Do You Drink?
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sandryc
Posts: 33
I am planing for an evening with a close friend that will involve lots of conversation and wine. I am a little concerned about keeping to my weight loss goals when drinking. My current plan is to go 400 calories or so under today and Saturday and count/track the calories from alcohol I will drink on Friday. Saturday is my weigh in day. Ultimately I know if I keep up on the diet the very occasional night of drinking isn't going to derail me in the long run. But I am curious:
1. Do you indulge in alcohol while eating for weight loss. How often and how much?
2. What kind of results do you see on the scale when you do?
1. Do you indulge in alcohol while eating for weight loss. How often and how much?
2. What kind of results do you see on the scale when you do?
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Replies
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Yes, but sometimes I get the alcohol munchies, so I try to keep it to once a week or less. If I feel myself veering toward the fridge, I do my best to find a distraction quickly (obviously not one that involves operating heavy equipment!)
Oddly when I was low carb alcohol didn't affect my weight much, but now I'm vegan and it can stall me for a few days. I thought it would be the other way around.0 -
Nope. Rocking a bikini is a way better feeling than being buzzed. I don't need the extra expense, and I'd rather save the calories for something that doesn't dehydrate me and detract from my workouts.0
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I feel like I could write a novel on this topic.
1. Do you indulge in alcohol while eating for weight loss. How often and how much?
- Yes. Too often and too much
2. What kind of results do you see on the scale when you do?
- Not the results I want
I
alcohol. Good beer, cheap wine, and strong liquor. No bueno. Once in a while? That is fine - you shouldn't even fret over it. Count your calories, be careful, and stay on track. My tips:
You can cut wine with seltzer if you like to drink in volumn. It is quite tasty. If you can't count calories while eating - go for the fruits and veggies. Be careful with creamy dips. Chips and salsa are way better than nachos. Any weight gain you see the next day will be gone in a day after that. The problem, I find, with alcohol is when you have a few glasses of wine or beer or Captain & Coke with dinner every night.... :blushing:0 -
1. i drink sporadically on weekends. going to bars with friends and whatnot. how much i drink depends on the night, might be a beer, might me 12
2. weeks that i drink i usually see little/no progress, just because those beers have cals and i usually end up drinking enough to wipe out a weeks deficit.0 -
I have a glass of wine or beer maybe twice a month on average. Over the last year I've drank enough to really be buzzed or drunk, but only maybe 3 times.
I look at the calories like a treat. 97% of the time I would pick the macaron, cupcake, or frozen custard over a few beers or mixed drinks. But once in awhile it is fun to kick back with my husband or friends. On 4th of July weekend we got in TONS of exercise and went to a wine tasting then polished off a bottle of spumante at the hotel afterward. I drank some of my husband's wine at the tasting since he had to drive. I was so buzzed and it was worth it.
As for "saving" calories from one day to use on another day...I know a lot of people here find that works well for them, but it really throws me off. I don't do that. I am more likely to get extra exercise in advance and/or plan some tiny meals around 200-300 calories to compensate. Not something I'd do weekly.0 -
I am planing for an evening with a close friend that will involve lots of conversation and wine. I am a little concerned about keeping to my weight loss goals when drinking. My current plan is to go 400 calories or so under today and Saturday and count/track the calories from alcohol I will drink on Friday. Saturday is my weigh in day. Ultimately I know if I keep up on the diet the very occasional night of drinking isn't going to derail me in the long run. But I am curious:
1. Do you indulge in alcohol while eating for weight loss. How often and how much?
2. What kind of results do you see on the scale when you do?
1. Yes but not very often maybe once or twice a month, actually more recently but I limit it to like one glass or bottle
2. I haven't really noticed anything on the scale I'm not a huge drinker to begin with - if you want to see results you need to limit yourself it's as simple as that!0 -
Occasionally. I was never a big drinker - even when I was not trying to lose weight. Now I may have a random drink 1-2 times a month, and occasionally a social get together where I have multiple. I track it. This past Friday (4th of July) I even kept to my goal deficit of 500+ calories. I also started the day by getting up & getting on the treadmill, to make sure to get my activity in.
I had rum mixed w/ diet soda a some lower calorie margarita drink.
Immediate result can be a dip in weight - due to dehydration. Then a spike from sodium. (We often snack extra when we drink.)0 -
I am not a big drinker, so I still indulge from time to time. I don't like really sweet drinks, so even when I do drink, the calories don't get that bad.
Because I keep a deficit when i decide to indulge, my scale doesn't change much.0 -
I do drink, maybe 2 days a week, 1-2 drinks each time.
When I go higher than that, I definitely see a stall on the scale, but it usually resolves itself within a few days.
To each his/her own. If it's a trigger for you, you might want to cut back or abstain. Everyone should know (or get to know) his/her limits, not just w/ alcohol, but with all foods. For me, I have trouble restraining myself @ Mexican restaurants, so I hardly ever go to those anymore.
Spirits with diet soda/tonic/club soda are going to give you the most bang for your buck. Wine is somewhere in the middle. Beer is going to be the most calorie dense (unless you go for something really gross like Mich Ultra), but for some people, they would rather have one really good high gravity beer and just budget the calories.
As an aside, I do weekly calories all the time, and it works well for me. Some find it throws them off, but I like it. I think of my calories like a money budget, where you have a weekly allotment, and you can add to it by exercising, and subtract from it by eating. The iphone app has a weekly calorie function, under the nutrition section. I would recommend that if you are going to use it to store calories for the weekend, that you go to settings, under weekly nutrition settings, and have it set to restart every Sunday or Monday - otherwise it gives you a revolving 7 day look.0 -
I feel like I could write a novel on this topic.
