Alcohol & food weightloss

I have been avoiding alcohol, but it's only been a month. I did have a glass of wine one day, but otherwise none. Curious about other responses though, since I'm sure that at some point I will want to drink and beer is usually my drink of choice (and probably the worst alcohol weight-loss-wise!).

I typically have 2-300 calories after dinner to do with as I like. If I won't be needing top performance the next morning, those calories might likely go to beer or wine. If I need to be my best the next morning and get good R.E.M. sleep, or I simply don't want wine that night, then my snack calories would more likely go towards chocolate or ice cream or cheese as a treat.

Sometimes I don't eat my snack calories, and it's bonus net deficit for the day (but I don't do that often, since you know, I like food.)

Shot of vodka (i weigh out 1.5 oz) plus seltzer water (either one can be flavored) comes out to around 96 calories.

Also, there's a brand of vodka and also mixed drinks called Skinny Girl that tends to have fewer calories.

So long as it fits in your calories you are fine to consume. The rule of thumb is to weigh everything, no guess work. Another rule of thumb is to make sure I get enough fiber and protein - the other macros fall into place - but with fiber and protein I am satisfied, not craving, and not cranky.

Alcohol has required a psychological shift for me. A few drinks most days is no longer part of my life, I treat it as a treat now for a special occasion. If I drink on the weekend I plan in advance and log it before I drink it, so I know where the line is. i.e 3 x rum and diet cokes (nips of rum measured exactly, no free pouring) and I know it 210 calories. If I wait til the morning after...well...I'm sure you can guess how that story ends.

As for the rice cake and nutella....the damage is not being done in the carbs in the rice cake nor the carbs in the nutella, it's in your portions. You can still have a rice cake with nutella, treat the nutella as a flavour enhancer rather than a key part of that snack and you will be right. I have done the same with cheese - a taco filled with some meat and beans, overflowing with lettuce and tomato, with just 10g of cheese on top as a flavour enhancer is just as (maybe more) satisfying as my old fashioned half meat, half cheese filled taco.

You can scale back on food in a day to allow for drinks....or you could shave 50 calories off each day for 6 days to allow 3 drinks at the end of the week. It all evens out, wouldn't recommend scaling back food so much in one day that you are going to lose all will power and eat all the bad food that often goes with beer. You might be setting yourself up for failure.

To keep the calories down skip oils, dressings, butter etc as much as possible. Use spices for flavour instead. Sweet potato instead of white if you really need a starchy filler.

I don't drink too often but I do usually have "treat" calories in my day so if I know I have a night out coming up I'd just save them and not get too hung up about what I'm drinking. Life happens, I want to enjoy it. I take a weekly view of my calorie intake too.

And of course, good old exercise is a great way to give myself a little more food to play with!

I drink one or two a week when I'm visiting friends or go out to a party. I usually save some exercise calories or eat a little below my normal deficit a few days before. (1250 cals instead of 1380) That pretty much covers the drinks. I also prefer beer because I always feel kinda full after, and drinking a pint of porter or IPA takes me longer than a mixed drink.

When I got serious about weight loss, empty calories from alcohol, etc, were the first to be eliminated or severely reduced. Some people can fit booze in their calorie budget; if I did this I'd be hungry and cranky.

5 Ways Alcohol Hinders Fat Loss

I typically eat around 1300 (on average) during the week and many days that includes a glass of wine with dinner, sometimes two. On the weekends, I drink and eat more. This hasn't stopped me from losing weight.

But, I do not binge drink and I don't crave junk food when I drink. I don't eat a lot of snacks and sweets. Wine is my treat.

I drank virtually every night while I was losing weight. A glass of wine doesn't have to send calories through the roof -- 5 ounces of wine only has around 120 calories, a couple of shots of liquor mixed with diet soda can also be fairly low calorie (depending on the alcohol). Key factors: I always measured it (I'm terrible at eye-balling) and I always logged it, making sure it fit my calorie goal for the day. Some people struggle with eating extra calories when they drink -- I fortunately have never had this problem. Also, you have to know yourself. If you're the type of person who lets one or two glasses of wine turn into four or five, it's probably going to impact your ability to meet your weight loss goals.

It worked for me, although I also understand why people would want to limit or eliminating drinking because they'd rather eat those calories. For me, a glass of wine or cocktail while preparing dinner is a great pleasure and I wasn't wanting to give it up unless I had to. I adjusted other things to make room for it -- dressed a salad with vinegar and mustard instead of a fat-based dressing, roasted vegetables without oil, had one piece of bread with my lunch sandwich instead of two. If you're only looking to add a glass of wine or a bottle of beer, it's pretty easy to make room for it with simple tweaks to your day's food.

I have to budget my alcohol. For example, I know I want some wine tonight (TGIF!) so I keep those calories in mind when planning the rest of my day. I've also recently cut back on the days per week that I drink to not more than 2/week.

This has to work for life so if you are intending on drinking alcohol when you reach maintenance you must learn to budget it during loss.

For me I work to a weekly deficit rather than daily so I save 100-200 calories a day (depending on my fitbit adjustments) for my weekend wine. I've also moved from large white wine to small white wine spritzer to reduce calories but keep volume. I have my phone with me and make sure each glass is logged straight away and then I know when my calorie limit is reached.

I don't drink Sunday to Thursday and then go out Friday or Saturday (not both) and this really works for me.