How to Lose Weight and Still Drink Beer

Alcoholic beverages are highly caloric and as such are not generally part of any weight loss plan. Out of the alcoholic drinks, beer contains the most calories (about 200 calories per pint, varying with beer type) followed by wine then spirits, which contain about 110 and 50 calories per serving, respectively. Thus, losing weight while drinking beer can be difficult--but not impossible.

Things You'll Need

• diet plan

Show More

Instructions

How to Lose Weight and Still Drink Beer

• 1

  Increase your activity levels. In order to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume. This can be achieved by increasing activity, decreasing calorie consumption or both. Drinking beer adds to caloric intake, so it becomes necessary for beer drinkers to work on the other side of the equation by increasing activity. To burn off a single pint of beer at 200 calories, you will need to run for nearly 15 minutes or walk for nearly 45. Keeping these numbers in mind may help you avoid overindulging, or at least drinking a beer lighter in calories.

• 2

  Decrease your calorie intake. If you do not wish to increase activity, then it is necessary to decrease caloric intake. Do this by watching portion sizes, not snacking between meals and making healthful food choices (for example, eating whole grain bread rather than white). When cutting calories, it is important to make sure you are getting all the necessary nutrients from the foods you eat. That is, make sure you are not exchanging food calories for beer calories while sacrificing nutrition.

• 3

  Limit consumption. Drinking too much beer can lower inhibitions making it easy to overindulge not only by drinking more (too much) beer but also in eating more food. To prevent this, do not drink more than one beer per hour, which is about how quickly your liver can detoxify it. Also avoid drinking while snacking or before meals because this can lead to overeating and a higher calorie intake.

• 4

  Enjoy the benefits. Losing weight and drinking beer do not have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, there are many health benefits to beer including increased heart, kidney and brain health and decreased stress. Circulating levels of vitamin B6 and HDL cholesterol are also lower in moderate drinkers. Beer can also help you hydrate better than water after a strenuous workout. To outweigh the risks of overindulging, it is best to drink one or three beers per day for men and half that for women (the gender difference is due to the fact that women are smaller and break alcohol down less efficiently then do men).