Alcohol

Yes! Just stay away from sugary mixers! I usually stick with soda water or tonic if I am mixing and make sure you are still drinking lots of water. Also try to stay away from the flavored liquors especially the ones like fireball and sin fire which are pretty much straight syrup

I drink just about every weekend. It affected my weight loss a lot actually but since switching to using sprite zero or mio/water as a mix instead of Mountain Dew or coke, I haven't had any issues with drinking affecting my ability to lose weight and keep it off.

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I do La Croix sparkling water as a mixer. It comes in a bunch of different flavors, so it's never boring. If I go to a bar, I just drink gin sodas. I also usually log single drinks as 1.5 ounces of liquor instead of 1, because I've read bartenders usually go a bit over. At home I measure my ounces precisely tho. :P

Yep, it's way easier to have a glass a few nights a week than all in one go (like I did this Saturday) as that wiped out my exercise on Sunday (hungover) and meant I pigged out while tipsy. I love gin. Hendricks and tonic with cucumber. Mmm.

I have a cocktail about 5 nights a week. I log my cocktails, and if they fit in my goal, great. If not, then I have to lose something else. As long as I am still eating at a deficit, I should continue to lose weight.

MrM27 wrote: »

Plenty of people still have their drinks and lose weight. If you like to have your wine at dinner or drinks on the weekend you can just make small adjustments and be fine. If you are drinking daily and making it fit by reducing your food intake and not getting in proper nutrition in, that's that's not good and you might have bigger issues to worry about.

In reality it's not those drinks that we have on a night out with friends that become that speed bump that makes you spin your wheels, it's the choices that we make afterwards when we might have our decision making skills impaired. When was the last time you left a party or where ever in the middle of the night and said "I'm hungry, man I wish I had a salad".

Yeah, everyone I know, hah! As you said, a drink or two once in a while, no problem. But drinking a six-pack of beer or a fifth of vodka every day, problem. Not saying that OP is doing this, but sometimes people just don't realize how many calories alcohol has in it. If you are drinking every day, you are probably not going to lose weight without sacrificing nutrition. Not to mention exercise (who wants to exercise when tipsy?).

My sister has cancer. She drinks a case of beer every day. She smokes at least two packs of cigarettes a day. She is 5'8" and weighs 94 pounds. She looks like a skeleton, but says she can't eat very much because the chemo makes the food run "right through her". She looks 20 years older than me, but is actually nearly two years younger. Sorry, didn't mean to get into all of this, but food is much more nutritious than alcohol and a lot less calories.

Nicshtik wrote: »

atypicalsmith wrote: »

Alcohol is completely empty calories that can cause you to eat more than if you were in control of your faculties. I don't see the point of it. Why not just quit drinking and save up those calories, or even better (if it is still within your calorie budget), eat something healthy instead? Once you get to maintenance, then you'll have a lot more calories to play around with and can drink your heart out.

Because I enjoy that cocktail - and I enjoy it more than a "dessert" or "saving up." I want to relax each night, and I want to do that with a cocktail...and as long as it fits in my budget for the day, who cares whether they are empty calories.

Are you losing weight?

MrM27 wrote: »

atypicalsmith wrote: »

MrM27 wrote: »

Plenty of people still have their drinks and lose weight. If you like to have your wine at dinner or drinks on the weekend you can just make small adjustments and be fine. If you are drinking daily and making it fit by reducing your food intake and not getting in proper nutrition in, that's that's not good and you might have bigger issues to worry about.

In reality it's not those drinks that we have on a night out with friends that become that speed bump that makes you spin your wheels, it's the choices that we make afterwards when we might have our decision making skills impaired. When was the last time you left a party or where ever in the middle of the night and said "I'm hungry, man I wish I had a salad".

Yeah, everyone I know, hah! As you said, a drink or two once in a while, no problem. But drinking a six-pack of beer or a fifth of vodka every day, problem. Not saying that OP is doing this, but sometimes people just don't realize how many calories alcohol has in it. If you are drinking every day, you are probably not going to lose weight without sacrificing nutrition. Not to mention exercise (who wants to exercise when tipsy?).

My sister has cancer. She drinks a case of beer every day. She smokes at least two packs of cigarettes a day. She is 5'8" and weighs 94 pounds. She looks like a skeleton, but says she can't eat very much because the chemo makes the food run "right through her". She looks 20 years older than me, but is actually nearly two years younger. Sorry, didn't mean to get into all of this, but food is much more nutritious than alcohol and a lot less calories.

If a person is drinking that much in a night is probably not really trying to lose weight if they needed to so I'm not sure it would have to get to the point of dissecting the nutritional profile of the actual food they have to see if they are getting in proper nutrition. I also don't see those people here actively on MFP trying really hard to get healthy while doing that.

As far as your sister goes, I'm not going to comment at all on it out of respect for her. I am pretty emotionless but there are just a couple things I have a soft spot for, kids, animals and people dealing with cancer. The last one is the one I have donated money several times a year to. Anyway, I won't be touching that subject anymore.

Didn't mean to get on that soapbox; has nothing to do with the subject at hand. Sorry, OP and MrM27.

I have an open diary. I might be sacrificing nutrition. Idk. I feel great. I don't have that much more to lose so I'm going with it. I do take vitamins, I just don't log them. I'm one of those lucky people because my appetite goes away when I drink.

Nicshtik wrote: »

atypicalsmith wrote: »

Alcohol is completely empty calories that can cause you to eat more than if you were in control of your faculties. I don't see the point of it. Why not just quit drinking and save up those calories, or even better (if it is still within your calorie budget), eat something healthy instead? Once you get to maintenance, then you'll have a lot more calories to play around with and can drink your heart out.

Because I enjoy that cocktail - and I enjoy it more than a "dessert" or "saving up." I want to relax each night, and I want to do that with a cocktail...and as long as it fits in my budget for the day, who cares whether they are empty calories.

This is me. On workout days I have more exercise calories to eat than I actually can eat so I treat myself to a glass of wine instead of a sweet because I need to keep my carbs down. No trouble losing yet: