Does alcohol count towards your daily calories?
Replies
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Anything you put in your mouth should be counted. Calories are calories regardless of their nutritional value.
Exactly. I see too many people skipping drinks especially, which can add 100's and 100's of calories a day to your intake.0 -
Hi there! A calorie is a calorie, and it's gotta be logged, if you want to monitor any progress. However, you should realize that it's sabotaging your weight loss goals. Your body considers alcohol a toxin, and and it will process it before using up actually useful nutrients. I'd rather have another protein shake before bed to aid recovery, instead of passing out with a night cap..... Same calorie count, anyway.... Just my opinion..0
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I think you are getting confused between calories and nutrition.
For calorie and weight loss you want to log everything you eat, for nutrition you want to make sure what you eat is a balanced diet to give your body the nutrition and fuel it requires.
Personally I like to think beer has a lot of minerals, heard that on CBC but I haven't found any online proof yet.
Also I think someone said, check with other online calculators 1200 calorie goal might be too low.0 -
A calorie is a calorie, no matter where it comes from. So, yes, it counts.0
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Living with such a low calorie allowance must be a pain in the ****!
I would probably save like 100kcal couple days beforehand, eat properly on the day of drinking and save another 100 few days after. This way you will compensate for the booze and won't starve yourself. 0 -
A calorie is a calorie, no matter where it comes from. So, yes, it counts.
But a person living off 800 calories of food and 400 calories of alcohol a day can't be healthy, they won't be getting any protein, fibre, etc. from the alcohol, just calories.0 -
Anything you put in your mouth should be counted. Calories are calories regardless of their nutritional value.
Exactly. I see too many people skipping drinks especially, which can add 100's and 100's of calories a day to your intake.
I didn't say skip it. I keep mentioning I DO log it. Let me reword it, not 'does it count' - 'can you drink alcohol instead of food for your 1200 calories that you need to live if you are in a coma, before you die. Or do you need 1200 calories of actual food and the alcohol is horrible extra empty calories'.
Another note - I aim for 1200 calories a day, it works for me as my goal. Most of the time I eat more. Last few days - 1332, 1164, 2548 including 564 of alcohol, 1154 including 50 of alcohol, 1458.
I am going out tonight, I want to know how much to eat. As for exercise I don't think 500 calories is too hard to earn. Because I put 1200 as my base I log all activity, so walking to uni and back 20mins, walking to the shop 10, walking to town tonight 15. 45 mins of walking = 173. Then if I do 50 mins of insanity = 466 and 8 mins of calisthenics = 75, 10 mins of weights 35 and I am on my feet all day today. I know mfp overestimates, but that adds up to 749 not counting the time spent making a model all day in uni. That's probably 500 with the overestimations.
So do I have to eat 1200 of food, then have my alcohol - i.e. eat 1700 cals today and have to do the exercise. Or can it count towards my daily food goal of 1200 needed to feed myself and only eat 800 today with an additional 500 of alcohol - 1300 altogether if I don't do the workout.0 -
If someone is having 400 calories worth of alcohol every day they might want to step back and review their life. That's roughly 3-4 glasses of whiskey or almost 1 bottle of wine or 2-3 bottles of beer.A calorie is a calorie, no matter where it comes from. So, yes, it counts.
But a person living off 800 calories of food and 400 calories of alcohol a day can't be healthy, they won't be getting any protein, fibre, etc. from the alcohol, just calories.0 -
Unfortunately, yes.
If you want a drink (and I partake as well), best thing to do is to schedule a little exercise in to compensate. As someone said earlier, choose your drink wisely as well as the calorie range is quite significant. I have moved away from beer/lager on the whole and now drink more wine, especially red.0 -
Anything you put in your mouth should be counted. Calories are calories regardless of their nutritional value.
Exactly. I see too many people skipping drinks especially, which can add 100's and 100's of calories a day to your intake.
