How you can balance a social life with achieving your goals

We’ve all been there. You’ve had a long week of work. It’s Friday, your friend asks if you want to go down the pub for a few. ‘I’ve worked hard all week, I deserve a night off’.

Yes, you absolutely do! Going out for drinks is how many of us socialise. It’s important to have balance in our lives and be able to let our hair down and live a little. We should be able to go out and enjoy ourselves.

But, when you’re on a fat loss journey, it can be something that hinders your progress. ‘I’ll just have one or two, I’m on a diet’. Next thing you know, it’s 2pm on Saturday afternoon, you’re hanging out your arse and you have a domino’s on its way. Not ideal!

This is a process that tends to repeat every weekend for many people. But, it doesn’t have to be this way! We can drink and still progress - we just need to know how to manage it. Knowledge is power here. Going out for drinks absolutely doesn’t have to be the thing that sets you back each week. We just need the right tools and information to help us balance it alongside our goals.

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So, I’m going to give you my top tips for managing alcohol, while still achieving your fat loss goals. First, we need to understand what alcohol does within the body.

I’m gonna keep this bit short and sweet - but essentially alcohol is a toxin. The body does not enjoy it and will put a primary focus on trying to get rid of it.

Alcohol also causes an insulin response, which is why the end of the night comes and you are dying for a takeaway. Alcohol causes that; the body is dying for carbs. It also causes dehydration, which is another reason why you feel like absolute shit the next day! So, on to the bit we all want - the tips:

1. Plan ahead.

Alcohol needs to be looked at like any other calorie when we’re dieting. They are still calories (they don’t provide any nutritional benefits, but still, a calorie!), meaning we need to track them.

If you know you are going for a drink that weekend, plan ahead. Input the number of drinks you are willing to use calories for into your MyFitnessPal for that evening, and then eat the remaining calories around that for the day. You could also use calorie cycling - save some calories during the week, and add them to your Friday/Saturday, to have some extra calories to play around with. I have a post on my Instagram about calorie cycling if you want more info on that.

2. Drink a pint of water in between each drink.

This keeps you hydrated, meaning you won’t feel as shit the next day; you will wake up feeling better and be able to train, get your steps in, and go about your day as normal. This also slows down your drinking, meaning you won’t get as pissed, and we all know when we’re drunk our fat loss goals get thrown out the window. Nobody wants that.

3. Five drink rule.

This one works quite well. Stick to five drinks, max. This is generally enough to allow us to socialise, but not get smashed. It's fairly easy to make it fit our calories. Couple that with a pint of water between each drink and you’re winning!

4. Choose wisely.

Choose lower-calorie drinks. Gin and slimline tonic, vodka soda/diet coke, Prosecco. Those are your main ones, they hold the least amount of calories. Around 70 kcals per single, versus the 200-300 of beer, wine, and cocktails.

5. Swerve the kebab.

If you do decide to get some food at the end of the night, maybe consider a grilled chicken pitta from the kebab shop versus the donner meat and chips. As sad as that may be, you’ll thank yourself the next day!

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These tips are for those of you who want to enjoy a drink but still make progress. If you want to drink, and you don’t care if it affects progress- that’s also fine. Enjoy it. But make your decision, and be ok with it. Don’t beat yourself up if you ended up drinking a little too much and got a takeaway. That happens sometimes. We’re all only human, and life is for living.

Hope this helps!

Nadia x