: Can I still drink alcohol & get in shape?

“I think I just need to stop drinking alcohol to get the weight off as nothing seems to be shifting even though I am eating well”

which brought us on to the question of:

Do I need to stop drinking to hit my weight loss goals?

Now, I’m not going to talk about the health impact of alcohol here, but rather with regards to weight loss.

And before I go into this,

I want to say that your plan has to fit your lifestyle.

Some of the people who achieve the best results still drink.

^^^ read that again

They have just learnt to balance it within their overall intake

So here are some things to consider:

You don’t have to give up alcohol. Alcohol contains calories (7 calories per gram) so you just need to account for this
Depending on how much you drink, it may make it more difficult to stick to a calorie deficit due to the calories in alcohol and also the potential for some people to snack / eat highly calorific food when they eat

And this then sometimes leads to more questions:

I would take a moment to consider the above with the following:

Are the psychosocial benefits of drinking with friends actually healthy for your mental health? Eg having a drink with a friend on a weekend. Could the health benefits actually be superior to the potential negative impact of alcohol?
if you want to drink less, could you drink slower? Perhaps switch to alcohol free or a tonic inbetween?
Is drinking impacting you positively negatively the next day? Perhaps when you go to pour yourself a drink, consider: will my future self be proud of this choice?

So in short?

You don’t have to give up alcohol to lose weight .

Sure, it may help. But it is not essential .

And it’s actually about finding what works for you

Which is exactly what we do in the 28 Day Kickstart programme.

Specifically for women 40+, 50+ and 60+

Who pretty much know what to do but need the plan and accountability to do it

Message me with “kickstart” and I’ll get you the details

Matt