated enough to follow a long-term plan.
That’s why we want to start sharing some of these solutions to help you get ready for the New Year and beyond.
We learned to overcome our frustrations when we discovered and applied all kinds of small but *very powerful* life-long changes to our fitness program that have allowed us to stay lean and fit all year round.
Now that we’re moving into 2010 everybody has Resolutions on their minds. The research shows that over 80% of people make New Year’s resolutions related to weight loss or getting in better shape.
The reality is however, the majority of people continue to fail year after year with fat loss because they look for the quickest way possible and ironically, the longest way is a short-cut.
Your solution?
Learn how to build long-term, efficient fitness habits.
Here are 3 simple steps that we’ve been sharing and using for years that can make ALL the difference.
We call it the GL-12 Fat-Loss Success Triangle.
1. Schedule It
You must plan and prepare ahead of time and schedule your workouts and meals.
We’ve heard it for years, but it’s SO true. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail! Just like opening the doors of your business in the morning, making it to a doctor’s appointment, or picking up your children from school or practice, exercise and nutrition must be scheduled. We have found that performing 12 to 30 minutes of exercise within an hour of waking up works best for most people. In fact, research shows that a healthy individual can potentially burn more fat and calories in an intense 12 to 20 minute exercise session performed in the morning on an empty stomach than an entire hour of exercise performed in the evening after eating a few meals.
Not only do you save time and burn more fat and calories; it’s also out of the way and supercharges your metabolism and energy to take on your entire day.
Treat your food intake exactly the same! Take 15 minutes every night before bed and plan your next day’s eating and exercise into your schedule. This will help you create more time than you have ever had because you won’t be chasing energy or waiting in a fast food line.
2. Use an Accountability System
Seek accountability daily to beat the battle of the bulge for the long haul.
In order for you to be successful at home or in business you have to hold yourself accountable to certain daily obligations, tasks, and large projects.When it comes to being a parent or a mate, we also hold ourselves accountable to spending time with our children and our significant others. If you don’t invest the time necessary, your business and financial life suffer…and of course ultimately our relationships and family life suffer as well.
The same is true with exercise and nutrition. Most people fail with fitness because they lack an accountability system. There are a few different ways to do this depending on your personality and of course desire to succeed.
The best accountability system is to make a financial commitment. This not only will ensure you the proper way to do things, but also can obligate you through structured appointments or a financial investment. It “hurts” a LOT more when we have to reach into your pocket, and you’re much more likely to follow through.
Another great way to be held accountable is to enter a contest or event with a goal or deadline. This positive pressure will help you stay focused on a pre-determined goal, and by having a deadline, it creates the urgency needed to help develop consistent habits. I personally love scheduling a photo shoot. If I have to be in front of a camera on a certain day and time, it creates a healthy sense of urgency to be ready.
The last method of accountability to use is partnering up with a friend or mate and committing to weekly workouts, trainings, or some type of intense classes such as group training, spinning or kickboxing. If possible, it’s a good idea to pay monthly, or in advance, for a package or series of classes for that extra incentive to follow through.
3. Follow the GL-12 Law of Consistency
Strive to be consistent, not perfect
Learning to develop realistic, long-term lifestyle changes is the key to health, vitality, and weight management. In order to do this, you must come up with a plan that will set you up for creating habits that will last a lifetime.
Because we are all human, we will fall off probably more than once a week. The key to achieving great results is knowing that when you do fall off, you get right back on track instead of giving up completely.
Karen and I personally like to schedule our workouts before or after events, holidays, or special occasions. If we know we’re going to cheat, we just work out 2 or 3 hours beforehand to rev up our metabolism, or the very next morning as damage control.
Everybody falls, but great people overcome their adversities and immediately get back up. There will never be a perfect time to begin forming fitness habits so the best thing is to begin now by taking small steps today. Use the Law of Consistency. Remember, fat loss and fitness are a journey…NOT an event!
We have found over the years that consistency, not perfection of the basics described here, will give you the philosophies you need to be productive in fitness, business, and in life!
Bringing It Home With Real World Proof
In 1998, I spent 12 weeks doing a physique transformation contest called “Body for Life”. The contest required four to five hours of intense exercise per week and a balanced carb-cycling nutrition plan. This was not only a great way to hold myself accountable, but also allowed me to develop long-term, efficient habits that I still use daily over 10 years later. All because I had desire and a deadline.
It’s inspiring to see what can happen to people when they actually apply these strategies and change just a few small aspects of their plan. Here’s what happens to people when they take action!
I’ve tried every diet that I could find. I’ve spent 100′s of dollars and I continued to gain weight. I was skeptical of the Get Lean In 12 program. However, I decided to follow the first week closely to prove that it would or would not work for me. On my eighth day, I had already lost 10 lbs! I look and feel better than I have in the last 15 years; and this is just the beginning. I know that as I continue the plan, I will see even greater results. This plan really works! Finally! Thank you Wendy and Shaun for putting this wonderful program together and giving me my life back. I have a new attitude and my health and my body show it!
Elia Gardner – Euless, Texas, 12-07-2009
Applying all these *little* things is what really does make the *big* difference. The most rewarding part is being able to share all the strategies that make such a big difference with others.
Regardless of what you’re plan is for the New Year, if you can focus about five percent of your time weekly on the GL-12 Success Triangle, you can transform your body and dramatically improve focus and productivity in all areas of your personal and financial life at the same exact time.
When all is said and done, the changes in your body will be nothing compared to the person you become.
Now it’s your turn! Remember that your life will never be in a perfect situation to begin an exercise program. Set up a small step that you can take now to start developing what can be the most powerful habits in 2010 that you have ever experienced.
Our best to you for a Happy New Year,
Shaun Hadsall and the GL-12 Team
P.S. Be on the look out. In the next few days I’m going to send you the 3 simple nutrition rules you can follow for the holidays and New Year to keep the fat off…forever.
We call it the GL-12 Food Pyramid and it’s a *LOT* different than the traditional food pyramid!
P.P.S. We’re also working on starting up an on-line forum to help everybody with accountability and support, but we need to know you’re interested.
Send us an email and tell us what you think;
responses@getleanin12.com
questions.
, the first thing they wanted to do when the excitement slowed was EAT!
up and satisfy your late-night cravings.
