alcohol and your weight loss?

annietud

I was thinking how many mfp members regularly consume alcohol, what sort and what effect it has in your losses.
I drink keeping within my calorie/exercise earned.
I've only just started this so have lots of things going around my head. I did follow ww but struggled.
Thanks in advance of any replies.????

MelsAuntie

I was thinking how many mfp members regularly consume alcohol, what sort and what effect it has in your losses.
I drink keeping within my calorie/exercise earned.
I've only just started this so have lots of things going around my head. I did follow ww but struggled.
Thanks in advance of any replies.????
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I have a tablespoon of St. Brendan's in my coffee a few times in the winter ( come to think of it, haven't done that since Christmas 2013), and I have a frozen margarita about once a year. In addition to that, I had a splash of rum in my coffee once earler this spring. Hasn't slowed my weight loss down at all.

pugsleyjean

I still drink when I want to weather Im within my calories or not. I have worked hard to get where I am now so if I want to splurge and have 3 redbull vodkas I'm gonna do it and I'm gonna log it! I do try and workout a little more if I know Im going to be drinking just so I can have a few extra calories back. :drinker:

torid10

honestly, since i just graduated college there is no way i could tell you how many drinks i drank one night compared to the other. yes, it does slow down the weight loss quite a bit. but i found that as long as i worked out the day i drink, i can at least prevent myself from gaining. If i know i will be drinking quite a bit on the weekend, I try to have an especially good week to prevent gain.

JennyJiggle

I have a glass of wine or... four most Fridays and it hasn't held me back as far as weight loss. I do plan ahead for it and log though, if it meant going way over for the day I'd skip it that week. Honest logging is key, there's no reason to completely cut it out if its just a question of weight loss and no other health issues.

trogalicious

I'll still have a few beers now and again. Hasn't really messed with me as far as loss is considered. I make room for it, log it, and roll on.

Go_Mizzou99

I drank away 75 pounds in 18 months (I am up a little right now due to a surgery 4 days ago and the associated swelling/saline solution IVs, etc.)...I just watched my total calorie intake, including the booze.

Of course, I lost weight faster when I did not imbibe in adult beverages...but how boring is that???

SezxyStef

I drink...not everyday and not every weekend but I drink when I want and how much I want...

It didn't slow my weight loss down really...I stayed in goal.

CICO

mhlew

Today is 17 days without a drink. I usually drink on the weekends (beer and vodka sodas) Although I am doubtful that I can put down booze all together cold turkey, but I am going to try and consume less, and drink less often.

I have stuck to my work out and diet for (today is day 28) and I have lost 10.5 pounds since my Saturday morning weigh in. I am sure since I have stopped drinking alcohol for the past 2.5 weeks that this has contributed a little bit to my weight loss. not only is alcohol empty calories, I make horrible eating decisions when I drink (eating pizza at 1 am, or eating a bunch of chips) For the most part I can control food decisions if I have a few beers, but if I am drunk I will eat whatever.


Frankly, I am sure alcohol is most likely the main contributor to my weight today, wether it be the alcohol its self, or the decisions I have made that come a long with it.

I am really going to try as hard as I can to refrain from drinking, or take 2 weeks off after the last time I drink. It is Labor day weekend so I am most likely to have some drinks. I just need to have better control.

kinmoratree

I find that alcohol screws with my water weight more than anything. Frankly, I do better having one drink a day than I do if I don't drink and then have two or three one day.

As far as what I drink, mostly Jack Daniel's but I'm not adverse to beer, wine or other hard liquor as the occasion calls for it.

jmp463

I pretty much drink when I want and I have not noticed any difference. For example I went on vacation for a week recently - I had at least 4 martinis a day - plus some champagne here and there. After a week I was back to my pre-cruise weight. I also ate every desert in sight.

