Alcohol...my biggest downfall!!!

I can relate to this! I tend to have a 'big night out' every 2-3 weeks, so what I usually do is 'save' most of my exercise calories during the week, then on the day I pre-log a bunch of drinks, do a big workout in the morning and try to still have some leftover calories in case I give in and get pizza or cocktails or something. I often end up over for the day, but stay under for the week because I had calories left over from exercise. I'm at a level of fitness now that I can burn around 600-700 calories in a hard workout so I tell myself I have to earn my night out and it motivates me to keep up my exercise during the week. Plus I figure I usually burn a fair few calories dancing on those nights too

I don't bother counting calories when i drink; i'm very well behaved the rest of the week, i have a stressful, full-time job and i'm studying a Masters on top of that so god damnit i deserve some fun!

But saying that, it's easy for me because i stick to diet coke and vodka; it's cheap and it has low calories and i like it. I don't like beers or cider as they're too gassy. The fruit juice in cocktails make me feel uncomfortably full and bloated. Occasionally i'll have a whisky and diet coke or a neat whisky. If i'm just meeting up with my girlfriends for an evening, i might have a bottle of wine, which is about 500 cals and i work that into my daily aloowance.

And plenty of dancing on nights out to compensate!

That's my attitude, which i know isn't really that helpful!

Anybody else have a problem sticking to their diet when they're on a night out? I know I do basically I eat really well in the day and start off with just drinking diet coke and vodka which is fine, but then as the night goes on people start buying you loads of drinks and you're just like "yayyy this is free so why not!" and you end up drinking SOOOO much sugary crap by the end of the night. Also strawberry cider is my massive downfall!

It's something I need to work on, and especially when I'm drunk I tend to stop caring about my goals and drink whatever I want which really needs to stop. So my question is what do you guys do when you go on a night out and what kinds of stuff do you drink?

Please no unnecessary comments like "don't drink alcohol it's stupid". Helpful advice only yeahh.

I decided to just quit because I had a problem with excess drinking. Umm I would prelog and learn to say no to free drinks which i used to think was impossible. Bank calories throughout the week if you want to get wasted over the weekend.

Spirits with diet drinks are lowest calories, I always go with vodka and diet coke

Vodka and diet coke is always a favourite!

I had a much bigger goal than you to start but in the beginning I had to give up alcohol. Period. It was too easy for me to go from one glass of wine to three and completely derail all my hard work. I told myself when I lost 10 pounds I could have a drink again and then I only did on the weekend. It's a little different for me though, because I'm an old lady at home with two kids so it wasn't affecting going out with my friends. Try and space out your drinks with water and take your time. Good luck!

I think drinking water in between drinks sounds like a good idea. I never drink on weekdays, I used to drink every weekend but now it's maybe once every 2-3 weeks but as my weight goes lower I find that even one night can reallyyyy mess up my hard work.

I never could figure out how to do it and was unable to lose weight and have drinks! Of course I typically drank more than once per week. My drink of choice was always beer, whci led to three problems, more beer, more food and feeling lazy! Good luck, I hope YOU figure out how to do it!

Luckily I don't like beer! Sometimes I think it's easier to just not go out at night for drinks at all haha. This is by far the hardest problem I face when losing weight.

Try having either a club soda or diet soda with a spritz of lime or lemon. It will look like you're drinking and you're not.
Binge drinking is just as bad or worse for your body as daily drinking. If stopping at 1-2 drinks isn't possible, then you might have a problem.
Wine with half club soda or diet sprite is another way to cut down calories and alcohol.

I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do I use the tips outlined in this
http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/science-binge-drinking/

Thanks for this.

I might have a different take on things than most, since I will not give up my rockstar nights.

I say go out, enjoy yourself and it's a new day the next day.

Now obviously, it simply isn't something you will be able to do every weekend anymore, unless you limit your intake. You can also try switching to lower calorie drinks (this site will help: http://getdrunknotfat.com/).

The main thing for me was to limit any eating I do while drunk - and I don' t have any advice for that - but that was my biggest downfall. The alcohol calories were bad enough, but once you added all the food I ate then I could easily ruin an entire weeks' deficit. I simply had to stop all the drunk eating.

the drunk eating! i would be the best all week and then drink one night and awake to find evidence of the snack-monster. it was awful. also, i would never want to work out the day after, which was typically on saturday, my big gym day. so took about 3 months off the booze to refresh. once i started drinking again, i set strict goals - if i ever missed a workout due to hangover, i lose my drinking rights for one month. if i find myself eating out of control under the influence - the rights gone for another month.

this might seem nuts or too harsh, but i have goals in mind and it is imperative that i reach them. while this is a change for the rest of my life, it is a trial to see what works and what does not. i enjoy going out, so you bet i am dying at the gym the next day (and no joke, the shower after a hangover workout is seriously the best feeling on earth). it is important to figure out what makes sense and what makes you happy and accepting that you are ever-learning and things aren't always going to work the same way they did before.

also, trust yourself. you make a decision to stick to what you planned - you are going to stick to that. confidence and trust (while earned) go a very long way.

Hi there! I cannot read the 4 pages of comments and I am not sure if you will even read my post but I totally struggle with alcohol as well. It's different than for you, as I am pretty much past the going out and partying stage, but it's still always there and a huge temptation - a drink here, a drink there, it really adds up calorically and destroys your diet. To make it tougher, people tend to give you crap when you say you are not drinking. I went a couple of weeks totally sober and I got a lot of comments from people, my sobriety really bothered them, so I gave up being totally sober (although I may try it again since I do not have enough calories for both alcohol and food in my daily intake by this website!). Anyway, here is my advice though it may not be entirely applicable since our lives seem pretty different - (1) Just like I don't buy cookies or candy for my house, I don't buy red wine as I will drink half the bottle. Only keep alcohol in the house that you will not touch. We have beer and liquor since I don't care for that. (2) Since you seem to go out, try driving - I do that and its a natural deterrent as I cannot have more than one. People love a designated driver. (3) I did not try this yet but my fellow friends struggling tell me to switch from my red wine to a white wine with half club soda which will give me the taste of wine with the half the calories and since I don't really like white, I am not going to drink 3 glasses. Likewise, I get a light beer (people have recommended Miller 64) and since it is nothing like a 320 calorie brewery beer, I really will not want more than one and probably won't drink the whole thing. (4) If you are going to go out and party it up, go the gym and do a big workout the day of your night out and the day after, drink a ton of water all day, do NOT save your calories for alcohol as you will just get wildly drunk and eat 3000 calories in McDonalds or pizza at 1am and feel like crap the next day. If you are hung over, it is harder to get back on track.

Let's be honest, it is fun once in a while and if you appreciate the taste of a good wine, nice cocktail or brewery beer, there is a place for it in your life just like other people must have their ice cream, pasta or rich desserts. We all have our thing. I love a really nice red wine, that is my thing. Just space it out and maintain control over it, like it is any other food.