Alcohol and Weightloss

tesshaney

Would love to know what your thoughts are on this. I live in a city where the entire culture (aside from the AA culture), no matter what group you are in, centers around going out and having drinks. Mon-Fri im all good. Sunday I usually dont have a problem. It always comes down to Saturday night when I want to dance, laugh, and have some drinks with my friends. Sitting at home on a sat night is so not the look. What do some of you do in similiar situations? Do you only have a certain type of alcohol or do you not drink at all? I am mostly a wine drinker although I do indulge in really good craft beer or a margarita from time to time.

deshaine

my thought is: I'd rather eat my calories than drink them...

Margarita's are high in calories and sodium...

Beer (in moderation) might act like a carb to you.
Wine (in moderation) might act like a fruit to you...

As long as you don't over do it, you should be ok... have 1, not 3-4.

00trayn

I can really relate, I love going out and going out is usually to a bar. I've basically found a few things that help to prevent my weight loss from completely stalling from the drinking.

- Low calorie drinks only! Resist the temptation to have a delicious fruity mixed drink or a giant icy margarita. They're loaded with calories. My usual drinks are diet coke and something (rum, flavored vodka, etc), light beer, and wine. They are your lowest calorie options. Don't add calories with mixers. Not worth it.

- Limit your drinking to a few occasions a month. I used to like to have one drink with my meal when going out, but honestly, I'd rather be able to have a few in an evening and enjoy myself then just drink one for the taste. One drink doesn't do it for me... haha. So I'll save my drinking for those couple nights I go out and have a few drinks. Not more than a few... drinking til you're falling over isn't good for you or your diet.

- DRINK WATER. Actually, drink water between alcoholic drinks. Your body will recover faster if you stay hydrated. And you won't feel terrible in the morning either

digitalyssa

My take: Everything in moderation. I don't drink toooo much. And when I do I drink vodka water with a wedge of lime. (Lucky that that's what I like drinking)

And of course I'm a sucker for wine. I just make sure I have enough calories to drink a glass or two. But I say, if you like drinking, drink - just be smart about it!

mymelody_78

I go with Kettle One and club soda and lime. 1 oz of Kettle one is about 64 calories. I try to work out before hand and won't have too many.

Shash27

Diet Coke and Vodka (my best friend named that a "skinny *****" ha ha). Only have 1 or 2 and try not to go overboard (but some nights out it's easier to do that than others). I workout before too to give myself some extra room :-)

I love wine..but I've been trying to stay away from it because of the sugar..but I DO have a glass every once in awhile. I couldn't stick with this if I couldn't live a little.

Cheers :drinker:

Melvillin

Vodka, soda and a lime! Vodka and any Crystal light is good too! Cheers!

tesshaney

Excellent suggestions! Vodka and soda with lime or Diet coke with flavored vodka sound like a plan. Now, I just have to develop a taste for it. I wish wine was low in calories. I think limiting my going out to maybe once every other week may work for me. Then I wont feel like a complete recluse. I hope that once I lose weight I can maintain a normal social life and just work out not to gain weight. Oy Vey!

red01angel

I've nixed mixers all together, and have my drinks either neat or with water.
It's not for everyone, but they definitely have fewer calories than traditional mixed drinks, you tend to drink less because of how strong they are, thus saving calories AND $$, but they still get the job done.

Beyond that, I drink wine...though I've tried to curb that lately because I'm one of those people who will consume a bottle before I even realize it...

Wendybirduk

I am a drinker. :blushing:

Lately I have cut down on the drinking through the week and limited it to the weekend. If I DO falter during the week then I will have a Bacardi and diet coke (in my hand right now lol).

Work for the booze if you have to. Earn those extra calories but try to make sure you cut back as much as you feel comfortable doing. If you are only having a drink on a Saturday then you are doing a hell of a lot better than me!

I have faltered several times in the last couple of weeks but have tried to make up for it with exercise.

