Nights out and alcohol!

It's great to see that so many MFP users are modern day saints! Never been on a night out in your life, never had more than 3 drinks in one night, I applaud you!

Personally, I dislike alcohol, the taste and the effect. I go out once a month, if that, and don't drink very much.

However, on a 'big night out' i.e. Birthday, Occasion, one that has been planned for a while, more than 3 drinks are probably consumed even BEFORE leaving the house! If you count up the drinks you have had in the house, those you've bought in the pub...club... plus those bought for you, any shots etc... I imagine you will be very surprised as to how much you actually consume, and possibly you and your saintly friends would be less judgemental

The OP said she is fine not having any alcohol.. that was not the question, and equally fine having one or two on a lesser occasion; but is simply wondering how to factor in these 'big nights out' where it's pretty much expected that the laughing, drinking, dancing.. will go on all night.

Oh, how's the weather up there on your high-horse?

hun don't worry about the party poopers!!

I drink vodka lime and soda - this helps keep me hydrated so the hangover isn't as bad and I don't over eat the next day.

Or I'll drink white wine / rose with loadsa ice.

I will eat two small meals on the day of a night out

dancing all night burns loadsa cals anyway.

you can't stop living your life or having fun because of 'dieting' sometime you've gotta let your hair down.

I go on holiday on monday and I'm 120% sure I'll be drinking every day, I'll just make sure I do a long walk on the beach, and do swimming, and not over eat.

LIVE YOUR LIFE, HAVE FUN

Correct me if I am wrong.,, but I believe the op is in the UK.
they make drinks with remeasured pours that are much less than what we in the US or Canada would consider shot ir a decent drink.
So 19 drinks is not as much alcohol as you think.
And stop with the judgy mc judgington.
So she used to party in college.
No ones ever done that before.......eyeroll

I'm interested in knowing how people factor in nights out/alcohol into their diet/lifestyle? Do you plan ahead, eat at a bigger deficit than usual that week so that you can enjoy your night out without having to pay much attention to calories? Do you just try to be conservative with your alcohol intake on the night? Or do you just throw caution to the wind and go for a big blow out, and then get back on track the next day?

I've been limiting my alcohol consumption since I've started losing weight (alcohol was a major factor in my weight gain - I succumbed quite willingly to the binge drinking student culture at uni) so it made sense to give my body a break. I'm going on my first night out in a long time this weekend and, whilst I know that I will be more conscious of how much I'm drinking, I know that I will still drink a fair bit. I always stick to vodka and diet coke, so it's probably one of the 'better' options where calories are concerned... But I know that I'll drink the majority of my daily calorie limit. I'm not going to beat myself up about one night, I feel like I deserve a wee night out, but I'd still like to stay on track with my weightloss for the week if I can.

Only having a few drinks isn't really an option for me - lovely social anxiety issues and once I've had a few it's so easy just to convince myself to have a few more... And a few more...

So how do you personally contend with nights out? I can't decide what option would be best for me, so any advice or suggestions are appreciated!

Right. This post has got my name written all over it. I got this.

Ok so first of all you'll need to know, if you haven't already figured out by now, that drinking large quantities of alcohol is going to be a big problem in your weight loss journey. Binge drinking and a healthy lifestyle are about as mutually exclusive as two things can be, so basically the advice I'm about to give you, on how to binge drink more successfully, SHOULD NOT BE FOLLOWED.

Nah but seriously, there are a few things you can do to ease the problem....


Obviously alcohol is empty calories and if you're having 19 vodkas, that's around 950 calories to add into your diary. The first, most obvious lesson, is to reduce your intake; not by drinking fewer drinks, but with smarter drinks choices. With vodka and diet coke it seems you've done this already, so just keep off the shots (especially that rank Corky's stuff that they throw at you in student bars, they're full of sugar and not even particularly alcoholic) and you're already doing what you can in this respect.


So if you can't cut down any further on that 950 cals, then clearly you're going to be over target that day unless you starve yourself....DO NOT DO THAT! I know "eating's cheating" but if you're a binge drinker (like me) you'll **** yourself up if you don't eat. And I'm not talking about just getting drunk quicker, or getting a worse hangover, or any of those things that just give you better stories to tell, I'm talking about actual liver damage that you will seriously regret.

