Does Alcohol Make You Gain Weight? Why Drinking Less Can Help Weight Loss

About 1 in 3 men and 1 in 5 women drink alcohol daily. But alcohol has calories and can lead to unwanted weight gain. 

The relationship between alcohol and weight is complex. Keep reading to learn more about how alcohol can affect your weight.

How does alcohol cause weight gain?

Alcohol has many different effects on your health. Here’s how drinking alcohol regularly can contribute to weight gain.

Alcohol adds extra calories

All alcohol contains calories. These are “extra” calories because people don’t drink alcohol to satisfy hunger or meet nutritional needs. In other words, alcohol provides “empty” calories. Plus, many alcoholic drinks contain additional calories from mixers, sugar, and other additives.

When your body gets more energy than it needs (either from eating too much or drinking too much), it stores that extra energy as fat. 

Alcohol slows down metabolism

Your metabolism is how your body turns food into energy for everyday functions, like thinking, breathing, and moving.

When you drink alcohol, your body’s metabolism focuses on processing and removing it. This is because alcohol is toxic to your body.

Unfortunately, while your body is busy metabolizing alcohol, it can’t handle food as efficiently. This causes your metabolism to slow down.

Alcohol intake can lead to unhealthy food choices

Even when you feel your best, it can be hard to make healthy food choices. Alcohol affects your brain and decision-making. You may be more tempted to eat foods that are less nutritious and be more likely to give in to those temptations.

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• Trying to drink less alcohol? Here are strategies and hacks to reduce how much and how often you drink.

• More strategies to manage your weight. Consider these evidence-based ways to lose weight.

• Eat less sugar: Cutting back on how much sugar you consume can also help with weight loss — and improve your overall health.

Alcohol interrupts sleep

Alcohol might also lead to unintentional weight gain by interrupting sleep. Some people fall asleep easier after 1 or 2 drinks. But over time, regular alcohol intake can make it harder to fall and stay asleep. Drinking too much in one day can also disrupt sleep because of side effects like nausea and vomiting. Poor-quality sleep has been linked to having a body mass index (BMI) higher than 30. It’s not clear whether occasional drinks will significantly impact sleep quality. But consistent, long-term alcohol intake can impair your sleep and contribute to unintentional weight gain. 

Alcohol affects cortisol levels

Over time, regular alcohol consumption can increase your body’s cortisol levels. Cortisol is a stress hormone that plays an important role in your health. Normally, cortisol levels rise only for short periods of time. When cortisol levels remain high for long periods of time, it can affect your physical and emotional health. High cortisol levels can also affect your metabolism and lead to unintended weight gain. It’s not clear if an occasional alcoholic drink will drastically affect your cortisol levels. But science is still studying how even small amounts of alcohol affect your health. That’s why experts point out that no amount of alcohol is safe for your health. 

Does beer, wine, or liquor cause more weight gain?

Different types of alcohol have different numbers of calories, but all can cause weight gain.

Here are some rough estimates for the calorie content of beer, wine, and liquor:

• Beer: 150 calories per 12 oz

• Wine: 120 calories per 5 oz

• Liquor: 100 calories per 1.5 oz

Per recommended serving, liquor has the fewest calories. But this doesn’t include any calories from mixers. Drinks poured at home or served in bars and restaurants are often larger than a “standard serving,” which can add even more calories.

Does alcohol lead to more belly fat?

Drinking too much alcohol can raise the risk of weight gain throughout your body, especially in your belly. Scientists don’t fully understand how alcohol causes a “beer belly,” also called central obesity. But they do know that abdominal weight gain is linked to a higher risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Can quitting drinking help with weight loss?

If you’re struggling to lose excess weight, quitting drinking can help improve your weight loss efforts. This is especially true if you drink regularly or have more than 1 to 2 drinks at a time.

How much weight can you lose by quitting alcohol?

How much weight you’re able to lose by giving up alcohol depends on several factors, including:

• How much excess weight you have

• How much alcohol you typically drink

• Whether you have other medical problems

• Your eating habits

• Your other lifestyle behaviors

For example, imagine a person who drinks 3 beers per night. An average beer has about 150 calories. By giving up 3 beers a night, they would consume 450 fewer calories per day. In 1 week, that adds up to 3,150 fewer calories. 

If that person replaces drinking time with more active pursuits, they would burn even more calories throughout the week.

On the other hand, if they replace their nightly beers with a high-calorie dessert, they might not see the same improvements in weight.

How long after quitting drinking can I expect to start losing weight?

This depends on how much excess weight you have and how much alcohol you’ve been drinking. It also depends on other lifestyle changes, like improving your diet or increasing physical activity.

People who stop drinking daily alcohol can often start to see changes in body composition and weight within days or weeks of quitting.

Tips to prevent weight gain from alcohol

If you do want an alcoholic drink every now and then, you can make smarter and more nutritious choices about what you drink. Here are some suggestions for lower-calorie alcoholic drinks:

• Wine spritzer: Add carbonated water, like seltzer or club soda, to a partially filled glass of wine.

• Light beer: Light beers often have fewer calories and less alcohol than regular beers.

• Mixed drink: Choose mixers that are lower in calories, like club soda. You can also try low-calorie mixed drinks, like a “skinny” margarita, which has less sugar than a regular margarita. Avoid using straight juice as a mixer because juices usually contain a lot of sugar. You can also add carbonated water to any mixed drink to dilute it further.

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Written by:

Meg Burke, MD

Meg Burke, MD, is a practicing primary care geriatrician in the Denver, Colorado area. She is board-certified in internal medicine and geriatric medicine, and received her undergraduate and medical degrees from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. After graduating from medical school, Dr. Burke completed her internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and her two years of subspecialty training in geriatric medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

Edited by:

Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH

Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH, is a medical editor at GoodRx. She is a licensed, board-certified pediatrician with more than a decade of experience in academic medicine.

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If you or someone you know struggles with substance use, help is available. Call the National Helpline from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) to learn about resources in your area.