Should I quit drinking?
Shanz78
Posts: 143 Member
Im not an alcoholic but i do drink pretty regularly and ive been thinking about quitting drinking until i reach my goal weight. I feel like alcohol is hindering my weight loss. i was just wondering if anyone else felt this way? Has anyone quit drinking to loss weight?
What were your results?
What were your results?
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Replies
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I stopped wine because I felt the calories were not worthed, also when drinking my inhibition would lower and I would eat more. I dont miss it.0
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Make lifestyle changes. You can still drink beer and lose weight. I'm not saying do this all the time, but make it fit into your day if you want. If you cut it out until you reach your goal, then what? Just add it back in and go back to eating/drinking more than you are now? You'll gain weight back.
It's about moderation not deprivation. There are no good/bad foods, only bad eating habits. Do or do not, there is no try. You have to want it, you have to work for it, you have to realize that only you can do it.
Read these:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here?hl=so+you're+new+here
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13
TL:DR the link right above this one then ->http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal
Want to lift heavy things?
http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/
Stronglifts Summary
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/560459-stronglifts-5x5-summary
Stronglifts Womens Group
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/4601-stronglifts-5x5-for-women0 -
Im not an alcoholic but i do drink pretty regularly and ive been thinking about quitting drinking until i reach my goal weight. I feel like alcohol is hindering my weight loss. i was just wondering if anyone else felt this way? Has anyone quit drinking to loss weight?
What were your results?
Alcohol has never affected my weight gain or loss. If you feel it's getting in the way, by all means cut it out or seriously cut down. I only drink on weekends, if I drink at all. I might have 2 drinks a WEEK... But i like to drink when I drink!
If you do cut it out, remember that when you hit your goal weight, if you start drinking again the lbs are going to come on because of extra alcohol calories. It's good to just know how many calories you're drinking anyways!
And for the record, I completely disagree with the person who said nothing good comes of drinking...that's just flat out incorrect!0 -
If you're going to go back to how you're drinking now as soon as you hit your goal weight, then I wouldn't stop. I would just make room for some drinks, and cut back a bit.
If you think you can go on without sliding back, then stop0 -
Well, depending on what you are drinking, it eats up a lot of your daily calories. I used to drink beer fairly regularly, and when I quit, weight started to fall off.0
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I don't necessarily think drinking in moderation is good or bad but i do think it is fun and i enjoy it. However i want to be happy, healthy and fit and i know drinking is not getting me closer to my goals. Also my thought on quitting till i hit my goal weight is that i would be able to control it better. like if i gain a couple lbs over the weekend i could just be good till my weight goes down and just keep an eye on things. The way things are now ill lose 3 lbs and gain 2 back and stay there for a few weeks, I dont like that so i thought cutting it out for a while would be helpful or at least prove to myself if alcohol is really making my weight loss harder or maybe its something else.0
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Being a bar fly in the 80's led me to the career that I have now. I met people and became good friends with them who taught me a trade. I was working a minimum wage job at the time and sinking.
OP if you are asking the question then the answer is yes. However I agree with others that if you are just quitting until you reach your goal weight you would be better off not quitting and working it into your daily goals. Each of the last three winters I have gained back 10 or more pounds. Once I've reached that I slowed way down on my beer drinking and the weight stabilized. This year I took a different course and started using MFP. I still drink beer, whiskey, and tequila and have lost weight. The difference this time around is I am fitting drinking and eating into my goals, maybe not every day but in the week so that I am losing weight. I'm now over 20 pounds lighter than my plateau weight of the last three years. Last night i drank beer and ate pizza and still lost weight. YMMV.0 -
Im not an alcoholic but i do drink pretty regularly and ive been thinking about quitting drinking until i reach my goal weight. I feel like alcohol is hindering my weight loss. i was just wondering if anyone else felt this way? Has anyone quit drinking to loss weight?
What were your results?
I just want to chip in that drunks are more fun!0 -
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Im not an alcoholic but i do drink pretty regularly and ive been thinking about quitting drinking until i reach my goal weight. I feel like alcohol is hindering my weight loss. i was just wondering if anyone else felt this way? Has anyone quit drinking to loss weight?
What were your results?
I just want to chip in that drunks are more fun!
