Alcohol

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  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
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    danjbadassery wrote: »
    gbggurl91 wrote: »
    Can you drink a beer or two almost everyday and still lose weight if you exercise and watch what you eat?

    I would read on the effects of alcohol on the metabolism. Since alcohol cannot be stored in the body it must be processed and your liver will be working on that and not the food you have consumed. Google it and read from a reputable web site :)

    I don't understand what this has to do with anything. Whatever order alcohol and food get processed, in the end whatever goes into our system gets digested and the energy is used or stored as needed.

    I have a glass of wine with dinner most nights. For me one glass is enough and I don't often have a second unless it's a social situation. I don't find that one glass has any impact on my food choices, but more than a couple and I want all the food :-)
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    danjbadassery wrote: »
    gbggurl91 wrote: »
    Can you drink a beer or two almost everyday and still lose weight if you exercise and watch what you eat?

    I would read on the effects of alcohol on the metabolism. Since alcohol cannot be stored in the body it must be processed and your liver will be working on that and not the food you have consumed. Google it and read from a reputable web site :)

    But if you're in a deficit your body is still going to get to the food after you process the alcohol.
  • b3achy
    b3achy Posts: 2,140 Member
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    I have to chuckle at those that say that alcohol is calorie dense...at one point during my weight loss endeavors I cut alcohol but replaced it with soda/pop (clearly before calorie counting). A bottle of light beer = 100 calories or less. A can of full octane (not diet/not sugar free) soda/pop = at least 150 calories; a bottle = over 200 calories. Does anyone see the problem here? Soda is way more "calorie dense" than light beer or most alcohols.

    I typically have a couple of light beers (a bottle is 95-100 calories or less) or a couple of glasses of wine (5 oz = 125 calories) or a couple of my 'skinny' cocktails (typically involving a shot of a flavored (watermelon, raspberry or orange) vodka (~97 calories) and the rest of a flavored seltzer water (0 calories), or a shot of Jim Beam (97 calories) and Coke Zero) each evening/night. I'll sometimes make my wine into spritzers with 0 calorie seltzer water, so I feel like I'm drinking more volume (but also found the added side benefit of not feeling as bad the next morning if I cut my wine with seltzer water on days when I do go a bit overboard). So yea, that's about 200-250 non-nutrient dense alcoholic calories per day. Hasn't really affected me for losing weight because I'm typically still under my calorie goals (usually because I have some big calorie burns from my workouts).

    BTW, years ago when I talked to my doctor about the possibility of me having an alcohol problem (my Dad had a bit of a issue), he laughed and told me that as a female, I could have up to 2 glasses a day without having to worry (for men it was one or two more, but I don't remember what he told me). Much more than that, and yea, it was time to be a little concerned, but up to 2 and I was okay. So, I try to keep it at two, unless it's a special occasion, and then sometimes I splurge (which he also said was fine to do once in a while).

    Maybe because it is part of my routine to have a drink or two in the evening, I don't think I make any worse eating choices than normal...some of my normal choices aren't the best, but I make them while sober. But I could see how you might make bad choices if you got stinking drunk every night. Everything in moderation!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
    edited November 2016
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    mysteps2beauty wrote: »
    So a beer belly is just over consumption of calories that turns into fat in the midsection? Why do men have bigger beer bellies than woman, who also over consume calories.

    I have a small "beer belly" at the moment because I put on about 10 Lbs when I was on IR...when I was 180, despite drinking quite a bit of beer, I didn't have a beer belly. "Beer belly" is just a funny name, it's not an actual thing caused by beer...other than consumption of copious amounts of beer will add up to a lot of calories...and men tend to have primary fat stores in the belly area...so a guy who over consumes calories is likely to put it on the belly first...it's also the last off.

    Also this...
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    mysteps2beauty wrote: »
    So a beer belly is just over consumption of calories that turns into fat in the midsection? Why do men have bigger beer bellies than woman, who also over consume calories.

    Google "android vs. gynoid fat distribution".

    No particular calories selectively turn into fat in the midsection.

