Drinking Alcohol.

I'm slightly overweight and am trying to lose about 11 lbs to get to my healthy BMI range. I'm currently trying to consume 1770 calories or less a day but I do like a lager (Carlsberg, 440ml, 141 cal). Would it be ok to drink 4 say once a week usually on a weekend at home? Would it upset my weight loss?

Replies

  • farway
    farway Posts: 1,264 Member
    No problem at all, providing you add the calories into your allowance. Many of us drink beer / wine / spirits etc and just factor the calories in

    It is a life time choice, not just a quick fix , so "normal" life has to be allowed for, which includes booze
  • jayrudq
    jayrudq Posts: 475 Member
    Your weight loss journey is all about how many calories your consume and how many you burn to create a deficit and hence, lost those 11 pounds. That being said, if you are going to consume some extra calories drinking beer, you may want to cut some out somewhere else to make room for it.

    Drinking alcohol is part of my diet and many others on this site.

    Good luck.
  • Farway I think has it right. Beer/Wine/Spirits are a part of life which make some of us happy. They need to be incorporated into life. What's the point of getting healthy and fit, living longer if you give up everything that you enjoy?

    Yes drink, but don't cut food out to accomodate the beer calories as you could become malnourished overtime becuase of the whole empty calorie thing. Your 4 beers equates to ~600 calories. If you are doing that 1x per week, then think you need to burn an extra 600 per week. That can be done in 1 workout, or spread it across the week and just workout a bit longer.

    You can eat/drink anything as long as it's done in moderation.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    Just add them into your food diary. They still have calories. I personally couldn't justify drinking four of them because of how many calories they are... but I think they do make lower calorie beer? I don't like beer anyway so I have no idea.
  • Seajolly
    Seajolly Posts: 1,435 Member
    I drink when I want to, and add the calories to my diary. In fact, I just had some vodka last night! Haha. This is a lifestyle, and you have to make it work for your life!
  • Swiftdogs
    Swiftdogs Posts: 328 Member
    Not a problem as long as you log it. My motto: Will walk for wine.
  • debbiesats
    debbiesats Posts: 65 Member
    Not a problem as long as you log it. My motto: Will walk for wine.
    love that! I'll walk for wine too this week :-) Not sure about a jog for my gin though
  • farway
    farway Posts: 1,264 Member
    Not a problem as long as you log it. My motto: Will walk for wine.

    I walk to pub & back, sort of offsets some of the booze
  • lmd_1979
    lmd_1979 Posts: 130
    So if I drink tonight and I go for a 5 mile walk at a moderate pace (3mph), I would most likely burn most of the extra calories off?
  • Springfield1970
    Springfield1970 Posts: 1,945 Member
    So if I drink tonight and I go for a 5 mile walk at a moderate pace (3mph), I would most likely burn most of the extra calories off?

    This weight loss thing is a numbers game. How many drinks? How many calories? How much do you burn when YOU walk. Hopefully within MFP you'll be able to work these out and still create your deficit. Don't waste time trying to guess.

    Ps the exercise calories on this site are notoriously too high for some. I had to get a HRM to work out my burns. Some people eat half their exercise cals back.

    You are logging all your foods yeah?
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  • DannehBoyy
    DannehBoyy Posts: 546 Member
    Of course! i have i cheat meal with a bottle of beer of cider every saturday. As long as i keep my diet strict during the week i'm fine. Also if you wanna be positive, add up all of your calories for the week and divide the total by 7, to see if you are at a deficit for the week. Hope this helps
  • RitaKayeHamlet
    RitaKayeHamlet Posts: 3 Member
    I agree, just log the calories from the alcohol and cut them somewhere else. It works better for me to either not drink at all, or just have one glass of wine occasionally. But that is because if I have 2 or 3, I tend to eat things I shouldn't eat.
  • lmd_1979
    lmd_1979 Posts: 130
    Yes I am logging all food and drinks I eat. I only drink once a week so I can hardly think that 4 beers is going to derail my progress. I'll probably go over my cal limit tonight then for the rest of the 6 days I'll stick within my cal limit. Btw I have been doing this 3 weeks before I bought some scales and signed up on this site yesterday and I drank on occasions and I don't think it affected my weight loss.
  • ShellyBell999
    ShellyBell999 Posts: 1,482 Member
    No

    From personal use as well as the experiences and opinions noted above.

    Enjoy!!