Don't beat yourself up about the booze hunny. Some people have too much chocolate or cake. Just try as hard as you can to cut it back and if you do have a blow out on a Saturday night then the punishment of exercising the next day with a hangover should make you think twice!

kdiamond

If you like margaritas like I do, I have them make a "skinny margarita" (like that girl from Real Housewives).

I ask for a shot of Patron over ice with club soda and 2 limes. I squeeze the limes in it. It is VERY close to the flavor and like 80 calories. If you want you can sneak some Crystal Light lemonaide (the small portions) in your purse then pour a little bit of it into your drink to make it tangier, it might taste a little better.

I drink at least once a week, sometimes two nights, and I have been able to keep my body rocking. Just be careful of what you drink and what you eat after you drink!

KarenBorter

Personally, I quit drinking until I get this darned weight off. I can consume bottles of wine in 1 night and a LOT of vodka in a night. Don't fool yourself, Vodka DOES have calories and if you are drinking 2 or 3 drinks you are consuming a lot of empty calories. BESIDES all of this, when you get drunk your inhibitors are down and people tend to binge eat when they are drunk. If you drink socially this may not be an issue, but man I know that after a few drinks nothing sounds better to me then a thick cheeseburger and fries!

erickirb

I love my beer, the darker the better. I tend drink 3 or less in a night, 2 to 3 days a week, I also try to have a glass of water between each one to make it last longer and to stay hydrated. Just make sure you have the extra calories available and if not go for a workout before you go out to give you the extra cals.

EDesq

Drinking excess alcohol is a "diet" killer, and it is far beyond the calories you see. Alcohol causes retention of fluid, depresses the metabolism thus retaining weight, and it makes you hungry for greasy foods particularly the next day and for some it makes them let down their guard and they eat more while they are drinking. All that said, a couple of drinks a week won't hurt you UNLESS it becomes Habitual, so please watch yourself, addictions can "sneak" up on you. Unfortunately, in this Country and some others, we LIVE for the Weekend. Having a great time is about eating and drinking alcohol. That is not in and of itself a bad thing UNTIL it starts making your Life and maybe others we love "Unhappy" or "Unmanageable"...Moderation is the key, plan the occasions to indulge with food and/or alcohol. For Me, when I begin to question whether drinking or eating or anything is "good" for Me or I become Unhappy as a Result of My indulgence (modest or not), that's a sign to Me that it IS A Problem. And I begin to weed it out of My Life.

tesshaney

These replies have been so AWESOME! I totally feel like im the only person who is trying to lose weight but likes to have cocktails. I feel so much better about all this. Its truly my main dieting downfall.

atynk

I love to live it up on saturday nights! Vodka water and crystal light are usually my drink of choice.. or doubles so i have less mix lol... or shots so no mix at all! I spent the last year going out most saturdays so I know you can balance it... Try to make sure you work out extra hard that day... you will prob need to burn about 1000 calories ( 10 vodka drinks lol) .. don't starve yourself all day or you will end up stuffing your face before you even get to the bar... so burn that extra calories before you even drink and dance your butt off and you can even end up losing!!

Kaye8395BTS

As a former BIG drinker, I cut it out for the most part on this journey, yes unfortunately has meant I have missed out on a lot of my social event that I normally would have attended, but I figure I partied my a** off to get it that big, I can take a few (so far, 10) months off.

BUT in order to NOT pull my hair out I have let myself go out once a month on average. It's usually to celebrate someone's birthday and not a random Saturday night. I am a big fan of the water in between drinks, it def helps...and coming from a girl who used be able to put down an 18 pack on her own...take my word :-)

Ever see those ridiculously skinny girls drinking tequilla straight from the bottle? I always laughed at them before, but they got the right "idea." No juice mixers, its not worth the calories and say h*ll no to the frozen drinks - they are a killer! Go for Vodka and dt soda, also Bacardi is supposed to be low in sugar and carbs ect if you want to go that route. Otherwise, I stick to light beer or a glass or 2 of wine, otherwise I'd be on my tail-bone anyway after not drinking for this long!

