I have never told a client to stop drinking, and I have never had a client lose fat while drinking every night. Both of those are true, and the gap between them is where most Clydebank fat-loss plans fall apart. So here are the numbers, without a lecture.
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What a drink costs
- A pint of lager: around 200 calories. A pint of cider or a strong IPA: 250 or more.
- A large glass of wine (250ml): around 230.
- A single spirit with a mixer: 100 to 150, depending on the mixer. With diet mixer, under 70.
- A big Saturday, six pints and a kebab: roughly 2,000 calories, which is a whole day's food on top of the day's food.
Put your own week into the alcohol calculator and it shows you the total against your 8-Week block. Most people are surprised, and not in a good way.
The bit the calories miss
Alcohol is processed first, so the food eaten alongside it is stored more readily. Sleep after drinking is worse, which makes the next day hungrier and the next session flatter. And the food choices on the night and the morning after are rarely a chicken salad. A big Saturday often costs a Sunday and half a Monday, which is three days out of seven.
Why I count rather than ban
A plan you cannot live with for eight weeks is not a plan. Most of my clients pick their nights: one or two a week, with the drinks counted in the day's number like anything else. The ones who do that lose fat. The ones who tell me they have stopped and have not, do not. I would rather know.
Three swaps that do most of the work
- Spirit and diet mixer instead of pints. Same night, half the calories.
- Eat before, not after. A proper meal with protein before the first drink slows everything down and kills the 2am chip shop.
- Water between drinks. Old advice because it works: fewer drinks, better sleep, better Sunday.
The test
If the tape is not moving and everything else is in place, alcohol is the first thing I look at, because it is the thing people under-count most. Write down a week of it exactly. Then decide. It is your call, and I will build the plan around whichever call you make.
Questions about your week: message me. Nothing you tell me will surprise me; I have coached in Clydebank since 2010.