Alcohol - two reasons not to drink?

I was a very heavy drinker and i didn't trust myself so i gave up a year ago

I only gave it up because of the empty calories but I have found that my life is much fuller without it. I do have more energy and motivation to do things other than drink and sit around.

Alcohol stimulates your appetite and lowers inibition, it is a dangerous combo which often leads to poor food choices.

I notice a negative effect on my performance the next day with even 2 drinks

i only really miss it if i'm around other people drinking.

I was only really going out to meet someone anyway.

Can't go out any more tho and i suppose myself and everyone else are better off for it.

even if i dont feel hungover, the "effects" of drinking are still with me the next day - im not gonna get up early to work out and may not make the best choices because you are still craving crappy stuff. Im not giving it up completely, but no longer going to sit and have a glass of wine at night just because

After a boozy night out, which to be fair is few and far between these days, i find all i want to do is eat, chipper (take away resturant) on the way home from the pub and or some crisps while in the pub!!

The after mat is never good, the day after is usually a wash out, and usually it takes a good two/three days to get my motivation back!!!

As i said its few and far between these nights out and im happy to go and enjoy myself on the splurge. If i had a glass of wine in th evening on a weekend night at home it doesnt affect my excersise the next day. But i would be inclinded to look for a snack with my glass of wine. Humous with some carrots sticks have seen me through sometimes!

Though i have heard of a packet of roasted/chilli flavoured chickpeas that are very low in calories in comparison to other crisps type things

I like drinking but was drinking far too much in the past 6 months. I've cut it down to 1 or 2 nights per week, and try really hard to limit it to 2 max. I've found that choosing drinks that you sip has helped. I've cut beer, vodka, and any big fruity or mixed drinks like margaritas. Instead I choose wine, whiskey, or bourbon.

I stopped drinking entirely because it was hard for me to control. I would make poor food choices not only during the time I was drinking, but the entire next day as well.

It was getting harder to just have one, and I didn't like how that made me feel. I have only ever been flat out drunk once, but I was spending more of my weekends tipsy and I don't want people to be friends with that person, I want them to know me.

I decided to cut it out for February and reassess my feelings in March.

I am not a heavy drinker but i like to drink couple of drinks with my friends sometimes, and on the day i drink i go to the gym and work crazy hard, and then i´ve already buy my food for the next day so i dont have to make poor choices about my meals.

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.

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

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.

This content has been removed.

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.