Beer over dinner
LC107
Posts: 41 Member
I am in my final year for my MBA and I am pretty loaded with stress. To deal with this stress I have really tried to focus on my health. I have cut significantly my alcohol (4 beers/alcoholic drinks-5 nights a week kind of drinking) intake along with taking control of my diet (paying attention to the CICO) and working out (weights, walking/running, dance and yoga) BUUUUTTT 2x a week I am coming home from a long day (1:20 pm-9:50 pm) at school and have to choose between dinner or a beer (or two) and beer wins hands down, every time. Grant it, I am getting adequate calories and nutrition (1400ish cals) but with my Goose Island IPA taking 344 calories away I am pretty spent, plus I really dont like to eat at night. When I eat at night I get heartburn and my legs are incredibly restless. Anyways on to my point- How bad is it that I give up dinner two nights a week to have 2 beers instead? I guess I would just like some reassurance that it is just CICO. I really dont want a beer belly 
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It's all about CICO. What you eat or drink to get there is up to you.0
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From a health standpoint beer over dinner is not good. But you already know that.0
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queenliz99 wrote: »It's all about CICO. What you eat or drink to get there is up to you.
That is kind of what I figured- CICO but like I said I just wanted that reassurance. Thank you
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Many times I have a beer or other alcohol in place of a meal after 6. My macro needs are typically met before hand though so if you had to look at just the numbers and not the meals, you wouldnt be able to distinguish it from another day.0
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Firstly, OP, congrats on cutting your alcohol intake this much. Alcohol is empty calories that provides little to no nutrients that are beneficial for health, as I'm sure you're aware. Weight loss is CICO so you can still lose weight drinking, but health is not CICO so the more calories that come from healthy food the better. You aren't doing this every night, and you've made huge progress in cutting your intake. Beer bloats a lot of people (myself included) but if you don't mind that (or it doesn't bloat you), you love beer and aren't a night eater and still have calories left at the end of the day and don't want to eat, why not do it from time to time? If that's what helps you stick to your deficit and lose weight. We all have to pick a plan that we can stick to for life.
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I agree that was a bit out of line. Still, I will note my stress level dropped when I dialed the beer back. Strictly speaking, alcohol behaves a little differently than other carbs in your system, but yes - it really is just CICO. Personally, I just eat slightly smaller meals throughout the day when I am planning to have a beer at dinner. Good luck with your weight loss. :-)0
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From a CICO/weight loss standpoint, it makes no difference whether your calories come from beer or food.
From a nutritional standpoint, you should make sure you're getting sufficient calories from your macros (protein/fat/carbs) first, especially if you're cutting weight.
From a beer drinking standpoint, I'm sure you can find something better than Goose Island. 0 -
While not maintainably healthy, people have gone on beer fasts before and lived to tell about it. You'll be fine.0
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Firstly, OP, congrats on cutting your alcohol intake this much. Alcohol is empty calories that provides little to no nutrients that are beneficial for health, as I'm sure you're aware. Weight loss is CICO so you can still lose weight drinking, but health is not CICO so the more calories that come from healthy food the better. You aren't doing this every night, and you've made huge progress in cutting your intake. Beer bloats a lot of people (myself included) but if you don't mind that (or it doesn't bloat you), you love beer and aren't a night eater and still have calories left at the end of the day and don't want to eat, why not do it from time to time? If that's what helps you stick to your deficit and lose weight. We all have to pick a plan that we can stick to for life.
Anyways maybe I should mention also I do not always substitute the beer those two nights, sometimes I just go straight to bed and avoid dinner or beer altogether. Thank you for your support. I don't wake up hung over and always get my workouts in so like I said I just waned reassurance on the CICO. Thank you again
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I had four beers last night (it was one hellacious day!!! It fit into my calories/macros) and was up 1lb today, even with calorie deficits all week. So I'd just see what alcohol does to your weight. It obviously doesn't work for ME.
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5stringjeff wrote: »From a beer drinking standpoint, I'm sure you can find something better than Goose Island.
Also excellent advice.
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5stringjeff wrote: »From a beer drinking standpoint, I'm sure you can find something better than Goose Island.
Haha its not so bad. lol0 -
20yearsyounger wrote: »Many times I have a beer or other alcohol in place of a meal after 6. My macro needs are typically met before hand though so if you had to look at just the numbers and not the meals, you wouldnt be able to distinguish it from another day.
That's fair enough. I dont always plan on drinking a beer or two so maybe I can be more mindful of my macros on the two days I go to school just in case. Thank you for the tip to watch the macros 0 -
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https://authoritynutrition.com/debunking-the-calorie-myth/
CICO is crap science.
Well the general consensus here says it is CICO (all of MFP seems to say that) and with my 13 pound weight loss in a little less than 3 months I am going to go with that as not being "crap science" but rather truth.
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https://authoritynutrition.com/debunking-the-calorie-myth/
CICO is crap science.
Well the general consensus here says it is CICO (all of MFP seems to say that) and with my 13 pound weight loss in a little less than 3 months I am going to go with that as not being "crap science" but rather truth.
Cheers to that.
I have days where I eat less to compensate for when I'm going to have beer. Tried it last night, and I was just hungry, and ended up going over calories. Still went to bed hungry, and woke up this morning hungry. Some days you just need food instead of beer. It did not help that I had soup for both lunch and dinner.
