Alcohol

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  • Keiras_Mom
    Keiras_Mom Posts: 844 Member
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    I have drinks, often several at a sitting, and it hasn't negatively impacted my loss at all. When I'm not actively trying to lose, I have at least a couple of glasses of wine per night, or a couple of cocktails, but I always figure in the calories. In weight loss mode, I tend to do alternate day fasting, so I'll have very low calories one day and normal calories the next. Cocktails are never a part of my fasting days, but are almost always a part of my eating days. :drinker:
  • Lunaluna01
    Lunaluna01 Posts: 21 Member
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    Wow, thanks everyone for all your replies!! Kept searching and didn't think there were any then saw hundreds!!

    Interesting stuff about alcohol slowing down metabolism, mine seems to be at a snails pace as it is!

    I think I will give my bottle of wine a miss this weekend as I'm still getting into it and then see how I get on from there. Deprivation is never good for too long so will do extra exercise when I do finally give in and swap the wine for vodka and diet coke.

    I've got 12lbs to loose, been trying to loose it for the last 3 years. Came off with the Dukan but eventually went back on again. Have always gone for the quickest route but am quite excited to do it properly, slowly and hopefully it will come off and stay off.

    Thanks guys :happy:
  • redladywitch
    redladywitch Posts: 799 Member
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    I will have wine or beer on occasion. I don't think there is anything wrong with banking calories. I did that for a BBQ a while back and still lost weight.

    I don't think you should cut your calories too low. Be careful if you're doing that.
  • JuantonBliss
    JuantonBliss Posts: 245 Member
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    Hi & welcome, I can't really say what you should or shouldn't do, if it were me though, I'd just work it into my daily calories by doing some exercises :) I don't eat perfectly and I don't deprive myself of anything, I just make it fit in. :) Good luck on your journey!

    ^^^^^^ This is what I normally do. However, that never works out when I drink with my friends lol
  • camila_scl
    camila_scl Posts: 238 Member
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    This is what I do....

    I try to save some calories (I don't succed all the time though), when I exercise I don't eat those calories back and save them for the day I plan to go out (friday or saturday) and also the day I go out I try to exercise a little more and I eat at mantainance that day.

    Example: I eat 1200 every day except saturday, which I eat at mantainance at 1700.
    During the week and that saturday I save 500 calories of exercise.

    I eat 1700+500=2200 that day.

    Also, if I drink too much I don't eat much the next day because of the hang over LOL

    So at the end for me it's like I eat at a calorie deficit 6 days a week and 1 day I eat right at mantainance.
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
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    *shrug* I drink a lot of margaritas.... I lost 22 lbs no problems.. :drinker:
  • crose0056
    crose0056 Posts: 105 Member
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    I think I finally have this all figured out. I have my daily activity set for sedentary and eat 1200 calories daily. I get out and walk for 30 minutes 5 days a week. I have consistently lost weight almost on a weekly basis. I read an article here where they talked about alcohol and am a believer in a calorie is a calorie. I eat a balanced 3 meals a day a snack and always ice cream for desert. Now I have added a good brand cocktail to my meal plans. The good stuff doesn't have the fillers that make you fat. I got my information on alcohol from a site called "get drunk not fat". My drink of choice is Bacardi gold rum with only 98 calories for 1 shot which is 1 & 1/2 oz. I love all the wisdom everyone has here, thanks and keep them coming in.
  • WestCoastWild
    WestCoastWild Posts: 147 Member
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    I ended up having to give up beer altogether (wwwaaaahhhhh), since I always end up drinking way too many calories. A glass of wine, or a conscientiously mixed drink have never been a problem for me, though, as long as they fit within my goal for the day!
  • CarynMacD
    CarynMacD Posts: 230
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    It does slow down your metabolism. Because alcohol is nothing but empty calories, your body's response when drinking it is to put all else aside and just work on getting it out of your system. With that being said, i don't think you have to quit drinking completely to have successful weight loss, but you need to go into it knowing it will definitely slow things down. I did a lot of research on this and was not happy to learn this cause I love my beer!

    Me toooooooo!!!!! I looooove my Beer. I drink low alcohol beer but it still contains approx 95 calories per bottle. Do you think drinking low alcohol beer interferes LESS with one's metabolism?
  • Lunaluna01
    Lunaluna01 Posts: 21 Member
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    Hi all, just thought I would give an update. I am now into my 3rd week of no alcohol and this really seems to have made a difference.

    Although before I was counting my alcohol in my calorie intake I really do think it was messing with my metabolism. I think this has been the problem with me for the last 3 years trying to loose weight; good all week diet and exercise wise and then a bottle or so of wine at the weekend and it takes me all week again to recover just to do it all over again and get nowhere. I had 12lbs to loose and am 5lb's down at the moment, which I am over the moon about, feel great. :happy:

    I still have 6lbs to go and have social events for the next 3 weekends but I think I will definitely approach them with a different frame of mind and one eye on my glass!

