Alcohol intake has been shown to block fat breakdown. It’s generally counterproductive to my fat-burning IF goals & I try to avoid.
It’s important to recognize that alcohol is quite calorie-dense, and that should be accounted for in strict regimens. However, it doesn’t seem to negatively impact the fasting state so long as one consumes in moderation like you do.
Try to avoid excess & live life fully! Cheers!
Depends what my goal is. When I’m trying to lose, no. When I am happy with my weight and trying to maintain, yes, I love a glass of wine with dinner. I choose it instead of sugar as my treat. It’s about goals and priorities.
For me, alcohol has become a “cheat day only” luxury. I limit it to special occasions like vacations, birthday, holidays, etc. Basically, on those days I abandon IF completely and eat or drink whatever I want… but that’s rare and never more than a few days at a time, then once it’s over I get back on the IF train.
I’m at a plateau at the moment for a different reason, but in the past I’ve had the biggest response when I cut out any beverages except coffee, tea and water (sparkling, preferably).
Alcohol *definitely* affects my weight loss, but I know that’s not the case with everyone on IF.
That said, since the goal of IF is to control insulin responses, it’s probably a good idea to reduce the foods you consume that cause insulin spikes – and booze is one of them.
I cut out alcohol and pop when I started my fasting a week ago. If you don’t need don’t drink it. I don’t feel bloated and don’t have a craving for it. The exception to the rule is when I go to someone’s house I may have a drink.
Yes I drink alcohol regularly.
I have moved away from counting my drinks and tracking everything. So I can’t tell you my weekly drink average. It’s a few a week.
I don’t track my alcohol consumption in my calories.
I try not to. Outside of fasting, I also try my best to keep my daily calories at 1500. Alcohol is just an inefficient way of consuming calories, and I don’t even like it that much. Once I reach my target weight and I feel like I can easily maintain it, I’ll probably slot in a couple of beers or cocktails in weekends.