Is this stopping you from losing weight?

“Just one can’t really hurt too much, can it?”

Perhaps you’ve thought this when you're out with friends during a time when you're trying to stick to a diet.

After all, you’ve done your homework.  A typical can of beer (356 g) only contains 154 calories and a 5 ounce (148 g) glass of wine only contains 123 calories.

Not enough really to disrupt your weight loss plans.

Or is it?

Actually just one drink has a much bigger impact on your body weight-wise than just adding calories.  When you drink alcohol your body burns fat slower than usual.

In his book Eat More Weigh Less, Dr Dean Ornish cites a study that found drinking three ounces of alcohol reduced the body's ability to burn fat by one third.  (Other studies have shown that alcohol can hinder fat burning up to 73%.)

So if you're looking to get rid of that beer belly or unwanted fat around your midriff, you'll have the best results if you totally eliminate alcohol from your diet.

If that's not incentive enough, here's something else...

A recent study found that men consume an additional 433 calories on the days they drink a moderate amount of alcohol (61% of that comes from the alcohol itself.)

The study also showed that on the days when alcohol was consumed, more meat and other foods containing high levels of saturated fat were also eaten (and less fruit and milk were consumed.)