1. Do you indulge in alcohol while eating for weight loss. How often and how much?
- Yes. Too often and too much
2. What kind of results do you see on the scale when you do?
- Not the results I want
I alcohol. Good beer, cheap wine, and strong liquor. No bueno. Once in a while? That is fine - you shouldn't even fret over it. Count your calories, be careful, and stay on track. My tips:
You can cut wine with seltzer if you like to drink in volumn. It is quite tasty. If you can't count calories while eating - go for the fruits and veggies. Be careful with creamy dips. Chips and salsa are way better than nachos. Any weight gain you see the next day will be gone in a day after that. The problem, I find, with alcohol is when you have a few glasses of wine or beer or Captain & Coke with dinner every night.... :blushing:
This response made me giggle. Nice suggestion about the seltzer water too. That would also help more with dehydration. (I always drink a bottle of gatoraide-zero too on the 2-3 times a year I drink "hard".) 0 -
1. Do you indulge in alcohol while eating for weight loss. How often and how much?
2. What kind of results do you see on the scale when you do?
I understand where you are coming from. I know I was very particular when i first started and worried about the same things. Been doing the healthy life for a while now and honestly I've come to realize that one night isn't going to make or break me. You could get totally hammered and eat like a queen, and if you weighed yourself you might see a pound or so gain, but as long as you don't indulge often and moderate the majority of the time, you'll be fine.
In general I might have a beer or two a few times a week. Some weekends I over-indulge, but not too often.0 -
Occasionally. I was never a big drinker - even when I was not trying to lose weight. Now I may have a random drink 1-2 times a month, and occasionally a social get together where I have multiple. I track it. This past Friday (4th of July) I even kept to my goal deficit of 500+ calories. I also started the day by getting up & getting on the treadmill, to make sure to get my activity in. I had rum mixed w/ diet soda a some lower calorie margarita drink.
Immediate result can be a dip in weight - due to dehydration. Then a spike from sodium. (We often snack extra when we drink.)
Getting physical activity in the morning is a great idea. Also what you say about the dip in weight from dehydration makes sense.0 -
1. Do you indulge in alcohol while eating for weight loss. How often and how much?
Yes! I'm mostly a social drinker, so how much I'll have in one sitting depends on whether or not I'm out with friends. If I'm alone, I might have a glass of wine or a beer 1-3 times a week, but if I'm with my pals then I'm drinking whatever they drink (I don't personally care for getting smash-out drunk anymore, but I did recently participate in the drinking of das boot and it was really fun!).
2. What kind of results do you see on the scale when you do?
At worst, I'll experience a bump up in water weight the next day. It isn't really anything that I've ever been concerned about, to be honest. I'd rather share some fun times with my loved ones than freak out about temporary shifts in my scale numbers.0 -
I drink a few times a week. I like to save up exercise calories for weekend drinks.
Top tip - pre-log what you intend to drink at the beginning of the day while you still have time to juggle food and/or get more exercise in so you can eat properly too.0 -
1) I don't drink as much as I used to - I might have 1 or 2 a month. I'd much rather eat the calories than drink them. Plus, as someone else put it, I get the drunk munchies - once I get a good buzz going, there's just no self control and I'd rather avoid that The exception is when I get together with my girlfriends 2-3 times a year and have several good stiff drinks. That's a treat so I just don't worry about it.
2) I also tend to see a drop the next day. Partially due to dehydration and I think partially because we tend to be very active when we're together - go for long walks, dance, maybe even hit the gym (one of my besties is a group trainer so we try her classes out on occassion).
HAVE FUN!!0 -
Honey,
I've been losing weight for over two years now.
Yes, it has to be fit in, because weight loss doesn't have to equate misery.
In the short term, you'll see a small drop on the scale the next day from dehydration.
In the long term, as long as it's not very often or fit into your calorie count there is no consequence.0 -
I have one drink at 6 pm every night. 70 cals worth of Pernod with lots of water. I love it and look forward to it and budget for it. Sometimes I'm stupid enough to have more than one and that gives me the munchies!:grumble:
If we have company I do drink wine and slways go over TDEE , but not by much as I'm very careful with my food portions. I have been tipsy a couple of times recently, but I am at maintenance so just dust myself down and start over.
Alcohol is something I know could creep up on me if I'm not super careful. But I do love my 70 cals worth!
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I used to drink socially but now that I'm trying to lose weight and be healthy, I've cut out all unnecessary liquid calories, including alcohol. Once I get into the maintenance part of this, I might start indulging every now and then. Like once a month...0
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I drink, and avoid eating while I'm drinking as best as I can. The scale may be a bit lower than normal the next morning. Don't deprive yourself of an evening with a friend - this has to be sustainable! I stick to wine most of the time, beer occasionally.0
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I drink very occasionally and sporadically, always have. I can go years or months or weeks between drinks, depends on my mood. When I do want an alcoholic beverage, I drink 1-3 servings, log it, and don't worry if I've over on calories (but, it always fits into my weekly average). Like others, I'd prefer to splurge on food over alcohol (yummy, yummy fries and burgers, lol).
I NEVER do an "official" weigh-in the morning after, however, as I always get extra bloat (dehydration? what? My body obviously didn't get the memo, lol).0
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