Alcohol

KristenNagle1

Anyone have trouble cutting down on alcohol. I have gotten into a bad habit of having wine almost every night and many times - way too much to fit into my calorie budget.

judowolf

You have to budget for it, just like any other "treat"...Wine is my downfall as well, but I try to limit myself to a couple nights a week, mostly weekends and just eat a smaller lunch so I can have wine later. I allow myself a splurge every once in a while, but try to stick to my plan as much as possible, best of luck and cheers!

ninerbuff

Maybe this will help:
When alcohol is in the system, it has to be metabolized because it cannot be stored. So any other energy source, (carbs, fats, proteins) WILL NOT be used until all the alcohol is gone from your system. The worst time to drink alcohol is at night before bed. Why? Because we burn the most body fat AT REST and the most fat is burned SLEEPING, unless of course you still have alcohol in your system.
Hope that helps.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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kat_para_

For me, it was one of the first things to go. Drinking only increases my appetite anyway!

Will_Run_for_Food

I'm 100% with you. I now try to buy the smaller bottles so I don't have a choice but to limit it to no more than a couple of glasses. I try to save my wine nights for the days that I run (and burn the most calories). One glass of wine (6 oz) is roughly 150 calories. That's about 30 minutes of walking, 15 minutes of running or 20 minutes of low-impact aerobics.

gracegoodcookie

I struggle with this.... daily. But I find when I quit drinking wine, I'm more likely to sleep better and my morning workouts the next day are so much better. To me, it's worth giving up the wine to have a stronger workout.
(But ask me again tomorrow because this is something I deal with every day.)

KristenNagle1

I am glad to know I am not alone! You are right, I sleep much better without it too. I am doing my workouts around 5 pm so I tell myself, if you drink this, you are negating all the work you did. IT's especially bad because I don't just drink 1 glass, once I open a bottle it's like, gone - ahhhhh. I am sending you good vibes to make great choices each day!

MarinaKina

I have sad news which I, too, am struggling with. Metabolism of alcohol is not straight-forward, thus alcohol is not a straight caloric trade-off: drinking essentially shuts off the pathway one's body uses to access and burn stored fat. Simplified: one of the liver's jobs is to support the metabolism. When alcohol is in one's system, the liver’s number-one job becomes to detoxify and remove that alcohol from the body. And one standard drink takes about ten hours to be completely detoxified. During that time (for example while one is asleep, if one drinks in the evening), fat burning abilities are on hold or at best significantly reduced, which delays the body from dealing with other nutrients—which is why drinking alcohol causes blood sugar to go down and blood fats to go up temporarily. This is because when alcohol is metabolized, one by-product is acetate, which the body will use as fuel preferentially - ignoring all the good fats, proteins, and carbs from food. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, those fats, proteins, and carbs can get stored as excess body fat. This is why many people still find themselves stuck when trying to lose body fat while still enjoying a lovely glass of wine in the evening. So I may be able to lose fat while enjoying the occasional drink, but it will be a slower path. Sniff-sniff :-(

Urbanetta

If it's white wine, try adding a load of ice cubes. Yes, that does dilute it but it makes a glass last longer than just being 'neat'. Or add sparkling water to spritzer it - you then have a l-o-n-g drink! If it's red wine, get as decent a bottle as you can afford. You'll probably savour it more, so it's easier to take more slowly then as you'll probably savour it more. Or try some mocktails with low-cal ingredients. If you can not drink for a couple of nights though, you'll be amazed at how 'grateful' you are the next morning! And cheers too!

Unknown

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rsll510

Well I apparently needed to see this thread.... I've been doing well and only having drinks one to two nights a week, but I wonder how much better I could have been doing if I had skipped those drinks?

rsll510

NewSoberMe

Definitely a struggle!

I used to have a glass or two a night after my kids went to bed. Over the course of a year, that glass that turned into two of them, eventually turned into a whole bottle. And even further...a whole bottle turned into a whole bottle PLUS a couple nips. Of course that isn't to say that you'll become as dependent as I did, however I do suggest stopping the habit sooner rather than later, as it doesn't get easier to stop. I'm two weeks sober, which is the longest I've ever been sober as an addict.

Some things I noticed, that will hopefully be of motivation to you:
My skin looks great!
I sleep much better at night
My weight has stopped going up, and with a little effort it will come down
My tummy is flatter, despite my weight pretty much staying the same
I have more money!

Its ultimately your choice whether you cut it out completely or just try and limit your intake. Either way, feel free to add me! Also, hellosundaymorning.org is a great community for those looking to moderate or stop their drinking.

CaitlinW19

I've started viewing it as a weekend treat. I've found I save a lot of calories each week by not drinking Monday-Thursday...instead of checking MFP and seeing I still have 120 calories left and can fit in a glass of wine, well I just don't have anything if I'm not hungry. This helps me keep my calories lower during the week (around 1200) and then on the weekends I generally utilize every calorie earned (and sometimes more for a big meal or night out).

Helps with my budget too. I highly recommend it and really don't miss it during the week...unless the Bachelor is on. :-) I will have a drink or two on occasion during the week though, if it's a birthday or something like that, so it's not a hard and fast rule, but one that really has helped me save calories and money.

murp4069

I've started having alcohol as a treat and not drinking a bit of beer or wine as a way to wind down every day from work. At first the main reason I cut back on alcohol was because the easiest way to cut a few calories from my diet was from cutting liquid calories. But now I feel better not drinking as often, which has kept me motivated to stay this way. I'll still have a glass of wine or a beer here and there because I enjoy it. But I don't miss it like I thought I would.

