The Truth About Alcohol & Fat Loss Over 40

Think you have to quit drinking to lose fat after 40?

Not necessarily. But alcohol does make fat loss harder. I've coached busy professionals for over 25 years, and most of them don't want to give up wine or beer forever. So, in this video, I'll show you how alcohol affects fat loss after 40, and what the science says about drinking as you get older.

How Fat Loss Works With Alcohol

The first thing we need to clear up is how fat loss actually works. You need to be in a calorie deficit, which just means that you're using up more energy than you take in. Fat loss still comes primarily down to calories, even with alcohol.

When we talk about calories, each macronutrient has an amount per gram. Protein and carbs have four calories per gram. Fat has 9 calories per gram. Alcohol has seven calories per gram. But alcohol isn't a nutrient. It doesn't have any vitamins or minerals that support your health. It's a toxin, a poison.

So, your liver has to metabolize it first before anything else you've eaten gets dealt with. That means fat burn gets delayed while your body clears the alcohol. Even so, if you're expending enough energy throughout your day for the alcohol and food you're consuming, you can still lose fat.

Making Alcohol Fit Your Calorie Target

So, how do you make it work? If you're going to drink, make sure you stay within your calorie target for the day or more generally over the course of the week. Prioritize lean protein, fibre, and hydration. Drinking lots of water before and after drinking to reduce cravings and support your recovery.

Making lower calorie drink choices can help, but be careful about the serving sizes because most people think they're a lot bigger than they really are. A glass of red or white wine is only 5 oz. That has around 120 to 125 calories, which isn't too bad. A Corona beer, a 12-ounce, which has been my personal favourite for the last few years, has about 148 calories. Apparently, a Corona Light has only 99 calories. Um, but I haven't really tried that one.

A shot of vodka or whiskey, 1.5 oz, has 96 to 105 calories, not including whatever you're mixing in there. So, a vodka and soda, where the soda doesn't add additional calories, is a better choice than something like a rum and coke, which obviously has the coke in there and lots of extra sugar and calories.

The Hidden Ways Alcohol Stalls Progress

But alcohol doesn't just affect your calories in. It also indirectly affects your calories out. You know how you usually feel after a night out drinking. You probably aren't in the mood for a workout. And if you do manage to do one, you probably aren't putting in as much effort as you normally would.

You might spend more time on the couch recovering and not burning off calories moving around like you normally would. And maybe you also have cravings for certain high calorie density foods, which makes it harder to keep your calories within your usual limits. So those are all potential limiting factors for maintaining your calorie deficit when you're drinking.

Why Alcohol Hits Harder After 40

Now let's look at how alcohol specifically affects you more negatively after 40. Our liver function slowly decreases with age. So your liver clears alcohol more slowly. That means smaller amounts have a stronger effect on you and hang around longer in your system.

And a lot of things that are already worse with age get even worse with alcohol. Melatonin and growth hormone go down as we get older, which affects our sleep. Changes in our sex hormones, so testosterone in men and estrogen and progesterone in women, can make our sleep worse. Put alcohol in the mix, which definitely messes with your sleep quality, and it's a bad combo.

Alcohol also interferes with muscle repair and increases inflammation, which already get worse with age. Based on your drinking experiences, you've probably noticed that alcohol is a gut irritant and affects your digestion. And maybe you've also started to see that your digestive system is becoming more sensitive as you get older. We produce fewer digestive enzymes and larger meals and spicy food and alcohol can be harder to tolerate.

Personal Experience With Digestive Issues

That's actually why I haven't really been drinking since New Year's Eve about 11 months ago. I've had GERD and IBS for over 25 years. So, my digestive system has always been sensitive anyway, and my acid reflux has been worse over the last couple of years.

Partway through the New Year's Eve festivities, I felt a bit queasy rather than tipsy, and I just decided to not have any more champagne. Then, I didn't really get back into drinking. It was never a huge thing for me. Maybe once every month or two on a special occasion or on a holiday. So, no biggie.