^You couldn't be further from the truth.0 -
For me, cutting out alcohol is a really easy way to eliminate calories. Not sure what you drink, but if it's cocktails like margaritas or vodka/cranberry, those have a lot of sugar as well.0
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I don't necessarily think drinking in moderation is good or bad but i do think it is fun and i enjoy it. However i want to be happy, healthy and fit and i know drinking is not getting me closer to my goals. Also my thought on quitting till i hit my goal weight is that i would be able to control it better. like if i gain a couple lbs over the weekend i could just be good till my weight goes down and just keep an eye on things. The way things are now ill lose 3 lbs and gain 2 back and stay there for a few weeks, I dont like that so i thought cutting it out for a while would be helpful or at least prove to myself if alcohol is really making my weight loss harder or maybe its something else.
Your weight can fluctuate +/- 5 lbs a day. It's not making it harder. If you are working out a lot then your muscles also hold onto water for repair.
Do you own a food scale? Are you weighing your foods? Check out the links I posted and see if they help.0 -
Everything in moderation. I had surgery a year ago that laid me up for nearly ten months. I wasn't working out, and I got into the habit of drinking pretty much every night. There's nothing like settling down with a good book and a glass of wine or three. But when I started working out again, it was miserable because I was always tired from indulging the night before. Plus, alcohol made me far more likely to snack after dinner. So I replaced most of my wine with tea, and it's made a huge difference in only a month. No more excessive snacking, no more sleeping in. Of course, I still drink occasionally. I just make sure to budget my calories, and I wait for a night where I don't plan on working out the next morning.
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Im not an alcoholic but i do drink pretty regularly and ive been thinking about quitting drinking until i reach my goal weight. I feel like alcohol is hindering my weight loss. i was just wondering if anyone else felt this way? Has anyone quit drinking to loss weight?
What were your results?
I just want to chip in that drunks are more fun!
^You couldn't be further from the truth.
You should hang out with nicer drunks.0 -
Im not an alcoholic but i do drink pretty regularly and ive been thinking about quitting drinking until i reach my goal weight. I feel like alcohol is hindering my weight loss. i was just wondering if anyone else felt this way? Has anyone quit drinking to loss weight?
What were your results?
I just want to chip in that drunks are more fun!
^You couldn't be further from the truth.
You should hang out with nicer drunks.
Sorry, I don't hang out with people who need alcohol to have fun. Thanks though 0 -
Which is more important to you? getting to goal weight or drinking? but don't kid yourself. you won't stay at goal with empty calories sneaking in (says the woman who had a skinny margarita tonight... yeah but i don't drink anymore, truly. why today? idk, but figured wth).
the thing is.. it's not just empty calories. it's how your body converts that that also takes it usually out of wanting to be an option for me.
i say cut it. you aren't missing anything. and you don't need alcohol to have fun. truly. (time for something else... meh. so is life...) good luck!0 -
I think that the key to a lifestyle change is incorporating things that you will continue to do when you reach your goal. If you quit now with the intention of starting up once you reach goal than it's the same mentality of crash dieting or deprivation dieting in my opinion.
I have had success in losing and keeping weight off while still drinking( I did swap out girly drinks for diet soda n alcohol, which is pretty much all I drink now or wine) (What did me in was an extreme change in work conditions, going from a very physical job 50-80 hours a week to working at home)0 -
On the weekends I drink my exercise calories back instead of eat them.
I switched from beer to vodka.
Beer gives me a gross beerbelly and MOOBS.
There are articles on evidence that beer is more fattening in those areas that an equal number of calories from something else,
so I drink vodka soda lemon. 64 calories (when not over poured):laugh:0 -
It's the same with food you love and consider 'naughty'... If you cut it out completely you will end up craving and binging on it. Cut back. Use MFP to make informed choices. Yesterday I went over my calorie goal for 1 strawberry cider. I loved it! But I've been under plenty of days this week to allow for it.
Have the things you enjoy in moderation! Last week I went on a hen do and after 3 cocktails at 300 kcal each I was way over but compensated with working harder at the gym this week (and still lost 4 lbs this week). It's about making informed decisions not beating yourself up.
