How I Gained 30+ Pounds In Two or Three Months

One word: alcohol.

I have been reading a lot about alcohol and weight gain lately, and I think I can safely blame most of my weight gain on it now. (Well, blame myself for drinking it, that is). Here’s the story: Summer 2006 I was down around 135-140 or so after riding my bike every day. I looked great and was in a size 6 adult and 7 junior. I ate whatever I wanted - partied a lot with friends and we downed a lot of pizza and junk. That summer is when I took up drinking like a fiend. Well, when summer temps went away and coldness hit the northeast, I stopped riding my bike. But I didn’t change my eating or drinking habits at all.

So probably from mid-October is when I began putting on weight like crazy. I swear literally 2 months later is when I realized I had gained a LOT - shot up to 165. I couldn’t fit into anything and was miserable.

So, how is alcohol the culprit, you ask? After a lot of research online, I have learned something about metabolism and alcohol. There have been several studies done where people had their metabolisms measured before taking a drink. Then they were given ONE alcohol drink - a lemonade with a shot of vodka in it, for example. Then their metabolism was measured again.

In many cases, the person’s metabolism had dropped 73%!! After only one drink! And it stayed that way for a few hours. When you ingest an ounce or so of alcohol, a tiny portion of it immediately turns into fat. The rest is metabolized by the liver and turned into acetate. It’s this acetate that is the culprit of lowering our fat-burning abilities.

So consider me last fall: I was drinking all day and night (yeah, it was bad for a while). I would eat the majority of my food in the afternoon and at night when I got the beer and alcohol munchies.

Therefore, nearly everything I ate turned into fat, because I wasn’t exercising, and my poor metabolism had hit rock-bottom because of alcohol! Plus I was very lazy in those months. I never worked out and took cabs all over town instead of walking. Plus I was intoxicated a lot so who wanted to do exercise in those circumstances?

So THAT is how I gained this weight. Some people, perhaps, can drink and lose weight efficiently. But my body has more than proved that I cannot.

I am strongly considering not even taking one drink until I get to my goal. I barely drink anymore these days to begin with… I don’t mind cutting it out completely.