Alcohol Conundrum

I usually just hit the gym earlier in the day to create some extra calories to use for delicious beer.

Skinny margaritas!! :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker:

Beer. Margaritas. Vodka and Diet Cherry 7up (personal fave). Really you can drink any of it as long as you fit it into your calorie goals. Also, one night of drinking isn't going to ruin everything even if you go over on your calories. Just enjoy yourself and get back to it the next day.

I try and have at least 3 glasses of wine every Friday night I fit it into my calories and I do work out extra hard those days.

I save my exercise calories for drinking on the weekends. I would recommend that you not give up anything that you are not willing to give up for good. See this as a lifestyle change rather than a diet.

If I know I'm going out with friends, I work my day around it.....or go over

Some days you just gotta give no fu*ks about going over

Girls night is one of them for me!

I have a few beers on the weekend

I drink captain/diets and vodka sodas because they are relatively low cal, along with a few glasses of red wine... but I usually only drink on weekends.

I've figured out recently what a huge impact alcohol has on my diet and me physically (making me tired, bloated, and want crappy food), so I'm really trying to scale back. Things are obviously different for each person, but I had an extremely hard time trying to lose weight and drinking somewhat regularly.

**ETA: MOST of the people I know with fabulous bodies have either cut it out entirely, or only have a couple beers or drinks every week or two.

As a relatively avid beer drinker in the past, I've pretty much given it up at this point. It just wasn't worth it anymore. I'll have a couple craft beers with dinner occasionally, but no blowouts like I used to.

Water

It's just like anything else...fit it in and drink whatever you like to drink

I totally agree. I make room during the week for my red wine on the weekends. If I have not made room I work out or hike so that my calories balance with my red wine.

Thanks for all the help!

For everyone getting offended about the "we all" statement-

I think it's really rude of you to feel the need to point out that I made this "assumption." This is suppose to be a positive and encouraging website.

Instead of being helpful or not saying anything you decided that it was more important to try and make me feel negative about typing 5 letters on a keyboard.

Yay for skinny margaritas!!! :drinker: :drinker: :drinker:

Rum & Diet Coke,
Gin and Soda w/ lemon

I also struggle with this, but have learned a few things:

Timing:
When I'm trying to maximize the effects of alcohol but don't want to drink all night I make sure to hydrate (this works for me) and drink on a nearly empty stomach. Granted this takes some experimentation to avoid getting sick, but it's worth it calorically and financially, to achieve "toasty" from a glass and a half of wine or one cocktail. But don't skip eating altogether. That's not a good look.

Budget for it:
I second hitting the gym before a night out AND sticking to hard alcohol and diet soda. Log it of course, but you'll be pleasantly surprised by the wiggle room you have when you burn first and drink later.

Have a stand by ahead of time:
Another good bang for my caloric buck is artisan IPA. I can't drink artisan beer as quickly as a cocktail so it lasts quite a bit longer and since it's an artisan beer, there's generally a higher alcohol percentage so I don't drink as many.

Another alcohol option is to learn to like wine. Again, if you budget for it - alcohol content is generally slightly higher than a commercial beer, you'll still sip it rather than glug it, and if budgeted for is fairly inexpensive calorically. If you stick with a prosecco or a reisling you'll spend 105 - 118 calories per 5 oz glass but slightly higher carb content than a red.

Stay away from moscatos, and roses, and champagnes. I find that the sweeter wines have a waaaaay higher sugar and carbohydrate content than you would think.