Alcohol and Weight Loss

I still enjoy a drink and I am still losing weight. Like most people have said on here, all you have to do is budget for it. If I know I will be drinking a lot in the evening I will balance my diet acordingly. If I go over my calorie limit for that day, i will try and balance that out later in the week. As long as calorie counter is under my weekly total, i'm happy.

Agreed. I lost 30 pounds and reached my goal without giving up my red wine and beer. Could I have lost faster without it? Probably. However, I didn't want to give it up

I love to drink - especially red wine. However, I've found that my weight loss practically stops for a day or two after I've had only a glass a wine. It's like my liver refuses to process any fat at all if it's been getting rid of a cocktail or two. I don't plan on stopping drinking, but I'm "pausing" whiile I'm dropping weight. :-D

You can make wine spritzers. Just pour half wine, half sparkling water. That way you still get the taste and you get to hold & sip a drink at social gatherings, but its only half the wine! And you can have 2 glasses, but only the calories of 1!

I drink on weekends too. Just like everything else, track it...

Yes, you can be a social drinker and still lose weight. I have a glass of wine sometimes during weekdays but on weekends I switch to vodka. I used to be a Cosmo drinker so those add calories really quick! Now, I will order Grey Goose, Club Soda or Seltzer water with a splash of Lime. It is delicious and because it is hard liquor you don't drink it as fast. I will also have the occasional rum and coke (regular). As long as it fits in your calories for the day, you should be OK. I have never gone over because of alcohol consumption. It also helps that I am always the DD so that keeps me to 2 max for a night out.

Sorry have to bump

I drink Friday and Saturday every week and have continued to lose weight, just log it like everything else.

People say things like "if you stopped drinking you would lose weight faster", my retort is always that I enjoy a drink so why should I deny myself, this is a lifestyle change not a diet.

I have lost 42 pounds in just over a year by the way.

Good luck and enjoy.

A

^This^
I don't drink every weekend, but I count the calories and enjoy when I have the opportunity. I don't feel like I should give up the good things in life. I do believe in moderate and responsible enjoyment of what life has to offer ... Like chocolate!

I think that you can lose weight if you give up drinking but that depends on how much drinking you were doing. I think I put on most of my weight when I moved to Chicago. The place I worked at was very social and it was happy hour pretty much every other day. It didn't help that the big guns will pay for every body. That made it difficult. In addition to that, I was trying to meet new people in this new city and well, I took every opportunity I had. I didn't drink alcohol till I started working in Corporate America. My drinking habits started with my first job in NYC. That was moderate because I wasn't into it. Then I moved to Chicago and well, that kind of drinking and eating out tip me over. I was about 15 pound higher than the weight I came with to this country. We then moved to the Cleveland area, where my husband's family is from and where most of our good friends are. Well, that added another 10 pounds or so because our friends still thought they were in college.
Two years ago I was embarrassed of how much weight I put on and was starting to give away all those jeans and clothes you save for when you lose weight. It was heartbreaking for me. I gave away a lot and but still kept somethings for the maybe. On that same week, I was up till really late and the dammed infomercials started. I think I watched the P90X infomercial for a whole hour and then when you youtube to look for before and afters. Not much was out for women but I took the plunge.
Part of their nutrition plan said to not drink alcohol for at least the first 4 weeks and that was the one thing I followed to a T. That was the month I dropped the most pounds. After that, I just learned to have a drink here and there but nothing major.
May 1st will be the anniversary date of the day I committed lose weight and become healthier.

Sorry post is long and might have deviated a bit from the topic. I still thing you can lose weight and continue drinking in moderation but I also think that depending how much drinking you do, quitting or scaling down on the drinking helps to lose weight.

OK I'm from the older generation and drinking has never been an issue for me. I dont mind that other people partake and work it into their goals but I value my calories for food intake only. The only time I ever have a drink is on vacation and I've already made a decision not to do that. I simply view alcohol as empty calories for me.

Also I'm not an exercise queen so I dont rack up huge numbers every day to be able to splurge elsewhere. As far as beer and/or liquids effect on the body system as a whole, I have no clue. When we go to a BYOB party, we bring jugs of water. LOL Most of our friends drink and doesnt bother me at all as long as they arent drinking and driving. I lost a friend in my younger days because of this and it seriously scares me.

I do get upset when I see people complaining about being over their goal and I look at their diary and think well if you hadnt had that 500 calories worth of alcohol, you could have stayed under. But I'm not responsible for them or their decisions, only my own.

So for more own set of rule, drinking is not allowed for me, by my choice. I've lost 60 pounds in 4 months, who knows if it would have different if i had substituted a drink every now and then, if it would be different.

Everyone has to find their own journey and what works for them. No two will be exactly alike.

I had to cut it out altogether. I was never a beer drinker, but I was more afraid of the soda cals adding up because i HATE diet.