It has become an accepted part of our culture; the weekend unwind sessions, which involve profuse consumption of various alcoholic concoctions. However, if you are serious about controlling your weight, or furthering weight loss, the buck stops here.

Many people do not fully understand what occurs in the body following consumption of alcohol; they think it’s a simple case of calories in – news flash- that’s false.

Alcohol affects the body in many more ways that can be assumed by the average person.

Alcohol is Not a “Normal” Carb

• While alcohol is theoretically a carb, it is very different in one major aspect – its caloric yield.
• Each gram of alcohol yields 7 calories, which is almost double the standard carbohydrate (at 4cal/g) and just shy of fat (9cal/g)
• Alcoholic calories are not shuttled and stored as excess glycogen, but are burned as they come in, this means you receive virtually no nutrition from alcohol.
• All of this applies to solo alcohols, meaning that the average person is doing much worse when they binge. Cocktails, for example, are loaded with sugar and carbs, while some other alcoholic beverages even contain fat.
• Coupled with the fact that insulin is released following consumption of alcohol, you have the perfect storm of blunted fat burning and increased fat storage.

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When approaching a new weight loss routine, it can be difficult to get started. Some of us are more blessed than others are when it comes to easily shedding pounds.

It may be a case of having tried and tried again, only to find that you are getting nowhere, leading to understandable discouragement. This has led you to ask the question whether you would be a good candidate for weight loss surgery.

First, let’s look at the different types of weight loss surgery.

Gastric Bypass

This is by far the most common weight loss surgery; your doctor may also refer to it as RYGB. The basic idea is that the surgeon leaves you with just a small pouch of the stomach that cannot hold much food, meaning that you will eat less. Therefore, the food that you eat bypasses the rest of your stomach, instead going from the pouch straight to the small intestine. It requires just several slight incisions and then a camera to monitor the progress inside. Continue reading →