I am a big believer that life is all about balance. I have said many times before that I will never give up drinking beer entirely because I like the taste and especially the social aspect that comes along with it. I never keep beer in my house, it's not like that.
I enjoy going to meet friends at the pub and for the most part I can keep these sessions very reasonable and within my calorie ranges that I am aiming for.
However, in this past week there were two occasions that kind of got out of hand, a birthday and the anniversary of a pub that spiraled into rather long sessions of drinking and as is often the case, a hangover afterwards.
Often, when I have a hangover getting going with other aspects of my day that I would normally do are kind of slow in coming if they come at all. One of the first things that kind of goes out the window is my usual dedication to exercise and often, I will revert to an old hangover "cure" that I utilized in college which was to order comfort food that I know is absolutely terrible for me.
So here i am 2 days later after the two big sessions and I step on the scale and I weight 2kg more than I did 2 days ago.
This is not my first rodeo though and that is why I am not all that worried about it.
In order to physically gain 2kg properly, you need to have a caloric excess of around 18,000 calories above your maintenance level and this for me would be 2800 calories a day. With some quick math we can see that 23,800 calories in 2 days in order to actually gain 2kg for real.
There is no way that I did this. Even if I returned to some frat boy methods this would mean I would need to have drunk 193 bottles of beer.
If I attempted even half or possibly even a third of that number in 2 days I would be dead. I did NOT consume that many calories.
Here is what is really going on as far as the scale is concerned. I am retaining water because of the excessive alcohol.
Although alcohol acts as a diuretic and initially increases urination, this process leads to dehydration, which triggers a compensatory rebound effect where the kidneys aggressively retain water to restore balance.
Basically that "water weight" isn't real. I didn't really gain 2kg and neither did anyone else that steps on a scale after a bender and sees to their shock and awe that they "weigh" 2kg more than they did a few days ago.
Today, I am going to go on a run again and maybe do some light weights as well as drink a ton of water and also, not drink alcohol at all (ok, that last part might not come true but I am not going to party down like I did the past 2 nights)
After my run I am quite certain that those 2kg will be gone and when I wake up tomorrow and weigh myself in the morning they will have stayed gone.
While drinking excessive beer often can and definitely WILL lead to weight gain, a couple of irresponsible days are almost physically impossible for you to add on something like even 1kg in that time.
Weight gain comes from prolonged calorie excess, not a couple of days of bad behavior. This is where the "balance" part of my life kicks in: I generally consume less than my 2800 per day and I know this because periodically I check it pretty closely and I think that anyone that is aspiring to lose a bit of weight really needs to start there.
There is no reason to freak out the day after a booze session if you regularly exercise. I do, and that is why I am not worried about it.