  • Siran12001
    Siran12001 Posts: 51 Member
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    Two glasses of what? As far as I know it is recommended for women to not drink more than 20 grams of alcohol per day. Depending on the size already one glas of wine is over that limit. Limit for men is slightly higher at 30grams.
  • CurlyCockney
    CurlyCockney Posts: 1,394 Member
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    I wouldn't be able to do it almost every day as I have nutritional needs to meet and a low calorie allowance to meet them with, but if you can spare the calories I don't see why not!
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    Siran12001 wrote: »
    Two glasses of what? As far as I know it is recommended for women to not drink more than 20 grams of alcohol per day. Depending on the size already one glas of wine is over that limit. Limit for men is slightly higher at 30grams.

    A standard pour of wine is 5 ounces, well under 20 grams of alcohol.
  • Siran12001
    Siran12001 Posts: 51 Member
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    Depends on the country. Here you get a quarter liter of wine, 8.5 ounces, as a standard size if you order a wine.
  • successgal1
    successgal1 Posts: 996 Member
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    Like everyone said, yes, but for me.with such a low calories allowance, I get tired ifni replace lets say 200 of my 1200 calories with 2 Lites instead of nutritious food. Turns out my body needs more from what i ingest then just calories. So i generally abstain, unless I've done enough exercise to have 1300 or 1400 calories. I lose weight faster if I have none.
  • avskk
    avskk Posts: 1,789 Member
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    I have wine during the week (sparingly) and cocktails during the weekend (... not sparingly). I lose just fine and eat an abundance of micro- and macronutrients. You just need to plan for it and log faithfully.
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
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    b3achy wrote: »
    I have to chuckle at those that say that alcohol is calorie dense...at one point during my weight loss endeavors I cut alcohol but replaced it with soda/pop (clearly before calorie counting). A bottle of light beer = 100 calories or less. A can of full octane (not diet/not sugar free) soda/pop = at least 150 calories; a bottle = over 200 calories. Does anyone see the problem here? Soda is way more "calorie dense" than light beer or most alcohols.

    I typically have a couple of light beers (a bottle is 95-100 calories or less) or a couple of glasses of wine (5 oz = 125 calories) or a couple of my 'skinny' cocktails (typically involving a shot of a flavored (watermelon, raspberry or orange) vodka (~97 calories) and the rest of a flavored seltzer water (0 calories), or a shot of Jim Beam (97 calories) and Coke Zero) each evening/night. I'll sometimes make my wine into spritzers with 0 calorie seltzer water, so I feel like I'm drinking more volume (but also found the added side benefit of not feeling as bad the next morning if I cut my wine with seltzer water on days when I do go a bit overboard). So yea, that's about 200-250 non-nutrient dense alcoholic calories per day. Hasn't really affected me for losing weight because I'm typically still under my calorie goals (usually because I have some big calorie burns from my workouts).

    BTW, years ago when I talked to my doctor about the possibility of me having an alcohol problem (my Dad had a bit of a issue), he laughed and told me that as a female, I could have up to 2 glasses a day without having to worry (for men it was one or two more, but I don't remember what he told me). Much more than that, and yea, it was time to be a little concerned, but up to 2 and I was okay. So, I try to keep it at two, unless it's a special occasion, and then sometimes I splurge (which he also said was fine to do once in a while).

    Maybe because it is part of my routine to have a drink or two in the evening, I don't think I make any worse eating choices than normal...some of my normal choices aren't the best, but I make them while sober. But I could see how you might make bad choices if you got stinking drunk every night. Everything in moderation!

    My problem with alcohol is I prefer it with ice cream. And caramel. And more ice cream :p I'm going to try making your skinny cocktails, those sound good!
  • HM2206
    HM2206 Posts: 174 Member
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    I realize I may be different here, but for my it is SO much easier to keep within my calories with wine than with other things.

    First and foremost - I can consume it slowly. Wine has a lot of empty calories, but I take way longer to drink the wine than I would eating the equivalent calories in chocolate. You can enjoy it throughout the evening, whereas the candy/chocolate is gone in a few minutes.

    What I do is sometimes get the small / mini bottles, and that's my treat for the evening. And I just stick to that.

    If I go for a treat instead, I end up overeating.

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