Drinking on a diet

Are you not logging what you’re drinking? Of course it is affecting your weightloss, alcohol has calories just like everything else and sometimes lots of them! Of course you can fit in a few drinks into your calorie allowance or even decide a beer or two is worth more to you than losing that day but it doesn’t make sense to log all your food, log your exercise and then not log alcohol. The database has most big brands of alcohol, if you can’t find the exact one try the barcode or find a sensible equivalent, just like everything else. Cocktails can be awkward but again, make your best guess, or drink something else because they can be absolute calorie bombs.

Alcohol can cause water weirdness, makes some people bloat the next day, I always wake up 2lb lighter from being dehydrated but for fatloss the body doesn’t really know the difference between beer and a biscuit.

Edit to say I absolutely still drink alcohol and manage my weight, there’s nothing wrong with that at all. You need to live your life and unless you plan on being teetotal forever you should be learning how to drink while losing weight so you know how to drink when you get to maintenance!

[quote="scaye103092;c-42586093"]I still log my alcohol calories. I only buy small bottles (nippers or 1/2 pints) so I can accurately log them without worrying about weighing out each drink and only mix with seltzer water, if I’m using any type of mixer at all. I have a very small appetite though so that’s why I don’t eat much. I work 3-1030 5 days a week with my break being around 7 at night so most days I eat dinner around 11 or midnight (not too big of a deal, I go to bed around 5 am because I work second shift). With a multivitamin I still hit all my nutrients. The only two I find myself having difficulty with are potassium and iron which I will be seeing my doctor about as I’ve tried different approaches and still can’t hit my goals there. When I say I go under my calories I mean I hit 1100-1200, exercise out about 250-300 and generally don’t eat it back because I go very late and tend to shower then go to bed. [/quote]

You mention mixers, which most people typically have not with beer or wine but with a distilled beverage a.k.a. hard liquor (vodka, gin, whiskey, rum, etc.)? Are you saying you drink a 1/2 pint (8 fluid oz., or around 125 ml.) of a distilled alcoholic beverage (500 calories or more of alcohol, depending on the proof, i.e., % alcohol)? That seems like an awful lot of calories to devote to alcohol when you say you're consuming about 1100 calories day. That leaves you only 600 calories for meeting your nutritional needs. Granted, it's only one day a week, but you're already regularly running what must be a pretty steep deficit.

joaniebalonie088 wrote: »

If these are really the friends you want to hang with, maybe bring a pre-mixed container of booze w/no cal mixer. You control the ratio, so you make it as light as you want.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but she says she mostly "buys" small bottles or nippers -- that sounds to me like they're at a bar/pub -- a place that's in the business of selling drinks. I doubt that such an establishment would allow you to bring in alcohol from off-site. In some jurisdictions, it might even be illegal.

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

joaniebalonie088 wrote: »

If these are really the friends you want to hang with, maybe bring a pre-mixed container of booze w/no cal mixer. You control the ratio, so you make it as light as you want.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but she says she mostly "buys" small bottles or nippers -- that sounds to me like they're at a bar/pub -- a place that's in the business of selling drinks. I doubt that such an establishment would allow you to bring in alcohol from off-site. In some jurisdictions, it might even be illegal.

Clearly I don’t understand the lingo. I thought she was buying a 5th of booze to bring to a house party or something. I would never condone bringing your own hooch into a place that sells drinks.

Log the alcohol into MFP. In the meantime, you might consider eating back about 50% of your earned exercise calories. MFP suggests women eat no less than 1200 calories a day. Maybe add in an ounce of cheese, a small handful of almonds, or half an avocado to get your calories up. You'll still lose weight if you stay in a calorie deficit. I say, enjoy your alcohol!

You’re hanging out with, basically, college kids. It’s no wonder they’re still in the boozing/partying mode.

My 20s were a mix of boozing, parties, college graduations, graduate school, nervous breakdowns, existential crises... needless to say I don’t miss that decade much. Lol

scaye103092 wrote: »

hangs out Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and sometimes Wednesdays.

omg how do you all get anything done??

sooo, you can have fun without drinking booze, you can ahve fun drinking a little booze.

just because they wanna get smashed dont mean you have to, have a couple and then stop.
your friends you cant force you to keep drinking, so when you have had what you want move on to a low cal/0 cal drink, wether that be water, black coffee, or diet soda.

you keep saying your 26 like your a million years older than them, your not but if you feel it be an adult and say when you have had enough to drink

I mean I get the dilemma, it's boring being sober around drunk people. There's no magic answer though, OP.