Eating Healthy + Drinking Alcohol = Getting Nowhere

I never in my life thought I would be one of "those people" who struggled with alcohol.... But over the past 2 years I have become fairly dependent on the stuff. It seems like everyday when I leave work I run by the liquor store and get a bottle of wine or whiskey or beer. But I'm not one who can be satisfied with one glass of wine or one cocktail or one can of beer. Who are those people anyway!!?? I'm not happy until it's gone or until I'm passed out. As a result, over the past 2 years I have gained 25 pounds.

In an attempt to get a handle on the weight gain I began eating healthier. The usual no drive thru's, more fruit and salad and less junk kinda thing. I even started exercising doing mainly Zumba 2x a week. On Friday nights I have a habbit of "treating" myself with (yep you guessed it) booze. So I booze it up on Friday night, wake up with a hangover Saturday, have a Bloody Mary to relieve said hangover which of course results in another Bloody Mary b/c I can't stop with just one. Saturday night I drink again. Sunday is usually a beer day. By Monday I'm on the eating healthy kick again, but I also stop and get booze of some sort to unwind after work. Honestly, if I go one day a week without any alcohol I feel like I've accomplished something. Food is not the real issue with me... It's the alcohol.

You may call me a functioning alcoholic or a binge drinker - I just think what I am is pitiful! Even reading this makes me mad at myself. So I have made up my mind to challenge myself - I am going to go 30 Days, at the very least, with NO alcohol. My first full day of no alcohol was Saturday. Today makes day 4 (yay me).

I am determined to take alcohol out of the equation and actually GET SOMEWHERE!!

I'm not going to give you a label because it really doesn't matter, you've decided to make a change and alot of us have been in the same boat I will speak to your point though about alchol and weight gain. Even though they are empty calories, I think there's more to it that makes the body add fat. I've tried doing it "my way" and drink as long as it was in my calorie allowance. It doesn't work. I'm not sure of the science behind it but its more than just calories in vs calories out with alcohol. Good luck on your new journey.

You are right about this. For me too the issue in gaining weight was too much alcohol consumption and making really poor food choices because of it. It wasn't really the amount of calories of food I was eating but the types, and plus the calories from the alcohol of course didn't help. Anyway, back to your point about it being more than just calories in calories our with alcohol. I have been using recipes from Jillian Michaels' Master Your Metabolism cookbook and in it she gives a bit of background about the hormones involved in weight gain. According to her book, alcohol makes you produce more estrogen which makes your body want to store more fat, especially in the gut area, which is I guess why it's called a beer belly. lol. I noticed also, that since I gained weight this time from too much alcohol I wound up with a gut that I never had before. In the past when my weight had fluctuated up and down just from being lazy and eating a little too much or whatever I would basically gain there last but not when I gained from drinking. It could also be because I am over 30 now and my body will start storing fat differently but I think alcohol definitely has something to do with it. I've given it up mostly and I notice when I do have a weekend where I want to party, even if I stick with my calories and exercise, my waist still seems to suffer.

To the OP, your story sounds similar to mine where drinking is concerned although I gained way more than 25 lbs unfortunately. You can do it! Definitely try to stay away from people you drink around and don't keep it in the house if it's just you. I only feel tempted if it's there or if I go to my parents' house where everybody drinks. And if you do have a drink, definitely go with low cal stuff like vodka and sparkling water with lemon or something. Don't do diet soda drinks if you can avoid it because I think they exacerbate the whole belly fat issue. Anyway, this has been long enough I guess and people probably lost interest half way through Good luck to you! (I was going to put the drinker smiley but I guess it's not appropriate)

ETA: I thought of one more thing. I sleep WAY better now without the alcohol. I used to think I needed to pass out just to get a good night's sleep because I'd have trouble falling asleep if I wasn't in that hazy non-thinking state but it was the opposite. I would be good for a couple hrs and then just end up waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom or something and not be able to go back to sleep for 2 hrs. Cutting out the alcohol and exercising has done wonders for my sleep and I can now sleep a full 8 hrs without waking up at all.