Good luck! and no... you are absolutely not the only one!

BaliRun

I have been saying this for a while... If alcohol didn't have so many calories I would drink a whole lot more!!! LOL so I guess it's probably a good thing that it does!!!

sublimechik28

margarita
tequila half club soda and half real lime juice no mixers thats all sugar. bars usually have a bottle of real lime juice. and no salt

vodka club soda and if u want it a lil sweet a splash of cranberry

pretty much any clear liquor w club soda and a squeeze of lime is low cal. the best liquors are vodka and rum anything brown like whiskeys have more cals

HazelDiva1913

great topic tessie tess. Ive been trying to figure out what everyones drinking thats low cal for a while now. We did great last week though ...patron shots and bacardi and diet coke

tesshaney

I think our Patron shots were good-they got me there and we didnt have too many of them so I didnt feel like I was buying drinks all night.

kdiamond

Patron is ALWAYS the way to go...lol!!!!

tjkiser

I live at the beach and feel the SAME way you do.. pretty much everything revolves around a few drinks.. wether its hitting up Happy Hour, grabbing a drink after working in the evenings.. or watching football on a saturday.. and that's just a few occasions!

I try to limit drinking (if i'm going to at all) to once a week or so.. like you mentioned on your saturdays out dancing.. If i do I work for the calories in the gym and try not to indulge in that margarita (which is my favorite, btw).

For liquor, my suggestion is pick your favorite two crystal light flavors! I carry the packets around in my purse or hell, in my pocket if i have to! Order a vodka water TALL. and put about half the packet into it and save the other. so, while most people would order a double tall.. you're drinking more water with your vodka than normal.. so you're slowing down your alcohol intake. sometimes if you want to fake it to limit the peer pressure from being out and everyone asking where your drink is.. just order the waer and put the crystal light in it.. once your friends see you do it in your liqour drinks they assume its the same and lay off! if i'm really wanting to just catch a buzz and have a great time, I really try to limit it to maybe 3 or 4 drinks.. since i'm only drinking about once a week.. i become a lightweight anyways and it save you $.

For beer, i'm not much of a light beer drinker but coorslight or mich ultra aren't bad.. i like the beers a little on the darker side.. michelob ultra amber or yuengling light are good and again.. only have maybe one and i count it as an empty calore/carb snack.

But once again.. you are obviously not alone in the battle for weight loss vs. alcohol consumption!

Hope this helps along with the others

melodymartinez

I'm a drinker too. Before I got pregnant I was drinking at least a bottle of wine every night. And that was just the nights that I stayed home! When I went out I would have 4 or more vodka drinks. After abstaining for nine months, I find it much easier to keep my drinking in moderation. I know that my past drinking habits were the major culprit in my pre-pregnancy weight gain-both from all the calories and the lack of working out (when I wasn't drinking, I was hung over).

While I was pregnant, the only thing I missed was that relaxed feeling after a glass of two or wine. I didn't miss feeling wasted, sick, hungover. I was def. ready to give that lifestyle up. Now I limit myself to a couple of glasses of wine. I don't think I could abstain all together, and I see no reason to.

mrsewert

I love Vodka...I drink Cherry Vodka with Diet Coke I'm glad to see these suggestions.

khogeland

Dance Dance Dance....when you go out get off the bar stool and shake your booty. dancing is the best way to brun calories and have a good time.For every beer (Michalob ultra is best choice calorie and taste wise) dance with out stoping to two songs. I have found that doing Voka citrion and water with some lemon wedges is great too. Have fun and dont worry if you over do it...you'll just have to work hard the following day. Were making life changes not changin our lives by not doing the things we enjoy! Have FUN and BOOGIE

tesshaney

I am totally going to boogie my butt off next time im out which will be next Saturday. Im already getting a mental plan together so I have fun but dont get to far off track.

mrsewert

I had my cherry vodka this weekend with crystal lite lemonade...OMG yummmy!