Maintaining a diet while drinking wine

What are some thoughts or suggestions on how to still drink wine while trying to lose weight?
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Replies

  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited March 2018
    You can enjoy your wine but log it and keep to within your calories.
    Personally I prefer to eat my calories than drink them but each to their own.
  • Arekha
    Arekha Posts: 45 Member
    I bank and pre log. Treat it like just another food. Key is staying within what you logged!
  • h1udd
    h1udd Posts: 623 Member
    I treat them as food .... only drink at weekends anyway so need to decide if I want a couple of glasses of wine then I miss out on something else.

    its not too hard though I bank calories during the week and save them for the weekend, that way come saturday I can have a meal and a dessert and wine and maybe a bit of cake during the day, and my weekly average is all good.

    apart from this weekend where I royally screwed up .. but hey ... who knew that mayo and pesto are mostly pouring oil over your food .. tasty oil !
  • Ironandwine69
    Ironandwine69 Posts: 2,432 Member
    bbell1985 wrote: »
    Or one night, one bottle.

    This...
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    I (mostly) choose wine over other treats. I don't eat sweets most days because I'd rather have wine with dinner than ice cream after.

    Like all my diet rules, it's more of a guideline than rule. I do still eat sweets, just not as often as I drink wine.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    When I have a beer, I rarely drink, I will track alcohol as carbs or fat.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 2,068 Member
    I like a little wine with my dinner, so I plan it in.

    When it comes to food in general, my exercise is the key to keeping me happy - workout enough, eat happy :)
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    I drink wine fairly regularly. I just log it like anything else that contains calories.
  • MissMaggieMuffin
    MissMaggieMuffin Posts: 444 Member
    I run for wine. Seriously, I do ~400cals on average per day in exercise and probably a quarter goes to wine in a week.

    ^^^This - me too!
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    psychod787 wrote: »
    When I have a beer, I rarely drink, I will track alcohol as carbs or fat.

    Just curious, why would you log it as fat?

    From my understanding, alcohol acts like a carb and a fat. Carbs are listed as a macro, but alcohol generally not. As fats and carbs are almost interchangeable as far as tef, I will use what ever macro I have the most of. I could be wrong. If I am, please let me know.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    It's a little long winded, but this is a video about it. https://youtu.be/Rx0ZwwzpuA4
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    psychod787 wrote: »
    psychod787 wrote: »
    When I have a beer, I rarely drink, I will track alcohol as carbs or fat.

    Just curious, why would you log it as fat?

    From my understanding, alcohol acts like a carb and a fat. Carbs are listed as a macro, but alcohol generally not. As fats and carbs are almost interchangeable as far as tef, I will use what ever macro I have the most of. I could be wrong. If I am, please let me know.

    What do you mean by "acts like a . . . fat"? Alcohol can't replace fat in the dietary sense -- fat plays a role in our bodies that alcohol cannot.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    OP I lost the weight I set out to lose, and am currently maintaining, while regularly drinking wine. During weight loss I drank one, sometimes two glasses a night. For quite some time in maintenance I was drinking 2 glasses a night or sometimes more - I've recently cut back and am drinking only on the weekends, 1-2 glasses at a time.

    Just factor the calories consumed into your total day, and try to limit the mindless snacking that some people struggle with while drinking!
  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
    edited March 2018
    My issue with wine is that it's yummy enough that I want two glasses, and my meager deficit still has me needing to eat under 1400 calories a day to try to lose two pounds a month, which is challenging enough without having to work 250 calories of wine into the equation. So I save it for special occasions.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    edited March 2018
    psychod787 wrote: »
    psychod787 wrote: »
    When I have a beer, I rarely drink, I will track alcohol as carbs or fat.

    Just curious, why would you log it as fat?

    From my understanding, alcohol acts like a carb and a fat. Carbs are listed as a macro, but alcohol generally not. As fats and carbs are almost interchangeable as far as tef, I will use what ever macro I have the most of. I could be wrong. If I am, please let me know.

    What do you mean by "acts like a . . . fat"? Alcohol can't replace fat in the dietary sense -- fat plays a role in our bodies that alcohol cannot.

    From my understanding, once some one has taken in their minimums of fat intake for the day. This will vary on who you ask. I think the one I read was .35grams per pound of bw, you would have enough fats for basic hormonal support.

    https://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/what-to-drink/how-count-alcohol-against-your-daily-macros
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    psychod787 wrote: »
    psychod787 wrote: »
    psychod787 wrote: »
    When I have a beer, I rarely drink, I will track alcohol as carbs or fat.

    Just curious, why would you log it as fat?

    From my understanding, alcohol acts like a carb and a fat. Carbs are listed as a macro, but alcohol generally not. As fats and carbs are almost interchangeable as far as tef, I will use what ever macro I have the most of. I could be wrong. If I am, please let me know.

    What do you mean by "acts like a . . . fat"? Alcohol can't replace fat in the dietary sense -- fat plays a role in our bodies that alcohol cannot.

