Alcohol

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  • kevinrbarger
    kevinrbarger Posts: 87 Member
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    susank66 - you seem to be concerned a lot. it concerns me.

    a bottle of wine every now and then is not cause for concern. as another poster pointed out, it's like 4 or 5 beers. i'm only talking about the empty calories being an issue.

    but if you're really concerned about it, go cry to a therapist. see if he can remove the stick from your backside while he's at it.

    Wow. 4-5 beers two or 3 times a week isn't much either huh?

    I am done here. Good luck.

    Actually 4-5 beers once or twice a week is not really all that much. Like... at all.

    A 6 pack every night? Yes. Issues. 4-5 beers twice a week? Considering weekend bar hopping? Nope. In fact, I would say that's pretty conservative.
  • Cheeky_0102
    Cheeky_0102 Posts: 408 Member
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    I have had to come to terms with wine like I have with sugar. It just can't be on my every day list... Less because of the calories, I almost always have 300 calories to spare for the wine, I would just have to change a snack into wine... for me it's the "impaired eating" give me a couple of glasses of wine and I will bribe my husband to take me out for icecream, or taquitos at 7-eleven, or Wendy's late night drive thru, or I will make brownies or cookies... I seem to just make stupid choices.

    so what I do is buy the single serving bottles when I can (they just don't have them everywhere in Canada) so I can't go "well there's an open bottle in the fridge) or just don't keep it in the house. Or else I wait until I'm having a night out and get a half liter with one glass :)

    It's all about balance.
  • PrettyPearl88
    PrettyPearl88 Posts: 368 Member
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    I generally don't like to drink my calories, so I stick mostly to water. That being said, there are a few types of drinks that I simply am not willing to give up and I think that's okay. With the drinks that I'm not willing to give up I either drink only very low-calorie versions of them or drink them only a couple times a week only when I can fit them into my calorie allotment.

    For me, the two main drinks I'm not willing to give up are coffee and hot cocoa lol! With coffee, I drink anywhere from 1-3 large mugs daily. However, I also put very little cream and sugar into my coffee, so all the coffee I drink doesn't consume more than 150 calories tops daily. I make sure to fit all of that into my daily calorie allotment. With hot cocoa, I simply have it as a treat a few times a week! If I have like 150-200 extra calories at the end of my day, then I often reward myself with a hot cocoa!

    Perhaps you could try some of those same ideas with your wine? I hope I could help at least a little bit. :)
  • kenorus
    kenorus Posts: 62 Member
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    I just started counting my calories and wow it really makes you wonder what is going into your mouth. I do exercise dailing either by running on the treadmill or doing intervel training on it. I also do a workout designed by a personal trainer but still enjoy my two glasses of wine everynight. But i do count them into my calorie count. I do not cut back on my food as that is where my main energy comes from. So i i didnt work out and have those extra calories then the wine would go. As for beer i know alot of people who work out alot and have more than 6 in a day. And yes they are think as a board! Do they have problems no!!!
  • ripemango
    ripemango Posts: 534 Member
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    i opt for liquor w diet soda or brut champagne (less calories and waaaaaaay less carbs than any kind of wine).

    try having just a glass of wine w dinner every now and then and see if that satiates your wine loving self :)
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
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    So I guess when people drink a little bit they have "issues", LOL.
  • kevinrbarger
    kevinrbarger Posts: 87 Member
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    Oh! I completely forgot about this until just now:

    http://getdrunknotfat.com/

    That website breaks down pretty much every drink and tells you how many calories comes from alcohol vs. carbs. It was pretty handy when I first started out on this.

    EDIT: The thought being that the bigger percentage of calories from alcohol is better since that will get you drunk faster even if the total calorie count is lower than something else. Basically, drinking less of a higher concentration of alcohol is better than drinking more of something with lower calories.

    I'm not really explaining this well.
  • missybct
    missybct Posts: 321 Member
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    I have to admit right from the start that I rarely drink alcohol - I've probably had 5 units in the last 3 months. This is a combination of medication and health issues.

    This wasn't always the case though; I was addicted to alcohol - I denied it to myself for many, many years, but would think nothing of drinking a bottle of wine 4-5 times a week, and every day if I could have done. It was never first thing in the morning, but it was definitely an addiction.

