Does alcohol really count the same as other calories?

2

Replies

  • fat2fit4good
    fat2fit4good Posts: 154
    edited November 2014
    well, I am a social, late evening, night out kinda drinker, so what I have found is that when I go out and drink, the extra hours being up, talking, walking from place to place, etc, probably make up for the beers I drink. A trip to the IHOP on the way back will definitely kill any chances though... (IHOP salad at 2:30 AM anyone?)
  • josul75
    josul75 Posts: 41 Member
    sardelsa wrote: »

    This is so interesting @Hornsby... I feel like I am the exact same way! Sometimes I don't even track my alcohol consumption (gasp!) and it really makes no difference in the end.

    I'll join this group too! admittedly, I don't drink all that often, maybe once every couple of months, but at least 4 to 5 glasses of prosecco a time, without making any extra room for it in my daily calorie allowance. Every time, I weigh at least a half pound less the next day and never put on an ounce of extra weight on that week.

    Drinking alcohol does tend to send me running to the bathroom every 30 minutes though - maybe I don't even give it the chance to settle in my body or something, lol.

  • Running_In_Circles
    Running_In_Circles Posts: 11
    edited November 2014
    Booze makes me hongry. It's my gateway to fried everything.
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
    Interesting discussion. Maybe it is just negated by the fact that you get more activity. On a normal night I would go to bed around 10ish and prior to that I usually spend time reading or watching tv. When I go out drinking I'm up and about until 1-2ish probably moving/standing a lot more and walking from place to place as well as dancing. I suppose the extra activity and 3-4 hours of waking time would cancel out some of the drinking. Although on the flip side, after a night of drinking I often have a day of sleeping in, lying around and crappy food so maybe not so much
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I've wondered about this too. I don't drink anymore, but when I was at my thinnest (120-25) coincided with when I used to routinely get LOTS of extra calories from wine, and yet it never seemed to matter for my weight. I've always kind of assumed I must have adjusted my eating somewhat to account for it, but I'm actually not sure that explanation stands up. Closer to the time I decided to stop I do know I'd not be hungry at all/able to eat the day after I'd had lots to drink, but that wasn't always the case.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    It wouldn't surprise me if something about heavy alcohol intake signaled adaptive thermogenesis to crank up the furnace, so to speak. "Lots of readily burnable fuel comin' in daily! Fire on all cylinders!" I know a lot of heavy drinkers and many claim that beer calories don't seem to count the same as food.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    It's an interesting question. My discretionary calories often go to a nice wine. Much more often than they go to anything else.
    I lost while doing that. I've maintained all these years while doing that.
  • fearlessleader104
    fearlessleader104 Posts: 723 Member
    Alcohol = empty calories = you can have as much as you want and you won't gain weight
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Alcohol = empty calories = you can have as much as you want and you won't gain weight

    I see what you did there. :p
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    Alcohol = empty calories = you can have as much as you want and you won't gain weight

    They call it a beer belly for a reason.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Alcohol = empty calories = you can have as much as you want and you won't gain weight

    They call it a beer belly for a reason.

    Is there a wine belly?
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    Alcohol = empty calories = you can have as much as you want and you won't gain weight

    They call it a beer belly for a reason.

    Is there a wine belly?

    I don't believe I've heard that term used before. Although, I'm sure those who don't practice moderation might have one :p
  • nuvimi
    nuvimi Posts: 103 Member
    As I told you in another thread about this topic (where you mentioned drinking a fifth of whiskey and a 12 pack of beer in the same day on multiple occasions), you need some help.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Alcohol = empty calories = you can have as much as you want and you won't gain weight

    They call it a beer belly for a reason.

    Is there a wine belly?

    I don't believe I've heard that term used before. Although, I'm sure those who don't practice moderation might have one :p

    Is there a nachos belly?
  • fearlessleader104
    fearlessleader104 Posts: 723 Member
    there is a Buddha's belly restaurant
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    Alcohol = empty calories = you can have as much as you want and you won't gain weight

    They call it a beer belly for a reason.

    Is there a wine belly?

    I don't believe I've heard that term used before. Although, I'm sure those who don't practice moderation might have one :p

    Is there a nachos belly?

    I want nachos.
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    nuvimi wrote: »
    As I told you in another thread about this topic (where you mentioned drinking a fifth of whiskey and a 12 pack of beer in the same day on multiple occasions), you need some help.

    I guess 99% of colleges students need help too then.
  • socalkay
    socalkay Posts: 746 Member
    edited November 2014
    Hornsby wrote: »
    Thanks for the breakdown. I guess I am curious because from what I have read, if you drink alcohol, that will be the first thing your body burns as it is the preferred source (Is that correct)?

    No, that's not correct, really. Your liver does process alcohol before other sugars because alcohol is a toxin (not "preferred", rather, a poison) and the liver prioritizes filtering out toxins. While it's busy doing that, anything else you ate sits on standby.

    The truth about alcohol


    By the way, 10 beers every day fits nobody's definition of moderation except, apparently, yours.



  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    nuvimi wrote: »
    As I told you in another thread about this topic (where you mentioned drinking a fifth of whiskey and a 12 pack of beer in the same day on multiple occasions), you need some help.

    I guess 99% of colleges students need help too then.

