Alcohol - your opinions

XXXMinnieXXX

Partner was losing 1-2lbs per week. He is still eating what I am but he's been drinking more. This in turn makes him eat more on the weekend. Such a shame when he's eaten well all week. He lost weight about 6 weeks in a row, upped his weekend antics and the last 3 weeks have been +2,+1,+2 on the scales. He's upset that he's done that, and realises not is the drink. It's 9 calories per gram! Not worth it, add onto that the extra beer munchies calories and it's ruining all your hard work! If your honest, you know the answer! Cut it back!

Zara :-)

Gracie1214

One of the things I do is to not get on the scale every day. I only get on the scale on Friday mornings, then by the end of the week what ever I have drank & eaten over the weekends has mitigated itself through the rest of the week.

Jon

I do the same and I drink vodka and diet coke and within my calories

CoderGal

Hi there,

I am currently stuck in a dieting vicious circle.... Every weekend I am virtuous with logging and calorie consumption, and if I weigh on a Friday morning I can easily shift 1-2lbs without a problem. However, at the weekends I tend to be more lax with my logging, especially when it comes to alcohol and sure enough, I have usually put on 2lbs by Monday morning.

Not only is this annoying, I cant imagine its very healthy and I wanted to hear your thoughts on alcohol and how damaging it can be to a good diet? Some people I have spoken to say they don't worry about alcohol consumption and some say it's a diet killer - I just wanted to throw it out there and hear what people have to say really.

Thanks so much.

Screw opinions, lets talk about fact. Fact - alcohol has calories, if alcohol makes you go over your TDEE, you'll gain weight. It's also not the most nutritious way to go about things. But it is delicious. It's a toss up.

MeganKSchultz

Unlike food, you can live without alcohol. However, I understand how hard it can be to quit a vice (mine is sugar.) Can you reduce the amount you consume, or maybe change the type of drink from say... a margarita to a glass of wine?

rotill

Thank you, and thenewbritt I completely agree with you - I find eating out hard as well but its something I enjoy. My other problem is that I much prefer wine to spirits which are typically lower calorie so that seems to affect things too.

1 dl cognac is 225 calories, while 1 dl dry white wine is 80 calories. The only reason why you might get less calories from cognac, is that you normally drink smaller amounts than of wine. But as you see, you can drink almost three times as much wine as cognac, before you get to the same amount of calories.

ninerbuff

It can/can't be a diet killer. Depends on the person. A person having an alcoholic beverage a day, but counts it towards calorie intake doesn't have a problem.
The weekender who thrives for alcohol on the weekend succumbs to drinking and if gets inebriated is less likely to make conscious decision on intake.
For what it's worth, I would say that you learn how to moderate your weekends.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

slimjaques

Love all the comments! For me, it's like what newbritt says - maybe the problem isn't so much the alcohol as the stuff I eat after the alcohol. I am PERFECT on days with no alcohol - and always go over if I drink - unless it is just one light beer or one glass of red wine. White wine is my enemy when I'm working on losing weight. Do I always remember that? Well....

whackyjackie

Hi,
I like the alcohol and it helps me chill. Its worth the calories and I always count it in and log it. I would rather exercise hard for a feel good buzz and then drink my alcohol for the feel good relax and chill factor. I wonder if I am on my own with this philosophy??
Anyone out there fancy a drinking dieting friend?
Whackyjackie

barbaratrollman

I don't drink often, certainly not every weekend, but if I go to a concert or something like that, I will usually have a couple beers. Since I've been focusing on improving my fitness (I began on Jan. 4th 2013), I've discovered that some hard ciders are lower in calories and sugar than the fancy micro brews I typically drink. Woodchuck "Crisp" variety, for instance, is only 120 calories and 6 grams of sugar. I don't like domestic "Lite" beers, so they aren't for me.

Even when I drink, it will usually only be something like 2 or 3 over the course of an afternoon to evening outing. I am normally driving and I will not drink and drive, so I drink mostly water, especially for the last 2 or 3 hours of a night.

Also, most activities that I go out for involve a lot of movement...fast walking and vigorous dancing, jumping, etc... So, I generally burn off any extra calories I've taken in from a couple of ciders, during the same night out.

So far, I have always stuck to eating only healthy foods on these outings. The key for me is to keep a lot of good, nutritious munchies in my car, so there is always something handy to eat that is in keeping with my chosen healthy lifestyle. I can't stand White Castle. LOL

I still log *everything*, even if the beverages I drank put me over my goal for the day.
I think moderation is the key. I mean, moderation with alcohol is the key, even if you are not trying to lose weight and get fit, isn't it? Over drinking isn't a great choice for anybody.

wannatangle

I have a glass of wine almost every night. I log it. If I know I'm going to have more than that I definitely keep that in mind during the day to make sure it fits in my calories. If I'm going to a party or something, I'm going to exercise that day. I very rarely have more than two drinks, and don't have a problem with it making me want to snack or anything. I don't feel it has hindered my weight loss.

MyOwnSunshine

I don't think alcohol is inherently evil, but it does contain calories that you need to factor in to your plan. I'm all about having a "cheat" meal on the weekends, but when you go overboard and turn it into two cheat days, your success is going to be impeded.

I don't drink much, because I like sweets more than alcohol, and would rather have a cookie than a drink. If you think about it that way, would you think it would be okay to eat 10 or 15 cookies (or more) in a weekend if you're trying to lose weight?

Moderation and planning in advance is the key here. Plan for a way to go out ONE weekend night and have 3 or 4 drinks. If you can't do it, then plan activities with friends that aren't centered around drinking.

dcampus

Wow - thank you all so much for your comments, its so interesting to hear how everyone gets on. I think I am going to try a few weeks without alcohol and moderate thereafter and see how I get on with weight loss.

I also came across this - I don't know how accurate it is but I definitely found it worth a read.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/md19.htm

aeg176

Bump

DopeItUp

http://www.leangains.com/2010/07/truth-about-alcohol-fat-loss-and-muscle.html

neanderthin

Sounds like you weren't counting food calories as well?

TheWinman

What are your normal alcohol beverages and about how much on a given weekend?

HarleighzMom

I log it and make sure I don't go over in calories or sugar. If its going to send more over, I skip it.

Cr01502

Screw opinions, lets talk about fact. Fact - alcohol has calories, if alcohol makes you go over your TDEE, you'll gain weight. It's also not the most nutritious way to go about things. But it is delicious. It's a toss up.

This.

Drink it, log it, be aware of your consumption and stay under your calorie goals.

WendyTerry420

Alcohol sucks. A glass of beer or wine on occasion is one thing, but the weekend binges are definitely one of the reasons I got so fat. Even though vodka is fairly low calorie, it did tons of damage that took me a long time to repair.