Your progress without alcohol

Life without alcohol is a better life though.

Like anything else it comes down to calories in and calories out imo. Alcohol can easily put you over cals of course, but I don't think once in awhile is a huge issue. Especially if you are still in a sustained caloric deficit.

For example - I went out on Friday because a close friend was moving across the country next day. We got white-girl wasted. I still lost weight last week because even with the night of debauchery I had a caloric deficit for the week. I probably won't drink for awhile now either so I don't see an issue.

Our night of drinking was probably more harmful to her drive the next day than my diet :laugh:

Also obligatory LeanGains alcohol post (great read):
http://www.leangains.com/2010/07/truth-about-alcohol-fat-loss-and-muscle.html

Giving up alcohol was the first big step in changing my lifestyle. I lost 20 lbs just by not drinking over a period of a year. Then I added in eating healthier then incorporated exercise. I have gone from 144 and 33% body fat to 108 and 19% body fat.

Alcohol, in moderation, is not unhealthy, BUT moderation is a lot less than what people think it is. I am not capable of moderation. I would start out thinking, just one glass. Then I would think, well, they say that 2 glasses a day is okay. By the time I am done with the second, I am thinking, okay, I am 2 in, a third will not hurt. After my third I come to the brilliant conclusion there is no reason to leave one glass of wine left in the bottle, may as well finish it off. THEN, I make bad food choices before I go to bed then I would justify bad choices the next day because I swore that was going to be the lasts time I did that.:laugh:

There is really nothing but good that will come out of not drinking for a month. But if you find that you are obsessing on the fact that you are not drinking, or think about alcohol a great deal during this time. You may want to consider why that is.

Good luck. If you need help with motivation during these next 4 weeks, feel free to reach out to me.

I just hear so much that alcohol hinders the process of fat burning regardless of being in a deficit. For me binge drinking once a week is a lot.

It has been my experience that 6 weeks is how long it takes to start noticing a change. If you can do it for 2 months, you may be able to see a difference, especially in your face. All it takes is wrapping your head around the fact that fun can be had with out alcohol. Which is easier said than done. I will promise you this, you will NEVER EVER regret waking up after a night of not binge drinking and regret it, ever.

I drank wine with dinner every day while losing and while maintaining the loss. I've just started trying to lose some more and now I'm only drinking on weekends, but I haven't noticed any change in weight loss. The change was for personal reasons not weight related.

I've been losing on average 8lbs a month with maybe one beer a month. I drank this passed two weekends in a row and didn't lose crap. All I know is it shouldn't be done in excess and frequently.

I've heard it slows down your metabolism. I feel like I've gained a bunch since I started drinking more frequently. But that being said I feel like when I drink, I HAVE TO eat carby greasy food so I don't get sick so Im sure it goes hand in hand.

I've haven't noticed a difference minus alcohol unless it gets in the way of dragging my butt out of bed to get the the gym. The key to my 31 lb. drop has been cutting sugar out of my diet.

Yes, this ^^ Limiting added sugars made a bigger difference for me than anything else I've done diet related.

Alcohol really demotivates me. And when I drink, I tend to eat bad foods that night and the next day. I dont feel like working out the next day either because I have a hangover. I feel sooo much better and get much better workouts when I refrain from alcohol. Now, I need to buck up and challenge myself to be alcohol free for a while. We usually seem to drink every weekend.

What I have noticed ( and do myself) in social scenes is how many bottles of Mio Liquid , or ICE flavored water is being brought in the bar to add to drinks or use for mixers. That way you are not getting the calories from the mixer (juice or soda). Few weeks ago I was sitting with a friend at a bar on a Friday night and looking around and noticed 3 bottles of Mio sitting next to drinks. Most popular seem to be vodka & water with flavor of choice of Mio, or Vodka with your own ICE flavored water ( the blackberry mixes very well with vodka????) stopped the drinking alcohol for over 8 weeks. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. I would drink Ice tea.

At this point in time I still do my 'binge drinking' on the weekends (mostly just Saturday).. Being I am 28 and all my friends drink like fish, it's quite difficult to get together with them without booze around. However, back about two yrs ago when I started working out religiously and really was watching what I ate, I did cut booze out for a good two months. I truly believed it helped with my weight loss. I lost about 10-15 pounds from January to May. Now that I am back to going overboard with the booze on Saturdays, I believe its stalled my weight loss. I gained those 10-15 pounds back, and I really do think booze has something to do with it. Plus I feel like absolute crap when I wake up on Sunday morning! Its like I work out all week and eat right and come Saturday, I am downing Corona's and Margaritas. Totally erases all my hard work of the week. I really do think booze hinders some peoples progress.