I looked around for posts about this, but most revolve around the likelihood of overeating when drunk, alcohol calories on top of daily calories, more likely to spend a day doing nothing, etc.
Alcohol does hinder sleep and workout quality, may induce a hangover and reduce unconscious physical activity, which I get might decrease energy expended.
But considering a minimal decrease in energy expended and an energy deficit being held through the week, to what extent does alcohol hinder fat loss? Or does it even hinder fat loss since its not possible to gain fat on a deficit?
Reducing sleep quality -> less deep sleep. Deep sleep initiates a spike of growth hormone at night which stimulates lipolysis (fat breakdown). Growth hormone also indirectly stimulates bone and muscle building.
So less quality sleep, less growth hormone, less fat burning, less muscle building
It increases cortisol which is the stress hormone, which will cause hunger spikes
Also alcohol is 7 cal/g. That’s a lot of calories. If you’re not counting them into your diet, you’re just asking not to lose weight