Gave Up Alcohol - did not lose weight any different?

KutieMK

Okay, I'm just getting started here. Is it true, even if I do reduce my calories if I don't get enough protein I won't lose any weight? I don't eat a lot of meat and when I do it's usually ground turkey. Mostly for the flavor than for the bulk of it. Example: I use 1/2 pound of ground turkey in 6 helpings of chili.

Maleficent0241

What is your height/weight etc? 800 calories sounds really low for a BMR.

missmacknz

OP I did lose some weight after giving up 1,000 carbs from the beer drinking I did every other night. It took a couple of months for me to even notice. I just wanted to say good luck!

Thank you, the encouragement means a lot! It doesn't help that I can't weigh myself at home so I'm partially assuming I haven't lost any weight because I can't 'see' it. I'll stop whinging and take a trip to the hospital in a week or two and use their wheelchair scales

missmacknz

What is your height/weight etc? 800 calories sounds really low for a BMR.

For a 'normal' person of my height and weight and being sedentary, the correct BMR should be estimated BMR is: 1,347 calories/day* based on the my fitnesspal calculator.

My situation is that I can't walk, I've had weight loss surgery, and I have reduced muscle mass compared to another person the same height /weight. All which mean I have a lower calorie need than a normal person. So while it might be low for most people its probably about right for me.

Generally speaking, weight loss surgery patients are recommended to follow an 800-1100 calorie diet in maintenance mode anyhow.

I don't really want to put my height/weight here in a public forum and it ends up on google, but if you're genuinely interested, please message me and I'll tell you

ninerbuff

According to the numbers, you're in less of a deficit since you stopped drinking.

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MyChocolateDiet

If you wanted to see if Alcohol makes a difference you should have eaten the same amount of calories as you were when you were consuming alcohol. That would have been the way to isolate for the alcohol.

For instance....if you were consuming 300 cals worth of alcohol per day you should have switched to another food to make up those cals.

As it stands you have gone lower than your cal target by the amount of alcohol cals you were drinking and so you can't know if the effect you are experiencing is due to the alcohol cessation or the drop in cals. (Even though the effect seems to be slowed weight loss at the same rate as before. They may have canceled each other out.)

So if I were you I'd go back and see how many average cals you were consuming before your alcohol break and eat up to that amount daily in actual food. Then if you lose weight at a faster rate than before you can say it was the alcohol.

I'm unsure why you were trying an experiment like this? Results you gain from an n=1 study even if showing anything could not reasonably be extrapolated to apply to any population in general that you may be a part of?

Also I have heard of NO books or research that blame alcohol calories for weight gain? There are ideas and theories that we eat more or lose control of cal counting when buzzed or drunk but not that alcohol calories specifically change your metabolism in any way. Do you know of some? Did you hear of some credible study like this?

My final reason for advising against isolating for alcohol through an experiment like this is because alcohol is yummy, it can be fun when enjoyed responsibly and I have personally lost weight twice in my life over 30 lbs each and both times enjoying alcohol in moderation.

MyChocolateDiet

If you're eating more to make up for it, you won't lose weight.

Wrong if she is eating more to make up for it TO THE SAME caloric level, she should in theory lose at the same pace.

MyChocolateDiet

so you ate 200 extra calories a day (give or take) = 1400 extra cals a week ..

stopped drinking three nights a week and saved 300 per night or 900 calories…

for a net increase of 500 calories a week…

and you are asking why no weight loss?

yay math

Maleficent0241

What is your height/weight etc? 800 calories sounds really low for a BMR.

For a 'normal' person of my height and weight and being sedentary, the correct BMR should be estimated BMR is: 1,347 calories/day* based on the my fitnesspal calculator.

My situation is that I can't walk, I've had weight loss surgery, and I have reduced muscle mass compared to another person the same height /weight. All which mean I have a lower calorie need than a normal person. So while it might be low for most people its probably about right for me.

Generally speaking, weight loss surgery patients are recommended to follow an 800-1100 calorie diet in maintenance mode anyhow.

I don't really want to put my height/weight here in a public forum and it ends up on google, but if you're genuinely interested, please message me and I'll tell you

Gotcha. No need to say if you aren't comfortable, it was more of a "something to think about" type question Interesting about the differences with the wheelchair, thanks for that info. I was thinking since BMR is essentially coma level caloric need, I wasn't thinking it would be much different but I didn't think about the difference in muscle mass.

Anyway, as others have mentioned, it's probably a miscalculation somewhere in your deficit before and after giving up the alcohol.