For the most part I have a few drinks a week - mostly on Friday and Sat night. At this point I dont log them because I have never noticed it making a difference. It very well may - so I am not suggesting it doesnt. I am just saying for myself I have not seen it. But then again I am not a huge drinker and when I do it tends to be Vodka or Bourbon. Not much of a beer drinker - so maybe that has something to do with it.

mulecanter

Drink all you want if you are willing to eat less to maintain your net calorie goal. Just remember that alcohol lowers inhibitions like self-control in the kitchen.

tulips_and_tea

IMHO, 2 things are key:
1) Moderation - binge drinking adds WAY too many calories, but moderate drinking (2 - 3) at a time can be factored into your daily calorie limit.
2) The effect alcohol has on your appetite - it kills mine, so I don't eat when I have a drink or two, but if it causes you to eat everything in sight, then that is trouble.
As with everything else, it depends on each person and how it affects you.

hj1119

Ever since more than one MFPer opened my eyes to my binge drinking, I've made efforts to curb it. Good news is I drink less often. When I do drink though, I drink beer and it stalls my loss - even when I account for it. Who knows what I'm doing wrong, but CICO just doesn't work out for me where beer is concerned. Probably cause I drink a lot of it when I do drink.

Unknown

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jvicenty76

I also try to keep it within my calorie goals as well, and it's not that hard since I also drink on a Friday or Saturday night.

carolineat111

I still drink, just in moderation.

365andstillalive

It's all about moderation; I probably have a drink every few weeks, but I never was a big drinker.
When I do something like camping, where I do drink a fair bit, I'll plan to eat maitenance for the weekend so that it'll fit in my calories but won't cause weight gain. I'm certainly not going to give up food in favour of booze haha

cwolfman13

I was thinking how many mfp members regularly consume alcohol, what sort and what effect it has in your losses.
I drink keeping within my calorie/exercise earned.
I've only just started this so have lots of things going around my head. I did follow ww but struggled.
Thanks in advance of any replies.????

I drank pretty much nightly during my loss and so long as I was staying in my calories it wasn't a big deal. I've had no issue maintaining with regular alcohol consumption either. I find where it effects me most is when I try to get below about 18% BF...for whatever reason I can't drop below that with frequent alcohol consumption even if I'm hitting my calorie goals...but if I cut out the alcohol during the week, I cut below 18% pretty easily.

myrtille87

I have had the odd glass of wine at home with dinner whilst using MFP but whereas before I would have had a large glass and probably had another one later on, I've been sticking to one, measured glass. I also had a couple of single gin and slimlines which fit OK into my calorie budget.

Nights out are another matter. One night I went round to a friend's house and had 2 double gin and tonics (not slimline!) and 1 single (I was measuring that one and more conscious of calories!). I logged it for the following day and ate less and exercised to fit it into my calorie goal, but I couldn't do that if I had a busy day ahead. Last weekend I drank well over 1,000 calories and felt rubbish. I felt too ill to eat much the following day so overall it didn't add that many calories to my week, but I don't think that makes it OK.

I've set myself a challenge to go 2 weeks (maybe more, I'll see when the time is up) without alcohol and am currently 4 days in!

JustSomeEm

I don't drink much, but I DO drink. I log it (ha - THEM) and move on. And my weightloss hasn't slowed due to my imbibing.

SHHitsKaty

I drink probably 3-4 times a week and it's usually pretty heavily (football season is starting), I will say that maybe I cut back a LITTLE bit when I was really losing but for the most part, I still gave myself some nights to cut loose and drink, I didn't log it, I'm well aware I went over my calories (I'm a beer drinker). I think with everything, everyone is different, for some people it may not effect the way they loose weight at all and others, it may be a reason why they aren't losing any.

For me, I was working out so hard and so regularly that I don't think that the times I did drink had much effect on my weight loss but I will say that I've pretty much plateaued and the only way I think I could lose anymore weight is by cutting the alcohol out. I'm a notorious drunk eater.

stacyjh1979

I am alcoholic so I don't drink at all but I am quite confident that alcohol was one of the biggest contributors to my weight gain. I looked it up recently and just one pint of vodka was something like 1300 calories. That's practically a day's worth of calories and when I drank I rarely stopped at a pint. As someone else mentioned it lowered my inhibitions in what I ate while I was drinking as well. So for me it's not an option both for the sake of my sobriety and my weight. If you can control your drinking and you stay within your calorie limits it should not keep you from losing weight however you could of course receive better nutrition from the same amount of calories from a food which is going to be more beneficial to your weightloss and over all health. Anything in moderation works for most people.

