alcohol and diets

I lost weight while drinking regularly. I logged the calories. I don't know if I would have lost faster if I had cut out all alcohol, but since I met my goal anyway, I'm not too concerned about what might have been.

Some people have reported that their progress sped up when they reduced or eliminated alcohol. In my experience though, it was the calories that counted, not the alcohol.

I'm s wine drinker. I do not log it but it's usually on my weekend where I eat freely and only log exercise and breakfast

Girl, I lost over 50lbs in college when I was partying like a mad woman. I would eat a bag of popcorn for dinner and use the rest of my calories on wine. You can adjust your calories to meet your needs.

JanetYellen wrote: »

I have never been able to drink just one glass of wine. How does anyone do this?

Right there with ya', JanetYellen.

I enjoy my wine on a few nights a week. It has not affected my loss. I actually did a text one month last year to see if my weight loss improved if I gave up wine. It just so happens that I only lost 2 pounds that entire month. So, I think I will stick with the wine.

A glass of red wine a day will not hurt you as long as you don't forget to count it with your calories. But you say you do, so I don't see anything bad in it

I drink, I log, I stay under.

lynnstrick01 wrote: »

Alcohol has A LOT of empty calories, so if you are cutting nutritional calories to add wine that may not be a good thing health wise.. HOWEVER I too am a wine lover, used to drink daily, I had to cut it back to just the week-ends .. I like the sweet wines like sangria, so I just pour 1/2 glass of wine and fill the rest of the way with V8 splash or a diet soda, I still get my wine but cut the Calories. If you don't care for the super sweet try cutting it with maybe club soda. I have heard that beer is DEFINITELY off limits due to the carb and fat content. not sure about that I have never been much of a beer drinker.

Beer definitely isn't off limits. There was a beer thread just like this last week. Every few weeks I rotate between vodka, beer, and wine. It's all the same. If you can fit your calories in, then it's fine. The problem comes when you can't stick to the limits of 1-2 glasses/beers/shots/name your alcohol.

samgamgee wrote: »

If you're going to enjoy drinking alcohol for the foreseeable future, you should definitely factor it into your calories! If I stopped drinking to lose weight then reached my goal and started drinking again, I bet I'd put on weight again as I wouldn't have learnt how to include alcohol calories in my day to day life.

Can't say you'll gain weight because you automatically gain at least 250-300 calories by going to maintenance. Sounds like a good drink to me. However, you are right. You do have to learn hot to fit it in especially if you know that's a part of your life.

Beer definitely isn't off limits. There was a beer thread just like this last week. Every few weeks I rotate between vodka, beer, and wine. It's all the same. If you can fit your calories in, then it's fine. The problem comes when you can't stick to the limits of 1-2 glasses/beers/shots/name your alcohol.

OK, sorry, I had just heard that the carbs and fat in beer were higher.. i stand corrected

20yearsyounger wrote: »

samgamgee wrote: »

If you're going to enjoy drinking alcohol for the foreseeable future, you should definitely factor it into your calories! If I stopped drinking to lose weight then reached my goal and started drinking again, I bet I'd put on weight again as I wouldn't have learnt how to include alcohol calories in my day to day life.

Can't say you'll gain weight because you automatically gain at least 250-300 calories by going to maintenance. Sounds like a good drink to me. However, you are right. You do have to learn hot to fit it in especially if you know that's a part of your life.

A decent bottle of red is about 600 which is what I'm potentially factoring in

samgamgee wrote: »

20yearsyounger wrote: »

samgamgee wrote: »

If you're going to enjoy drinking alcohol for the foreseeable future, you should definitely factor it into your calories! If I stopped drinking to lose weight then reached my goal and started drinking again, I bet I'd put on weight again as I wouldn't have learnt how to include alcohol calories in my day to day life.

Can't say you'll gain weight because you automatically gain at least 250-300 calories by going to maintenance. Sounds like a good drink to me. However, you are right. You do have to learn hot to fit it in especially if you know that's a part of your life.

A decent bottle of red is about 600 which is what I'm potentially factoring in

1 bottle every other night otherwise you have to work for those extra calories

Last year I walked my dog over 400 miles, ran 4 5Ks, did some biking. I didn't count my calories, and I drank a crapload of Scotch. My cardiovascular fitness improved immensely, but I gained ~10 pounds, mostly not muscle.

I started counting calories again last month. I started crosstraining with resistance workouts late last month. I'm still killing WAAAAY too much Scotch, but I'm down 12 pounds from my recent peak, 8 of that in the past 3 weeks.

Could I lose more by not drinking? Probably, but as long as I'm getting enough/balance my macros while counting calories, and I'm active 4-6 days a week, I'm losing enough weight, I don't see a reason to cut it out.

Would it help you lose more weight if you cut it out entirely? Of course, but only if you don't replace those calories with something else.

I make sure I eat just enough for my 8 oz of vino nightly. If I drink a bit over my goal I just scale back the cals the next day or go hard in the paint and up my cardio. Wine is mommy's happy juice and therefore it will always have a place in my food diary.

ETA: typo shmypo