Cut wine, gained weight

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sllokkem
sllokkem Posts: 2 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I love my glass of wine each night, but noticed it was more like 2-3 (8 oz-12oz), plus I've been reading a lot about it really not being healthy for women, so 5 weeks ago, I cut it out. The good news was that as a mfp maintainer I could replace this with food calories. Well, I just stepped on the scale this morning and I have gained about 4 pounds over 5 weeks. This unusual for me as I only fluctuate 2-3 lbs usually. I thought alcohol and food calories counted the same! Has anyone else had this experience? It's very disappointing as I haven't really seen any of the other promised benefits of not drinking either....

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  • MlleKelly
    MlleKelly Posts: 356 Member
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    I am an AVID wine drinker, and I find that if I'm not having a glass but other people are, I'll have something else instead to keep my hands busy. For example, last night I drank two cans of (diet) ginger ale and two cans of sparkling Ocean Spray cranberry juice. Total of 180 calories. Doesn't sound like a lot, right? But my weight difference between this morning and yesterday morning was almost a 2 pound gain. I don't think it would have been that different had I had the glass of wine I really wanted...all that other stuff just made me bloated.
  • enigmakey
    enigmakey Posts: 63 Member
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    I love wine too. It could have been you weighed less with the wine because it dehydrates you. I think you could still have your wine it will just take longer to get the weight off though. Maybe drink wine 2 weeks then off weeks.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
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    If you don’t want to drink, don’t. Stick to your guns (and instincts). we often crave sugar when we stop drinking, so be extra diligent on the logging for the next month and drink tons of water. I’ve been there.
  • LZMiner
    LZMiner Posts: 300 Member
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    weeks
    ^^
    THIS! Wine is very dehydrating...It helps me lose! Not a good long term strategy though!
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,983 Member
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    The calories in the wine were probably easier to account for than the food you replaced it with. You are likely eating more than you think. But I would probably give it a few more weeks to see if it's an anomaly or a trend. It still could be a natural fluctuation.
  • nanasuge
    nanasuge Posts: 2 Member
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    I love my wine as well on a similar level. However I noticed more stomach weight. I've cut back drastically the last 2 weeks and I busted my plateau and finally went below. I enjoyed some wine over the weekend and went back up. From what I understand alcohol sugar is one of the worst kinds having a negative effect on the water intake and other positive things you do. I'm going to continue to cut back. Hope things work out for you.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    I assume the superficial issue is bad logging, because yes, food and wine calories count the same. But I can hear not only disappointment and fear, but also resentment, which often leads to entitlement and self-sabotage - overeating - not just for comfort, but as a subconscious strategy to justify going back to, in this case, drinking wine. Are you replacing the wine with "healthy food"? You can eat whatever food you like. If you're willing to log honestly and not drink wine daily, you can maintain your weight too.
  • whitpauly
    whitpauly Posts: 1,483 Member
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    I'm another who votes for dehydration,I was an avid beer drinker and after I quit my weight has gone up a bit but honestly I just think I'm well hydrated now
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,287 Member
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    I love my wine and cocktails too. And I think they actually can keep you from eating too much. But, I got on the wagon during my weight loss.. decided to detox my liver and read up on the subject.

    In my reading doctors say it is better to give the liver a few day break in-between drinking.. rather than drinking like a fish all year and taking off a month or two.

    So, what I've decided to do is not drink during the week..and for sure not drink for a stretch of days so my liver isn't being constantly taxed. That, and. I plan on taking ten day breaks throughout the year..as it takes that many days to totally clear the liver of alcohol.

    However, I agree that drinking wine every night is fun..and is satisfying and can actually keep you from eating. But as we get older. ,.we can't be hitting the hooch every night.

    So you're doing the right thing to think on it.. make adjustments for your health..
  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
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    Here's a thought - alcohol and food calories count the same, but food moves slowly through your digestive system - a couple of days for most folks from lips to elimination - requiring fluid to process, whereas alcohol is metabolized right away and has a diuretic effect. But if you are replacing calorie-for calorie, 2-3 pound "gain" in scale weight might be expected and a steady, continuous gain would not. If you are menstruating female, you would need to track through a full cycle to know if what you are experiencing is actual weight (fat) gain or hormone-related fluctuation.

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