Hangovers on a diet

mcspiffy88

Hello!

I'm confident some of you can relate to this. Ever since I have been on a diet my hangovers got triple worse.. Now I'm not a raging drinker but I do enjoy a Friday night out with the mates. Even two glasses of wine knocks me down, 3-4 absolutely gets me hammered, so needless to say I have seriously cut down on my drinking and now I barely drink at all. That means about 3-4 glasses of wine a month. I've got to a point where 2 glasses completely destroys my next day's workout and diet, there's no way I'm gonna be cutting with a hangover. Anyone managed to work around this ?

So far I have tried everything I could think of, such as drinking water before during and after going out and aranging my meals around it, taking vitamins , etc etc.. Ibuprofen/advil is not really an option since its very acidic to take on a nearly empty stomach. Im eating about 1500-1700~ cals depending how much I work out that day, being 5 foot 7 high and 158 lbs atm.

TavistockToad

this is why i dont drink very much any more.. nothing less than a greasy full english works as a hangover cure for me!

SuperC_85

Sorry OP cant help you out there

Ive decided to quit the drinking for a good 6 weeks to get some weight off.
Drinking messes up my progress

pbbagel

It might help if you eat something carby after you drink, like some bread or rice. It works for me! Just make sure it's healthy and small of course.

itsadogslife

Eat a proper dinner with some carbs, and have a carb after.. this past friday I had half a burger and afterwards I had a pancake with chocolate chips instead of mcdonald's.. I was quite proud of myself that I went home and COOKED instead of getting takeaway.. I felt tired the following day, but not hungover.

tedrickp

Well, I hate to tell you this, but at 24, you haven't even seen the full power of a hangover. It only gets worse buddy

Try alternating wine and water when you drink. The biggest issue with a hangover is the dehydration. So drink a lot of water during the night (also helps you take a break from drinking) and then make sure you drink some water in the morning. I usually wake up to a gatorade and advil.

Honestly dude no matter how acidic you feel - try to get an advil liqui-gel down in the morning. I usually chug water/gatorade in morning and down the advil. It allows me to sleep the hangover off.

powerpigeon

Water, water and more water. Stick a big glass out right in your eyeline for when you come in, and then drink lots of water before bed. Take a glass of water to bed with you in case you wake up with that horrible cotton wool mouth in the night, or if you feel so awful in the morning that staggering to the kitchen for water seems too hard.

blobby10

My tip is stop drinking wine and instead drink gin and slimline tonic! Or Vodka, lime and soda :-) Lower calories anyway and although I get pretty merry still, my mind is clear and hangovers way less even non-existent most times!. But I also drink loads of water before during and after my night out!

SideSteel

My solution was to quit drinking.

dopeysmelly

I've realized I just have to drink less. I work in an industry where drinking is everywhere (not excessive, but it's a part of dinners etc), but I can't have more than 2 drinks per day, or I feel like DEATH later, with hangovers I haven't experienced since college.

I still have a very small glass of wine every evening (4 fl oz), and really enjoy it. Drinking less makes the enjoyment of it more, in the same way I enjoy my food more now I'm watching calories so carefully, and I treat myself with the decent stuff (including champagne) not plonk, because overall I'm spending less $$$.

manicautumn

Make sure you eat before you drink. Drink a glass of water before bed and then leave a full glass beside your bed with painkillers. When you wake up (regardless if it's 5AM and you go back to bed), drink the water and take the painkiller.

It's also good to not drink on an empty stomach and avoid overly sugary drinks. If you can drink water in between alcoholic drinks, that's also good because it hydrates you and slows down your drinking.

_benjammin

According to a study published in the September 2013 issue of Food and Function, Sprite "can halt that awful next-day feeling".
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-sprite-the-cure-for-your-hangover-woes/

mcspiffy88

Thanks very much for the tips. I will definitely try the carb approach, I have been cutting down on those pretty heavily.

