Quit drinking alcohol, not losing weight
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Thick_Chickk
Posts: 608 Member
I was drinking about everyday for a year. About 8-9 beers plus a bunch of junk food while intoxicated. I gained 40 pounds. It's been a week since I quit drinking. I've been counting calories but staying about 2000 just because I've just felt really hungry. I haven't lost any weight and I'm a little ticked off. I'm thinking of cutting down to 1200 calories starting tomorrow, having one maintenance days week, and working out 4x a week. Does this seem like a good plan?
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Replies
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No it doesn't, your body will be healing it's self now that you have stopped drinking. It needs calories and protein to do that.
It's only been a week. Drop by another 100 and see how you get on but don't go to 1200.
Congratulations on stopping drinking.15 -
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No. Change nothing. A week isn't any kind of reasonable trial period.
And if you're at 2000 cals, why the desire to go 1200? Rethink. Lots of room to work below 2000 before you cut to 1200. Give it a chance6 -
Beautiful__Ending wrote: »I was drinking about everyday for a year. About 8-9 beers plus a bunch of junk food while intoxicated. I gained 40 pounds. It's been a week since I quit drinking. I've been counting calories but staying about 2000 just because I've just felt really hungry. I haven't lost any weight and I'm a little ticked off. I'm thinking of cutting down to 1200 calories starting tomorrow, having one maintenance days week, and working out 4x a week. Does this seem like a good plan?
Why do you need to cut to 1200?0 -
Beautiful__Ending wrote: »I was drinking about everyday for a year. About 8-9 beers plus a bunch of junk food while intoxicated. I gained 40 pounds. It's been a week since I quit drinking. I've been counting calories but staying about 2000 just because I've just felt really hungry. I haven't lost any weight and I'm a little ticked off. I'm thinking of cutting down to 1200 calories starting tomorrow, having one maintenance days week, and working out 4x a week. Does this seem like a good plan?
First, did you plug your stats into MFP? What is the calorie target the system gave you? (I would suggest starting with one lb. a week because, as another poster mentioned, your body is healing).
Second, get yourself a food scale. There are good ones you can get for $15 or so at places like Amazon and Walmart. Getting an idea of portion size as well as a good handle on your macro mix through accurate logging will help for the long run.
Lastly, be patient with yourself. The best advice I was given when I first started out was: "you are NOT making a big change in your life, you are making a series of small changes". You have already changed one thing, stopped drinking. Make that a habit and move on to another thing (like weighing and measuring food). When that becomes a habit, then pay more attention to actual calorie and macro counts.6 -
Come down on ur calories slowly about 200 to 500 max. Have patience. Change it up sometimes with making protein higher than carbs or vice versa so ur body when it adapts to having same schedule u have to change something up. U can add in cardio without decreasing ur calories but u would have to do cardio 200 calories per session. Start from 2 days cardio a week and increase the days u do cardio from there when u stop losing about a pound to 2 pounds a week depends on ur body. Good luck3
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Find your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and eat 500 calories less from it.
http://damnripped.com/tdee-calculator/
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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I'd start with picking up an inexpensive digital scale and before you make changes get your portions where you know for sure what you are taking in. Also, you are still probably going to have a little inflammation and sometimes our bodies will hang on to water to help flush the inflammation. Do you drink much water? There are differing opinions, but I have found more is better than less. Hang in there, keep trying you got this!2
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suzannesimmons3 wrote: »Buy a scale and use it....then after a few weeks you can see about slowly cutting calories if loss isn't forthcoming. Your body is still healing itself so be kind.
This is one of the best pieces of advice you can receive during a stall (but a week or even two or three isn't considered a stall). Buy a food scale. Weigh everything you eat and use only measuring cups for liquids. Weigh even prepackaged food.
Not drinking alcohol will only help if it brings you into a calorie deficit.
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Did you put your stats into MFP? Set for 1 lb per week and see how many calories it recommends.
You don't have to measure every little thing you eat forever. Since you're concerned about not losing, measuring & weighing will be good way to get your habits recalibrated. Doing this for awhile will help you learn accurate portion control, which is the key to lifelong maintenance.
Prepackaged foods can vary quite a bit, so that's the reason a lot of people weigh them.2 -
I aswell have been told not too cut down too 1200 calories. I am at just over 2000 a day. I am going to remain at this for a while1
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By prepackaged what do u mean? Like tins of beans or tins of tuna?0
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