    From my understanding, once some one has taken in their minimums of fat intake for the day. This will vary on who you ask. I think the one I read was .35grams per pound of bw, you would have enough fats for basic hormonal support.

    https://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/what-to-drink/how-count-alcohol-against-your-daily-macros

    Thanks for the link, very interesting!
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,238 Member
    psychod787 wrote: »
    psychod787 wrote: »
    psychod787 wrote: »
    When I have a beer, I rarely drink, I will track alcohol as carbs or fat.

    Just curious, why would you log it as fat?

    From my understanding, alcohol acts like a carb and a fat. Carbs are listed as a macro, but alcohol generally not. As fats and carbs are almost interchangeable as far as tef, I will use what ever macro I have the most of. I could be wrong. If I am, please let me know.

    What do you mean by "acts like a . . . fat"? Alcohol can't replace fat in the dietary sense -- fat plays a role in our bodies that alcohol cannot.

    From my understanding, once some one has taken in their minimums of fat intake for the day. This will vary on who you ask. I think the one I read was .35grams per pound of bw, you would have enough fats for basic hormonal support.

    https://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/what-to-drink/how-count-alcohol-against-your-daily-macros

    OK: so you have your basic fats. And you basic carbs, if you care about that. And your basic protein. And your basic fiber. There is no basic amount of alcohol that you need, so generally speaking it doesn't get tracked.

    I mean if you really feel the need to track your alcohol, you could use a standard drink equivallency, call a standard drink a cup of water (or an oz of water) and track your drinks as water! Then you would have a distinct count for your "drinks" per day/week/etc if you ever wanted to refer to them.

    Anyway. What I am getting at is that it is not a fat, and it is not a carb regardless of whether it gets processed before anything else.

    It would be, I don't know, like me deciding to add edamame beans into my meat "allowance". I mean they are both complete proteins. But the beans are not meat. So why would I claim I ate a lb of meat if I had a lb of beans instead?

    So, yeah, it should be in its own macro category and it isn't. But by adding it to your other stuff you are polluting your data with no benefit that I can see.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    psychod787 wrote: »
    psychod787 wrote: »
    psychod787 wrote: »
    When I have a beer, I rarely drink, I will track alcohol as carbs or fat.

    Just curious, why would you log it as fat?

    From my understanding, alcohol acts like a carb and a fat. Carbs are listed as a macro, but alcohol generally not. As fats and carbs are almost interchangeable as far as tef, I will use what ever macro I have the most of. I could be wrong. If I am, please let me know.

    What do you mean by "acts like a . . . fat"? Alcohol can't replace fat in the dietary sense -- fat plays a role in our bodies that alcohol cannot.

    From my understanding, once some one has taken in their minimums of fat intake for the day. This will vary on who you ask. I think the one I read was .35grams per pound of bw, you would have enough fats for basic hormonal support.

    https://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/what-to-drink/how-count-alcohol-against-your-daily-macros

    OK: so you have your basic fats. And you basic carbs, if you care about that. And your basic protein. And your basic fiber. There is no basic amount of alcohol that you need, so generally speaking it doesn't get tracked.

    I mean if you really feel the need to track your alcohol, you could use a standard drink equivallency, call a standard drink a cup of water (or an oz of water) and track your drinks as water! Then you would have a distinct count for your "drinks" per day/week/etc if you ever wanted to refer to them.

    Anyway. What I am getting at is that it is not a fat, and it is not a carb regardless of whether it gets processed before anything else.

    It would be, I don't know, like me deciding to add edamame beans into my meat "allowance". I mean they are both complete proteins. But the beans are not meat. So why would I claim I ate a lb of meat if I had a lb of beans instead?

    So, yeah, it should be in its own macro category and it isn't. But by adding it to your other stuff you are polluting your data with no benefit that I can see.

    Well as a macro tracker, vs a strait calorie counter. Yes counting macros is a form of calorie counting, I need to have a way of accounting for the alcohol calories in an alcoholic drink. It's just the way I do it. As far as throwing off my data, in my case, my one drink a month I have will not really pollute my data that much. I used to think in the short term, now thanks to many of the folks on these forums, I look at the long term data. I do like your scientific responses btw.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    psychod787 wrote: »
    psychod787 wrote: »
    When I have a beer, I rarely drink, I will track alcohol as carbs or fat.

    Just curious, why would you log it as fat?

    From my understanding, alcohol acts like a carb and a fat. Carbs are listed as a macro, but alcohol generally not. As fats and carbs are almost interchangeable as far as tef, I will use what ever macro I have the most of. I could be wrong. If I am, please let me know.

    What do you mean by "acts like a . . . fat"? Alcohol can't replace fat in the dietary sense -- fat plays a role in our bodies that alcohol cannot.

    I agree with this. Beer contains no fat but it does contain carbs, some quite a bit. But as far as logging you can do whatever best suits your needs. If it were me I'd just log the beer from the database and let the chips fall where they may.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    I don't drink a lot but didn't change it before and after I started this 6 years ago.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Not a popular answer :
    Accept a slower rate of loss. If you're eating near the lower end of minimum calories (1200 women, 1500 men) you can hardly afford to substitute alcohol in place of actual nutrition.. For long term health reasons. Eat your minimum in nutrition then add the alcohol.