Should I quit drinking?

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Shanz78
Shanz78 Posts: 143 Member
in Motivation and Support
Im not an alcoholic but i do drink pretty regularly and ive been thinking about quitting drinking until i reach my goal weight. I feel like alcohol is hindering my weight loss. i was just wondering if anyone else felt this way? Has anyone quit drinking to loss weight?
What were your results?
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Replies

  • Annesoucy1957
    Annesoucy1957 Posts: 125
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    I stopped wine because I felt the calories were not worthed, also when drinking my inhibition would lower and I would eat more. I dont miss it.
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
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    Make lifestyle changes. You can still drink beer and lose weight. I'm not saying do this all the time, but make it fit into your day if you want. If you cut it out until you reach your goal, then what? Just add it back in and go back to eating/drinking more than you are now? You'll gain weight back.

    It's about moderation not deprivation. There are no good/bad foods, only bad eating habits. Do or do not, there is no try. You have to want it, you have to work for it, you have to realize that only you can do it.

    Read these:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here?hl=so+you're+new+here

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13

    TL:DR the link right above this one then ->http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

    Want to lift heavy things?
    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    Stronglifts Summary
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/560459-stronglifts-5x5-summary

    Stronglifts Womens Group
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/4601-stronglifts-5x5-for-women
  • krawhitham
    krawhitham Posts: 831 Member
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    Im not an alcoholic but i do drink pretty regularly and ive been thinking about quitting drinking until i reach my goal weight. I feel like alcohol is hindering my weight loss. i was just wondering if anyone else felt this way? Has anyone quit drinking to loss weight?
    What were your results?

    Alcohol has never affected my weight gain or loss. If you feel it's getting in the way, by all means cut it out or seriously cut down. I only drink on weekends, if I drink at all. I might have 2 drinks a WEEK... But i like to drink when I drink!

    If you do cut it out, remember that when you hit your goal weight, if you start drinking again the lbs are going to come on because of extra alcohol calories. It's good to just know how many calories you're drinking anyways!

    And for the record, I completely disagree with the person who said nothing good comes of drinking...that's just flat out incorrect!
  • kaseyr1505
    kaseyr1505 Posts: 624 Member
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    If you're going to go back to how you're drinking now as soon as you hit your goal weight, then I wouldn't stop. I would just make room for some drinks, and cut back a bit.

    If you think you can go on without sliding back, then stop
  • mommadearest3
    mommadearest3 Posts: 27 Member
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    Well, depending on what you are drinking, it eats up a lot of your daily calories. I used to drink beer fairly regularly, and when I quit, weight started to fall off.
  • Shanz78
    Shanz78 Posts: 143 Member
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    I don't necessarily think drinking in moderation is good or bad but i do think it is fun and i enjoy it. However i want to be happy, healthy and fit and i know drinking is not getting me closer to my goals. Also my thought on quitting till i hit my goal weight is that i would be able to control it better. like if i gain a couple lbs over the weekend i could just be good till my weight goes down and just keep an eye on things. The way things are now ill lose 3 lbs and gain 2 back and stay there for a few weeks, I dont like that so i thought cutting it out for a while would be helpful or at least prove to myself if alcohol is really making my weight loss harder or maybe its something else.
  • mstripes
    mstripes Posts: 151 Member
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    Being a bar fly in the 80's led me to the career that I have now. I met people and became good friends with them who taught me a trade. I was working a minimum wage job at the time and sinking.

    OP if you are asking the question then the answer is yes. However I agree with others that if you are just quitting until you reach your goal weight you would be better off not quitting and working it into your daily goals. Each of the last three winters I have gained back 10 or more pounds. Once I've reached that I slowed way down on my beer drinking and the weight stabilized. This year I took a different course and started using MFP. I still drink beer, whiskey, and tequila and have lost weight. The difference this time around is I am fitting drinking and eating into my goals, maybe not every day but in the week so that I am losing weight. I'm now over 20 pounds lighter than my plateau weight of the last three years. Last night i drank beer and ate pizza and still lost weight. YMMV.
  • beardedwarriortx
    beardedwarriortx Posts: 238 Member
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    Im not an alcoholic but i do drink pretty regularly and ive been thinking about quitting drinking until i reach my goal weight. I feel like alcohol is hindering my weight loss. i was just wondering if anyone else felt this way? Has anyone quit drinking to loss weight?
    What were your results?

    I just want to chip in that drunks are more fun!
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
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    http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa46.htm
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
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    Im not an alcoholic but i do drink pretty regularly and ive been thinking about quitting drinking until i reach my goal weight. I feel like alcohol is hindering my weight loss. i was just wondering if anyone else felt this way? Has anyone quit drinking to loss weight?
    What were your results?

    I just want to chip in that drunks are more fun!

