Wine?

Hourglass25

I love........wine!! And it has also been hard for me to cut down, but I have. Now I just have a glass, or two sometimes when I was used to have a bottle in two days. If you drink the ones that have less of a percent in alcohol it won't be *kitten* bad.

Yellowstone1983

I didn't read all the responses so I hope I'm not repeating information. One reason why drinking can slow the weight loss is that alcohol and fat are both processed through the liver. So when you drink, you're liver has no choice but to focus on processing the alcohol (so it doesn't poison you) pushing fat loss to the side even if you are working out and eating healthily.

CombatVet_Armywife

I just posted this on another post, but it applies here too.

to answer the question you wanted to ask. Yes, all alcohol is a bad choice. Not necessarily because of the calories though, while Alcohol does contain 7 calories per gram, that's not the issue. the issue is because of how alcohol is perceived in the body. The body perceives it as a poison (essentially), and because it can be burned, it prioritizes it above other types of energy (I.E. carbs), so when you drink alcohol, the body essentially puts other calories on hold until it's gone. This is fine if you don't do it often and don't do it in large quantities, but if you have it often or in large quantities, it can and will cause you to gain fat. This is true of any type of alcohol.

this doesn't include any of the other reasons alcohol is bad for you either, I.E. liver damage, kidney damage, brain issues, decreased ability to make good choices, the hangover factor, dehydration...etc.

~~Great info! I am taking college classes and in one of my previous BIO classes we learned a bit about this. What you said is absolutely true AND you said it in a way that is easily understandable.

Having said that....I have been a wine lover for many years. Once I started with MFP, I cut wine back to one night on the weekends. Then, I entered a challenge back in October to give up wine for the entire month. I did. My weight loss results were awesome!
Then of course, once October was over, I very much enjoyed having my wine on the weekends again. Between mid-November and through the entire month of December I have lost NOTHING. The only thing that changed in my diet during that time was the wine.

I was still getting PLENTY of exercise, water, and eating the right foods (anyone who knows me knows how hard I work at this)....wine was the ONLY factor. SO.....as much as I HATE it.....I officially gave wine up for good as of Jan. 2nd. At least until I reach my goal weight, maybe then I will change my mind, maybe not.

But being stuck at a plateau for a month and a half has been SO aggravating....if wine is the issue, I'm more than happy to give it up! Those who don't have to....you're lucky and I'm happy for you (hate you a little too!)

SHBoss1673

I didn't read all the responses so I hope I'm not repeating information. One reason why drinking can slow the weight loss is that alcohol and fat are both processed through the liver. So when you drink, you're liver has no choice but to focus on processing the alcohol (so it doesn't poison you) pushing fat loss to the side even if you are working out and eating healthily.

fat is actually processed in the duodenum (part of the small intestines), not the liver, via bile secreted from the gall bladder. The liver makes bile, but it is a separate process. The liver doesn't actually process any of the 3 micro-nutrients, it takes the results of the breakdown in the stomach, colon, and intestines and converts them to glycogen for distribution and storage. (among other things the liver does). Since alcohol doesn't need much in the way of breakdown (it's already a carbon chain similar to sugars) it is processed in the liver both detoxifying alcohol and breaking it into usable chemicals and fed into the krebs cycle for energy use.

But I get your point. When the liver is busy taking care of alcohol, it can't do other things, like convert glucose to glycogen for distribution. This means the glucose is shuttled out of the liver for another trip around the circulatory system where a portion is siphoned off for lipogenisys (fat storage). Also alcohol inflames the stomach and intestines disrupting digestion of food, thus decreasing your vitamin and mineral absorption rates. thus you pass more food out of your body without fully processing it for it's vital nutrients.

And now I see that I simultaneously gave a brief, partial description of digestion and went WAAAY overboard on the geek meter. Sorry about that guys.

LuckyLeprechaun

love you Banks!