Alcohol

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reginastiffler
reginastiffler Posts: 75 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So, usually when I'm dieting, I refrain from drinking because it's just empty calories (and alcohol usually doesn't affect me either). Crown Apple just tastes too good though. While I was doing Weight Watchers, they insisted that Alcohol is different from regular foods and they make up a whole separate formula.
So, what I'm wondering is say hypothetically I had only 1400 calories worth of Crown Apple in a day. Would I lose the same amount of weight as if I had 1400 calories of steak? (Yes, I realize these are extreme.) Pretty much, discounting the protein fat and other macro nutrients, does a calorie of alcohol actually equal a calorie of steak?
(Weight Watchers really made it seem like drinking at all would derail your whole weight loss plan because the body treats alcohol differently...)
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Replies

  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
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    I think alcohol calories are the same as any other calorie. Just log the drink in your diary and fit it into your day
  • reginastiffler
    reginastiffler Posts: 75 Member
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    MrM27, I realize that 1400 calories of only alcohol would signify a problem and would not be meeting all of the macronutrients. I'm sorry you didn't understand what I was trying to post. I guess I will do more research.
  • verapal
    verapal Posts: 38 Member
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    Interesting question. I wish we had a wine diet...lol
  • corgicake
    corgicake Posts: 846 Member
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    Strictly in terms of the numbers game, yes it would work. I question the whole bit of alcohol bringing the use of other calories to a grinding halt... this seems like it would be thoroughly exploited by people trying to gain weight if it worked that way. A better comparison would probably be candy bars and booze though, apparently some argue that alcohol is a type of carb but with higher calorie density and both have near zero nutritional content.
  • Marianne802
    Marianne802 Posts: 91 Member
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    Here is an interesting article relating to your question.

    http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2013/10/cocktail-science-do-alcohol-calories-count-digesting-spirits.html
  • tuck1218
    tuck1218 Posts: 1 Member
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    1400 calories of alcohol a day? Forget weight loss. Say good bye to your liver.
  • beccam83
    beccam83 Posts: 51 Member
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    Everyone here's all judging like you're actually going to drink 1400kcal of alcohol a day even though you said hypothetically smh.. The link Marianne posted is spot on :)
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
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    My SIL is an alcoholic. She's really thin. She can easily drink 1400 calories of wine. Luckily she's in rehab now.

    I think drinking occasionally so long as you're within your calories is fine, but obviously drinking too often isn't healthy, within calories or not.

    I drank a lot when I was at university. I'm British, and going to the uni bar every evening is just part of our student culture. I spent my third year of university in France, and there was a big crowd of foreign students, and we all hung out together, so I drank a lot that year. Every year of university I got thinner and thinner. Had I been having big meals every evening instead of wine, martini, cocktails etc, I'm not sure I'd have ended up thinner!
  • Marianne802
    Marianne802 Posts: 91 Member
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    I also know a few alcoholics and they are all thin. Though I have noticed that none of them eat when they are on a drinking binge (I call it "on a mission").

    I personnaly can't do that. If I drink I need to nibble. When I was young this was not the case. I went clubbing, drank lots and danced all night. Now a drinking session involves sitting around at a BBQ in front of a plate of nibblies. So maybe it isn't the alcohol.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
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    So. Basically what I gather from that article is if you drink several drinks really fast, only the first one counts for your calories! Lol

    Not really, I would not over complicate this. I'd just log your drinks as normal.
  • Marianne802
    Marianne802 Posts: 91 Member
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    hesn92 wrote: »
    So. Basically what I gather from that article is if you drink several drinks really fast, only the first one counts for your calories! Lol

    Not really, I would not over complicate this. I'd just log your drinks as normal.

    haha. As I said, the alcoholic friends I know binge and don't eat and they are not over weight. Can't speculate on what other health problems they have though.
  • extra_medium
    extra_medium Posts: 1,525 Member
    edited March 2015
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    MrM27 wrote: »

    I'm not sure how you can say strictly a numbers game it's the same. You can't look at it in terms of just a numbers game. You are comparing alcohol which the body will do everything it can to get rid of and at the same time it's stops metabilozing all the other macronutrients to what it would do to a steak. It is completely different. How long will it take her body to get rid of 1400 calories in alcohol?

    In terms of pure weight loss vs. weight gain (which is all she is asking about) it is a numbers game. If you intake fewer calories than you burn over a given period of time, you will lose weight. If you intake more, you'll gain weight. She stated in her OP that she understands the macronutrient component will not be comparable in 1400 of whatever drink vs 1400 calories of steak.

    In terms of overall health of course it is better intake those calories in the form of food, but as far as losing weight goes, it is the same thing.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    I definitely seem to lose weight faster when I'm not drinking even when I log every single drink and calorie. I have MFP set up for me to lose .5 pounds a week and when I drink I loose the .5 pounds a week.... But when I don't drink in a week, I loose 1 pound (sometimes more).... But ohhhhhhh I love my wine so much I'll take my slow weight lose.
  • NEWMEKELLIB
    NEWMEKELLIB Posts: 49 Member
    edited March 2015
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    For me, I like social drinking....but when I am truely being on my game calorie counting I dont waste it on alcohol...
    I also am not the type to have one or two drinks more like 5-8 and get bombed...I dont have that tipsy filter so maybe thats my problem...but when I find my self drinking once a week like that I loose focus a few days after ...eat the wrong food for my diets and boom! there goes the 5 pounds I stuggled so hard to lose! goes right back where it came from....
    Also Alcohol dehydrates your body...for me I feel so puffy after... I do firmly believe in CICO..but alcohol henders me from every angle.
  • JustinAnimal
    JustinAnimal Posts: 1,335 Member
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    MrM27 wrote: »
    That hypothetical makes no sense at all. First of all you did drink that much every day then you should be concerned about your drinking habits and seek professional help. To ask if it would result in the same weight loss isn't a comparable example. 1400 calories in alcohol does not provide you with the nutrition you need at all. No fat, no protein, no micronutrients. You would be extremely unhealthy due to lack of nutrition not to mention the bunch of alcohol you're drinking.

    And in case you were not aware, while the body is metabolizing alcohol it's stop metabolizing all macronutrients.

    I think you totally missed the point. The OP already admitted that alcohol has no macro or micronutrients.

    Have we received a good answer yet? I'm totally curious as well. In terms of weight loss, does a calorie of alcohol equal a calorie of any other food?

  • JustinAnimal
    JustinAnimal Posts: 1,335 Member
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    I have heard that the body stops metabolizing fat while dealing with alcohol, so binge drinking prevents weight loss from happening until your body is rid of it.
  • glevinso
    glevinso Posts: 1,895 Member
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    tuck1218 wrote: »
    1400 calories of alcohol a day? Forget weight loss. Say good bye to your liver.

    Ehh... That isn't hard for me to do. I have no trouble hanging out at my local brewpub for a couple hours and knock back 3-4 large beers in that time. 1500 calories easy. And usually over enough time that I don't even get past a buzz.

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