There are few things better than summertime in Chicago. Your weekends are often filled with BBQs, concerts, street festivals, pool parties and the great company of friends and family. Unfortunately, these social outings often accompany some tasty cocktails and fancy craft beers. It’s well known that alcohol won’t help your weight loss efforts, but you might find it surprising just how much alcohol contributes to weight gain. Read below to find out how those few drinks on the weekend are holding you back from achieving your goal weight. And don’t forget summertime in Chicago is also a great time to get outside and be active. Try bike riding along the lake or playing a game of beach volleyball to make sure you aren’t undoing all your hard work during the week.
1.) Calorie Fest: It’s no secret that alcohol is full of empty calories that offer zero nutritional value. Most servings of alcohol contain between 100-120 calories. Avoid using soda, tonic water or juice for mixers or you can count on doubling or tripling those calories. The bigger problem when you down 3 or 4 drinks in a night, is that your body will have hundreds of calories to process before it can return to breaking down “food calories” or stored fat (see #2). Scary Fact: the average margarita from a restaurant has 500+ calories