Alcohol can have a ton of calories, especially very flavorful craft beers or sweet cocktails. If your reason to stop drinking or drink less is because you want to lose weight, then cutting out alcohol can have a massive impact on your weightless progress, as long as you keep a few caveats in mind. Let’s get into it…
One month is enough time to see results if you’ve cut down on your caloric intake, which is pretty easy to do if you’re someone who has a drink or two (or more) every day. For example, a stout beer can have hundreds of calories.
Let’s use 350 calories as an example. If you drink 1 beer a day, at 350 calories, that’s an extra 3 pounds worth of weight each month. 1 pound of body fat is about 3500 calories. If you drink 3 stout beers a day, you’re at almost 10 pounds a month lost simply by not drinking the beer.
But there’s a little more to it… (No alcohol weight loss, one month…)
One issue that people run into is that they replace the calories they’re saving from not drinking alcohol with with foods or drinks. If you start drinking a ton of soda, milkshakes, etc – it’s good that you’re not drinking alcohol, but it won’t really help you with weight loss.
The Hidden Benefit of No Alcohol Weight Loss (After One Month)
We discussed people replacing alcohol with other calories, and how that can be a big setback in terms of weight loss.
If someone uses alcohol to manage stress, then they cut out the alcohol, it’s possible they’ll actually gain weight by eating even more caloric foods.
HOWEVER…
There’s another side to this.
And that’s the impact on your decision making.
Alcohol impairs your judgement, everyone recognizes this and accepts it.
If you find yourself drinking alcohol and then cheating on your diet, binging on junk food, or just overeating in general, then getting rid of that alcohol won’t just leave you with fewer calories consumed in the day, but it will also make it easier for you to make healthy choices when it comes to food.
So, if you typically drink 3 heavy beers a day for around 1000 calories, but then you go on to eat a couple donuts or other snack foods, then giving up alcohol could save you 1500, even 2000 calories on days that you drink.
If you’re prone to have a six back, or a twelve pack of beer, and then order a large pizza on the weekend, then cutting out alcohol could save you THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of calories.
If you’re thinking that using the 350 calories example is unfair since most beers have fewer than 350 calories, that’s fair! Let’s say you’re someone who drinks a 12-pack on the weekend, for around 2000+ calories, and then orders a large pizza for another 3000 calories, that’s almost TWO POUNDS of extra calories in one single day.
How Much Weight Can You Lose After Not Drinking for 1 Month?
The amount of weight loss that you can expect after one month of not drinking really depends on how much you drink, and whether or not you replace the calories from alcohol with something else.
Replace each beer with cucumber slices, celery, or another few low-calorie snack and you’ll be way ahead of the game.
Even replace it with zero-sugar soda, you’ll be way ahead of the game in terms of weight and overall health, well being, and overall quality of life. It’s not the healthiest thing to drink tons of diet soft drinks, of course, but it’s a lot better for you than drinking alcohol – especially if it helps you lose weight.
