Alcohol + Dieting....can it be done??

Hi All,

I used to have an eating disorder...I think its was bulimia but never actually diagnosed - defo had a disordered way of eating though and made myself sick after meals.

Now I am fully recovered and want to lose the weight I gained during recovery for me and to be more healthy, I will NEVER go back to disordered eating again! But the time when I want to binge (I have purged in over 2 years!) is after alcohol.

Does anyone have any tips to help me with this when I get in at 3/4am in the morning after a night out to stop binging on food?

Any help is much appreciated.

Kels x

Stop getting in at 3/4 am. Period.

Your body needs sleep and after a bit, partying gets old. Unless of course you're the type who never grows up.

Not what you want to hear, but I don't care, it's the truth.

You can do alcohol lightly and still diet, but heavy drinking is bad for a couple big reasons:

1. Drinking lowers your inhibition and makes it harder to not binge afterwards.
2. Alcohol isn't very nutritious, so you're choosing to have something with no nutritional value over something that would benefit your body.

I used to struggle with it a little more, but lately I've been more focused on nutrition and it's been a lot easier to make the choice to have the better-for-you food. I wouldn't spend all my calories on junk food, so why spend them all on alcohol?

Try and drink lighter, make sure you're sober when you get in, and you shouldn't have the problem.

i've decided that (aside from having weight loss as a goal) the whole partying til 3-4am thing and THEN going home is just too old for me, it takes a lot out of you. i'd have the same cravings as you, i used to go out and then come home at 3am and stop at mcdonalds or taco bell and get like 10-15$ worth of junk and snarf it all down and then pass out.

you just have to make the conscious decision, even if you're out and coming home late, to not go eat junk food. once you start making positive diet changes, you won't want the junk food because it wreaks havoc on your stomach. if i were to go out right now and eat a bunch of taco bell, i wouldn't feel too great later/tomorrow. just need to realize what's best for yourself and you'll make the right decisions, as with anything else.

hi there

i am in exactly the same situation... i never had bulima, but disordered eating and obsessive excersising.

Its a tough one, as you dont wan tot go back to the strict lifestyle you have, so you go out and enjoy yourself, but then you let your guard down and you binge -then the cycle starts again.. its very tough.

best approach i have is to be concious at all times - really i have to treat myself like an alchoholic and take one day at a time, and relaly just be concious of every drink, every meal - otherwise its a slipperly slope back to where i was.

i thikn i really important factor is to be able to be lesss tough on yourself also- its hard to do this but acknowlege there are slip ups and you jsut have to move on and keep going day by day.

i thikn logging the journals is also really imporant - helps the conisousness...

I understand this! I too had a disorder as a teenager and young adult.
As an adult I noticed when I would drink I would lose all “self control” with my relationship with food.
I could eat an entire bag of chips or something to that effect. Then purge.
Simple fix. Try not to drink to that point.

We ALL have to have some sort of self control. And we have to make our own personal decisions.
It took me a long time to learn that lesson, but I did and I’m MUCH healthier and happy for it now
Good Luck!

Just about self control :] If you know it will cause you to binge I wouldn't drink for a while until you gain control

otherwise moderation

moderation. If you're getting in at 3/4 stop drinking at 1, and switch to water and then when you get home you'll be sober enough not to want to eat everything in sight.

Incidentally, I just looked at your profile and I'm from Manchester so I'm totally jealous of your nights out! There's not much that rivals Manchester for nightlife!

I've been there, going out, drinking all night hitting the drive thru at 3am. Then I woke up and realized it's not healthy.

If this was once a month, sure, but it's not.

Going to bed by 10pm was the best thing I did for myself from Feb-August. You can make all kind of excuses you want to, but your body needs sleep. Getting drunk throws your body off for 2-3 days as well.

Good luck! That is a tough one. If you can keep some turkey burgers or something like in your freezer for late night binge eating, it wouldn't be so bad as eating a whole pizza or something. I also know when I will be going out so I try to save the calories as much as I can. I did finally just switch to Miller 64. Its watery but it does the trick. Vodka is another lower calorie drink, there are tons of flavors and you can mix it with anything diet. Just gotta make sure you keep a plan. Once you do it a few times, it'll become habbit

It can't be done. i just agree with the very good advice on these posts. Get rid of the booze and find the real you.

Does anyone have any tips to help me with this when I get in at 3/4am in the morning after a night out to stop binging on food?

If you're going to binge, go after the food.

Hi to the OP i lived in Manchester for many years, It has a great nightlife- lucky you !!

I have been on the odd night out since I started dieting and it has never ever affected my weight loss. Now I may go out once every 3 or 4 weeks and will drink for one night. I stick to vodka and diet coke and the occasional half a cider.

What I do is eat plenty of veggies and chicken (protein) eggs before I go out at dinnertime, then I can only handle about 8 vodka diet cokes anyway! I try and drink diet coke or water every other drink and I do tend to stop about an hour before I go home. I jump straight in a taxi and tell my mates im out with not to let me near the kebab shop and that works, When I get home I drink two big glasses of water, take some ibuprofen then go straight to bed.

I dont eat after my drink because for me the knowledge is that the alcohol is bad enough right? so why make things a million times worse with a kebab or something!!! I will do extra cardio the day I know Im going out and extra cardio the day after plus I watch what I eat very strictly the next day,

Sometimes the extra calories can help-mixing things up a little. I think that you cant let a diet plan get in the way of your life, If you are one of these poeple who like to go out and have a few drinks then why the hell not?

Yes alcohol has no nutrition, yes its a bad choice, but so is some of the processed crap that people eat on here every now and again.

I say as long as you can avoid the junk food on the way home and you can fit it in and make it work for you and you enjoy it and it makes you happy then have a few drinks every now and again.

People on here should chill out. What works for one person doesnt necessarily work for another. Feel free to add me as a friend by the way. (I have lost 58 pounds since January so Im doing something right I think) xxx