You workout five times a week, mixing cardio with strength training, and keep a healthy diet- you rarely eat fast food and try to keep your fat, sodium, and sugar intake to a minimum. However, you just can’t seem to lose those last few pounds or sculpt the amount of muscle you’ve been working towards. Is it genetics, or some sort of chemical imbalance? Possibly, but if you’re a frequent drinker, say 3 or more times a week, you could be hindering your fitness goals. Here are a few reasons you should cut back on the booze if you’re trying to lose weight, sculpt muscle, or just stop being a Fatty McTubbs.

Booze is high in calories

Hove you ever noticed that those who indulge in beer very frequently have that awkward beer gut, even if they’re thin everywhere else? This is because booze is high in calories and generally carries it self around the stomach area. Although you might not go the girly-drink route, which involves cosmos and lemondrops that have upwards of 200 calories, after a few beers, glasses of wine, or even lower-calorie mixed drinks, you’ve consumed enough to equal a whole meal. Unless of course,  you cut back on your food intake to save room for drinks, but as we know that rarely happens, because

You tend to eat crap after drinking

One of my biggest vices is hitting a Mexican food joint after a long night of drinking. Even if you drink low calorie beverages, a burrito, nacho plate, or dozen wings will completely undo your preventative measures, and will probably amplify your hangover exponentially.

Alcohol dehydrates you

No matter how many times someone tells you to drink water when you drink, you are almost inevitably going to drink twice as much booze as pure H2O. Unfortunately, the dehydration that comes hand in hand with drinking is a big reason for your weight gain- it makes you hungrier, more fatigued and “disrupt(s) the ability of the muscle cells to produce ATP – which is your primary source of muscular energy.”

You can’t workout hungover

Even if you have the diligence to get out of bed after a night of binge drinking and drag your feet to the gym, the chances of you making it even 15 minutes into a cardio workout are slim to none. You’ll start sweating booze, your headache will multiply, and that 1000 calorie meal you ate at midnight will make its triumphant return to your bowels.

Alcohol slows your recovery time

While your energy after a workout is best used to recover from strength training and cardio, drinking a ton will force your body to exert energy instead on cleaning up after the oil spill that those 8 Jaeger bombs left behind.

We all enjoy a fun night out with friends, and we’re not even saying you should never enjoy a bender everyone in a while. However, frequent binge drinking will negatively affect your physique- which will probably also affect your booty-hunting skills! Slow your roll, and you’ll be ripped in no time.

Learn more about alcohol’s effect on your workout at AskMen.com