Alcohol and weight loss

blumenL

Hi Myfitnesspal friends! I am writing because I'd really like to get some more information. I am in my mid-twenties and a newlywed . We don't have children, (a puppy is enough :P), and lead a very active social life. My quandary is that my husband and I LOVE to party. On the weekends we are always with friends at the beach, going to events or playing games at home. At nearly all of the events there's alcohol. I can usually stay mostly on track during the week but BLOW IT on the weekends. I'm not carrying around a lot of weight but would like to get back to a normal BMI so that I'm not stuck with the same ten pounds for the rest of my life. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in June of last year. My question is... Could one or two nights of going over my calorie goal due to alcohol/empty calories really be sabotaging my weight loss? I just don't know where the line is between the thyroidism being to blame and my lifestyle. My levels seem to have evened out and I feel that now is the time to really focus. Any help/advice/motivation would be greatly appreciated. Have a fantastic day!

BAMFMeredith

Personally, I refuse to give up my boozin' (I'm not an alcoholic or anything, but I like to have a few on the weekends). I just figured out how to make up for it!

For instance, I was going to this beer festival one afternoon, but I also ran a half marathon that morning so I had plenty of extra calories for my beer! Or on a weeknight, let's say I really want a glass of wine with dinner. If I've got the calories to spare, I'll have it. If not, no wine for me. I've been steadily losing weight since late January. Make sure you eat sensibly throughout the day, and try avoid situations where bad food is available. That's what really gets you; when you're tipsy, that 2am trip to Whataburger sounds like a GREAT idea. If I know I'm going out on Saturday night, I eat normally throughout the day, and get in a killer workout so I've got the calories to spare. Drink TONS of water throughout the day and drink plenty before bed at night (plus a couple ibuprofen). Then the next day, resume life as usual, and get in a workout.

That said, that is just MY personal experience. Doesn't necessarily work for everyone, but we're roughly the same age, and you haven't had children yet, so my guess is aside from the hypothyroidism (which really can be controlled with a good diet and medication if absolutely necessary), you've got a pretty decent metabolism. All about balancing it out!

marbit

According to most of the articles and studies I have read, going over in calories in general one day a week does not hurt you or your weight loss at all. However, that overage of calories does not take alcohol into consideration. Unfortunately alcohol is absorbed and metabolized differently by your body than other foods. Here is an article that has some more information on it: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=563

The article basically is booze bashing, but focus on the part about your metabolism.

I will tell you from my own experience, as someone in her 30s who was keeping up with my twentysomething friends, I started losing a lot more weight when I cut alcohol out of my diet entirely. It actually got me out of the plateau I was in.

However, all that said, my two cents are this, your weight loss goals need to be realistic and fit into your lifestyle. If you plan on maintaining this party lifestyle, then you will need to accept that your weight loss may happen slower than you would like. For me, I just wanted to lose weight more than I wanted to drink, which isnt a good or bad thing, it just was a choice that worked for my lifestyle. Cause in the end, you may want to lose weight, but you definitely want to be having fun at the same time!

I am not sure how hypothyroidism fits into that, I would actually suggest talking to your doctor, lay it out for him, see what he/she has to say.

justal313

My problem is my RV camp. We drink a LOT. The Tequila is often brought out for shots. I had decided to defend against the tequila with Amaretto. A shot of Amaretto is almost double the calories of silver tequila (gold tequila gives me headaches). And switching to Sam Adams light cuts calories out too. My biggest change however is switching from 10 shots to 1 and 6 beers to 1. Otherwise it's fruit2o.

Occasionally during the week I might have a glass of wine with dinner, if I have the calorie budget left. But that's maybe once a week or twice but generally I don't bother. My wife has become the beneficary of this plan as we don't have to rock-paper-scissors to see who's driving home. I'm not drinking so it's me.

It's the least I can do since she couldn't drink for 9 months and then only with a lot of pre-prep after that.

jackiesaurus

As someone who drank approx. 1100 calories over on Saturday night, I understand where you're coming from (I love beer and I hate my drunk self on most hard alcohol - hard alcohol jackie is bad decision/munchie/too drunk jackie). so i like to stick to beer, but soooo many calories - and i hate light beer!

I say pick and choose what functions you drink at. When I'm having a "fat day" I often volunteer to be the DD, so there's no temptation and no pressure from anyone to join in the drinking festivities. Or if you have plans that night, don't day drink, etc. I will caution about eating light before drinking though - I swear by carbs before alcohol because getting too drunk is no fun for anyone and anytime I try to have a salad pre-drinking it NEVER ends well, two drinks later and I'm nauseus.

Additionally, I have yet to figure out if this is long term beneficial, but I like to only eat back half of my exercise calories and sort of stock pile them for the weekend occasionally (ie: I net 1400 or so, and save 150 or 200 calories per day for the weekend 5 days of good behavior at 200 below rec intake = 1000 to divide over the weekend, ie for me that's 2 days of eating 2000 calories instead of 1500. Which is enough for a few beers or quite a few vodka sodas. I don't know if it actually works, but I've been losing about a pound a week and do this maybe once or twice a month.

yesthistime

Hypothyroidism group:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/753-hypothyroidism-and-hyperthyroidism