Demon drink - what do you do about alcohol?

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  • ciobair
    ciobair Posts: 69
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    I like a beer on occasion and just make sure to count the calories.

    But, generally, I'd rather eat my calories than drink them.
  • Jaymazing
    Jaymazing Posts: 32 Member
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    I own a bar...so...ha...the demons and I know each other well. But I find that when I get in a good routine of eating well and exercising, I just naturally cut back because I don't want to feel like crap. I want to be able to perform my best in my workouts, so that motivates me more than getting tipsy. But when I do drink, I stick to vodka with a squirt of lemon, or wine. I also love me some jagerbombs made with diet redbull. I feel like I'm burning it off because the redbull gives me wings on the dance floor. Lol.
  • argenterie
    argenterie Posts: 93 Member
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    If you look at my food diary, you can see that I indulge "that demon" nearly daily. I always account for it in my journal, and I drink lower-calorie versions of my favorites. I try to keep my food total under a certain amount so it doesn't ruin my week's work!
  • trunkfish
    trunkfish Posts: 81 Member
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    Thanks for your great replies. Maybe Vodka is the ticket as it seems to get the thumbs up here. I'm clearly knocking it back more than a lot of you so maybe it should be just one large Vodka of an evening and several days abstinence in between. Can but try...:happy:
  • SarahSchoenberger
    SarahSchoenberger Posts: 1
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    We make daquiris w/Crystal Light Strawberry daquiri mix, ice and rum. Really yummy and very low in calories! Oh and only on the weekends! Gimlets are good too(2 shots of vodka, and one shot roses lime juice) in a tub and fill the rest of the cup up w/Diet 7-up. I hope that helps a bit...:blushing:
  • missoularocks
    missoularocks Posts: 372 Member
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    I try to avoid the demon drinks M-Th and have cut back significantly on the weekends.
    Also, beer is a lot less cals than liquor.
  • queendeej
    queendeej Posts: 214 Member
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    I enjoy drinking. But I've had to accept that it has a negative impact on my diet. What I've done is cut back on the amount of alcohol that I drink and I only drink if there is room for it in my calories. ;(
    Good luck!
  • RuthSweetTooth
    RuthSweetTooth Posts: 461 Member
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    I drink a glass (and I usually weigh it on the scale until I know that glass well) of wine each evening.
    I work at a vineyard on weekends, so that's literally abstinence for me.
    Limiting to 1 glass allows my blood pressure medicine to work, and I am much healthier already.
  • cz611
    cz611 Posts: 37 Member
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    I exercise more if I know I'm drinking that day :drinker: I had to give up drinking every time I was knocked up and nursing....since I no longer have to deal with that madness :laugh: I'm not giving up drinking. :drinker: (But, that's just me)
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    I try to avoid the demon drinks M-Th and have cut back significantly on the weekends.
    Also, beer is a lot less cals than liquor.
    Beer isn't really lower than in calories than liquor. But beer is typically lower in calories than popular mixed drinks. It's the mixers that typically raise the calories.
  • amiguito123
    amiguito123 Posts: 25
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    I just don't drink it. It's been so long since I had an alcoholic beverage, I can't even remember what it tastes like anymore...
  • krinio
    krinio Posts: 138 Member
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    I never really drank a lot tbh, but now that i'm health-conscious (the last year or so) I just make sure I have the calories for it. Usually when I go out it's a thursday night, cause my favourite club has its student night then, so if im attending i'll make sure to go to the 7.15am spin class that morning and drink a ton of water during the day. :smile: I think moderation is key for sure.
  • Skeels
    Skeels Posts: 929 Member
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    A few drinks on the weekend never hurts..........I stick with Rum
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    :happy: do you do loads of exercise to make up for the calories

    Do this, once you figure out how much work it is to work off one drink you really won't feel like having a second.

    Indeed. Many people find this to be true of a lot of their "old lifestyle" food/drink choices.
  • sharleengc
    sharleengc Posts: 792 Member
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    I have never been a huge drinker so cutting it out or having 1 drink a month isn't a big deal for me.

    My husband, who uses MFP too, cut it out completely and he used to go out twice a week and drink plus have a little at home. Heck, we even had a bar in our house. He went cold turkey and didn't miss it at all. Now, over a year later, he drinks a little more but not too often, usually when we are visiting friends or family.
  • TravisBurns
    TravisBurns Posts: 353 Member
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    It's just like junk food or anything else. If you wanna lose weight and have it you're gonna have to work hard for it or it will set you back. By cutting it out completely you make things much easier on yourself. Both for your health and your weight-loss.
  • verbalriot
    verbalriot Posts: 90
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    I definitely still drink (NYC girl here in her 20s...) but I drink less beer, more strong stuff and really see it more of a treat now than a regular occurrence.
  • lwagnitz
    lwagnitz Posts: 1,321 Member
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    I've heard many times that clear liquors (like vodka, or silver tequila... mmm patronn :) ) are the lower calories and/or healthier option.

    I love vodka with soda water and a twist of any kind of citrus. Grapefruit preferably. Lemon or lime are just as great.

    I also think that Patron is to die, but just take those as shots ;)

    I've grown to be kind of a beer snob. I used to love hard liquor, now I love beer more. But I HATE light beer. Not just because it tastes like I'm drinking carbonated Fox River water (polluted as all hell), but it gives me the worst stomach ache. Only time I've ever thrown up drinking was drinking Bud Light... and trust me, it wasn't the amount..yuck!

    Honestly, don't drink as much as I used to. Living in Wisconsin though, it's a temptation pretty hard to resist. You're surrounded by it, and every activity includes it. Where I'm from, there's no such thing as underage drinking. lol
  • myfitnessval
    myfitnessval Posts: 687 Member
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    i drink way less now, maybe twice a month. it just doesnt seem worth it to cut out food or exercise more to booze up, plus avoiding hangovers is key for me because thats when i'm most vulnerable to a binge lol. now IF i drink, i choose straight vodka with a lemon or lime or diet soda. if its wine i choose the dryest one (less sugar) or champagne.
  • skeeter2584
    skeeter2584 Posts: 34 Member
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    It's certainly OK to have alcohol every now and then as long as you're careful. If I were to consume alcohol, I would do it AFTER working out because my body would still be in "calorie burning mode" to an extent. If I felt uneasy about drinking a whole can of beer or glass of wine at once, I could always take about half instead. FYI - a gram of pure alcohol is worth 7 calories, almost as much as a gram of fat. The alcohol in beer, wine, etc. is ethyl alcohol, or ethanol. Pure ethanol has a density of 0.789 grams per milliliter. Suppose I drank 12 fluid ounces of beer and I wanted to know how many calories came from the alcohol itself. For the purposes of this discussion, I'll assume that a "typical" beer is 5% alcohol by volume. There are 355 mL in 12 fluid ounces, and so you have 355 * 0.05 = 17.75 mL of pure alcohol in there. Since a milliliter of pure ethanol weighs 0.789 grams, those 17.75 mL would weigh 14.00 grams. As mentioned above, alcohol yields 7 calories per gram. This can of beer would therefore provide about 98 calories from the alcohol itself. Fat yields 9 calories per gram; you get 4 calories apiece from a gram of protein or carbs.
    Hope this helps!!! :)

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