Alcohol and dieting

good site bunny!

"So, what's the bottom line?
Although an alcohol-rich meal does increase your metabolic rate, it also suppresses the number of fat calories your body burns for energy — far more so than meals rich in protein, carbohydrate, or fat [3]. While the odd drink now and again isn't going to hurt, the bottom line is that alcohol and a leaner, stronger body just doesn't mix."

scary stuff in that article... glad I rarely drink :noway:

I seem to run into the same roadblock as you on the weekend- Friday night in particular! I'm a light beer drinker :drinker: :drinker: and am taking the weight off slower than I would like:frown: , but it is coming off. I do better if I try to eat light through the day and make sure I get active doing physical things during the day.

If you use the calorie and exercise counter, you can burn off the calories and still get a little free fun time with your pals! Good luck!!:flowerforyou:

I've tried switching to other types of hard drinks that I could sip on which might not go down so easy , but once a Budweiser girl always a Budweiser girl:ohwell: Sounds like we're facing the same struggles so feel free to let me know if you need a little extra support. We WILL do it!

How many ounces in a shot?

12.

:laugh: :laugh:

Wait...I thought it was 13?? :huh:

Ok I am a big guy, so ... I should be able to have a double shot (26Oz)!!! :drinker: As he passes out from one drink!

try to stick to tonics/waters/diet sodas for mixers

all your light beers weigh in at between 90 and 110 cal's

to be drinking 12 to 13 you should be working out an hour-hourand a half straight cardio during the day.....

Its not impossible, but if you want to be within your calories, have fun and not worry, you should be exercising on those days.

Im 22 going on 23 and have done this site for almost a year.
Try to just be better with how much you're drinking, what you eat during the day and go outside for a nice long jog/longer walk.

Tonic Tonic Tonic...that's it! (mixed with something...what was it) Isn't that the one that has almost no calories or very few calories? I know there was a drink that was really really low on calories. Let me look that one up:bigsmile:
brb:smooched:

TONIC WATER HAS TONS OF CALORIES!!! It has just as much as say sprite or something unless you get it diet... I also thought this was true until about a year ago... vodka tonic was my "calorie free" drink in college... but now i know how horribly wrong i was!!! :grumble:

Tonic watercalories
1.0 fl oz has 10 calories
1.0 can or bottle (12 fl oz) has 124 calories
1.0 can or bottle (16 fl oz) has 166 calories
(2,000 calories is the average recommended daily intake for adults and children four or more years of age.)



Ohhhhhhhhhhhh............I was looking at the 1 fl oz part :laugh: who drinks just one fl oz of tonic in their drinks:laugh: Well maybe Shannon......12 oz of liquor and 1 oz tonic:bigsmile:

Really if your a beer drinker, ultra is the way to go!! I love it and i've slowly turned all my friends who were bud light and coors light fans to it!! And 90 cal can't really beat that!!

:drinker: :sad:

Since I joined this site, I have found that alcohol contains WAY more calories than I even thought it did.:sad:

I have finally finished having children and breast feeding (14 months for the oldest, 10 months for the middle child and just over 13 months for the youngest). At this point it was supposed to be my turn to go out and drink on the weekends with my friends.... but now, I don't know what I can drink without having to starve myself for the entire day.

Does anyone know of any websites that have the calorie counts for different types of alcohol?
I used to drink Mike's Hard Lemonade, that is until I found out it had 340 calories per serving.... Throughout the night I usually put down 12-13 drinks.... (We start playing cards at 12:00 (noon) and stay til' close while the husbands take care of the kids.
:brokenheart:



Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Online Calorie Counter

I feel you lady, it sometimes seems so easy to eat right and exercise but so hard to give up a refreshing cocktail and a girls night out! I love wine (I mean, I LOVE it) and I love girls nights equally, so I've had to learn how to cut back.

First suggestion would be switching over to the Mike's Light Cranberry - it's delicious and only 110 calories a pop - much lower than the original and it still tastes pretty good!

Second suggestion would be to make your own cocktail ahead of time and bring a pitcher of if with you in a little cooler. I know it seems nerdy, but it'll save you lots of calories -

Here's a suggestion:

Ingredients:
6 cups club soda
2 cups Ocean Spray Diet Cranberry Spray
8 shots (12 oz.) 80-proof vodka
2 tsp. Crystal Light Lemonade or Pink Lemonade powdered drink mix (2 On The Go packets or half a tub)
8 no-calorie sweetener packets
4 lemons

Directions:
Place all ingredients except the lemons in a pitcher, and stir well. Cut 1 lemon into 8 slices, and set slices aside. Cut the remaining lemons in half, and squeeze the juice into the pitcher. Serve over ice and garnish with lemon slices!

