In this article, I will explain to you how alcohol affects your results and should you be drinking when you’re on OMAD.
You can have an occasional drink of alcohol while doing OMAD. People who sporadically drink won’t see much of a difference in their results. However, people who drink more often can experience bigger hunger pangs, appetite urges, and dehydration.
This can lead to eating more and falling of the wagon. In many weight loss conversations, alcohol is like an elephant in the room. Everyone knows it’s there but nobody seems to say anything about it.
Can I Drink On OMAD?
In general, you can drink alcohol on OMAD however this will slow down your progress. Alcohol consumption inhibits fat oxidation and makes you dehydrated. Also, excessive drinking can lower your willpower to diet, trigger unwanted cravings, or eating behaviors.
Here’s what you need to know.
When you have a drink, doesn’t matter if that’s whisky, beer, or wine, the moment alcohol enters the body is treated as a toxin.
This means your body will shut down all the secondary functions (lipid oxidation) and will put all its effort to start the long process of elimination.
Here’s how it looks like:
How Alcohol Affects The Body?
As a general rule, alcohol affects the body by prioritizing the breakdown of ethanol further into acetaldehyde and acetate, and finally into the Acetyl-CoA. Alcohol also inhibits the body’s nutrient absorption which can lead to malnutrition and deficiencies.
The first step is to breakdown ethanol further into acetaldehyde.
This can only happen in your liver, and it takes time and energy. So right of the gate, your body is prioritizing your liver to “detox” all the alcohol first.
Then, your body needs to break down acetaldehyde into acetate and eventually Acetyl-CoA, which can be used as energy.
The problem?
The problem is that when your cells “get” extra acetate and Acetyl-CoA, it signals to the body that you don’t need extra fat to be burned.
So alcohol is not really a fat storage problem, it’s a fat suppressant problem.
This means it will stop your body from fat burning.
Alcohol Stops Fat Burning
After consuming alcohol, the body will stop all the fat-burning processes to prioritize the breakdown of ethanol. Acetyl-CoA can be used as a fuel so it doesn’t require the body to metabolize fatty acids for energy. As the result, fat isn’t burned as we use Acetyl-CoA as an energy source.
And if you are doing that on the regular basis, your body will start to ask for more energy (source).
Therefore it will trigger your hormonal signaling and make you more hungry. And that is the last thing you want when you’re doing one meal a day.
Because OMAD by itself is difficult to sustain. So with extra few drinks, you are not making it easier for yourself. And it will be difficult to maintain weight.
For some lucky people, this process can take only a few hours. But for others, it will take anywhere from 12 – 48 hours or more.
In my opinion, for some people, alcohol is the biggest problem that is stopping them from losing weight.
Regardless if they are doing intermittent fasting or not. Many of my clients can workout 3-4 times a week, stay on track with the diet, and see jaw-dropping results. But the biggest difference in results is between those who drink on a daily basis and those who don’t.
Some people can drink like fish and have no problem. They will stay skinny and even have a six-pack. But those types of people don’t need to lose weight anyway.
The problem is with people who are overweight and drink. That’s why many people can immediately start to lose weight simply by cutting on the booze.
Stop Drinking To Lose Weight
When you stop drinking alcohol, your body can finally start to lose weight and use that stubborn fat that you’ve been hiding and make you look slim really fast. No extra diet needed.
What always baffled me was why some can drink like no tomorrow and still have no weight issues. But that’s because they have different hormonal signaling and tolerance of alcohol (source).
They are more sensitive to alcohol.
It’s like some people may be high on just one coffee a day, where others can’t feel anything after 4 double espressos.
That’s why some people may feel a huge hangover after a couple of drinks, and others don’t. Some may experience greater hunger pangs after few drinks, others don’t.
So if your goal is to start with omad, get lean and healthy, you should look at the ways how to reduce alcohol and make your health your priority.
Alcohol Makes You Dehydrated
As a whole, alcohol makes you dehydrated because it works as a diuretic. The process of breaking down ethanol releases toxic by-products that the body starts rapidly eliminate. That’s why drinking increases urine excretion from the body, which leads to dehydration.
Eliminating and detoxifying alcohol from the body is an expensive process. All those steps that we’ve talked about above are accompanied by a substantial diuresis (source).
This means your body needs to eliminate, with the urine, sweat, and breath, all the metabolites and by-products of the process.
That’s why you can tell if someone was drinking the night before. When they talk they breathe stink from alcohol. They also sweat and pea more.
That is your body eliminating all the toxic compounds as soon as possible from the system.
That’s why you get dehydrated.
That will of course impact your cognition, blood pressure, sleep, mood, appetite, willpower, and metabolism.
Alcohol And OMAD
Your best bet is to simply reduce alcohol consumption. At least for the time of doing OMAD. This will help you stay on point, have fewer hunger pangs and see better results.
It may take some time and energy to stop drinking. If your drinking buddies see you with a glass of soda water instead of a pint, they may get on your case.
But sometimes you have to cross the line on the sand and decide what is your number one priority, and stick with it.
Conclusion
- Drinking alcohol on OMAD is acceptable only on occasion, however, bear in mind that this will likely interfere with your goals.
- Drinking alcohol stops from burning fat and it dehydrates the body so in the long term it will cause more rebound effect and weight gain
Go Further with OMAD
This article is part of the What To Drink On OMAD.
In the following articles, I show you everything there is to know about drinks and how to stay hydrated with OMAD for the best results.
Learn more: Click here to read more about can you drink coffee on omad