let's talk about beer, baby
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milgord
Posts: 9 Member
How many of you are doing LCHF and including beer- lite beers, low carb beers, etc.? I really enjoy a couple cold ones after work and was wondering the impacts that others have experienced when incorporating beer. And which beers have had the least impact on weight loss for them (assuming 2-3 beer addition).
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We bought some of the Michelob Ultra last weekend. 2.5 carbs and 96 kcals per bottle. I'm not a huge beer drinker but I liked it. Definitely less filling that other beer. I had three over the course of this week and still lost weight, so there's that.2
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I usually go with wine (less carbs) and occasionally for a splurge hard cider (tons of carbs).
Wine doesn't seem to impact my weight loss beyond the normal 1-2 day water gain that I get anytime I drink alcohol. Cider always makes me gain a few pounds and they tend to stick around for about 5 days - I'm guessing it's more carb driven water weight than alcohol driven water weight.2 -
My friend, before she got pg again, used to like to take a Mich Ultra and drop a shot of whiskey in it.
I haven't tried that yet, but it sounds like a good combo.
I usually just do hard liquor. But I'm laying off it right now in pursuit of the last 10lb. Le sigh...
When I have beer it's either Mich Ultra or Miller Lite draft.2 -
I do miller lite as well. It's 3.2g carbs and 96 calories per 12oz and the best of the lite beers in my opinion (I've tried Ultra, and would rather take the extra .7g carb
). I know alcohol calories hold off fat burning since the body uses those calories first. I figure at 4.2% alcohol a can comes down to about .5oz or 14g pure alcohol. At 7 cal/g for alcohol, that comes to 98 calories. I'm a bit confused about the projected numbers since the total reported calories (96) is already accounted for before including the 3.2g carbs.
I love a good scotch. My bottle of Laphroaig is almost tapped and I've been saving the last few fingers for a special occasion.1 -
There's a Bud Select 55, that has less than 2carbs... though I warn you it tastes like water.1
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I am a celiac so barley is a no-no. Rice or sorghum beer is just wrong. So wrong. I generally skip it.2
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A very sensible and always-timely question.
My $. 02 - Good beer doesn't figure too plentifully into my keto landscape - calories and carbs in stouts and porters add up quickly, and I don't see any reason to drink the lite stuff.
Once every couple weeks, I'll get 2 - 4 3-ounce samples at a local microbrewery.. I avoid snacking, drink tons of water between swallows, and reward myself for my admirable restraint with.... straight Scotch, tequila, or cognac. heh.
Straight booze has no carbs, so it doesn't hilke my blood sugar at all but rather tends keep it down (due to your liver coping with the poison you've just fed it).
Laphroiag is practically a health food, as long as you save room for the calories.2 -
I used to drink socially, but I don't think I ever especially enjoyed it. It was one of those things you did because you were supposed to maybe. About six years ago, I became increasingly aware of people around me in recovery, and decided I would just stop in support of them. I remember my doctor asking about alcohol use about ten years ago. I said I had maybe three bottles of beer annually. I was standing around with a bottle in my hand about six times. I would drink half of it and eventually put it down somewhere.
On a technicality, I am a priest and do ablutions at the altar, so I do get a couple of ounces of wine total each week there.2 -
I shared a chilled bottle of nice sake with a friend last night. 39 calories per oz, 1.5 carbs, 16% ABV. I sipped on five 1oz shooters over 6 hours. No regrets. Sake isn't typically on my libation itinerary unless I'm at a Japanese restaurant, but last night's enjoyment may be changing that. It was so smooth and crisp and yet creamy. Gluten free! @nvmomketo
All in all, the addition raised my total daily carbs to 22g and lowered my fat consumed yesterday to 71%. Which is pretty meh, but forgivable at the end of a very focused week of eating.
I think I prefer the lite beers to the good stuff, as I like drinking (and carbonation is one of my favorite things) but not getting more than the tiniest bit tipsy. The good beers go to my head by the end of the first bottle, faster than straight liquor it seems. I’d rather have the effect spread out and mitigated over a longer period of time. Don’t get me wrong, a muscular IPA is delightful but I’m a bit notorious for going to nice restaurants and asking for Miller Lite to pair with a fancy meat and cheese board. And I will balk in jest if they don’t have it, especially if they have another lite beer on the list. I’m so embarrassing. And shameless.
@RalfLott How much lite beer/ grams of carbs would you say it takes to impact your BS measurably? Am I safe in assuming that you’re managing diabetes? My primitive understanding of alcohol and blood sugar is that it tends to cause a rise in insulin and then a drop in BS due to lack of receptor availability…
@2t9nty I know quite a lot of people who never drink. Some due to recovery, most because it just doesn’t interest them or suit them physiologically. I think drinking has long been a cultural norm rather than an occasional treat. I regularly go through periods when I don’t drink at all, but that hasn’t been sustainable for me long term (longer than a month or so). You can’t go anywhere these days without having a glass of wine placed in your hand or bumping into a trough of beer (I live in Texas, y’all). It’s nice to see people in my sphere altering that custom, rubbing against the grain, mastering the constant temptation, and doing so with solidarity.
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@milgord -
I'm a pretty carb-sensitive T2 diabetic, so it doesn't take a lot of simple carbs to raise my BG. If I'm planning a beer outing, I try to time a dose of Glucophage XR about 6 hours beforehand.
Generally, I just force the beer carbs & calories into my daily allowance (about 30g net carbs, 1600 calories).
Of course, the more flavorful and sweeter types (imperials, tripels, sweet stouts, etc) have a lot more carbs than low-ABV pilsners.
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I drank Michelob Ultra and PC Low Carb (a Canadian beer) and even Coors Light while losing. I lost 100 lbs in a year drinking beer about once per week. I usually kept my carbs still under 25g, maybe up to 50g if it was a real special occasion, and just counted the beer with my dietary carbs. I really like beer and I think it's important to have a good balance between the enjoyable things in life and weight loss so I don't feel too guilty about indulging now and again. I just go with sensible choices and try to avoid pounding back multiple pints of Guinness (although I miss that sometimes haha).3
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Would kill for a beer but know it would make me really sick
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It does sound like a higher use of carbonated barley water to treat it as a vehicle for booze shots, though, as @baconslave suggests.1 -
I went to a burlesque show last night planning to have a couple beers and the bar didn't have Miller Lite. ::crestfallen::
The lightest beers they had to offer were PBR and Lonestar ("the national beer of Texas"). Chose Lonestar, my go-to beer from my 20s, had 3.5 and tossed the last beer without bothering to finish it. Note to future self: Lonestar isn't worth it. Lonestar doesn't care about me. Lonestar never really loved me. Lonestar is no good to me. Lonestar isn't even that cute. And Lonestar is probably a lying cheater.
136 calories, 12g carbs
I did feel a difference with the higher carbs. I felt really snackish at the end of the night. A lower carb beer never does that to me.1 -
Each to their own for sure. I do not like beer (the taste of it). To me micholob ultra tastes more like water. My husband tried several low carb beers and decided he could tolerate Bud Select. I tried it, it tastes more like beer to me. Pick your poison that tastes good to you, lol. I prefer vodka and lime but can only handle one serving0