Pedalpush

I didn't start to experience regular losses until I stopped drinking. I used to drink - logging every drop (measuring and everything) - sometimes within my calorie goal, sometimes outside of it. But that's just my experience.

colors_fade

I drink. Pretty regularly. Almost every night, a beer or a glass of wine or two. This is acceptable to me if my calories for the day make it okay.

When I decided to go on this fitness journey, the thing I wanted to be able to do was change my lifestyle in a way that is *sustainable * for the REST OF MY LIFE.

I enjoy drinking, so no weight loss program would ever work for me if it required me to give up alcohol completely. That's just not realistic.

The more I have read, the more research I've done over the past year, the more I've learned that for weight loss to really work, and for the weight to stay off and be lasting, the changes a person makes - adding exercise, lowering caloric intake - have to be things you are going to do forever. This is why so many experts say that when it comes to exercise, do something you enjoy, so that you'll keep doing it.

I count calories, and my alcohol consumption is a part of that daily total. If I don't have the room at the end of the day, I don't drink. If I have left myself some calories, I have a drink.

Part of my goal is to learn moderation for when the cutting phase is over. This past week I went on a 4-day vacation. I didn't track anything I ate or drank. I simply tried to make better food choices (side-salad instead of fries, one beer instead of three). I hiked every day (something I would never normally have done on a vacation). I made sure I got my 10K steps, and I ate all the foods I enjoyed. But I made better choices about those foods, and chose smaller portions over larger ones.

When I weighed myself Monday, I had not gained a single pound. For me, on a vacation, that was a huge win. It showed that what I did worked. I ate normally - not excluding any food groups - but I practice moderation and made better choices.

Alcohol is something I will never give up unless there is a clear medical reason to do so. But through this weight loss adventure, I'm learning to adjust my consumption to levels that are healthy and sustainable for the long term.

You can lose weight drinking alcohol as long as your tracking calories in vs. out. So the math and science does work.

That said - we all know this - not all calories are the same. Your body would make better use of a protein calorie than those provided by alcohol.

I say do whatever is sustainable and gets you results.

JagerLewis

Drinking put most of my weight on me. Guess what my drink of choice was? Jagermeister, hence my user name. I now know that each shot is 100 calories. I would have probably a days worth of calories in just shots on a Friday and Saturday. So I don't drink near that much anymore. But I do still drink, and I log it. I love wine, but that's kinda high calorie, when I'm watching the calories more closely I'll have a diet and rum (about 60 calories). I still will have some jager (this past weekend while camping I did) but I normally make lower calorie choices when drinking. Or if I know I'll be drinking on any given day, I will eat really healthy and workout extra hard to balance out at the end of the night.
Enjoy! :drinker:

BootCampC

it can be done.. but its not an easy road.. being a drinker or trying not to be is the question .
i drink 1 , then 2 then 3 and then start snacking with number 4 ...because my will power is now down , i say ill be good tomorrow... and then do it again..
if i dont drink , i may have a small snack.. 200 calories or so then hit the bed
lets do a quick add

drinking for me = 600 cals in drinks and a 300 calorie snack for a total of 900 calories for the night
not drinking for a night= 200 calories of a healthy snack - 200 calories total

looks like the non drinking nights win

irisheyes321

Hi,

I am and allways was a miller girl and I would not think twice of having 5-10 bottles of miller on a good night out.It was only when I started on here that I realised how many cals are in one bottle naïve I know lol.

Since I started I have not have one but we are heading away soon so my plan is to swap my beer for a small vodka and water with a dash of lime.I am hoping that I will at least maintain my weight while I am away so all my hard work wont be gone out the window.

sculli123

I rarely drink except during football season. But when I do I just account for the calories by eating less carbs that day. My total calories stay within my goal regardless. I usually drink 3 or 4 light beers and that's it, so not a real issue for me.

keefmac

Most of my weight loss.has come through not drinking as much as I used to.

Another valid point was made earlier, when you're drunk your will-power is a lot lower and snacking doesn't seem to be a big issue. Plus you get the munchies when drunk..

tabicatinthehat

The worst part about alcohol is the crap I eat at 3am when I drink. And shots. Shots are the devil.

I'm about to quit for the most part, but not really for weight-loss reasons. Drug interactions SUCK.