Beer...

YUP!

Ohhhh beer. I love it too much I'd say. I've had success with drinking beer by planning ahead and logging it so it fits in my day. Problem is, those are empty calories so you are eating less throughout the day, and who doesn't get hungry when they drink? If you're aware of that and are prepared, there's no reason you can't still be successful.

WINE! :-) My go to rather than cocktails.

You can do it but just know that alcohol is empty calories not doing your body any good.

A good strategy is to eat food for your allocated calories, and use the exercise calories for a beer or two.

Yes...but my consumption has dramatically decreased. It's actually really hard right now because we're getting and early dose of spring with the time change...all I want to do is go sit on my patio and drink copious amounts of beer in the evening while I cook meat on the grill. Major spring fever going on.

I know exactly what you're saying, the snow is on the brink of leaving one of these days...Can't wait to crack a few open grilling up some steak and potatoes!

Ugh, you guys are making it tough to be crammed inside of a cubicle right now.

Not to mention, it's usually only darker beers or beers with sediment that contain the really healthy stuff, which is not what most people drink. Brewers yeast is not found in a Bud, in amounts that make a difference.

Great, but I said alcohol is empty calories.

Please define what you call empty calories. Alcohol in and of itself has benefits for your health. Therefore the calories are not empty. In fact given the benefits below I'd say the opposite is true

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/AlcoholAndHealth.html (excerpts below)

Longevity
Moderate drinkers tend to live longer than those who either abstain or drink heavily.

General Health
Moderate drinkers tend to enjoy better health than do either abstainers or heavy drinkers.

Heart Health
Medical research has demonstrated a strong relationship between moderate alcohol consumption and reduction in cardiovascular disease in general and coronary artery disease in particular.41


Moderate Drinkers are Less Likely to Suffer Coronary Heart Disease and Heart Attacks (Acute Myocardial Infarctions) than are Abstainers or Heavy Drinkers.

The Moderate Consumption of Alcohol Increases the Survivability of Heart Attacks

Alcohol Abstainers Who Begin Drinking Reduce Their Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Frequent Drinkers Enjoy Greater Heart-Health Benefits than Those Who Drink Less Often

Exercising Can't Replace Benefits of Drinking in Moderation

ModeResearchers at the National Institute of Public Health in Denmark studied about 12,000 men and women over a period of 20 years. The investigators found:
Moderate Drinking vs. LifestyleThe lowest risk of fatal heart disease occurred among those who both drank moderately and exercised. They had a 50% reduced risk compared to non-drinkers who didn't exercise. (Moderate drinking was defined as consuming an average of up to two drinks per day for both men and women. This is twice as high as the US federal recommendation for women.)

A higher risk was found among (a) those who abstained from alcohol but exercised and (b) those who drank in moderation but didn't exercise. In both cases the risk of heart disease dropped about 30% compared to abstaining non-exercisers.
The highest risk was found among those who neither drank nor exercised. Their risk of dying from heart disease was twice as high as those who drank moderately and exercisedration



Why drink to reduce the risk of heart disease? Wouldn't eating a good diet, exercising, and losing weight do the same thing? No, it wouldn't. The moderate consumption of alcohol appears to be more effective than most other lifestyle changes that are used to lower the risk of heart and other diseases. For example, the average person would need to follow a very strict low-fat diet, exercise vigorously on a regular basis, eliminate salt from the diet, lose a substantial amount of weight, and probably begin medication in order to lower cholesterol by 30 points or blood pressure by 20 points.
But medical research suggests that alcohol can have a greater impact on heart disease than even these hard-won reductions in cholesterol levels or blood pressure. Only cessation of smoking is more effective.
Additionally, other medical research suggests that adding alcohol to a healthful diet is more effective than just following the diet alone.71


How Alcohol Promotes Good Heart Health

The moderate consumption of alcohol promotes good heart health in a number of ways, including the following:

Alcohol improves blood lipid profile73
It increases HDL ("good") cholesterol74
It decreases LDL ("bad") cholesterol75
It improves cholesterol (both HDL and LDL) particle size76
It reduces fibrinogen (a blood clotter)78
It increases fibrinolysis (the process by which clots dissolve)79
Alcohol acts in additional ways80
It reduces coronary artery spasm in response to stress
It increases coronary blood flow81
It reduces blood pressure82
It reduces blood insulin level83Alcohol & Weight
It increases estrogen levels84

Alcohol contains calories, but drinking alcohol doesn't lead to weight gain according to extensive medical research, and many studies report a small reduction in weight for women who drink. Learn more at Alcohol, Calories & Weight.


Arthritis
A recent study found that alcohol consumption is associated with a significantly reduced risk of developing arthritic conditions including Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Osteoarthritis (OA), reactive arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and spondylarthropathy.123

Enlarged Prostate (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia or BPH)
An analysis of 19 published studies that included over 120,000 men found that drinking two or more drinks a day was associated with a 35% reduction in risk of developing benign prostate enlargement.128
A dietary study found that men who consume two or more alcoholic drinks per day are 33% less likely to develop BPH than are teetotalers or alcohol abstainers.129

Osteoporosis
Researchers examined the evidence from 33 studies and found that alcohol consumption increased neck bone density for each drink per day over the range of 0-3 drinks per day; reduced the risk for hip fracture with increasing quantities consumed; and was generally associated with reduced bone loss over time, compared with abstention from alcohol.145


It goes on and on

It has been my experience that drinking alcohol makes it much harder to lose weight. If you are serious about losing weight, I recommend taking time off beer, wine, and liquor.

Sean