Alcohol Calories?
Replies
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I don't drink often but when I do I can't help but be delighted when I hop on the scales the next morning. I'm well aware that it's dehydration that is causing that sudden drop, but it delights me anyway. Tough sledding after that though.0
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goldthistime wrote: »I don't drink often but when I do I can't help but be delighted when I hop on the scales the next morning. I'm well aware that it's dehydration that is causing that sudden drop, but it delights me anyway. Tough sledding after that though.
If women on weight watchers knew the alcohol secret, I bet a lot of them would be pleased.
For example: They had a hard weekend, eating bad, and need to weigh themselves on Monday, but are scared of the scale at the Weight Watchers meeting. They don't want to be embarrassed.
Solution: Drink heavily on Sunday night. The scale is their friend for that one morning. They aren't embarrassed anymore.
Of course, the next week, they'll have to work much harder to keep their weight the same.
(I'm saying 'women' because I've been a part of weight watchers before, and I saw this all the time. All the men I've seen there never had an issue with the scale. They would weigh on good weeks or bad weeks, they never avoided it. The women did many times)
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Iv never counted alcohol in calories, I.dont believe 800 cals in a bottle of wine is the same as 800 calories of cake regardless of what people say. My body says different.
The difficult part is ensuring u dont give into the food cravings that alcohol causes, which is why I limit wine to a glass or two.3 -
Iv never counted alcohol in calories, I.dont believe 800 cals in a bottle of wine is the same as 800 calories of cake regardless of what people say. My body says different.
The difficult part is ensuring u dont give into the food cravings that alcohol causes, which is why I limit wine to a glass or two.
Since the weight doesn't go on right away and you're presumably eating other things besides just cake and alcohol, I don't know how you can possibly determine this. Consider: many people see a temporary water weight loss (due to dehydration) when they consume a lot of alcohol and a temporary water weight gain when they eat a lot of carbohydrates. But this has nothing to do with actual weight gain or loss. Your body will still process the calories.
I always weigh less the day after drinking heavily and I always weigh more after eating a big piece of cake or cookies. But these are temporary fluctuations.5 -
I can determine it because im 40lbs lighter, I.didnt say it will work for everyone, I just answered the OPs question. Works for me and I always eat all the calories mpf sets for me with wine easily 500 calories on.top of that for 2 small glasses.1
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I find the same thing. There was a thread awhile back with similar findings I remember commenting on and someone linked an interesting study about all this, I'll see if I can dig it up. I say if it's working for you and you are still losing, just go with it5
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i always count alcohol calories, and they definitely hit me the way any other calories do, which is not to say the next day after a binge i will be up. If i just drink i'll be a bit down from dehydration, if i combine alcohol with salty foods i'll be a bit up from sodium / water retention. but that's not an accurate indication of the actual effects.
i also have to factor in that if i drink too much i'll probably be pretty sedentary the next day and have to really watch my calories. the day after my birthday i literally only took 23 steps according to my fit bit, so my calories need to be adjusted for that as well. add in the anxiety or depression the day after a binge and the cravings for comfort food and it's a pretty significant package.
overall, i make room for 1 glass of wine or 1 beer with dinner and try to stick to that most days. that way, when my inner party girl emerges i've got some wiggle room and hopefully don't derail the whole week.2 -
I do try to log my alcohol calories just to keep myself accountable. To be honest I don't always recall exactly how many vodka sodas I drank, so it's an approximation at best. I also have noticed the phenomenon of weighing less the morning after drinking (assuming of course that I didn't eat the entire contents of the fridge). The temporary drop on the scale makes the hangover ever so slightly more tolerable.1
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I've been doing the same.... but lately I'm thinking, if I don't have those drinks, then my workout will be that much more effective. Its super hard to not drink for me, but its worth a shot.
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At 5'4", you are teetering between a healthy/overweight BMI, meaning you might have wiggle room for error in logging. However, I can guarantee that the leaner you get, the more important those alcohol calories get. In a night, even just me drinking Jameson and Diet Coke, each ounce is 70 calories. If I have 3 drinks that aren't logged, that's already 210 calories. That's enough to nearly wipe out a daily deficit at .5lbs a week.
So you might not find it important now, but there will come a time that it's important. Might as well start now and get in the habit.4 -
I can determine it because im 40lbs lighter, I.didnt say it will work for everyone, I just answered the OPs question. Works for me and I always eat all the calories mpf sets for me with wine easily 500 calories on.top of that for 2 small glasses.
Do you eat back exercise calories?
The thing is, a calorie is a calorie, and your body will count from food and drink alike. If drink calories didn't affect the body, I'd be able to drink all the cream soda I like and never go over maintenance.2 -
I usually lose weight when I drink -- it drops me out of my plateau after binge drinking lol. I think it has something to due with water weight. (losing the water from dehydration)0
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OMG, you're such a unicorn.
