This is a common question and I too had this same query many years ago. We all intuitively know that drinking alcohol can be a barrier to losing weight and it can be a large contributor to weight gain. Many wonder why this is exactly and how much they can drink while trying to lose weight.

Alcoholic drinks contain empty calories and have no benefit to your body. They contain zero nutrition, therefore your body cannot store it and it must be metabolised straight away. Your body goes through a process of oxidation, detoxification and prioritises metabolising alcohol, over other metabolic processes.

After your first alcoholic drink, your body starts to process and send the alcohol to your liver. The body recognises these by-products as toxins and will try to burn and eliminate them out of your system. While doing so, fat-burning is switched off.