I like alcohol

katetwolf

I am not an alcoholic but it totally screws with my progress. I like to indulge on the weekends and if I go out at night or occasionally having a beer relaxing after work. My fiancé he doesn't seem to gain any weight when you throw a few drinks into the mix. Does anyone else find this killing your progress

Fitwarrior7_Round_2

I think your going to find a lot of us do. It just depends on how hard you want to work at it/what your willing to give up to meet your goals.

InkAndApples

Nope, I save calories for gin. They are the best calories.

kimkimcoleman

You aren't alone. I love my wine. Maybe just try saving some calories for a drink or two a couple times a week.

Hypsibius

katetwolf wrote: »

I am not an alcoholic but it totally screws with my progress. I like to indulge on the weekends and if I go out at night or occasionally having a beer relaxing after work. My fiancé he doesn't seem to gain any weight when you throw a few drinks into the mix. Does anyone else find this killing your progress

Yes definitely. Kills my motivation, too. But I have sections of my 20s when I would have met any reasonable definition of alcoholic.

Now I abstain from liquor always (and any alcohol most days) but occasionally budget for a good beer w/ dinner out or glass of wine if it's a weekend social event.

Niki_Fitz

I'm so with you. I've cut way back. Lame at fiirst but I'm starting to find seltzer and citrus as enjoyable as a cocktail- when I'm home! Going out is a whole other challenge!

rachelr1116

I prefer stouts and porters and they're pretty calorie dense. And none of my friends know how to go out and just have "a" beer, it always turns in to 2 or 3. On a typical night at a local brewery I could easily drink over half of my daily calories in about an hour. I was going over on my calories most Saturday's by about 1000 calories so I just decided to cut way back. I still occasionally have a good beer but always keep it at "a" beer.

middlehaitch

I like alcohol too. Unfortunately as I lost weight my tolerance dropped.
Now I'm limited to 2-3 drinks or I am under the table

I have learnt to like lots of ice in my drinks, even wine, just to make them last longer.

Alcohol never interfered with my weight loss as I always accounted for it.

Cheers, h.

lporter229

Fitwarrior7_Round_2 wrote: »

I think your going to find a lot of us do. It just depends on how hard you want to work at it/what your willing to give up to meet your goals.

This for sure. I am not willing to give it up completely, so I just budget for it. I pre-log my food in the morning to make sure I am getting sufficient nutrition. I usually have about 200 calories left over, which I use for wine or ice cream, a second helping of dinner or whatever I am in the mood for that evening.

evilpoptart63

I have the same problem. I still with have the occasional vodka tonic or 2 but that's pretty rare now. It's worth it once in a while but I can't overdo it. I'm always the dd when I go out with my husband because he burns a stupid amount of calories and alcohol doesn't seem to have a negative affect on his waistline.

lorrpb

In addition to using up calories and providing no nutrition, alcohol tends to reduce inhibitions about eating, so people tend to eat/munch more than normal. The combination of alcohol and salty snacks causes water retention. These are the reasons it affects your progress. You need to account for the amount of alcohol consumed per week, which could easily be 1000 calories or more with weekend indulgences and multiple evenings. If you choose to do this regularly, you should accept .5 to 1 lb per week slower loss rate, so you can drink and still get adequate nutrition, also expect more weight fluctuation due to water retention.

BeccaLoves2lift

I save calories for wine when I want it.

csilverthorn22

Sister lets discuss it over a drink. lmao I totally agree! By monday not only do I know I've totally indulged and probably ruined 4 days of progress in 2 days... but in addition to the added calories, I haven't worked out because my energy sucks.. and I'm bloated (as someone commented about the water retention.) I think eveyrone here is totally bang on in everything they're saying about moderation, and picking your times (extra cardio on fridays or sunday mornings.. ) I've also found a few other little tricks that may or may not be helpful...
1. cycle carbs lower in the days leading up to the weekend so you have some "extras" to help offset a couple of drinks.
2. Extra cardio not only for offsetting of calories but also because the endorphin release may help with cravings
3. Cycle between an alcoholic drink for a none alcoholic one
3. create your own drinks using diet stuff, water, crystal lites or stevia... I love the high cal coolers which does not help anything so I premix using lite cranberry and club soda (or a splash of bar lime) still not great but at least I know whats in there and its lower calorie.
premix. you know you will grab whatever is easiest. if you have to get up and mix something vs just grab a bottle.. chances are.. you'll grab the bottle.
On the last two points: trick yourself. mix a couple without any alcohol... that way no one (maybe even including you) knows if you are drinking or going "virgin" which avoids the whole self conscious explanation or social stuff.

Numericmama373

I set aside for wine!

cwolfman13

I ride for beer, tequila, whisky, and vodka

ktwebster111

Does anyone know the drink with the least calories in? I'm quite young and go to parties almost every weekend and drink a pretty substantial amount. I do go to the gym every day but I'm not seeing a difference

VeggieBarbells

The best way to drop weight is to stop drinking for a while. Liquid cals kills weight loss. I had to decide which was more important to me. I decided weight loss, now I earn my cals before I drink them. Yes I workout and have 300 - 500 cals in the bank as it were and then I have a drink. Its not for everyone but it works for me. Good luck with it all.

Slimpossible007

Try vodka sodawater and lime ...

spirits are usually quite low

CJ_Holmes

Yep, you have to honestly log drinks so that you can assess how much of your calorie budget you're using, and make changes if needed. If I've had to cut way back on my drinking to achieve my athletic goals this year. Like anything, though, it's all about priorities and habits. It's nice to have a low tolerance, though, now! I get a great buzz off one or 2 drinks.

katetwolf

Thanks guys, there was lots of good answers here. I will definitely budget for it but also some lower calorie drinks like the vodka and soda water.

InkedBlueStar

You Are Not Alone. I think the biggest reason why I'm struggling so much this year is I've gone back to having drinks not as often but having drinks. Reflecting back over my year and a half a weight-loss I realize that the best time that I had for losing weight was when I cut out alcohol completely. Now I'm trying to have drinks not crazy but normal during parties or when we go out and not to a great extent. I can definitely see though how it's stopping my weight loss progression. But it's so hard to give up completely definitely need to find a happy medium.