Alcohol

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.

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.

I like my vodka. :drinker:

"... 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.

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.

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.

So, how much are you actually drinking?
I would still say a bottle "say once or twice a week" is a concern.
A glass once or twice a week is more reasonable.
The bigger concern to me is not being able to give it up more than empty calories.

4-5 glasses of wine once or twice a week. I'd say the number isn't a concern, per se. It could be. It could be that it's not. I won't attempt to analyze or diagnose a stranger on the internet.
But, yeah, that's an extra 500-600 calories each time...

Once I cut out alcohol, I lost 10 pounds. Just sayin'

If you finish the bottle in less than 10 minutes you don't have to count it because your body doesn't absorb any of the calories.

"... 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.

Why not? That's only 20% of my typical daily intake, for example. It's worked fine for me, every day for the last two years.

I do indulge in beer or wine a couple times a week most weeks, and I'm in a healthy weight range, but still struggling to gain more muscle and loose some flub...I'm sure the alcohol doesn't HELP, but it is definitely possible to make progress and still keep those little indulgences.

I believe you simply need to count it in to your calories, exercise more to compensate and ENJOY it!! You should not deprive yourself of things you enjoy!! I enjoy beer and I work extra and eat less to compensate. Life is too short to not enjoy it and everything we love!!

I've been really struggling with my weight loss regime. I don't mind working out doing 45 minutes of Zumba every day, and I don't mind eating 1000 calories a day munching on fish and vegetables. I've never had a problem with doughnuts or pizza, my trouble is a nice bottle of wine at night. Does anyone else have this problem?

I feel like I'd be doing so much better and losing so much more weight if it weren't for the pointless 500 calories I consume when I cave in and can't resist a bottle of wine! Am I alone here or does anyone else struggle with this?

To be honest I gave up regular drinking as part of my weight loss plan mainly because the booze is free while I work and I drank it more for that reason than another. Last night I blew out my calories on 4 glasses of Veuve champagne though it was a special occasiond so what the hey!

I'd try drinking spritzers if you are drinking white so you drink half the amount of alcohol but the same volume and take up meditation for relaxation. Alcohol is a depessant so it is probably making you feel worse in the long run, not to mention te daily hangovers.

Also up your exercise so that you can drink 500 calories in alchol and not have it blow out your days good work.

note that i am comparing the carbs in wine to that of brut champagne. my statement is correct.

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

Wine doesn't have a lot of carbs. :noway:
Her "whole bottle" of wine probably has 20-25 grams of carbs.

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 just love that you said that! Good for you, I drink wine a few nights a week not because I need it but because I like it stuffy folks good grief.

"... it's the emotional attachment that people place to alcohol that is the problem..."



^^^^THIS^^^^^ Same goes for food. If there is any food that you can't give up for better health, then you probably shouldn't be eating it at all. It's too important to you if it is more important than your health. That's called an addiction. I've worked with many addicts in the past. Addictions are subtle and progressive. One day an addict wakes up and realizes that his/her life revolves around a substance. It is at that point that help is sought.

I think this might be a bit much. Are you implying that eating bad foods or drinking in moderation is actually an addiction? If someone ate potato chips once in awhile instead of giving them up completely then they are addicted? I don't think that is the definition of addiction at all.

If I am reading that wrong - totally sorry for misunderstanding.

One thing that should be considered though - moderate drinking may in fact be healthier than complete abstinence:

From article I posted earlier (http://www.leangains.com/2010/07/truth-about-alcohol-fat-loss-and-muscle.html)

The benefits of moderate drinking are:

Improves insulin sensitivity
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12393073

Potentially improves trigyceride concentrations
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12020337

Can actually help Glycemic control (even on peopel with type 2 diabities)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20627495

Etc... If you read the original article I posted, it links to even more studies that show a wide variety of the benefits of moderate drinking.

I think the key word is "moderate". If it is truly moderate, I have no problem with it. But, I know several people who claim to be "moderate" drinkers and that they "could give it up in a minute". When you talk to their spouses and children, it is a different story. They worriedly report that the quantity that gave their loved one "a mellow buzz" a few years ago, has been added to and is more frequent, and now there are more signs of impairment, as their loved one continues to drink "moderately". Denial is a very bring problem for addicts, at the beginning stages of their addiction. If someone drinks to get drunk, that is not moderate. If someone sits down and eats an entire package of Oreos before he/she gets up again, (or even over the course of a day) that is not moderation. Not judging here--just warning others to please avoid kidding themselves. To make certain that they really are moderate in their pursuit of pleasure. I have seen too many lives destroyed, or otherwise impaired, by habits that are anything but moderate. and peace.