What 3.5 ounces of wine can do

AllisonMS

I gave up wine for Lent, and the weight kept sliding off.

When Lent was over, I drank a small glass while making dinner. Sometimes another small glass with dinner, totaling 7 ounces per day.

The wine didn't make a big dent in my calorie intake -- 100-200 calories at most.

But I completely stopped losing weight. I've been at a plateau for FIVE WEEKS, stuck at 170.

Yes, people here said to give up the wine, but I kept thinking, "It's just a tiny bit! It can't hurt!" And kept on having it.

Then my husband and I adopted a "weekends only" rule, and this week, the scale finally moved down to 169. I only had 1/2 pound to go to reach my goal.

This is just my story, and hopefully wine isn't such an impairment for your weight loss. But in my case, my friends here on MFP were right: no wine!

KateDonnelly

Sad but true. I've noticed this as well. Congrats on your growing awareness and the ability to take action and make positive changes. Step it up!

Lisa1971

I miss having my wine during the week but you are exactly right.

thendrick

Really? I always look foward to having some extra calories left over so that I can enjoy a glass and still stay within my allowance.

needamulligan

Has anyone noticed if the same could be said about other forms of alcohol? or just wine? And, has anyone heard of a good explanation for this? I'm guessing it has something to do with retaining fluids.

AllisonMS

Tracy: I felt exactly the same way; I always easily had 100 calories to devote to wine each day, with calories to spare. But it was true, believe you me.

Here's how my wise MFP friend The Method explained the wine problem to me:

"Research shows that when the body has it's choice between burning carbs, fats, proteins, or alcohol, it will choose to burn alcohol first. Which means that the fat burning process is delayed because first your body chooses to burn the alcohol, then the other macronutrients. So, while wine is definitely the best choice in terms of alcohol to consume while eating healthy, any alcohol will postpone the burning of fat. Take from it what you will, I realize for a lot of people one glass of wine a day is a completely normal and healthy thing. But if you're curious, you might try cutting it out for a week and seeing what happens. Just an option. "

The Method was right: I cut out wine for the last 3 days and the weight started coming off again.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the value of MFP -- the friends, the help, the motivation, the tips, the encouragement, the we're-all-in-the-same-boatness of it all!

But it sure took me a LONG time -- 5 weeks! -- to hear this message!

themethod

I'm doing the happy dance for you! It may not be the trick that does it for everyone, but it never hurts to try. So glad I could help and so happy that you are almost at your goal - you deserve it. :happy:

fowlmeli1093

Ughh...my biggest problem with losing weight was my drinking. I love wine...but recently gave that up and am just now starting to lose weight. I loved Tequila too, but that was making me gain weight. Not only would I consume more calories by drinking it, the next day I would be SOOOOO hungry, and would eat WAY TOO MUCH! That is my experience.

SimonLondon

I saw an excellent post on here about why you don't lose when you drink.

The basics are alcohol is worse for your body than food so your body will stop fat burning and switch to alcohol burning until all the alcohol has gone. It won't matter how healthy you eat if you still drink (isn't something like 2 to 4 hours in your system for each drink?)

For those who go on big drinking sessions at the weekend....it can up to 3 or 4 DAYS before your body flushes it all and goes back to fat burning.

cfischer81

I have question, for whoever wants to answer....Everyone talks about this being a lifestyle change and not just a passing fad, which I totally agree. It just doesn't make sense to me to totally give up wine and drinking in general if that's not something you can see yourself doing FOREVER.
I don't drink a lot maybe 1-2 drinks per week and some weeks I don't have any but I have no intention of giving it up long term. I don't know, is it just me?

thendrick

Ughh...my biggest problem with losing weight was my drinking. I love wine...but recently gave that up and am just now starting to lose weight. I loved Tequila too, but that was making me gain weight. Not only would I consume more calories by drinking it, the next day I would be SOOOOO hungry, and would eat WAY TOO MUCH! That is my experience.

Ah yes...........wine and goldfish!!! I definitely eat too many goldfish when I have a glass of wine!

XFitMojoMom

I know and this makes me so sad :sad:
Perhaps because my husband is building a wine cellar... Perhaps because I love savouring a BOTTLE ...:embarassed:

But as someone with insulin resistance I was SHOCKED that my endocrinologist said it was still okay to enjoy my glass of wine - when for me, it's like pouring a big old glass of white sugar.

...this is so hard for me too, being a SAHM... The girls drive me to drink :laugh:

needamulligan

@ cfisher: since it appears that wine interferes with fat burning, I'm hoping that we'll all see the maintenance stage at some point and be able to enjoy a glass of wine! Fat burning won't always be the focus, right?....I'm hoping....

@ Pam (mojogurl): your endocrinologist isn't crazy. You may find that a small amount of alcohol helps lower your blood sugar. BTW my oldest is 18 and will leave for college too soon. Raising little kids is so hard (I stayed home too) but so precious!, especially from this perspective! Relish in these moments because they will be gone too soon.

themethod

I have question, for whoever wants to answer....Everyone talks about this being a lifestyle change and not just a passing fad, which I totally agree. It just doesn't make sense to me to totally give up wine and drinking in general if that's not something you can see yourself doing FOREVER.
I don't drink a lot maybe 1-2 drinks per week and some weeks I don't have any but I have no intention of giving it up long term. I don't know, is it just me?

