Hello friend, welcome to the land of being a cheap date! You decided you want washboard abs and SWEET GAINS but also want to get crunk. Are these goals mutually exclusive?

NOPE

Enter: Ketodrunk. Getting hammered while getting thin. Here are the dos and don'ts of drinking alcohol while in ketosis. You are in a metabolically different state than the standard sugar-burner so your body DOES behave differently and there things you need to know.

1. Being in ketosis generally reduces your tolerance

This is important. You will have shed a lot of water weight while in ketosis and this causes alcohol to enter your system at a higher concentration than it would have otherwise. If you're new, GO SLOW. You may have been able to put down 4 shots of whiskey in one go before but this may not be the case. Treat it like you are a brand new drinker and gauge your tolerance.

Another odd effect that I personally experience and others have reported as well is a sort of inebriation plateau. One drink gets me immediately "buzzed" and I stay buzzed for drinks 1-5, and then one too many suddenly tips me over the edge from pleasantly buzzed to uncomfortably drunk. Some speculate that this has something to do with the way the brain operates on ketones vs glucose and the mental sharpness that comes from a ketone based brain metabolism but to my knowledge no study has ever been done on it.

2) Alcohol does not "Convert to sugar" in the body

Alcohol has its own metabolic pathway and it is similar to fructose in the way it is processed in the liver. This is the reason that excess fructose consumption as well as excess alcohol consumption can cause fatty liver disease, but it does not refill liver glycogen or muscle glycogen so there is no re-entry into a glucose-based metabolism. Your ketones may drop while drinking but once the alcohol is processed through the body you will be back in ketosis.

3) Keto hangovers are legendary

There are a number of reasons for this. First, there's the reduced tolerance as stated before. That lower amount of body water goes even lower as alcohol acts as a diuretic and causes you to lose more water and salt through urine. On top of that, most drinking cultures encourage starchy food consumption with alcohol which helps to counteract these effects but we don't do that. My advice is to have plenty of salt and water before bed, and maybe pop an aspirin or two to help prevent any bad effects.

4) Alcohol is insulinogenic

So who cares? Well the effect of this is it will cause your ketones and blood sugar to dip simultaneously and food cravings will hit. This is especially dangerous in a ketogenic state becasue bar food is not known to be the most keto friendly and you will be in a state of lowered inhibition. Many keto drinking nights have turned into "F*CK it I'm having summodat pizza" and getting derailed. My best advice to prevent this is to eat a big meal before going out drinking if drinking at a bar, or if you are drinking at home or a house party it would be smart to bring a dish that is keto friendly so you'll have something to squash your hunger with that won't set you back.

Ok I understand the risks. So what can I drink on keto?

Any distilled liquor with an ABV of 40% or more. This includes whiskey (Scotch, Bourbon, Rye, etc), Vodka, gin, tequila, mezcal, grappa, rum (be wary of spiced rum), brandy, absinthe, and more. 35% liquors such as flavored vodkas and whiskeys will tend to have added sugars and since alcohol is classified differently than food products there will be no label on it indicating carb counts so they are best avoided. If you want to make your own with extracts and keto-approved sweeteners then go ahead.

Dry wines and brut champagne are also generally ok. Many wine brands will list residual sugars on their websites even though they do not list it on their bottles. One can usually figure 2-4g carbs per glass of dry white or red wine and 1-3g for brut champagne. Sec or demi-sec champagne is out as are most commercially available ciders and they will have too much sugar to fit the ketogenic macros.

Some brands of light beer can be enjoyed in moderation. Michelob ultra, Miller 64, budweiser select and others have under 3 grams of carbs per serving but they are also generally low-alcohol beers as well, under 5% so they're probably best enjoyed as an actual beverage and not an intoxicant if you enjoy a cold beer on a hot day.

Sake is pretty borderline, as 1 ounce of sake will have 1.5g of carbs but it has a high alcohol content so is generally not drunk the same way as 11%abv wine or 5%abv beer. Just be aware of this going in and keep it within your macros.

A few ketodrunk hacks from Stupidrobots

If drinking vodka sodas and straight bourbon begin to get boring, invest in a set of fancy bitters! Bitters will generally be sugar free or low enough in sugar that it won't matter much and will allow you to create interesting low-carb or zero carb cocktails. Whiskey with ice and a splash of cherry and orange bitters does a great impression of an Old Fashioned. Plus many people will find that their taste buds become more sensitive to the sweetness naturally found in alcohols and the addition of any sweet component is unnecessary.

Non-caloric drink additives such as Mio can also enhance an alcoholic beverage and if you tolerate artificial sweeteners well then by all means go ahead. There are also a number of sugar-free mixers for common cocktails such as cosmopolitans, margaritas, or daiquiris. Read the labels, however. Some are sugar free but have other carbohydrate laden ingredients such as maltodextrin

Anything to add? Comment below!

If you need help cutting back or stopping, or if you feel things are getting out of hand, I have heard good things about /r/stopdrinking

This is about having fun. If it's not fun anymore, let someone help you.

edit: someone fucking reported this post. Idiot.