PER SERVING (1 glass, 1/8th of recipe): 110 calories, 0g fat, 67mg sodium, 3g carbs, 0g fiber, 1g sugars, 0g protein -- POINTS® value 2*

:drinker: The above recipe makes 8 servings and would only be 880 calories if you were to drink the whole thing.... which although 880 calories is a lot for alcohol, it's waaaay better than the 2,880 calories you'd get from 12 Mikes in a night. This way, if you are going to indulge for a day of drinking you can get a good work out in, eat well all day, enjoy your drinks and not go over your calories by crazy amounts.

Hope that helps! Cheers! :drinker:

Here's an interesting website. Has calories in different types of alcoholic drinks and helps you calculate calories for the month and for the year. If I gave up my wine and didn't replace it with somthing else caloric, I could lose between 7.5 and 15 lbs.

http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/CollegeStudents/calculator/alcoholcalc.aspx

The calories in alcohol are calories just like any other - a measurement of energy. Unused alcohol calories are stored mostly as acetate instead of fat and acetate slows weight loss.

"So, to summarize and review, here's what happens to fat metabolism after the odd drink or two.

. A small portion of the alcohol is converted into fat.

. Your liver then converts most of the alcohol into acetate.

. The acetate is then released into your bloodstream, and replaces fat as a source of fuel."


http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/research/alcohol.htm

here is a great web site that will offer you a insight on just how many cals. there are in beer, wine ect.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0846/is_5_21/ai_82333620

If I drink beer, I drink Miller light, I'm not sure if this is correct but I've always been told it has the lowest amount of calories. Plus, beer fills you up much faster so you can't drink as much.

Lighter liquors have less calories than dark ones, always drink them with diet drinks.

Some of my friends came up with a "100 calorie margarita" and I think it was lime juice, crystal light and tequila or either vodka...they said it didn't end up tasting much like a margarita but crystal light and lime juice are both good things to mix with!

Dehydration: you should always drink one cup of water for every alcoholic drink you have...that's a rule my mom told me when I came to college!

And, while college students usually associate weight gain with drinking alcohol, ("beer belly") it is usually because of the late-night eating that nights of partying bring. I would go drink 3 or 4 drinks just at a pregame party (grey goose and orange-pineapple juice) plus a couple glasses of hunch punch, and then at the bars I would drink so many kamikazes that I would forget how many I had in the first place!! NOT A GOOD IDEA because that leads to late nights at taco bell or, for example, eating half a loaf of bread and a bowl of ramen noodles. I would eat more calories than i even drank!! Thankfully I only gained a pound or two before I cut it out!!

I used to drink rum and diet soda because that only has 60 calories. BUT that's only in one shot and as some here have pointed out, the shots easily add up and usually they are made with more than one shot. What was frustrating to me was that I wouldn't know how much the bartender or whoever made it was putting in it, so, how could I count the calories. Then when I made it myself with just 1 shot, it basically tasted like cola, and it just wasn't worth it. I would have to have at least 2 shots to get anything out of it and there's 120 calories right there.

My personal solution was to cut out alcohol from my diet. I haven't eliminated it completely but I will only drink it on special occasions, such as a friend's wedding, New Year's, etc. I no longer make it an almost daily habit like I once did. It was so easy to have a beer at poker night and it would turn into two, then three... and there were half my calories for the day, on something that wasn't good for me! I've found that I lose weight easier by cutting out those totally unnecessary calories, but more importantly, I really feel healthy all around, I feel so much more energized and alert and happy without alcohol. Like you I didn't realize how many calories I was consuming from it until I started logging it in MFP. But, even more importantly to me, I didn't realize how much I depended on it and what a big part of my life it was until then, and especially until I cut it out.

So if you are going to drink I recommend a shot of liquor with diet soda. The liquor could be rum, vodka, gin, etc. Or a glass of wine, which I have read has health benefits, or a lite beer. But I would also suggest trying to pay attention to how you feel when you drink versus how you feel when you don't, and you may find that you don't need any of those calories at all!

there is 1 and a half ounces of liquor in a spec bar pour drink. obviosly doubles are double:noway:

shots are usually the same

home is a whole different story:drinker:

I would say just plan your day for a night of drinking. When I go out I easily drink 8-10 drinks...and yes technically I should be considered a binge drinker. But I don't do it every night. :drinker: :blushing:

Anyway....just eat right that day and work out hard. I did WW for a short time and allotted a certain amount of my points for beer. It worked and I still continued to lost weight. Just be careful not to snack when you're drinking (that's the hard part)

And don't go fancy with the drinks. Stick to the hard stuff and diet or light beers. :drinker: :drinker: :drinker:

That's what I do...just weekends and try to think ahead.

Don't let all these people make you feel bad by saying you shouldn't drink at all. However, they're right about setting your priorities straight. Do you want to drink with friends or lose weight? I don't suggest starving yourself the day you are going to drink. You're going to make yourself sick that way. Maybe you should try drinking slower that way you can stop once you have a buzz then drink even slower so you can maintain the buzz. This way you won't drink as much or get hammered. Then you'll still feel ok the next day and will be able to work out. You may find that you have more fun this way and won't feel as quilty.

Good luck! I know it's easier said than done.