Had you not drank, you would have made more progress. That's it.3 -
I can determine it because im 40lbs lighter, I.didnt say it will work for everyone, I just answered the OPs question. Works for me and I always eat all the calories mpf sets for me with wine easily 500 calories on.top of that for 2 small glasses.
So you eat 1700 calories and not 1,200. Congratulations you've learned MFP sets calories low.5 -
Iv never counted alcohol in calories, I.dont believe 800 cals in a bottle of wine is the same as 800 calories of cake regardless of what people say. My body says different.
The difficult part is ensuring u dont give into the food cravings that alcohol causes, which is why I limit wine to a glass or two.cerise_noir wrote: »I can determine it because im 40lbs lighter, I.didnt say it will work for everyone, I just answered the OPs question. Works for me and I always eat all the calories mpf sets for me with wine easily 500 calories on.top of that for 2 small glasses.
Do you eat back exercise calories?
The thing is, a calorie is a calorie, and your body will count from food and drink alike. If drink calories didn't affect the body, I'd be able to drink all the cream soda I like and never go over maintenance.
Good question. Not eating back exercise calories would certainly explain this. As would errors in logging.
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xjessicaxrx wrote: »Well I drank 2 bottles of wine last night and godknows what else because I dont remember, but my weight is still the same today? I would have thought that there was too many calories in wine (if counting) for that to be actually possible? I ate a normal amount of food during the day so my food calories were ok, not under.
@xjessicaxrx what's your weight today?0 -
If you weigh the moment after ingesting something then the actual mass of what you ate is relevant. A calorie is a calorie however it is not weight it is energy. Consuming more energy (calories) than needed will likely result in your body storing it for later use (fat). I have no idea what makes up fat but I suppose it may need or retain some sort of fluid. Anyway I do drink daily but am careful to manage my calorie intake. I have also found that if I run I can lose weight but if I don't exercise at all I will gain weight.0
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devil_in_a_blue_dress wrote: »I can determine it because im 40lbs lighter, I.didnt say it will work for everyone, I just answered the OPs question. Works for me and I always eat all the calories mpf sets for me with wine easily 500 calories on.top of that for 2 small glasses.
So you eat 1700 calories and not 1,200. Congratulations you've learned MFP sets calories low.
Agreed. For a long time I chose a bread entry in the MFP database that was half the calories of the bread I was actually eating. I suspected it was low but didn't bother double checking (unconsciously on purpose). Meaning I preferred to not know because I was plenty hungry and losing anyway. Eventually I upped my calorie goal and entered the right bread. It didn't change my rate of loss one bit. My bread is your alcohol.
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I make horrible food choices when I drink. Apparently you don't. Kudos.0
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I wish I were a special snowflake like that.
Instead, I'm just a chubby drunk.
Someone... pass me a beer please.13 -
I don't quite understand why you wouldn't count it...2 bottles of wine is probably 1200-1500 calories. if you ate a 1200 calorie brownie sundae you would log it, right? For weight loss, a calorie is a calorie no matter where it came from.3
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I am 0.5 heavier this morning.
I had a Takeaway for last nights dinner- Lamb Curry with a Garlic naan bread and bombay potatoes.
I ate at maintenance like I do every Sunday, so I am used to the scales going up a bit on a monday/ tuesday regardless if I have drank that weekend or not. Iv done this long enough now to know my own bodies fluctuations, I would put money on me still losing this week1 -
devil_in_a_blue_dress wrote: »I can determine it because im 40lbs lighter, I.didnt say it will work for everyone, I just answered the OPs question. Works for me and I always eat all the calories mpf sets for me with wine easily 500 calories on.top of that for 2 small glasses.
So you eat 1700 calories and not 1,200. Congratulations you've learned MFP sets calories low.
Im not deluded, im well aware as I get closer to goal I will need to revaluate but until then ill keep doing what im doing.
I would be willing to bet...based on my 20odd years of doing this, that if I ate those extra calories in fatty foods then I wouldnt lose 6lbs a month. If I was to give up wine or include it into my calories then I would fail, this works for me for now.
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devil_in_a_blue_dress wrote: »I can determine it because im 40lbs lighter, I.didnt say it will work for everyone, I just answered the OPs question. Works for me and I always eat all the calories mpf sets for me with wine easily 500 calories on.top of that for 2 small glasses.
So you eat 1700 calories and not 1,200. Congratulations you've learned MFP sets calories low.
Im not deluded, im well aware as I get closer to goal I will need to revaluate but until then ill keep doing what im doing.
I would be willing to bet...based on my 20odd years of doing this, that if I ate those extra calories in fatty foods then I wouldnt lose 6lbs a month. If I was to give up wine or include it into my calories then I would fail, this works for me for now.