    When I lost nearly six stone before, I cut alcohol out to maybe three times a month - I would allow myself a bottle of wine spread over two nights maybe each weekend but not always. For me, it didn't make much of a difference - some weeks I drank I lost little, some weeks I lost the most. I think it just depends on when you drink it, when you weigh in, and your level of willpower and control when you are drinking - I always found that if I drank, I got the munchies ;)

    A lot of my weight gain was due to alcohol culture. Since cutting it out pretty much 4 months ago, it has made the world of good for so many reasons both health and mentally. I imagine I wouldn't have lost as much as I have if I'd carried on with the same habits. I never, ever thought I would be free of my addiction, but I genuinely do not crave it anymore; I know I'd be disappointed in myself. I've also cut out fizzy drinks completely apart from the occasional ginger ale, and just stick to water or herbal tea.

    For what it's worth, I don't think your drinking levels are particularly high; it's the emotional attachment that people place to alcohol that is the problem. Women are allowed 14 units a week, so a bottle and a half a week. I can't see it being a problem if you either make the deficit up with exercise.
  • SMarie10
    SMarie10 Posts: 953 Member
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    susank66 - you seem to be concerned a lot. it concerns me.

    a bottle of wine every now and then is not cause for concern. as another poster pointed out, it's like 4 or 5 beers. i'm only talking about the empty calories being an issue.

    but if you're really concerned about it, go cry to a therapist. see if he can remove the stick from your backside while he's at it.

    everyone else, thanks for your helpful posts :)

    I used to be under the delusion that a bottle of wine was not a big deal. It is. - very very empty calories. Sorry if you don't like to hear that analysis, but I agree with Susan, 1 -2 glasses of wine 1-2 times a week might be o.k. but a full bottle at one sitting is not. If you're really asking for feedback, you might want to lower your tone a bit and accept or reject the info you don't want without being nasty about it.
  • marcvandenberg
    marcvandenberg Posts: 190 Member
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    I like my wine too.
    I just skip some other things out of my menu (appeljuice) and do an extra walk, to earn some.
    Don't stop with what you like to eat or drink, just fit it in your system.
    Remember its not a crash diet but a life-change.

    Marc
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
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    They way you put it, it sounds like a drinking problem. Are you REALLY drinking 7 bottles of wine a week?

    a whole bottle would have a lot more calories than 500, so she didn't mean that. probably 2 glasses, i remember hearing say 300 for a glass of wine, but i'm sure it depends what kind ans size of glasses.
  • HowFortuitous
    HowFortuitous Posts: 1
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    I'm one of those who thinks that dieting is a bit silly. Losing weight is good, but if the changes you make to your diet are not sustainable, you just end up falling back. This means that you have to allow yourself to break your diet on occasion and find a happy medium. Cutting out all tasty things for the rest of your life is not going to happen obviously, so you have to find an alternative. For me, my big vice is coke. I love my soda. Diet coke tastes terrible to me, but after a long day, when I'm tired and annoyed, I drink a 150 calorie can of coke and I enjoy it. Sometimes I have 2 or 3 a day. I have to budget this in my calories, but this allows me to stay on the diet without feeling like I'm punishing myself.

    I'd suggest doing the same. Find a way to budget in a bottle or two a week, let it be your vice. Let yourself have your vice. It is YOURS. Find a diet that works with it, or don't diet. This allows you to keep to your diet. If you have to give up the things you love in order to diet, then the best case scenario is that you will get your goal weight, then relapse.
  • kenorus
    kenorus Posts: 62 Member
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    i measured out what they consider a 5 oz glass of wine. It is around a half of a glass. A cab franc is 120 calories which seems correct. I usually will try and wait till dinner to have a glass then once i eat i am full and dont feel like any more. Yes it is a lifestyle change. I for one did all the up and down diets and yes they do work but it is not feasable to keep them up. If you account for every single thing that goes in your mouth it really makes you think what you are eating and drinking and yes it does work and better. And for the long term!!!
  • Oishii
    Oishii Posts: 2,675 Member
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    The back of my wine bottle says 9.4 units, and that a woman should 'not regularly exceed' 2-3 units daily. By UK government standards 2 bottles of wine a week, for a woman, is a lot. Personally I'd just hurl long before the bottom of the bottle, especially as I'm out of practice.