If you have digestive issues of any kind, it's definitely worth considering if alcohol is making them worse.

What The Research Really Says

But it's not just your digestion that can be affected. Let me show you the surprising takeaways from the latest research about alcohol and your health. You probably remember when you used to hear that red wine was good for your heart. One glass a day for cardiovascular health thanks to resveratrol, the polyphenol that's found in dark grapes.

Now, that idea came from early observational studies, and more recent reviews have shown that it wasn't the wine that created the health benefits. That early data showed correlation, not causation, not cause and effect. Meaning, the people who drank red wine also ate more fish, more vegetables, and fruit, and had stronger social connections. They were also higher income earners, which affects health outcomes. Red wine was just a small part of the picture.

In reality, alcohol increases your risk for certain cancers, especially breast, liver, and colon. You increase your risk of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, liver disease. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant because it slows down brain activity, and it affects your mood, which means it also increases your risk of depression and anxiety.

And in 2023, the World Health Organization stated, "No level of alcohol consumption is safe for your health." But I still don't think that means you should panic if you enjoy a drink occasionally.

Real Life, Culture, And Balance

I'm Czech born and we take beer seriously.

My 95-year-old grandmother, Babi, and her friends at the retirement residence in the Czech Republic still enjoy a couple of beers occasionally. They usually feel pretty terrible afterwards, but they still enjoy the experience enough to do it again.

People have very strong feelings about alcohol one way or the other.

The last time I did a video about alcohol and fat loss many years ago, I had one slightly nutty woman leaving multiple comments saying, "If I gave up alcohol, then within a month it would lead me to enlightenment and clear my soul or something like that."

Now, as I just said, I haven't been drinking for about 11 months now, and nothing particularly special has happened. Even my acid reflux hasn't gone away, unfortunately. I also went a long time without drinking when I was pregnant with my son. Still waiting for that enlightenment.

Enjoy Alcohol Occasionally If You Choose

Despite all the facts I gave you, I'm not anti-alcohol, and I'll probably go back to drinking on special occasions and holidays. A glass or two of wine with your spouse or a couple of beers with a friend on a patio can enhance your quality of life. It's a nice experience. And your family and social life matters a lot as you get older.

Maintaining social connections is important. Many of my clients have careers where socializing with their colleagues and their clients is an important part of the job. And you can certainly drink less or drink non-alcoholic drinks. The newer alcohol-free drinks make it look like you're drinking. So, that might relieve the social pressure if you're affected by that.

How To Drink And Still Lose Fat

You can also have a few drinks and achieve your fat loss goals if you make better choices and drink a bit less overall. I stayed lean while drinking occasionally because the rest of my nutrition was on point. High in lean protein, plenty of vegetables and fruit, fibre from whole grains and nuts, and I maintained the calorie intake to avoid gaining fat.

Reducing alcohol intake can be an easy way of getting into a calorie deficit without tracking anything, though.

My client Mark lost 10 pounds in a month just by giving up alcohol. And giving it up also made him realize just how much he was drinking, and it was probably a bit too much. If alcohol is a problem for you, whether it's the amount or the frequency, consider taking a break and see how it feels.

What “Moderation” Means After 40

With the current research, I think we're at the point where you can't drink alcohol and keep telling yourself it's healthy because of outdated advice. Even moderate alcohol consumption, which is defined as one unit for a woman and two units for a man per day, isn't healthy. Daily drinking isn't usually a good habit.

If you feel like you need some alcohol every day after work, that's probably not a good thing. You should look at other ways to manage that stress. And anyone over 40 who's serious about fat loss and their health should probably only be drinking small amounts and not very often. What that means for you is really up to you to decide based on your priorities.

To put together your fat loss plan using the exact system I use with my clients, watch the VIDEO HERE.

Ivana Chapman