Should I add Alcohol calories

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  • iamihobo
    iamihobo Posts: 232 Member
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    A calorie is a calorie.
    Why would you not count alcohol???
  • linalovekitty
    linalovekitty Posts: 187
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    My drink of choice is usually vodka and soda, so that won't be hard. The wine adds up, though! Food and wine have always been my downfalls, but I am re-learning how to cook balanced meals that taste great.

    Im sure I will catch hell for this, but replace the soda with water & u wont have to add in the calories from that drink. Vodka in and of itselt wont stick to u. All of my gfriends drink it that way and never count it and it works for them.
  • doubglass
    doubglass Posts: 314 Member
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    Calories are calories. Yes you need to count alcohol. An yes you can drink and lose weight if you do it in moderation.
  • tmm_0127
    tmm_0127 Posts: 545 Member
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    Yes.

    It can surprise you how many calories you drink in one go, and can be ~super~ helpful for you to see.

    I used to not log them because I was embarrassed, but when I finally started logging them I realized I was going so far over my calorie limit with even just 2 drinks. You can really be sabotaging your progress with alcohol if you don't watch the portions / your moderation.

    One glass of wine, white or red, is around 130 calories. So if you have two, that's 260. 3? 390. On and on.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
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    This article explains why some who drink lose weight and how alcohol damages digestion and nutrient absorption.

    http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa22.htm

    Some excerpts:

    " alcohol interferes with the nutritional process by affecting digestion, storage, utilization, and excretion of nutrients"

    "Alcohol inhibits the breakdown of nutrients into usable molecules by decreasing secretion of digestive enzymes from the pancreas (2). Alcohol impairs nutrient absorption by damaging the cells lining the stomach and intestines and disabling transport of some nutrients into the blood (3). In addition, nutritional deficiencies themselves may lead to further absorption problems."

    "When there is no food to supply energy, stored sugar is depleted, and the products of alcohol metabolism inhibit the formation of glucose from other compounds such as amino acids. As a result, alcohol causes the brain and other body tissue to be deprived of glucose needed for energy and function."

    "when alcohol is substituted for carbohydrates, calorie for calorie, subjects tend to lose weight, indicating that they derive less energy from alcohol than from food."

    "The mechanisms accounting for the apparent inefficiency in converting alcohol to energy are complex and incompletely understood, but several mechanisms have been proposed. For example, chronic drinking triggers an inefficient system of alcohol metabolism, the microsomal ethanol-oxidizing system (MEOS). Much of the energy from MEOS-driven alcohol metabolism is lost as heat rather than used to supply the body with energy. "

    One can lose weight by replacing nutritious calories with alcohol calories but it's a bad idea, long term health wise.

    And may this, please, serve to give further weight to the argument that all ingested "calories" are NOT created equal. In the human body, as opposed to a bomb calorimeter, a calorie is certainly not just a calorie.

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