Usually though I focus on a lean protein and veggies to keep me feeling satiated, and then beer with/after dinner0 -
If youre getting 20-30% of your calories on a 1400 calorie a day Diet from beer on a regular basis seriously doubt you are getting adequate nutrition.0
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Packerjohn wrote: »If youre getting 20-30% of your calories on a 1400 calorie a day Diet from beer on a regular basis seriously doubt you are getting adequate nutrition.
Well, it is not on a regular basis. As I mentioned in a few other replies it is not set in stone every week I do this on the 2 days I go to school, other times I will just come home and go to bed. I agreed with the advice from another poster here who said they try to reach their macros if they know they are going to have drinks later. Pretty good advice. Something, I mentioned I would focus on too.0 -
bewickfree wrote: »I had four beers last night (it was one hellacious day!!! It fit into my calories/macros) and was up 1lb today, even with calorie deficits all week. So I'd just see what alcohol does to your weight. It obviously doesn't work for ME.
You know weight loss/gain is neither linear nor instantaneous, right? Your 1 lb "gain" has nothing directly to do with the four beers you drank last night - it is just part of the normal daily fluctuation (fluid retention, constipation, different timing vis-a-vis the digestive process, etc.)0 -
bewickfree wrote: »I had four beers last night (it was one hellacious day!!! It fit into my calories/macros) and was up 1lb today, even with calorie deficits all week. So I'd just see what alcohol does to your weight. It obviously doesn't work for ME.
You know weight loss/gain is neither linear nor instantaneous, right? Your 1 lb "gain" has nothing directly to do with the four beers you drank last night - it is just part of the normal daily fluctuation (fluid retention, constipation, different timing vis-a-vis the digestive process, etc.)
Thanks for the reminder. I actually just had an epiphany-- TOM is right around the corner. Ugh.0 -
Well the general consensus here says it is CICO (all of MFP seems to say that) and with my 13 pound weight loss in a little less than 3 months I am going to go with that as not being "crap science" but rather truth.
That's your choice to be responsible for. You're an adult, you get to choose what you do with your life. Remember though that you're trusting a handful of MFP-user back-patting heresay instead of a body science nutritionist. But since you were seeking CICO affirmation from the very beginning, this only makes sense.
If MFP users are just back-patting and using heresay, may I ask what is the point of you being here?0 -
bewickfree wrote: »Well the general consensus here says it is CICO (all of MFP seems to say that) and with my 13 pound weight loss in a little less than 3 months I am going to go with that as not being "crap science" but rather truth.
That's your choice to be responsible for. You're an adult, you get to choose what you do with your life. Remember though that you're trusting a handful of MFP-user back-patting heresay instead of a body science nutritionist. But since you were seeking CICO affirmation from the very beginning, this only makes sense.
If MFP users are just back-patting and using heresay, may I ask what is the point of you being here?
To tell us we're all wrong.0 -
5stringjeff wrote: »From a beer drinking standpoint, I'm sure you can find something better than Goose Island.
Haha its not so bad. lol
Not too bad in and of itself. I personally don't support Anheuser-Busch, so I refuse to drink or buy any of their beers. Goose Island is one of their craft beer lines - A-B bought them about 5 years ago.0 -
Anyways on to my point- How bad is it that I give up dinner two nights a week to have 2 beers instead?
It's probably not awesome, but I manage my diet to be able to have a small mixed drink (vodka/soda) every evening. And, if I were going to have to choose, I'd probably go with the vodka, as well =P
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Beer is always a good decision.
I mean. Follow your heart.
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5stringjeff wrote: »From a beer drinking standpoint, I'm sure you can find something better than Goose Island.
Haha its not so bad. lol
I agree. Goose Island isn't total gourmet stuff but I wouldn't turn one down. I don't generally buy them on my own unless I'm somewhere that has a poor selection. "Bud light, Miller, Coors, Ah! Goose Island! Yes please."
As far as the original question I think you're fine if you do that some days. I wouldn't replace all dinner with beer but last night I specifically had a grilled chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil-A (2 actually. Only 320 calories each) and skipped the waffle fries in lieu of a beer.
If you like IPA like me then check out some of the "Session" IPAs that you see around. They're generally lighter, have less alcohol and thus fewer calories. I still think that they have something to offer in the way of flavor. Small compromises like that can make a big difference and having that second beer. Take the following example.
New Belgium - Slow Ride Session Ipa. 140 calories
New Belgium - Ranger Ipa. 185 calories
New Belgium - Rampant Ipa. 230 calories.
Two sessions are just 280 calories. The Rampant is the full bodied, nearly a double IPA. Much heavier and you're nearly at 500 calories with a couple of those. The Ranger is one of my favorites but you know they Slow Ride is pretty tasty too and some nights that's the right thing to do.
ETA: The "beer belly" is just too many calories. Your body doesn't know if it's from beer or cheese fries. Mmmmm, cheese fries.0 -
If you get all your nutrients in your meals earlier in the day and you aren't hungry then drinking the beer occasionally is fine. Is it the healthiest option? Probably not, but sometimes you just need a good beer. I've never had Goose Island, but my opinion on good beer is that whatever kind you like best is good.0
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I'm with Waffle, try some session IPAs! A lot of them are amazing with a ton of hoppiness and I've never found a session with as many calories as a standard IPA.0
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