I didn't say skip it. I keep mentioning I DO log it. Let me reword it, not 'does it count' - 'can you drink alcohol instead of food for your 1200 calories that you need to live if you are in a coma, before you die. Or do you need 1200 calories of actual food and the alcohol is horrible extra empty calories'.
Another note - I aim for 1200 calories a day, it works for me as my goal. Most of the time I eat more. Last few days - 1332, 1164, 2548 including 564 of alcohol, 1154 including 50 of alcohol, 1458.
I am going out tonight, I want to know how much to eat. As for exercise I don't think 500 calories is too hard to earn. Because I put 1200 as my base I log all activity, so walking to uni and back 20mins, walking to the shop 10, walking to town tonight 15. 45 mins of walking = 173. Then if I do 50 mins of insanity = 466 and 8 mins of calisthenics = 75, 10 mins of weights 35 and I am on my feet all day today. I know mfp overestimates, but that adds up to 749 not counting the time spent making a model all day in uni. That's probably 500 with the overestimations.
So do I have to eat 1200 of food, then have my alcohol - i.e. eat 1700 cals today and have to do the exercise. Or can it count towards my daily food goal of 1200 needed to feed myself and only eat 800 today with an additional 500 of alcohol - 1300 altogether if I don't do the workout.
I am up for earning alcohol calories by exercise, but choose wisely. Intense cardio and exercise that needs a lot of repair work will need nutrients. You will start to get injuries and health issues if you don't meet your protein carb fat vitamin and mineral requirements.
I like the idea of walking or swimming for booze. I do this when I'm not training so hard. I am training ten hours a week at the mo and can only afford the odd splurge now. I just don't recover and feel under par.
Losing weight is a very stressful thing to ask your body to do. Alcohol makes it much more difficult. Try and compartmentalise it. I feel like you're playing with fire a bit.
Ps you're going to dislike me for this, but your diet is not very high in nutrients, if you're going to do this thing properly, you have to make sure you're eating high nutrient food, especially on such low cals. You need to get more veg and less processed food happening. You will feel so much better than any alcohol buzz you can get.0 -
Anything you put in your mouth should be counted. Calories are calories regardless of their nutritional value.
Must.behave.
omg, LOL. :laugh:
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WTF.. is this a wind up?0
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Yip, get the "swally" logged............it all counts!0
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A calorie is a calorie, no matter where it comes from. So, yes, it counts.
But a person living off 800 calories of food and 400 calories of alcohol a day can't be healthy, they won't be getting any protein, fibre, etc. from the alcohol, just calories.
Nooo...but they will be getting calories. A calorie is a unit of energy, it has nothing to do with nutrition. You put more energy in your body than it needs, and it will store it as fat.0 -
It does not matter where the calories come from if in the end you meet your goal most days. That being said, you are correct that it has no nutritional value and that it should be consumed in moderation so your body attains the proper balance of nutrients... This is for your health, not your waistline. There is more than one reason we should all practice moderation in all we do.0
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What she said.I think I know what the OP is asking - she has 1200 calories for the day, which is presumably supposed to be spent on fuelling her body. If she spends them on alcohol, is she doing herself a disservice? Answer - probably. Hence I think the plan of "earning" the alcohol calories is a good one. That was she still gets 1200 calories of food with actual nutrients.
+10 -
Anything you put in your mouth should be counted. Calories are calories regardless of their nutritional value.
yup0 -
Yes, I suggest you strongly to earn the calories for drinking from exercise, and to give your body enough nutrients.
Anyway, yes, you are allowed to drink as much as you like, but, maybe just be wise... there are no laws either that say that you MUST drink 500 cals of alcohol every day
On the long run, it's not good for your body either 0 -
Anything you put in your mouth should be counted. Calories are calories regardless of their nutritional value.
Must.behave.
