No more wine time for this little drunk duck

Trish1c wrote: »

If calories are your concern, wine is one of the better choices at around 120 calories per glass but you will consume less calories with light beer (some have as few as 64) or vodka & club or run & diet coke, even gin & diet tonic (regular tonic alone is 130 calories, for what I don't know)

Should have seen the look on one of my dance partner's faces when I ordered a vodka-diet coke (to save calories - I'm usually a wine or vodka-cranberry girl). (He was an ex of mine who knew me well - and was puzzled because that was not something I would typically ever order). Well- The first venue had unexpectedly shut down after my second drink (some rural folk had charter bus'd in for the show - they were fans of that particular band...and started a brawl in front of the stage - we were glad we had moved upstairs to get away from that train wreck and find more room to dance..the owner stepped up and shut the show down). Well- onward to the dive bar down the street with a jukebox along with some other locals who frequent the first venue (which is a well-respected local Rock/Americana venue)..and of course you have to order something to support the business or you're being an #ss - so drinks #3-4 were vodka-diet coke to make them almost fit. (I might have come out ahead if this one dude hadn't loaded the jukebox with a bunch of long blues songs, as opposed to the faster rock/swing we were requesting).

Things that helped me to cut down: 1) mixing a smaller amount of wine with juice or sparkling water, then I still feel like I'm getting a big glass but I'm not really, 2) I get boxed wine (there's lots of good stuff out there) so I don't feel that I *have* to finish the whole bottle or it will go to waste, 3) I get small cans or small bottles of wine (srsly there is good stuff in cans!), 4) I started taking a medication that doesn't interact well with alcohol so I can only have it in the evening when the meds have worn off and I feel really *kitten* if I have more than one glass. I guess #4 is what really did it. I think the most important thing though is don't demonize it. A full scale ban will only encourage bingeing (confession: my weakness is ice cream and I do have a binge eating disorder, hence the meds). If anything, figure out how to work it into your diet. Like instead of a 6 oz pour, do a 3 oz pour. I do that with ice cream, instead of a full half cup serving (250 calories) I allow myself a 1/4 cup serving and learn to live with that. If I find myself falling into bingeing habits (eg, whoops i just accidentally the whole pint or omg can't stop thinking about that delicious pint omg must nom) then I get grounded from ice cream and have to live with Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice Tea and milk or Plain Whole Milk Yogurt for my evening dairy dose until I've hit my next major weight goal and can try again.