Now that I see alcohol as a treat, I find that I enjoy it more. It was my birthday a few weeks ago and even though I would normally never order sugary cocktails, I ordered a two and thoroughly enjoyed them. Was it a lot of calories? Yeah, but it was more worth it to me now that I've removed alcohol from my daily life. Also, the number of calories from those two drinks was not more than the calories I was taking in on a weekly basis from every day drinking anyway. I

Of course the other upside is that my alcohol tolerance is in the toilet, so it takes a lot less to start experiencing the desired effects lol.

Will_Run_for_Food

I'm really enjoying this thread. I agree with nosajjao about the habit-forming behaviours we tend to develop as human beings. Find the source of the habit and do what you can to change it. For example, there is a liquor store that is on the way home for me. If I know I will be tempted to stop in, I take a different route home.

karl317

Finally, subject matter that qualifies me as an expert!

I switched from my beloved beer to Bacardi Light Rum and Diet Pepsi. I budget it like anything else.

eldamiano

No. Drink Ribena instead

farfromthetree

ninerbuff wrote: »

Maybe this will help:
When alcohol is in the system, it has to be metabolized because it cannot be stored. So any other energy source, (carbs, fats, proteins) WILL NOT be used until all the alcohol is gone from your system. The worst time to drink alcohol is at night before bed. Why? Because we burn the most body fat AT REST and the most fat is burned SLEEPING, unless of course you still have alcohol in your system.
Hope that helps.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

[/quote]

this totally helps. Thank you!! I have also noticed a huge increase in my energy if I don't drink at night...

CrabNebula

karl317 wrote: »

Finally, subject matter that qualifies me as an expert!

I switched from my beloved beer to Bacardi Light Rum and Diet Pepsi. I budget it like anything else.

I switched to spirits with diet mixers too and I love beer. But I can't often justify the fact that I could have had 3-4 shots of gin/vodka/rum for one bottle of high abv and tasty craft beer.

I only basically drink on Friday nights now. Can't justify doing it every night or even every other.

oasismiki

% of Alcohol X Ounces X 1.6 = Calorie Content

Will_Run_for_Food

CrabNebula wrote: »

karl317 wrote: »

Finally, subject matter that qualifies me as an expert!

I switched from my beloved beer to Bacardi Light Rum and Diet Pepsi. I budget it like anything else.

I switched to spirits with diet mixers too and I love beer. But I can't often justify the fact that I could have had 3-4 shots of gin/vodka/rum for one bottle of high abv and tasty craft beer.

I only basically drink on Friday nights now. Can't justify doing it every night or even every other.

But remember - spirits can range anywhere from 100-180 calories per 50 ml (about 1.6 oz). They can add up quickly too, unless you're able to limit to just one or two.

Unknown

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KristenNagle1

Such great information and great ideas. I think for now I am going to start by saying no drinks Mon-Thur. Once I have that down, Ill go from there. I do like the idea of my tolerance dropping. I'd love to get a nice buzz off of a few glasses

peaceout_aly

KristenNagle1 wrote: »

Anyone have trouble cutting down on alcohol. I have gotten into a bad habit of having wine almost every night and many times - way too much to fit into my calorie budget.

Aim to limit yourself to the weekends

DaShumps

Really enjoying this tread ~ I actually found and recently joined (March 2nd) MFP simply because I was curious on how many calories was in my glass of wine
Enjoyed the nightly (bad) habit of relaxing with a glass while chatting about the day with hubby, but after suffering a broken leg 5 months ago, I laid off in order to help with the healing. Although now I'm partaking in Friday/Saturday evenings with a mid week sip now and then...

As per Urbanetta's suggestion of adding ice ~ I've done that my whole adult life and believe it works...

And agree with rsll510, now that I am keeping count of my food and beverage intake along with tracking exercise, I now wonder how different my progress would be after indulging...

As I mentioned I'm new to this site so I'm also looking for "friends" if anyone is interested, please friend me

Will_Run_for_Food

Good article on alcohol and weight loss: http://www.builtlean.com/2012/11/26/alcohol-weight-loss/

jhellwig828

When I first started I gave alcohol up altogether and I found it was much easier to drop the weight. Now I just make sure, like anything, that it fits in my calories. If one glass fits, then one it is! If I want dessert, I have that in place of alcohol. I've found I'm happiest that way and it's a good balance!

grndiva

This was just the motivation I needed to give booze the boot for the time being. *Sigh* I am going to miss my gin & tonics.

nelcyn2001

NewSoberMe wrote: »

Definitely a struggle!

I used to have a glass or two a night after my kids went to bed. Over the course of a year, that glass that turned into two of them, eventually turned into a whole bottle. And even further...a whole bottle turned into a whole bottle PLUS a couple nips. Of course that isn't to say that you'll become as dependent as I did, however I do suggest stopping the habit sooner rather than later, as it doesn't get easier to stop. I'm two weeks sober, which is the longest I've ever been sober as an addict.

Some things I noticed, that will hopefully be of motivation to you:
My skin looks great!
I sleep much better at night
My weight has stopped going up, and with a little effort it will come down
My tummy is flatter, despite my weight pretty much staying the same
I have more money!

Its ultimately your choice whether you cut it out completely or just try and limit your intake. Either way, feel free to add me! Also, hellosundaymorning.org is a great community for those looking to moderate or stop their drinking.

I stopped alcohol for 4 weeks now. And my skin is so much clearer. I have more energy too.

jwcanfield

Learned I have to completely cut out my beer or wine to lose weight! It helps me stay focused on reaching goal and you better believe that will be the first to re-introduce to my nutrition plan when it's time to maintain! Which isn't here yet! Oh - I don't sleep better but my skin is clearer.