Apparently someone found this food log (yes my mind went there as well), just not sure how you would log it, would it be cups or weight???0 -
Yes, if you drink 500 worth of calories you can only have 700 of food on a 1200 calorie diet.
you can eat 1200 and drink 500 but you'd need to do 500 worth of exercise.
You hear about long term alcoholics being malnourished because they are drinking all their calories.
You'd probably lose faster if you left the drinking to once a week.0 -
i didnt log alcohol when i was losing... but i cut it right back to a couple of drinks per fortnight, so i didnt often have anything to log!0
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All drinks should be counted, even a black coffee has calories but they all add up!0
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Bending the rules only affects your weight loss. There's no cheat methods here - eat less, do more, create a calorie deficit and you will lose weight.
I think the best thing is to be realistic and pick your battles. Unless it would fit your lifestyle to completely cut out alcohol - and it definitely wouldn't with mine! - you need to be able to let loose once in a while. At the moment, drastic weight loss isn't my priority - its about longer term lifestyle changes. So tonight I'll go out and I won't log the alcohol, but I will only have one big night out a month and then make sure you're doing plenty of exercise and controlling your calories otherwise.0 -
That would be pretty unhealthy as you wouldn't be getting much of the nutrients your body requires. Bad idea.I don't mean don't log it. I always do. I mean does it count towards your daily goal for food. Can I eat 700 calories, drink 500 for instance.
That's what I mean, so does it not count towards my daily goal (yes I will still log it). Should I eat 1200 calories anyway and try to earn some of the alcohol calories with exercise and accept that I will probably be over for that day?
it counts as calories you are consuming, not daily goal . You should still be eating 1,200 calories on top of the calories from alcohol. Not “eat 500 calories from food then 700 from alcohol” and you’re done becuase that horrilbe for your body. you will just have to workout to burn the beer calories.0 -
Everything one eats counts.0
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I don't mean don't log it. I always do. I mean does it count towards your daily goal for food. Can I eat 700 calories, drink 500 for instance.
Yes everything counts toward your daily food goal. It may not help you with the rest of your macros, but it will fill out the calorie limit. It won't be a terribly healthy day but... (on the other hand it wasn't a terribly healthy day for me when I decided that I absolutely HAD to bake chocolate chip cookies - can we say cookie batter for dinner?
)
edited for spelling0 -
Non-drinker here but calories are calories. It is putting something in you that you need to burn off. So LOG IT!! I tell myself that I must log everything because if I let myself not log this one little lick/bite/taste today then tomorrow I won't log it and the next day and all of those add up. So if you are serious about losing then log it. Make yourself accountable for what you are putting in your body.0
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You may be over thinking is... it's all calories.. count it. But yes, it is a good idea to exercise to earn more calories.
I'm not over thinking it, if I drink 1200 worth of calories I can't 'eat less' i.e. nothing. I haven't fed my body for the day with any actual nutritional value.
So you learned a new word today I see.
> this is what we call "empty calories"
it sure as shT counts- but it doesn't do anything for fueling you're body.
how old are you again?0 -
If you eat 1100 calories of high-quality food and use 100 calories for alcohol once a week, no big deal. If you eat 700 calories of high-quality food and use 500 calories for alcohol once a month, no big deal. If that's a regular occurrence, you're going to end up malnourished and you probably need to re-evaluate your relationship with alchohol. Student or not, and whether you "earn" the extra calories from exercise or not, consuming 500 calories worth of alcohol on a regular basis isn't healthy.0
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If you eat 1100 calories of high-quality food and use 100 calories for alcohol once a week, no big deal. If you eat 700 calories of high-quality food and use 500 calories for alcohol once a month, no big deal. If that's a regular occurrence, you're going to end up malnourished and you probably need to re-evaluate your relationship with alchohol. Student or not, and whether you "earn" the extra calories from exercise or not, consuming 500 calories worth of alcohol on a regular basis isn't healthy.
I'd say that's a bit of a stretch.
Two good beers once a week is completely healthy if you have accommodated for it.0
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