I agree with needamulligan - after you've reached your goal weight, there is no reason not to resume drinking alcohol gradually. At that point, you've worked off the fat, and weight loss is no longer the focus. I suggested it to the OP as a way to break a plateau in her weight loss. The claim isn't that alcohol causes weight gain, but rather that it delays loss of fat. Also, a lot of people do very well with drinking infrequently and don't have any problems at all. I know in my case, if I had even one drink, I wouldn't lose even an ounce for at least a week.

It all depends on how your body reacts.

girlruns

Ughh...my biggest problem with losing weight was my drinking. I love wine...but recently gave that up and am just now starting to lose weight. I loved Tequila too, but that was making me gain weight. Not only would I consume more calories by drinking it, the next day I would be SOOOOO hungry, and would eat WAY TOO MUCH! That is my experience.

Ah yes...........wine and goldfish!!! I definitely eat too many goldfish when I have a glass of wine!

The cracker goldfish, right?? Cause if not maybe the problem isn't the wine...:laugh: :drinker:

Johnnyswife

I have question, for whoever wants to answer....Everyone talks about this being a lifestyle change and not just a passing fad, which I totally agree. It just doesn't make sense to me to totally give up wine and drinking in general if that's not something you can see yourself doing FOREVER.
I don't drink a lot maybe 1-2 drinks per week and some weeks I don't have any but I have no intention of giving it up long term. I don't know, is it just me?

I think once your on the maintain part of your new lifestyle, than your not concerned about losing weight so having a glass or two shouldn't be a big deal. I stopped too, but have every intention of having a glass of Riesling once in a while when I get to my goal weight.

dlrcpa

Sorry. I just have this mental image of fat cells screaming in unison: "We want Wine!!! We want Wine NOW!!!"

Thanks for the info -- and I'll be thinking "Noooo, you CANT have any!"

aippolito1

So true!!! I had 6 shots and 1 drink on my 21st birthday and gained 3 lbs that took a week and a half to get rid of. NOT worth it!!!

chgraham

Thank you for this information. I am not a big drinker (maybe 1 or 2 drinks a month), but I think maybe I will not even have that while trying to lose my weight. I might just stick with the gingerale if I feel the need for a drink.

thendrick

So what is it about alcohol that makes it harder to lose weight? The sugar content?
Does that mean that the same principal holds true if I were to eat a bag of Skittles? Would my body work to burn off the sugar in the Skittles first before attacking my existing fat?

thendrick

p.s. Yes, Pepperidge Goldfish

themethod

So what is it about alcohol that makes it harder to lose weight? The sugar content?
Does that mean that the same principal holds true if I were to eat a bag of Skittles? Would my body work to burn off the sugar in the Skittles first before attacking my existing fat?

It's the toxicity of the alcohol and your liver's desire to rid your body of the alcohol, before it process stored fat. The liver can only do so many things at once. If you feed it alcohol, it will burn that before it begins to metabolize fat.

From femalemuscle.com:

"The primary problem with all alcohol, regardless of what form it's in - wine, beer, or liquor - is that the calories add up so quickly. At seven calories per gram, alcohol is the second most calorically dense nutrient behind fat, which contains nine calories per gram. When you're trying to lose body fat, all those extra calories certainly don't help with your fitness endeavors. Alcohol suppresses the body's ability to burn fat. When your liver is metabolizing alcohol, fat burning in the body stops altogether!"

And from bodybuilding.com:

"In this study, eight men were given two drinks of vodka and lemonade separated by 30 minutes. Each drink contained just under 90 calories. Fat metabolism was measured before and after consumption of the drink.

For several hours after drinking the vodka, whole body lipid oxidation (a measure of how much fat your body is burning) dropped by 73%.

The reason why alcohol has this dramatic effect on fat metabolism has to do with the way alcohol is handled in the body. When alcohol is consumed, it readily passes from the stomach and intestines into the blood and goes to the liver. In the liver, an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase mediates the conversion of alcohol to acetaldehyde.

Acetaldehyde is rapidly converted to acetate by other enzymes. So rather than getting stored as fat, the main fate of alcohol is conversion into acetate, the amount of acetate formed is dose dependant on the amount of alcohol consumed. For example, blood levels of acetate after drinking the vodka were 2.5 times higher than normal. And it appears this sharp rise in acetate puts the brakes on fat loss.

(I took out the paragraph promoting a particular author's viewpoint of a certain low-carb diet - continued below.)

In other words, your body tends to use whatever you feed it, and after a time becomes adapted to the macro nutrient intake. Unfortunately when acetate levels rise, your body burns the acetate preferentially, since acetate is basically the same product of beta oxidation of fatty acids and glycolysis (glucose to pyruvate to acetate), but it doesn't' require the metabolic work to produce."

weaklink109

Phooey!! I was looking forward to a glass of cabernet merlot tonight, but ya'll talked me out of it!! :grumble: Maybe I will just eat some grapes instead, :noway::laugh: but it just isn't the same.:sad:

clioandboy

I find that the biggest problem for me is the effect that glass of wine has on my willpower. A square of chocolate goes lovely with wine...... Ooh that was nice might as well finish it...bit hungry now and as I have blown it already.....

I love a glass of wine BUT I am just back to last Fridays weight after a weekend of excess, it is just not worth it