If you've been following this "plan" successfully for 20 odd years, I'm confused as to have you have any weight to lose at all.5 -
IDK. I all but quit drinking so as not to waste calories on booze that I could be using for food instead.0
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janejellyroll wrote: »devil_in_a_blue_dress wrote: »I can determine it because im 40lbs lighter, I.didnt say it will work for everyone, I just answered the OPs question. Works for me and I always eat all the calories mpf sets for me with wine easily 500 calories on.top of that for 2 small glasses.
So you eat 1700 calories and not 1,200. Congratulations you've learned MFP sets calories low.
Im not deluded, im well aware as I get closer to goal I will need to revaluate but until then ill keep doing what im doing.
I would be willing to bet...based on my 20odd years of doing this, that if I ate those extra calories in fatty foods then I wouldnt lose 6lbs a month. If I was to give up wine or include it into my calories then I would fail, this works for me for now.
If you've been following this "plan" successfully for 20 odd years, I'm confused as to have you have any weight to lose at all.
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devil_in_a_blue_dress wrote: »I can determine it because im 40lbs lighter, I.didnt say it will work for everyone, I just answered the OPs question. Works for me and I always eat all the calories mpf sets for me with wine easily 500 calories on.top of that for 2 small glasses.
So you eat 1700 calories and not 1,200. Congratulations you've learned MFP sets calories low.
Im not deluded, im well aware as I get closer to goal I will need to revaluate but until then ill keep doing what im doing.
I would be willing to bet...based on my 20odd years of doing this, that if I ate those extra calories in fatty foods then I wouldnt lose 6lbs a month. If I was to give up wine or include it into my calories then I would fail, this works for me for now.
People on here are so techy and quite rude with their "OPINIONS" arnt they!
I completely agree with u I dont belive that alcohol calories are the same as food calories.
I think it might have something to do with alcohol making you wee more, alot of it probably gets weed out instead of being digested like food (excuse the bluntness haha) afterall isnt that what your kidneys are supposed to do- get rid of toxins as quickly as possible?
Just a theory?3 -
I find the same thing. There was a thread awhile back with similar findings I remember commenting on and someone linked an interesting study about all this, I'll see if I can dig it up. I say if it's working for you and you are still losing, just go with it
Ya know... I'm not going to be too popular with agreeing with this, but I kind of do. I have seen a few studies about this sort of thing. I also don't care enough to look up those studies.
Regardless, if you find that the alcohol calories are not hindering your weight loss, then continue as you were and address the issue if your weight loss ceases. That's all it comes down to.2 -
xjessicaxrx wrote: »devil_in_a_blue_dress wrote: »I can determine it because im 40lbs lighter, I.didnt say it will work for everyone, I just answered the OPs question. Works for me and I always eat all the calories mpf sets for me with wine easily 500 calories on.top of that for 2 small glasses.
So you eat 1700 calories and not 1,200. Congratulations you've learned MFP sets calories low.
Im not deluded, im well aware as I get closer to goal I will need to revaluate but until then ill keep doing what im doing.
I would be willing to bet...based on my 20odd years of doing this, that if I ate those extra calories in fatty foods then I wouldnt lose 6lbs a month. If I was to give up wine or include it into my calories then I would fail, this works for me for now.
People on here are so techy and quite rude with their "OPINIONS" arnt they!
I completely agree with u I dont belive that alcohol calories are the same as food calories.
I think it might have something to do with alcohol making you wee more, alot of it probably gets weed out instead of being digested like food (excuse the bluntness haha) afterall isnt that what your kidneys are supposed to do- get rid of toxins as quickly as possible?
Just a theory?
The "wee" is water leaving your body. It doesn't magically eliminate calories. Your body can still process those.3 -
janejellyroll wrote: »xjessicaxrx wrote: »devil_in_a_blue_dress wrote: »I can determine it because im 40lbs lighter, I.didnt say it will work for everyone, I just answered the OPs question. Works for me and I always eat all the calories mpf sets for me with wine easily 500 calories on.top of that for 2 small glasses.
So you eat 1700 calories and not 1,200. Congratulations you've learned MFP sets calories low.
Im not deluded, im well aware as I get closer to goal I will need to revaluate but until then ill keep doing what im doing.
I would be willing to bet...based on my 20odd years of doing this, that if I ate those extra calories in fatty foods then I wouldnt lose 6lbs a month. If I was to give up wine or include it into my calories then I would fail, this works for me for now.
People on here are so techy and quite rude with their "OPINIONS" arnt they!
I completely agree with u I dont belive that alcohol calories are the same as food calories.
I think it might have something to do with alcohol making you wee more, alot of it probably gets weed out instead of being digested like food (excuse the bluntness haha) afterall isnt that what your kidneys are supposed to do- get rid of toxins as quickly as possible?
Just a theory?
The "wee" is water leaving your body. It doesn't magically eliminate calories. Your body can still process those.
Water that goes in clear and comes out yellow? Wee is definitely not just water!3
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