    Thanks for everyone's support and advice.
  • StacySwi
    StacySwi Posts: 14
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    It messes with your metabolism a lot.

    No.

    First off, I was speaking from personal experience and observation. So maybe I should have said "it messes with my metabolism a lot."

    Secondly:

    "Drinkers were less likely to have major weight gain or loss (gaining or losing ≥10 kg) than were nondrinkers." (e.g., http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/140/10/912.short )

    Or, in the world of not-medical journals:

    "That may not be such a big deal if you rarely drink, but if you enjoy a few cocktails every day or even several times a week, it could dramatically slow down your weight loss." http://www.fitwatch.com/weight-loss/why-alcohol-can-prevent-you-from-losing-weight-3349.html

    "Research has shown a 20% increase in calories consumed at a meal when alcohol was consumed before the meal. There was a total caloric increase of 33% when the calories from the alcohol were added." http://www.medicinenet.com/alcohol_and_nutrition/page3.htm#weight

    "Because your body can't store alcohol and must metabolize it right away, other metabolic processes suffer. Your body won't metabolize sugars and fats as efficiently during the metabolism of alcohol, and drinking heavily can cause your metabolism to slow. This can contribute to weight gain, as can the empty calories found in alcohol." http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/weight-loss/how-alcohol-affects-metabolism.html#b

    All I was saying was: Drink. Go ahead and enjoy it. Just be aware of what it does to your caloric count & your metabolism.

    I have also found that even if I eat great and exercise that alcohol can totally negate all that work. I am not sure if my body retains it differently but I also will welcome a no loss day in the name of a good glass of wine or martini. I have done spurts where I cut out alcohol completely and it has made weight loss much easier and then when I do drink just one is perfectly fine. That being said, I always pick a month or 2 weeks at a time when I know that it will be easy to not drink so I steer clear of any events, holidays or pretty much all of football season.
  • SIMA80
    SIMA80 Posts: 60 Member
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    I think it is totally okay...I do it all of the day, but usually, I work extra hard to burn extra calories on days that I know I will have a drink.
  • butterfli7o
    butterfli7o Posts: 1,319 Member
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    Hi all, just thought I would give an update. I am now into my 3rd week of no alcohol and this really seems to have made a difference.

    Although before I was counting my alcohol in my calorie intake I really do think it was messing with my metabolism. I think this has been the problem with me for the last 3 years trying to loose weight; good all week diet and exercise wise and then a bottle or so of wine at the weekend and it takes me all week again to recover just to do it all over again and get nowhere. I had 12lbs to loose and am 5lb's down at the moment, which I am over the moon about, feel great. :happy:

    I still have 6lbs to go and have social events for the next 3 weekends but I think I will definitely approach them with a different frame of mind and one eye on my glass!

    Thanks for everyone's support and advice.

    I think that unfortunately, this is my issue as well because I am getting nowhere. Like you, I will do good all week, then ruin it on the weekend with too much wine. Even if it seems to fit in my cals. So I may have to give it a break as well. :ohwell:
  • afat12
    afat12 Posts: 178 Member
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    It messes with your metabolism a lot.

    No.

    First off, I was speaking from personal experience and observation. So maybe I should have said "it messes with my metabolism a lot."

    Secondly:

    "Drinkers were less likely to have major weight gain or loss (gaining or losing ≥10 kg) than were nondrinkers." (e.g., http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/140/10/912.short )

    Or, in the world of not-medical journals:

    "That may not be such a big deal if you rarely drink, but if you enjoy a few cocktails every day or even several times a week, it could dramatically slow down your weight loss." http://www.fitwatch.com/weight-loss/why-alcohol-can-prevent-you-from-losing-weight-3349.html

    "Research has shown a 20% increase in calories consumed at a meal when alcohol was consumed before the meal. There was a total caloric increase of 33% when the calories from the alcohol were added." http://www.medicinenet.com/alcohol_and_nutrition/page3.htm#weight

    "Because your body can't store alcohol and must metabolize it right away, other metabolic processes suffer. Your body won't metabolize sugars and fats as efficiently during the metabolism of alcohol, and drinking heavily can cause your metabolism to slow. This can contribute to weight gain, as can the empty calories found in alcohol." http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/weight-loss/how-alcohol-affects-metabolism.html#b

    All I was saying was: Drink. Go ahead and enjoy it. Just be aware of what it does to your caloric count & your metabolism.


    Woah, that is super interesting! Thanks for the research.
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