Can You Drink Alcohol and Still Build Muscle?

Can You Drink Alcohol and Still Build Muscle?

Eat clean. Train hard. Don't drink. Get plenty of rest. That's what we've all heard is the key to getting the lean sculpted physique that so many of us desire. The problem is that what you hear and what is actually true isn't often always the same thing. This post addresses one popular misconception: you can't build or maintain a lean and sculpted physique if you drink alcohol. The truth is that you absolutely can! There are, however, a few caveats.

Alcohol is not going to destroy your physique if you take it in moderation and if you account for it properly in your diet. The problem that many people run into is that they don't or won't do one or the other. I've heard it all: vodka is OK because it has so few carbs, light beers won't make you gain fat, alcohol doesn't really count in your diet. All of that reasoning is total garbage. And we all know they guy who kills it in the gym during the week only to take a giant leap backwards by drinking himself silly on the weekend. So, then how can you consume alcohol and keep your diet and your physique in tact or even progress?

Consume Alcohol in Moderation

If you go out and get completely plastered or even buzzed every time you drink then alcohol and building muscle isn't going to mix for you. However, if you can have a drink or two and call it a day then there is no reason why you can't have a little alcohol every now and again. I, fortunately, fall into the later category. I like beer, wine and occasionally liquor, but I rarely drink enough to get drunk or even buzzed.

Getting drunk or even buzzed isn't doing your body any favors. Alcohol is a depressant and a diuretic, which means that it slows you down and it can dehydrate you [1]. Both of these things in any kind of excess are going to be counter productive towards building muscle. Consuming alcohol to the point of intoxication has also been shown to decrease the rate of protein synthesis [2]. The key here is moderation.

Account for Alcohol in Your Diet

A huge mistake many people make is that they don't account for alcohol in their diets. Alcohol may not be a carb, fat or protein, but it does have a calories. And those calories can (and do) get converted to fat if taken in a surplus above your dietary requirements. 

Generally, I count alcohol as carbohydrates. The only problem is that alcohol has more calories per gram than a carbohydrate does. Carbohydrates have 4kcals/gram and alcohol has 7kcals/gram [3]. So, in order to convert alcohol to carbs in terms of kcals, I take the total number of alcohol calories I consumed, divide by 4 and add in that many additional carbohydrates into my diet log (I usually just add them as sugar).

Example: I drink one beer that has 95 calories, but only 5g carbohydrates.

alcohol calories = 95 - 5g of of carbohydrates * 4kcals/g of carbs = 75kcals

additional carbs to be added into diet log = 75kcals of alcohol / 4kcals/g of carbs = 18.75g carbohydrates

If you can both consume alcohol in moderation and account for alcohol properly in your diet then there is no reason to fear that a couple of drinks will destroy your progress or keep you from further progressing in your fitness goals. Alcohol is not the enemy. It just has to be accounted for and taken responsibly.

Note: This post is only intended for readers of legal drinking age. if you do choose to drink, always drink responsibly. Never drink and drive.

References

[1] Eggleton, M. Grace. "The diuretic action of alcohol in man." The Journal of physiology 101.2 (1942): 172-191.

[2] Lang, Charles H., et al. "Alcohol myopathy: impairment of protein synthesis and translation initiation." The international journal of biochemistry & cell biology 33.5 (2001): 457-473.

[3] Lieber, Charles S. "Perspectives: do alcohol calories count?." The American journal of clinical nutrition 54.6 (1991): 976-982.

Posted by Clayton Long