I've given up alcohol before for diets and then ended up drinking way too much the next time I'm out. That's the mistake of my previous diets of giving up things. Calorie counting enables you to eat what you want when you want... don't punish yourself x0 -
I have 2 glasses of wine and 2 rum and diet comes (measured 1unit) on a Friday and Saturday, I look forward to it and it's a massive reduction to what I was consuming. For me this works, whereas not drinking wouldn't. My tolerance has dropped dramatically so I'm now thinking this may be slightly too much for me now.0
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MFP certainly opened my eyes to how many calories were in alcohol!!
I've always been a social drinker, so not drinking at home or mid-week was no real hardship (and I love my food too much so I would much rather eat my calories than drink them). On occasions where I do drink I generally just make sure it's within my calories. I also have quite a lot of fitness goals that drinking too much would get in the way of so that makes me drink less when out.
But there are always times to let my hair down and not worry too. Life is not ALL about diet. :drinker:0 -
I would love to stop, but love a glass of wine. I do think it hinders my weight loss, and is the reason for my weight gain sometimes. I'm fine from Monday to Thursday, but as soon a Friday comes my diet goes out of the window. I'm starting to hate week-ends. HELP!0
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For me the danger is not the calories in alcohol, its how hungry alcohol makes me. After 4 drinks I really don't care if I go over budget or not. bad. It destroys any type of impulse control I may have, where food is concerned.0
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i really appreciate every ones feed back, thank you0
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I would love to stop, but love a glass of wine. I do think it hinders my weight loss, and is the reason for my weight gain sometimes. I'm fine from Monday to Thursday, but as soon a Friday comes my diet goes out of the window. I'm starting to hate week-ends. HELP!
This is my problem too. If i would just have one or two it would probably be no big deal but i like to get wild and will drink 5+ drinks when i go out. I dont drink sugary foofoo drinks, i drink shots of fire ball and IPA's. Then i have a 3day hang over and i think that sends my metabolism all out of whack. I know this all sounds bad but i dont do it every weekend, sometimes ill go a couple of months without drinking but when i do i dont mess around.0 -
i work in the wine industry and can't stand the sutff lol or beer, the only alchohol's that ever took my fancy were Scotch, Bourbon and Southern Comfort, i rarely drink, i don't think it's necessarily bad in moderation it can get expensive which is not good and it only has limited benefits and alot of not good stuff attached to it.
Guess i'm lucky in the respect i never have a craving for it, it just puts me too sleep before i get drunk and i've never had a hangover which btw is easily avoidable by drinking water aswell, you can be just as happy and outgoing without partaking and water is better for you anyway.
You wil certainly benefit money wise and health wise from cutting back and quitting would be even better0 -
If you are giving up drink forever... this could work
It might help with weight loss (depending on how much you drink now and what you replace it with!)
If you are just giving up drink for the duration of a 'diet' and then intend to go back to it, it would probably be better to learn how to include a reasonable amount now. (Experience suggests that 'Fasting and Feasting' tends to keep you at the same weight or it leaves you on a steady increase)0 -
I love wine and some beer from time to time, but I found out that every drink of any kind make me want to eat more and I'm more able to quit all of healthy lifestyle. So I decided to drink as little as possible for me You need to found out how alkohol is working on you 0
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I don't drink a lot these days and my tolerance has dropped significantly since losing weight. I like the occasional beer,/cider rum and cocktail but after 2 i need water as I hate the feeling of being drunk.
when i was younger i enjoyed it but now it just makes me feel queasy and want to lie down. I will still go out and have a few with my friends but I'm all about moderation nowadays and I can ( and frequently do) have a great time with the same people when we're all sat around drinking tea.
OP, I agree with many of the previous posters here in saying that unless it's a permanent change to omit alcohol from your life, then I would allow some room in your chosen days calories to enjoy as much as you want.0 -
I've cut back a lot. And I can easily 'earn' enough calories for a good bottle of red should the fancy take me. And I make different drink choices. And I accept that sometimes when I have my drink on I am going to eat a load of crap that I wouldn't normally eat.
And you know what? That's ok. I don't want to give up alcohol for the rest of my life in the same way I don't want to be on a diet for the rest of my life. I want to find a way I can live long term so that this is maintainable. I'm off to a mate's divorce party tonight and I know I will go WAY over on my calories and that's ok because I've made peace with it in my head. So if I don't show a loss on the next weigh day that is perfectly ok - I'm getting there long term and permanently, not short term and unsustainably.
Good luck 0
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