Can you burn Acetate from Alcohol Through Exercise

RoseAsRose

Hi All,

I've recently learned that alcohol can act a a barrier to fat loss because it converts alcohol to acetate which your body will use for energy before turning to carbs, protein, fats. (For background info see: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson194.htm). There are a ton of articles explaining how alcohol hinders weight loss and is bad bad bad for that. I get it. But I attended 3 events last night and had a few drinks so now I'm on damage control.

None of the articles I've come across address whether it is possible to burn off the acetate more quickly through exercise. I'm guessing that exercising helps at least a little since your body will use acetate as an energy source and when you increase your energy you'd probably use up more of it.

But I'm wondering if anyone knows this for sure - Does exercise help you burn off acetate more quickly after consuming drinks?

Thanks!

Rose

watfordjc

I was wondering this yesterday and figured if the energy from alcohol is used first, it still all comes down to energy balance. Having said that, I'm not sure how good alcohol is as a fuel for workouts. I haven't looked at the research linked to in this article, but it seems to suggest the research says it isn't that good a fuel source: http://correct-weight-loss.net/2010/01/13/drinking-alcohol-and-exercise/

If alcohol in the system reduces blood glucose after and FFA during exercise, I would assume the acetate is being used for fuel. And from the look of things, it isn't the best fuel for most workouts. Suppose it comes down to "burning of the alcohol" vs. "fuelling a workout" and which way you want to look at things, but based on that article I don't think many of us would consider alcohol a good thing for fitness goals. Hmmm... "hangover" means zero alcohol in the blood, and FFA during exercise was normal but blood glucose after was low... burn off the alcohol when tipsy, burn off the fat when hungover?

RoseAsRose

Maybe it would be worth working out twice after a night of drinking? Once to burn off the acetate and then again to actually metabolize carbs and fat? Though I remember a trainer once telling me it would be hard to burn off all of the acetate from drinking in one work out session. He also said you can "cheat" and go to a sauna which would help burn it off faster . . . not sure any of that is true

HappyStack

I would think until it leaves your system, which hinges on a dozen different factors nobody can predict for you, whatever hindrance it poses to your goals will remain regardless of how much or how hard you exercise in the aftermath.

As far as I know, alcohol - even when the ethanol is oxidised into acetate - is not usable energy, it is metabolised into CO2 and water. Your body will still turn to its glycogen stores to produce energy.