So as far as I can tell the consensus is to stop drinking. At 24 thats not really an option imho. I will have plenty of time not to drink when I got a kid. As mentioned I'm a bit afraid too of being cut out of my group, partying on mineral water or a lemonade is not the same, let alone the attention it draws.

LadyTalulah

Ahh, I can definitely relate..!
I do have a routine to try and curb as much of the hangover as possible..
Firstly as you said, drink water all throughout the night. I'd go as far as to say drink at least as much water as beer/wine and double the amount for any mixed drink.
Try to never go to bed completely wasted. For some reason, this has always worked for me. If I'm feeling quite drunk and then just crash my hangover will be 10x worse than if I just waited it out a few hours to sober up.
Also (and this isn't nice) if you need to throw up, don't try and soldier through it. Vomit as much as possible, this is by far the most effective thing you can do the night before. Of course, it's unnecessary and silly to purposely make yourself sick if you're just a bit tipsy, I'm just saying if you have to do, don't fight it, you'll thank yourself the next day.
Now for the morning after. You will have lost a lot of nutrients the night before, and you're probably really dehydrated. Definitely keep on drinking water. Mix in a tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar into a glass of water as well. Careful, it tastes nasty and is strong, so if you're not used to the taste it might be a bit much when you're hungover. But it's considered the "miracle cure", it balances out pH levels, balances blood sugar, aids digestion and so forth.
As for meals, eggs are definitely the best. Personally, I love banana omelets, but I know a lot of people find that disgusting haha. But if you make an omelette with 3 eggs and 2 bananas, it's only 500 calories and it will definitely fill you up. Eggs are high in protein so you feel full for longer but are low calorie so you don't have to worry about your diet. And bananas are great for a hangover as they replenish lots of the vitamins you lost. If you don't want to make on omelet out of it, eat them separately!
I know that when I have a hangover, I need a lot of food to get over it. Stick to eggs and fruits and veggies all day long with lots of water. Carrots are also great as they fill you up, taste good and you don't need to prepare them!
I know a huge English Breakfast or sandwich or pizza is tempting but you have to make the choice not to. There are always little tips and tricks but the majority of the time you just got to accept your fate and make good choices!
Anyways, good luck, have fun

Linnaea27

To me, it sounds like you've gotten way more sensitive to the alcohol than you used to be-- perhaps *because* you've been drinking less?

I've also noticed being way more sensitive to alcohol than I have been in years, since I've been losing weight. Partially it's because I drink less than I used to (I'll have only 1 drink, maybe 3 evenings a week at most) but partially it's due to a reduction in body mass.

Anyway, my suggestion to you is to consistently drink a small amount of wine with dinner, several days of the week (fit it into your calories). You'll keep your alcohol tolerance a little better than way, if your socializing requires you to drink a few glasses of wine.

2 or 3 glasses of wine sounds like plenty to me. . .

And like everyone else has said, stay hydrated-- have a glass of water on the bar along with your glass of whatever, and alternate drinking from each one.

khkjkk

My tolerance plummeted when I started dieting. Like everyone else has said: drinking more water while out at the bar and making sure to eat before hand will help. Also, try to make sure to eat eggs the next day and pop a B-12 vitamin.

Cutting back on alcohol consumption works the best. 24 was two years ago for me, and I couldn't imagine cutting out alcohol then ... until I hit 26 and I completely lost the ability to recover from a night of drinking.

sun_fish

I used to drink 3-4 glasses of wine or mixed drinks over the weekend. I have cut way back on that, maybe 1 drink every 4-6 weeks now. I cut down for a couple reasons, one being I didn't want to use the calories on alcohol when I would enjoy food more, and also I find when I have a drink, my ability to make good decisions goes out the window making me much more likely to have another drink or two and/or overeat.

Edited to add: I just saw your response that you are unwilling to stop drinking, I don't know if that includes cutting down as well. Anyway, never mind I guess.

michellemybelll

water, sex, coffee. not necessarily in that order.