Advice Please on Alcohol

MityMax96

Hi i am back trying to loose weight again.....i am after some advice please.

The big question is are all calories the same, ie if I choose to have a couple of glasses of wine instead of a sandwich, will this still be counted as the same calorie content and will I still loose weight at the same rate, or is there something else I need to be aware of with Alcohol calories.

:drinker:

Make sure you measure.

But your body does treat calories from alcohol differently.
There is no store in your body for alcohol....
So the body will oxidize it to get it out as quickly as possible....it pretty much treats it as a poison.

So while you are drinking, any other food you are consuming will be put on the back burner for being used as energy (being oxidized) until the body is able to get rid of the alcohol....

So that is why people who drink beer a lot have the "spare tire" cause they consuming other foods (nuts, high in fat)...that will be stored in the fat cells, while the body works to get rid of the alcohol.

caroline_mason42

Thank you all for your valuable advice, I will try to abstain but from what i am hearing as long as i stick to just the wine and do not have it in conjunction with non-counted and unhealthy foods (which as you say can be the effect of having a cheeky glass of wine :happy: _ then I should be ok but the weight loss may be slower, something definitely to think about as I really want to get as near to goal as possible in 29 weeks and counting.......

caroline_mason42

would it help if I excersise after i have drunk wine to get the body burning fat.....I run 5K+ every morning (well excluding sundays) and walk the dog for at least 30 minutes every evening - would that help get my body burning fat not procesing alcohol?

MityMax96

Read this by Lyle McDonald if you get a chance.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/nutrient-intake-nutrient-storage-and-nutrient-oxidation.html

Alcohol
And, finally, as noted above, there is absolutely no store of alcohol in the body. None whatsoever. Effectively, alcohol is seen as a sort of metabolic ‘toxin’ or ‘poison’ to the body. And this means that alcohol oxidation is 100% perfect, that is, the body will effectively do everything in its power to get rid of the alcohol increasing alcohol oxidation to maximum (which means decreasing the oxidation of other nutrients consumed with that alcohol) so that the alcohol can be gotten rid of.

I’m going to ask readers not to read anything into the above paragraph, don’t infer or try to draw conclusions about how alcohol might or mightn’t fit into the diet in terms of anything. As it turns out, alcohol is an oddity among nutrients with seemingly contradictory effects on things. I’m going to address that in detail in a forthcoming article and, for now, just take the above as some much needed background information.

Achrya

This is the most depression Debbie downer filled thread about alcohol I've seen in a while.

Calories are calories. If you measure your wine accurately and track your other stuff accurately you'll lose weight. If you don't lose weight over time (im not talking you had wine Saturday and don't lose on Sunday because that's way to small a window to get an actual sample from, but you are stalled out for a few weeks) then you've fudged up the math somewhere.


Simple.

tedrickp

I drink all the things.

TLwineguzzler

I'm staying dry for January and I'm definitely finding the weight is coming off easier. Before I'd always be 1 or 2 lbs heavier on a Monday morning than I was on the previous Friday if I drank a two or three bottles of wine over the weekend. I've not had any gains at all this month, might just carry on through February!

tedrickp

This is a great article:

http://www.leangains.com/2010/07/truth-about-alcohol-fat-loss-and-muscle.html

Achrya

would it help if I excersise after i have drunk wine to get the body burning fat.....I run 5K+ every morning (well excluding sundays) and walk the dog for at least 30 minutes every evening - would that help get my body burning fat not procesing alcohol?

Seriously? Just drink the damn wine.


Hell, now I want a drink.

MityMax96

would it help if I excersise after i have drunk wine to get the body burning fat.....I run 5K+ every morning (well excluding sundays) and walk the dog for at least 30 minutes every evening - would that help get my body burning fat not procesing alcohol?

Staying below caloric needs will help in this area....

Ultimately you need to make sure that calories in is less than calories needed in order to lose weight/fat....

So like I said, make sure you measure out and count your calories.....

lynder64

So long as you accurately measure the quantity (I have a 125ml pub measure glass to make sure), record the calories and remain under your daily calorie allowance you will lose weight. Regular wine consumption certainly hasn't stopped me losing, and a couple of glasses will sometime help me get over a plateau.

However, I reckon it's a good idea to only drink out of your exercise calories, i.e. get all the nutrition you need from your food first and keep the booze for a treat. The lower your calorie goal, the more this matters.

Hence my MFP motto: "Will run for wine." :drinker:

LOVE THIS!!! ^

Achrya

This is the most depression Debbie downer filled thread about alcohol I've seen in a while.

Calories are calories. If you measure your wine accurately and track your other stuff accurately you'll lose weight. If you don't lose weight over time (im not talking you had wine Saturday and don't lose on Sunday because that's way to small a window to get an actual same from, but you are stalled out for a few weeks) then you've fudged up the math somewhere.


Simple.

Agree a billion times. People and their alcohol myths drive me batty.

It's like if they don't give up things they enjoy they can't lose weight.

Sigh. More alcohol for us I guess. :drinker:

pontac

Include the calories from alcohol in your totals.

You can drink every day and still lose weight if your calories input is less than your calorie usage.

If you stop drinking alcohol and don't replace those calories by consumingsomething else, then you'll lose weight faster.

But if at some timein thefuture you want to resume consumingalcohol, then you may as well incorporate it into your diet from the start s. Maybe reduce the amount you drink.

That's what I've done, I have wine with dinner every night. If you just can't lose weight no matter what you do then you have backup ofreserve of the nuclear option of dropping the alcohol.

Its a choice Some people treat themselves to candy or ice cream - if your treat is a glass of wine, there's no difference, and wine is much heathier than icecream or candy.

Just count the calories - every calorie - andthis site is great for that, and go for a walk and enjoy your drink.

darkangelz

so if you don't eat all day and use your calorie allowance on alcohol what affect would this have?

Bambalina_1

I can and if its the weekend and I'm meeting my friends for drinks I'll save the cals for wine, I still lose the problem and correct me if I am wrong but are you on about 2 glasses everyday? that in itself is very bad for you purely on the units you are consuming.

x

SunofaBeach14

This is the most depression Debbie downer filled thread about alcohol I've seen in a while.

Calories are calories. If you measure your wine accurately and track your other stuff accurately you'll lose weight. If you don't lose weight over time (im not talking you had wine Saturday and don't lose on Sunday because that's way to small a window to get an actual same from, but you are stalled out for a few weeks) then you've fudged up the math somewhere.


Simple.

Agree a billion times. People and their alcohol myths drive me batty.

Agreed. Add some of the half truths in some of the other posts above and you have a case of real confusion. OP, you can lose weight while consuming moderate amounts of alcohol. There is no magic here.