    Your body though. Ignore what you want to ignore. I ignore plenty of health warnings (sugar, raw eggs, etc) even when I believe the risks are real.
  • ThePilatesPrincess
    ThePilatesPrincess Posts: 25 Member
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    So, I love my wine a lot. Most vacations that my husband & I go on involve going to different wine regions, etc. On average my hubby & I would split a bottle of wine 3 - 5 times a week. For the first 2 months of the year I was sick with the flu & colds and didn't have any alcohol for a good 6 weeks. I lost about 5 pounds being sick and though I need to keep this up and get healthy. I joined MFP mid-March & by then had lost 10 pounds. One of several changes I made was to cut down on my wine. For the most part now hubby & I share one bottle of wine per week (and since we have cut down on the volume we can afford to make it a good bottle). I've been with MFP one month & lost almost 10 lbs. For me cutting down on the wine has really helped, this month has been so easy compared with other times I have tried to loose weight and did not cut down on the wine. That's my experience anyway. :smile:
  • JenniTheVeggie
    JenniTheVeggie Posts: 2,474 Member
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    I like my vodka. :drinker:
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    no i'm not drinking a bottle of wine every night! just occasionally in the evenings, say once or twice a week, i'll ruin all my days work by wasting it on the empty calories of a bottle of wine.


    I would still say a bottle "say once or twice a week" is a concern.
    A bottle of wine really isn't that much to drink. It is equal to about 4 or 5 beers. Once or twice a week wouldn't be a big deal.

    Also, women have a much harder time metabolizing alcohol.
    Citation, please?

    From an article on "Alcohol Metabolism" at About.com:

    "...Gender. Women absorb and metabolize alcohol differently from men. They have higher BAC's [blood alcohol concentrations] after consuming the same amount of alcohol as men and are more susceptible to alcoholic liver disease, heart muscle damage (8), and brain damage (9). The difference in BAC's between women and men has been attributed to women's smaller amount of body water, likened to dropping the same amount of alcohol into a smaller pail of water (10). An additional factor contributing to the difference in BAC's may be that women have lower activity of the alcohol metabolizing enzyme ADH in the stomach, causing a larger proportion of the ingested alcohol to reach the blood. The combination of these factors may render women more vulnerable than men to alcohol-induced liver and heart damage (11-16)..."

    You can read the rest of the article here: http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/alerts/l/blnaa35.htm
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    "... I would rather have my wine than eat..."

    Every "problem drinker" (read alcoholic) I ever knew would probably have agreed with this statement. When one is on a calorie-restricted diet, one really cannot afford to throw away 500 calories on wine, beer, etc.
  • severnc
    severnc Posts: 16 Member
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    http://www.leangains.com/2010/07/truth-about-alcohol-fat-loss-and-muscle.html

    One of the more interesting things I have read on weight loss and alcohol.

    really interesting read...thanks :drinker:
  • emo1124
    emo1124 Posts: 8
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    no i'm not drinking a bottle of wine every night! just occasionally in the evenings, say once or twice a week, i'll ruin all my days work by wasting it on the empty calories of a bottle of wine.


    I would still say a bottle "say once or twice a week" is a concern.
    A bottle of wine really isn't that much to drink. It is equal to about 4 or 5 beers. Once or twice a week wouldn't be a big deal.

    Also, women have a much harder time metabolizing alcohol.
    Citation, please?

    This is actually true, for several reasons. This article points it out nicely: http://www.healthstatus.com/health_blog/body-fat-calculator-2/do-men-and-women-process-alcohol-differently/
    I'm a med student so I get nerdily excited about stuff that happens in the body.

    It's very interesting to me about the hugely varying opinions about what amount of drinking is "too much." What is ok for some people is not for others, and everyone is going to have an opinion.

    Personally, I try to leave myself enough extra calories to have a glass of wine at night (a large glass, too, 250 ml of 13% white wine is 170 calories), so that's the equivalent of a little over two bottles a week. I also usually have a couple more drinks on the weekend. As long as you're keeping track (I use a measuring cup) and keeping a deficit, it shouldn't impact your weight loss in the long run. If you drink a whole bottle, you might feel bloated the next day and feel like it's impacting your weight, or you might binge eat if you're feeling tipsy (or if you're hungover). On a day you're going to use alcohol as calories, I'd try to eat some nutrient-dense low cal foods so you're not having a nutrient deficient day. I like to try to use my workout calories for wine, so I know I've gotten enough good food in me.

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