    99% of people use statistics for hyperbole.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    socalkay wrote: »
    Hornsby wrote: »
    Thanks for the breakdown. I guess I am curious because from what I have read, if you drink alcohol, that will be the first thing your body burns as it is the preferred source (Is that correct)?

    No, that's not correct, really. Your liver does process alcohol before other sugars because alcohol is a toxin (not "preferred", rather, a poison) and the liver prioritizes filtering out toxins. While it's busy doing that, anything else you ate sits on standby.

    The truth about alcohol


    By the way, 10 beers every day fits nobody's definition of moderation except, apparently, yours.


    I'm not seeing where he says he has ten beers a day? Did I miss something?

  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    socalkay wrote: »
    Hornsby wrote: »
    Thanks for the breakdown. I guess I am curious because from what I have read, if you drink alcohol, that will be the first thing your body burns as it is the preferred source (Is that correct)?

    No, that's not correct, really. Your liver does process alcohol before other sugars because alcohol is a toxin (not "preferred", rather, a poison) and the liver prioritizes filtering out toxins. While it's busy doing that, anything else you ate sits on standby.

    The truth about alcohol


    By the way, 10 beers every day fits nobody's definition of moderation except, apparently, yours.


    I'm not seeing where he says he has ten beers a day? Did I miss something?
    Hornsby wrote: »
    It's not all that odd for me to drink 10-12 beers each day.
  • Cortelli
    Cortelli Posts: 1,369 Member
    I have been wondering the same thing. I drink a fair bit - sometimes a lot and sometimes very little for a time -- and until a few months or so ago I tracked really, really carefully (less so now and experimenting with not really tracking, but not oblivious to overall intake). Over long periods (1 year+) my overall energy balance has tracked very closely with expected loss / maintenance / gain. But in short-term snapshots (more than a day; recently as long as a week) where I might expect some movement based primarily on excess calories from alcohol (especially beer, with added carbs to boot), it hasn't quite held true to form. Small sample size, N=1, etc. I've not been as rigorous as I would like in terms of tracking alcohol now having seen this thread, but I am re-reading Martin Berkhan's "cheating" CI/CO article on drinking to see if my drinking habits may dovetail with the body's challenge on metabolizing alcohol and fat creation. (leangains.com/2010/07/truth-about-alcohol-fat-loss-and-muscle.html for those who haven't seen it).
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    socalkay wrote: »
    Hornsby wrote: »
    Thanks for the breakdown. I guess I am curious because from what I have read, if you drink alcohol, that will be the first thing your body burns as it is the preferred source (Is that correct)?

    No, that's not correct, really. Your liver does process alcohol before other sugars because alcohol is a toxin (not "preferred", rather, a poison) and the liver prioritizes filtering out toxins. While it's busy doing that, anything else you ate sits on standby.

    The truth about alcohol


    By the way, 10 beers every day fits nobody's definition of moderation except, apparently, yours.


    I'm not seeing where he says he has ten beers a day? Did I miss something?
    Hornsby wrote: »
    It's not all that odd for me to drink 10-12 beers each day.
    well alright then.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    Hornsby wrote: »
    rbfdac wrote: »
    I'm just wondering how you drink 10-12 beers on any given day and still function normally!

    To be clear, I didn't mean every day or anything. 10-12 would be a special occasion or something for the most part.

    Good thing everyone reads the entire thread...Oh wait
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    nuvimi wrote: »
    As I told you in another thread about this topic (where you mentioned drinking a fifth of whiskey and a 12 pack of beer in the same day on multiple occasions), you need some help.

    Think again my friend, I've never said anything of the sort. Maybe you were drinking when you read that? Bye.gif
  • Sevendust912
    Sevendust912 Posts: 122 Member
    If you are drinking 10-12 beers every day you're an alcoholic. I was there a year or two ago, and i am 10 years younger than you.

    I'd suggest AA
  • glevinso
    glevinso Posts: 1,895 Member
    Hornsby wrote: »

    Thanks for the breakdown. I guess I am curious because from what I have read, if you drink alcohol, that will be the first thing your body burns as it is the preferred source (Is that correct)? So if you have a high TDEE can you and burn say 150 calories per hour doing nothing, can you "beat the system" so to speak?

    Pretty much no. Your body doesn't prioritize anything at all, there is really no "using up" of one thing before another. Alcohol gets converted into sugar, same as carbs/sugar and fat. It uses a different enzymatic pathway to get there than carbs or fat do, but in the end it is simply turned to glucose for fuel.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    If you are drinking 10-12 beers every day you're an alcoholic. I was there a year or two ago, and i am 10 years younger than you.

    I'd suggest AA

    People really are great at reading on this forum.
  • Sevendust912
    Sevendust912 Posts: 122 Member
    Hornsby wrote: »
    If you are drinking 10-12 beers every day you're an alcoholic. I was there a year or two ago, and i am 10 years younger than you.

    I'd suggest AA

    People really are great at reading on this forum.

    You said
    "It's not all that odd for me to drink 10-12 beers each day"

    Not sure how you expect people to interpret that.
  • PixieMidoriKitten
    PixieMidoriKitten Posts: 21 Member
    rbfdac wrote: »
    I'm just wondering how you drink 10-12 beers on any given day and still function normally!

    This.
    You are doing bad things to your liver and your body in general by drinking that much alcohol on such a frequent basis.
This discussion has been closed.