    ^You couldn't be further from the truth.
  • jjplato
    jjplato Posts: 155 Member
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    For me, cutting out alcohol is a really easy way to eliminate calories. Not sure what you drink, but if it's cocktails like margaritas or vodka/cranberry, those have a lot of sugar as well.
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
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    I don't necessarily think drinking in moderation is good or bad but i do think it is fun and i enjoy it. However i want to be happy, healthy and fit and i know drinking is not getting me closer to my goals. Also my thought on quitting till i hit my goal weight is that i would be able to control it better. like if i gain a couple lbs over the weekend i could just be good till my weight goes down and just keep an eye on things. The way things are now ill lose 3 lbs and gain 2 back and stay there for a few weeks, I dont like that so i thought cutting it out for a while would be helpful or at least prove to myself if alcohol is really making my weight loss harder or maybe its something else.

    Your weight can fluctuate +/- 5 lbs a day. It's not making it harder. If you are working out a lot then your muscles also hold onto water for repair.

    Do you own a food scale? Are you weighing your foods? Check out the links I posted and see if they help.
  • EmperorNero
    EmperorNero Posts: 3 Member
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    Everything in moderation. I had surgery a year ago that laid me up for nearly ten months. I wasn't working out, and I got into the habit of drinking pretty much every night. There's nothing like settling down with a good book and a glass of wine or three. But when I started working out again, it was miserable because I was always tired from indulging the night before. Plus, alcohol made me far more likely to snack after dinner. So I replaced most of my wine with tea, and it's made a huge difference in only a month. No more excessive snacking, no more sleeping in. Of course, I still drink occasionally. I just make sure to budget my calories, and I wait for a night where I don't plan on working out the next morning. :)
  • beardedwarriortx
    beardedwarriortx Posts: 238 Member
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    Im not an alcoholic but i do drink pretty regularly and ive been thinking about quitting drinking until i reach my goal weight. I feel like alcohol is hindering my weight loss. i was just wondering if anyone else felt this way? Has anyone quit drinking to loss weight?
    What were your results?

    I just want to chip in that drunks are more fun!


    ^You couldn't be further from the truth.

    You should hang out with nicer drunks.
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    Options
    Im not an alcoholic but i do drink pretty regularly and ive been thinking about quitting drinking until i reach my goal weight. I feel like alcohol is hindering my weight loss. i was just wondering if anyone else felt this way? Has anyone quit drinking to loss weight?
    What were your results?

    I just want to chip in that drunks are more fun!


    ^You couldn't be further from the truth.

    You should hang out with nicer drunks.

    Sorry, I don't hang out with people who need alcohol to have fun. Thanks though :smile:
  • 4ALongerLife
    4ALongerLife Posts: 26 Member
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    Which is more important to you? getting to goal weight or drinking? but don't kid yourself. you won't stay at goal with empty calories sneaking in (says the woman who had a skinny margarita tonight... yeah but i don't drink anymore, truly. why today? idk, but figured wth).

    the thing is.. it's not just empty calories. it's how your body converts that that also takes it usually out of wanting to be an option for me.

    i say cut it. you aren't missing anything. and you don't need alcohol to have fun. truly. (time for something else... meh. so is life...) good luck!
  • josieami
    josieami Posts: 6
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    I think that the key to a lifestyle change is incorporating things that you will continue to do when you reach your goal. If you quit now with the intention of starting up once you reach goal than it's the same mentality of crash dieting or deprivation dieting in my opinion.
    I have had success in losing and keeping weight off while still drinking( I did swap out girly drinks for diet soda n alcohol, which is pretty much all I drink now or wine) (What did me in was an extreme change in work conditions, going from a very physical job 50-80 hours a week to working at home)
  • joepage612
    joepage612 Posts: 179 Member
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    On the weekends I drink my exercise calories back instead of eat them.
    I switched from beer to vodka.
    Beer gives me a gross beerbelly and MOOBS.
    There are articles on evidence that beer is more fattening in those areas that an equal number of calories from something else,
    so I drink vodka soda lemon. 64 calories (when not over poured):laugh:
  • kirstyfoy
    kirstyfoy Posts: 139 Member
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    It's the same with food you love and consider 'naughty'... If you cut it out completely you will end up craving and binging on it. Cut back. Use MFP to make informed choices. Yesterday I went over my calorie goal for 1 strawberry cider. I loved it! But I've been under plenty of days this week to allow for it.

    Have the things you enjoy in moderation! Last week I went on a hen do and after 3 cocktails at 300 kcal each I was way over but compensated with working harder at the gym this week (and still lost 4 lbs this week). It's about making informed decisions not beating yourself up.

    I've given up alcohol before for diets and then ended up drinking way too much the next time I'm out. That's the mistake of my previous diets of giving up things. Calorie counting enables you to eat what you want when you want... don't punish yourself x
  • hyg99
    hyg99 Posts: 354 Member
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    I have 2 glasses of wine and 2 rum and diet comes (measured 1unit) on a Friday and Saturday, I look forward to it and it's a massive reduction to what I was consuming. For me this works, whereas not drinking wouldn't. My tolerance has dropped dramatically so I'm now thinking this may be slightly too much for me now.

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