weight and booze

I just started tracking and never really put a lot of thought into how many calories I was drinking. I have cut back quite a bit and have lost a little more than 10lbs in a month.

I would reccomend cutting back a little bit and prelogging when you want that glass or 2 (or bottle) of wine. This allows you to save calories for the wine and plan your day around it. Remember too, if you go over your calorie goal for the day its not the end of the world, just see what you can do to change it for the future. For me, I'm trying to eat healthier low calorie foods for breakfast and lunch leaving more calories at the end of the day to enjoy for dinner and a drink.

Also when i cut back on drinking I found myself to enjoy a glass or 2 of wine even more than before so for me that was a huge plus.

Sorry honey, but a whole bottle every night just isn't healthy any way you slice it. Let's be honest here....you need to cut back a little anyway. The diet isn't the problem if you can't get by on one or two glasses here or there....then you have another problem (or are heading in that direction).

Have your glass or two...maybe pour 3-4 small glasses (like half glasses) instead to spread it out....and then find a way to cut it off. Wash the glass and put it away, store the open bottle in an inconvenient place. Whatever it takes.

When I started getting in shape, I partied hard. I did the same things a lot of people preach: worked out a lot, and logged all of my drinks in the calorie counter (for me, Jim Beam & Diets - at 105 cals a pop).

Did I lose weight? Yes, the first 30-40 lbs or so came off rather easily. It became a slippery slope though, when I would tally up the drinks and say "Whoa, I better skip lunch if I want to party tonight & stay under goal." Also, although I got smaller & required less booze to get the same effect, I still drank as much as a 240-lb fat@ss.

So a couple years ago, while ping-ponging around 175-185 lbs, I decided to see how big a role alcohol played in my inability to lose those stubborn "last 10 pounds" - after all, my goal was to get under 180 and I was having a hell of a time getting there. Not to mention I was on the other side of 40 and partying was starting to get a little boring, honestly.

So, I took the plunge & gave it up. Dec 31, 2011 was my last drink.

And I'm now down to 169 lbs & I'm as lean as I was in my mid-20s. I feel better than I've felt since then, too.

Is there a correlation? Ab-so-****ing-lutely. Can you drink & lose weight? Sure. Can you drink as much as some people say they do and truly be healthy? Doubt it.

I'll admit, I'm a bit of an extreme case. I'm sure there is a happy medium somewhere. Good luck!

Alcohol has a lot of calories in it, or most alcohol, anyway. I would suggest maybe cutting down to one or two glasses if you really can't go cold turkey, but a whole bottle is a lot of calories and a lot of alcohol for just one day. You could also switch to one or two glasses of vodka with a diet soda as that's a lot less calories than wine.
For me though I cut out all drinking except on special occasions because it felt like a waste of calories otherwise

It's not weight necessarily; if you feel like you need a bottle of wine at night just to wind down, you've got bigger problems than just your weight. Probably should find another way to deal with stress.

I don't think temporarily cutting back will help because the weight will come right back on. Don't get me wrong, I think you need to cut back permanently, but that was not your question so oops, I'm now offering unsolicited advice

Make sure you're EATING 1200 calories because you need that much to get the nutrition you need. If you are working out, you can probably still lose weight, albeit more slowly, with the wine. If we make a lifestyle change we cannot stick to then a diet will never work and you'll be constantly yo-yoing.

I enjoy drinking also... I could (and have) drunk a whole bottle of wine daily also. With your being small I think a calorie is a calorie and whatever the entire bottle has for calories is your calories for the day. I have drunk alcohol and have still been losing weight ... to answer your question... it hasn't appeared to make a difference whether I drink or not ... but, that's just me and my experience (12 ounces of merlot so far today and I might have more.)

I would cut back like everyone said. Just be conscious of when you are good and try to drink slower. I can easily down a bottle pretty quick of good wine(not sweet wine) but I think its like 900-1000 per bottle. Not only that your liver is fight the toxins instead of burning fat. I always thought of it like this. I want my fat burning to be the greatest after I workout so I can see results. If I were to workout especially a HIIT workout then my metabolism would be super high after for a long time but then if I consume alcohol that will decrease significantly. This is how I kept the weight off in the past. I need to get back to that mindset bc we have been drinking way more often and more than we should.

I too used to love to have some wine each day after work to relax, but wine is extremely high in calories. Even dry red wine (which I drank) has 125 calories per 5oz glass. A whole bottle of wine has roughly 25oz in it. Do the math...you are drinking 125 x 5 =625 calories. For me that is almost two meals worth of calories. I was like you and couldn't just have one glass, so for me the best way was just to give it up. I don't keep any wine in my house, so there is no temptation. You will see you will feel much better and the weight will come off faster. Good luck!

Real Quick:

I don't mean to come off as snarky or accusatory. I used to drink way too much and didn't see a problem. Eventually, it became a problem.