Drinking vodka and diet coke twice a week

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Phill2488
Phill2488 Posts: 97 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I exercise Monday to Friday every week but then at the end of the week I enjoy going out drinking with friends on a Friday and Saturday night. I try to pick an alcoholic drink that's low in calories so i picked vodka and diet coke, but will drinking that twice a week effect my weight loss? I don't want those 5 days of exercise to go to waste.

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  • doctorwalrus
    doctorwalrus Posts: 8
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    It's fine, but in moderation. How many vodka and cokes are we talking about though?
  • Phill2488
    Phill2488 Posts: 97 Member
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    I don't usually tend to count my drinks and what is considered moderation anyway? 5 glasses, 6 glasses, 20 glasses? I figure that as long as I'm burning off calories exercising 5 days a week then drinking vodka and diet coke twice a week shouldn't be a problem.
  • fast_eddie_72
    fast_eddie_72 Posts: 719 Member
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    It's fine, but in moderation. How many vodka and cokes are we talking about though?

    That's what i was going to ask. I tried to find the lower calorie alternative to red wine. I gave up. I drink red wine once or twice a week.

    I tried that 55 calorie beer for Super Bowl Sunday. Ug. That was a bad plan. Now I have to drink one every now and then just to get them out of the fridge. I thought they were 3.2, but they're not even that. Two of them is like on "real" beer. Tastes okay, I guess. Just not a lot of taste at all.
  • snow00774
    snow00774 Posts: 62
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    Just make sure you track them, so try and keep count. I've been doing some vodka and crystal light water but making sure I track all my alcohol either way.
  • doctorwalrus
    doctorwalrus Posts: 8
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    I don't usually tend to count my drinks and what is considered moderation anyway? 5 glasses, 6 glasses, 20 glasses? I figure that as long as I'm burning off calories exercising 5 days a week then drinking vodka and diet coke twice a week shouldn't be a problem.

    Well, when I was a student, a friend and I once drank a bottle of Jim Beam (straight) and 24 stubbies of Heineken in an evening. That's 2400 kcal or thereabouts. Liver damage notwithstanding, no diet could survive that!

    The truth is, keep it sensible, try to count. If it's a lot, it's not okay, if it's a few, it's fine!
  • hill8570
    hill8570 Posts: 1,466 Member
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    A typical vodka and diet coke is around-ish 100 calories. A hard workout is around 600 calories per hour.

    As with eating, it's real easy to cancel out exercise with drinking.
  • rejectuf
    rejectuf Posts: 487 Member
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    I'd suggest developing a taste for bourbon or scotch. Drink them straight and take your time with it.
  • Phill2488
    Phill2488 Posts: 97 Member
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    Or i could always just cut my drinking down to just once a week and have that be my cheat day
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
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    So long as you're consuming fewer calories than you burn, drink what you want.

    I drink generally high calorie IPAs and bourbon. But I plan for it and count it.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    Rum and Diet coke....you're doing it wrong.
  • oddyogi
    oddyogi Posts: 1,816 Member
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    Rum and Diet coke....you're doing it wrong.

    Yeah.. shouldn't vodka go with diet cranberry or diet sprite or something? I used to drink vodka and water with fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice but I drink too quickly and get way too blitzed so I just quit drinking so much except for a glass of wine every now and then.
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
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    Rum and Diet coke....you're doing it wrong.

    Yeah.. shouldn't vodka go with diet cranberry or diet sprite or something? I used to drink vodka and water with fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice but I drink too quickly and get way too blitzed so I just quit drinking so much except for a glass of wine every now and then.

    Vodka is for olives.
  • csumcs
    csumcs Posts: 6 Member
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    Just make sure you record drinks as well as food. You can make space for some of any food or drink you want.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    A typical vodka and diet coke is around-ish 100 calories. A hard workout is around 600 calories per hour.

    As with eating, it's real easy to cancel out exercise with drinking.

    Great, can't wait to get those high cal zumba workouts going so I can haz 6 cuba libres...tan tan, la zumba buena...tan tan, la Zumba BUENAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  • Myhaloslipped
    Myhaloslipped Posts: 4,317 Member
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    I don't usually tend to count my drinks and what is considered moderation anyway? 5 glasses, 6 glasses, 20 glasses? I figure that as long as I'm burning off calories exercising 5 days a week then drinking vodka and diet coke twice a week shouldn't be a problem.

    Haha, it varies, but I can tell you that 20 drinks is definitely not moderation. I drank like a freaking Irish barfly in college. I have no clue how I stayed so thin and made honor role. Freaking miracle, I suppose. I don't drink much these days, but I rarely have more than 2 if I do. It just isn't worth the calories or the liver damage to me anymore. I count my calories on a daily basis, but I know that some people save up extra calories that they have leftover from being under during the week days and use them to drink on the weekends. You could try that.
  • 257_Lag
    257_Lag Posts: 1,249 Member
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    A typical vodka and diet coke is around-ish 100 calories. A hard workout is around 600 calories per hour.

    As with eating, it's real easy to cancel out exercise with drinking.

    Totally bass ackwards! It's really easy to make room for drinking with exercise! Been doing it for a year. I work out often just for the alcoholic carrot in front of me :smile:
  • kmoirecavender
    kmoirecavender Posts: 91 Member
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    I have resorted to no drinking until I get to my goal weight, then plan for it...we will see how long that lasts!:drinker:

    The problem I have with alcohol, is that the day or so after I have all sorts of cravings for very bad foods, and have an insatiable appetite. I think it just messes with my blood sugar or something too much. So, one night of alcohol and it wipes several days of healthy lifestyle from me...not to mention waking up with a twinkie wrapper with no recollection of how it got there....
  • Chrisstoria
    Chrisstoria Posts: 2
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    ^^
    That's the problem with drinking, its not necessarily the alcohol itself and the calories it has but that drinking in a bar setting or where ever tends to have the propensity to eat the crappy food that usually goes along with drinking; Junk food, fried food, and so on. If you can somehow make sure you don't indulge there than getting black out drunk on vodka cokes will only really damage your liver and not your weight lose in my opinion.
  • fast_eddie_72
    fast_eddie_72 Posts: 719 Member
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    You could lose weight drinking vodka and nothing else. lol But I don't recommend trying it.
  • Cortelli
    Cortelli Posts: 1,369 Member
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    I don't usually tend to count my drinks and what is considered moderation anyway? 5 glasses, 6 glasses, 20 glasses? I figure that as long as I'm burning off calories exercising 5 days a week then drinking vodka and diet coke twice a week shouldn't be a problem.

    I sip straight tequila frequently. But the whole basis of MFP is tracking what you are eating and drinking. Track your drinks. Then you'll know if you are basically cancelling out all your gym calorie burns for a few tipsy nights. It's not enough to say "I work out so I can go hog wild Fri and Sat nights without consequences." Good luck :drinker:

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