Alcohol - two reasons not to drink?

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  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    It's not just because you drank, it's because you drank to excess and so you're hungover and feel like crap so you're craving comfort food. I went through the same thing after a night out with my girls a couple weeks ago. And the older I get, the longer it takes me to recover!

    I don't think it's necessary to cut it out altogether (unless you have a problem, of course) but find a happy medium, just like many of us have to do with certain foods. I would have a drink or two reguarly when I first started dieting but slowly realized I'd rather use those calories for real food. Nowadays I don't drink unless I'm going to a party or hanging with my girlfriends - which is maybe once every couple months. If you're at a party or out with friends, learn to pace yourself by having a glass of water or diet soda in between cocktails.
  • swishandflick
    swishandflick Posts: 42
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    I had a bottle of wine on Thursday and a glass on Sunday, and I'm pretty sure it's the reason I haven't seen any weight loss this week (I weigh every day). It's such a downer.

    This Thursday (my drinking night lol), I'm going to force myself to have no more then two glasses of wine with a healthy dinner (prob a salad) and that's it! But that self control is always tough after you're two glasses in.
  • Moxie42
    Moxie42 Posts: 1,400 Member
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    I decided to stop drinking for the month of February for several reasons: 1) I was drinking too much. My tolerance was too high, it was too expensive, and I kept overdoing it. I didn't want to head down a bad road. 2) it was sabotaging my no-smoking efforts. 3) It was sabotaging my weight-loss. I was much more likely to eat crap food and/or binge if I was drinking, and since drinking led to smoking off and on, it make working out difficult.

    In the 5 (now 6) days I haven't drank, I've felt more awake, happier, more focused, and more confident in myself to get through rough times (and there have been a lot of those this week), smoking has been way less tempting, I've eaten consistently healthy, I've worked out, and I'm on track for a nice loss this week (I did a mid-week check-in today and down almost 2 lbs since Sunday...I know it's mostly water but not drinking is the reason I'm not retaining that water...my sodium has actually been higher lately).

    Once the month is over, I plan to introduce it back in slowly...just wine with dinner on weekends or something like that. I want to make it an occasional treat, instead of a part of my almost-daily life.

    Sometimes I'm tempted but I know it's not worth it- I'm learning so much about myself and am already seeing benefits :smile:
  • SilviaGutierrezRaghu
    SilviaGutierrezRaghu Posts: 31 Member
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    Very interesting, now I undertand what happen last week, I was so happy that I lost 3 pound and after a dinner with my spacial Mexican family, I eat like a pig and I had 3 glass of wine, in the time I drank 3 glass of water but and the next day I fell like crap my bady/tomy hurt, hurt, I was so hungover I don't know if was because the food or the wine, but I got 4 pound up,, ,,,
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    Ok, so we all know that alcohol is high in calories and won't aid us in weight loss, but I wondered if anyone else finds that it effects their motivation and self control? I gave up drinking last year as after a few too many in too many years it was taking it's toll physically and mentally. Now I really fancied a drink this weekend and thought why not, I know I'm not going to go mad with it, no problem. But I ended up having just a couple too many, well enough to give me a hangover, and it has taken me to today to feel motivation to eat healthy again, don't get me wrong I have forced myself to try and come in under on my calories, but the need to snack and want for bad food was overwhelming at times. Is this because the alcohol affected me, or maybe psychologically because I gave in to something I had given up, did I want to give in to bad food as well?

    So I am just curious, is this just me and my own alcohol demons, or do others find this as well?

    One thing is for sure, I won't be doing it again any time soon!

    So really 3 reasons not to drink:
    1 the calories themselves.
    2 the hangover affecting your motivation to eat right and probably get in the gym.
    3 the drunk time itself lowers your inhibitions and leads to poor self control.
  • MelisaBegins
    MelisaBegins Posts: 161 Member
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    I stopped drinking in January when I (re)started this journey I'm on to get healthy. I would have a glass of wine at night and maybe on the weekends if we went out, but I decided I didn't want to work this hard and then drink it away in empty calories. Last weekend, my hub and I had a date night and I had factored 3 glasses of wine into my day on MFP. Well, of course we decided to go out dancing after dinner so that 3 turned into a total of 5 (!!!). Not only did I feel like crap the next day, I also made dumb food choices while drinking that only added to the problem.