But if it's not from starving yourself, you need to make that 950 calories back from somewhere, right? So.... DANCE! Dance like nobody is watching and you'll burn plenty of calories. It won't be the whole 950, maybe not even half, but it's a start; it'll put a big dent in what you need to make up for. For an hours dancing MFP says I'd burn 500 calories. It won't be as high for you because I'm a lot heavier but it's still worth logging. For arguments sake let's take a guess and say you'd burn 450, you've only got 500 left to make up for.

So you've minimised calorie intake, and you've already burnt half of it off; what's next?

Damage limitation, that's what.

Damage limitation means giving in to your urges for excess when it comes to drink, but resisting them when it comes to food. It's probably a good idea to eat something straight after a binge session, it will certainly ease your hangover the next day, but that doesn't mean you have to go crazy.

A Subway, for example, is not a bad idea. But do you really need a footlong?

A greasy takeaway pizza always goes down well after a session - but did you really need that extra slice?

Wouldn't the Big Mac meal have filled the hole just as well without making it large fries and large coke?

Your drunk self will want to eat and eat. Be strong!

Stick with this mentality into the next day. When you're hungover you'll have the urge to eat and drink all day. This is your body telling you it needs nutrients, so sure, you need to eat, but a hangover is not an excuse to eat crap all day. Just try to eat as normally as you can. And don't be tempted to head for the pepsi; you may think the sugar will help wake you up but really a few glasses of water are all you need to ease a hangover from hell (most hangover symptoms stem from dehydration alone).

If you're not careful, the calories that you drank can quickly become insignificant compared to the oens you will eat if you binge on junk food.

As for burning off the other 450 or so calories, the important thing is not to try to do it all in one go. if you spread it through the week, it's only 65 calories a day.

Now, one more thing: But be careful because this is an advanced drinking strategy, not for the rookies!

Timing of your drinks can be important. Your body will, on average, dissipate 1 unit of alcohol per hour (1 vodka is 1 unit). This means that if you start your pre-drinking in the afternoon/early evenings, it's a waste because by the time you get to the bar/club later on, the alcohol from your first few drinks is already well out of your system. Why bother pre-drinking them, and taking the calories on board, if you won't feel the effect for your night out? If you start drinking 2 vodkas an hour at 6, and you're hitting the club by 11, there are 5 vodkas that you've already processed. So, why did you bother drinking them? If you have your vodkas in a shorter space of time, you can almost certainly get just as drunk on fewer drinks. This may mean you can cut down from 19 to a more sensible 15 perhaps?

Now, this is advice you need to be VERY careful with. What I'm NOT saying is for you to go out and drink loads of vodka in a really short space of time. You have to experiment with this strategy carefully, and find your own limits. Personally I find that if I sink 8 cans of beer in the 2 hours before I go out, that's the optimum pre-drinking session for me. That's the equivalent of around 16 vodkas in 2 hours. Your tolerance may well be lower so just take it steady until you figure out what's best for you, yeah?


DISCLAIMER: Everything I just said is really, really bad advice. DO NOT FOLLOW ANY OF IT. Just drink less, yeah? A lot less!

OK, I think you're mostly all over reacting to a reasonable question. I don't think she meant the extreme that she wasn't going to eat a thing and have ALL the calories in vodka. Chill out, please.

I'm from the UK too - Don't know if it's a cultural thing?

Anyway. I tend to save a few calories for gin and slimline. If it's a night out, I don't want to be cutting back my food and then expecting to drink, because I end up drunk early on, and it's not fun. Also a sure way to have a hangover. My advice is save a few, but not too many calories, make sensible drink choices (singles - cheaper, and you can last longer), and make sure you don't go 1,000's of calories over.

If it's an odd one-off, just ENJOY YOURSELF!

you might find this interesting..:

http://www.leangains.com/2010/07/truth-about-alcohol-fat-loss-and-muscle.html

I drink only vodka and I mix it with water and those neofit no calorie flavor things. They have 0 calories 0 carbs 0 sodium and don't contain aspartame that fake sugar that's horrible for you. Tastes good and it takes me about 15 shots to get buzzin good so I save 1500-1700 calories for alcohol. I'm recommended 2400 calories because i'm on a bulk so I have the extra calories to consume. 2 nights of hard drinking won't kill you, just drink vodka, a lot of other flavored alcohols contain HUGE amounts of carbs.