Day 29/30!
As promised, I want to continue on yesterday's topic - alcohol!
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ALCOHOL INCREASES YOUR APPETITE:
Alcohol can stimulate appetite, often leading to overeating. Alcohol can affect the production of ghrelin, the hormone that stimulates hunger, leading to increased cravings, particularly for high-fat, high-calorie foods.
ALCOHOL AFFECTS YOUR SLEEP:
While alcohol may make you feel sleepy initially, it can disrupt the quality of your sleep. Alcohol often brings the body into a “flight or fight mode” instead of a restful mode, even though it may not feel that way, this leads to less deep sleep and important sleep stages.
ALCOHOL MAY HAVE A NEGATIVE AFFECT ON YOUR WORKOUTS:
Many don’t feel great after a night of drinking, even if you do think you feel fine, you are likely dehydrated, your body is still trying to burn off the alcohol, or you are not as rested due to a restless sleep!
ALCOHOL IMPACTS STRESS HORMONES:
While alcohol might initially make you feel relaxed or euphoric, consumption of too much alcohol actually increases cortisol levels. Elevated cortisol can increase feelings of stress and anxiety, which is part of the body’s stress response.
Increased cortisol levels can:
Impair immune function (making you more susceptible to illness)
Disrupt sleep (increasing anxiety and reducing recovery)
Increase fat storage, especially around the abdominal area (because cortisol is linked to visceral fat storage)
We have discussed how important diet, sleep, exercise & mental health are when it comes to losing fat/weight, so now you can see why alcohol can just add fire to the problem! Again, anything in moderation is okay for you! I just highlight these things so you can learn and understand how certain things really do affect you. If you are someone who is serious about losing fat, these are important things to know so you are not trying to put in a lot of effort and not seeing results --> that is never fun!
I hope this information is helpful for some of you! :) Will be back tomorrow for our last full day of the challenge...!!!!!!