    I know that Crystal Light is not healthy, but occasionally when I want a "festive" beverage to go with a meal, I'll have one of their margarita flavors - seriously, they are good!
  • northfresh
    northfresh Posts: 111
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    Imo, its empty, non-nutritional calories and therefore to be used sparingly and only on special occasions. Also, even if I'm not hungover, I almost always feel depressed and unmotivated the next day, and since I'm trying to find non-medicated ways to work with my bipolar disorder is rather just avoid the experience and keep my spirits up.
  • ebilisoly
    ebilisoly Posts: 1
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    I like a drinkiepoo here and there but the main reason I haven't drank since last June is because it stops your weight loss for 48 hours. Alcohol numbs something in your thyroid impeding your ability to lose weight for 2 days. :/
  • drchimpanzee
    drchimpanzee Posts: 892 Member
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    Drink less and not as often? Three light beers on a Friday night isn't exactly a diet killer. Slamming down 3 suitcases full a week is.
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,583 Member
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    From the other side:

    I've had a beer every now and then since I've been losing weight. If there are issues with not being able to control yourself with the alcohol, don't necessarily blame the brew. I never blamed a fork for making me fat.

    I make room in my life to have it because I like it.
  • KatLifter
    KatLifter Posts: 1,314 Member
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    I was a very heavy drinker and i didn't trust myself so i gave up a year ago

    Was this because you didn't trust yourself to not drink too much or because you lost control with other things too? ie dieting or working out.

    All of it, I gave it up just over a year ago too. Then I lost 40+ pounds.
  • suzannebradshaw71
    suzannebradshaw71 Posts: 15
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    I have had to do the same thing. I am trying to cut alcohol out! Sper Bowl was hard. We sat at Buffalo Wild Wings and watched the game. We were there from 3:30- 10:30..... 5 wings and 6 beers later.....Monday was horrible. I am so glad football season is over. I use to drink vodka and unsweeten ice tea...
  • RunFarLiveHappy
    RunFarLiveHappy Posts: 805 Member
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    Most alcohol doesn't have any healthy attributes (minor exceptions like red wine) it is high in calories, it metabolizes as fat, it typically increases appetite, it dehydrates you... Oh wait you said 2 things.... Lol.

    If you don't have a problem/dependency on alcohol I say go ahead and indulge occassionally or socially but it definitely won't aid in a healthier lifestyle.
  • alasin1derland
    alasin1derland Posts: 575 Member
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    did anyone watch the news today about alcohol mixed with diet drinks is more potent than alcohol mixed with regular drinks.

    http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/02/06/diet-or-regular-choice-alcohol-mixer-affects-intoxication/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+foxnews/health+(Internal+-+Health+-+Text)
  • drchimpanzee
    drchimpanzee Posts: 892 Member
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    did anyone watch the news today about alcohol mixed with diet drinks is more potent than alcohol mixed with regular drinks.

    http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/02/06/diet-or-regular-choice-alcohol-mixer-affects-intoxication/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+foxnews/health+(Internal+-+Health+-+Text)

    Time for me to switch to diet mixers!!!
  • samantha1242
    samantha1242 Posts: 816 Member
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    I limit it because of my anxiety and depression. Those are two solid reasons for me not to drink.
  • daj150
    daj150 Posts: 815 Member
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    I find that some captain and coke-zero makes everything good...at 60 calories each, I don't really ever worry about alcohol. However, when I eventually get down to my goal weight and start putting on some pounds of muscle and go for getting cut, I will be removing all alcohol.
  • odddrums
    odddrums Posts: 342 Member
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    Alcohol definitely affects me the next day if I have more than 1 drink [depending on how much food I eat with it]. It's a number of things:

    -It dehydrates me. I try to drink a bunch of water before and after drinking, and before bed and maybe in the night if I wake up. It helps but doesn't totally fix things. This makes it harder to do a workout or even deal with life the next day sometimes. I'm not even talking about drinking enough to be hung over, it just makes me rather sluggish and bleary. I notice my eyes look much more tired the next day, but that's probably because...

    -It affects the quality of my sleep! My friend often talked about "Passing out" after drinking and/or smoking weed and differentiating it from just sleeping. Drugs like that [and I consider alcohol and caffeine drugs] will make my sleep less restful. I never dream when I "pass out" after drinking, but if I wake up in the middle of the night and drink some water, then go back to sleep I will actually dream. Sleep is never as restful, however heavy it may feel, so I always end up more tired than if I had just slept without it.

    -It affects my judgement. If I get too drunk I'll eat some ****ty food, which will make me feel ****tier the next day. Eating before drinking [and smoking weed when I used to do that] helped a lot as it made the body metabolize it faster and being full staved off any appetite changes. Drinking water obviously helps too, but it takes awhile to fully process some of that stuff and you can only drink so much before you're water-logged and feeling sloshy.

    So aside from the empty calories, it definitely makes it harder to stay on track for all these reasons. I've been restricting my drinking to only with others and not buying beer anymore. It's funny, I think I could go without drinking forever and be alright, and just as easily get back into the habit of going through six packs and bottles of wine or vodka like they're nothing. Genetic per-disposition I suppose.
  • BobOki
    BobOki Posts: 245 Member
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    I'll just leave this here:
    http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/199398.php - Why Do Moderate Drinkers Live Longer Than Abstainers?

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