Alcohol
skiiniii
Posts: 3
Hey! I am wondering if anyone has any general views about drinking alcohol while counting calories. It seems obvious to just.. count the drinks, but I've found that I tend to "stop counting" whenever I feel a big night coming on! I've tried drinking less, of course, with varying success.. I've tried eating less on those days (eg Saturdays) to make room, but then I'm just super hungry, followed by super drunk and super hungover. Do you ever just not count your alcohol calories? Like once a week or something? Or do you make up for it with a big workout on Monday or something?
Tips? Views?
Tips? Views?
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Replies
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I still try and count them. Generally if I know i'm going to have a heavy weekend I work my *kitten* off in the week to save some calories for it.
Make sure you still eat well on the drinking day though or it's messy (accidently made that mistake last weekend lol)0 -
I like to drink on the weekends too. What I found works is watching the calories all week(eating less than what you can) and then you have extra for the weekends! I've lost about 20 lbs so far doing this. I can't not eat when I drink or the hangover will be horrific!0
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I usually just go over my calorie goal on days I drink. I drink about twice a month (but go over my goal with junk food once or twice a week), and I'm still losing weight right on schedule.0
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I've cut down on my drinking & try not 2 during the week..although this sometimes happens by accident!! .on days im going out I just count what drinks i have & dont really worry about it as i dont want to spoil my fun! i think during the days before i prob eat fewer cals & it all balances out over the week..you can also swop drinks..i still enjoy cider or wine but now have gin or vodka which are fewer cals..unfortunately the hangover is just as painful!! :drinker: :sick:0
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I like to drink on weekends, but I think I'm going to cut down to maybe every other weekend or once a month. I tend to completely go off my diet when I drink because it's so many calories and I crave and eat bad things like pizza when I'm drunk. So I need to do it less often...0
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The only time I don’t count is when I know that I’m going to be getting inebriated. And this just includes things like weddings/bachelorette parties/birthday parties (if it’s out)/friends I don’t get to see often visiting(generally college friends)…etc. Stuff like that where I know that everyone is going to be drinking and I know that I’ll want to as well. These events don’t happen in my life every weekend so I generally just chalk up the day to a ‘cheat day’ (even though in general I don’t ‘cheat’ I just log everything) and don’t log even the food I’m eating. I figure it will even out in the long run, or I’ll be extra good about working out the week after or something.
Anyway, ‘saving’ calories by not eating as much doesn’t help…as you’ve already found out with the getting too drunk/hungover.
If I’m simply having a drink or two with a friend or with dinner or just lounging at home…I log it and try to stay within my calorie budget as normal. I love beer…and the beer I drink isn’t anything with ‘light’ in the name. I’ve had a number of beers that clock in at around 300 calories for one bottle…but I just have that one. I have to leave out a snack for the day or just shave 100 calories off of some of my meals or whatever.
I can say that I’ve cut down on drinking though. I don’t stress out about it too much….it’s supposed to relieve stress…not cause it, LOL.
It’s fun though, since I’m watching my calorie intake I’ve been prompted to make some lower calorie options for the drinks I really like….testing them out being the ‘fun’ part. =D0 -
For me, consistency has been key. I hold myself accountable and track the alcohol calories no matter how depressing it may turn out to be. Whether it's a bottle of wine or a few well drinks, I like to know where I'm at so I can make up for it throughout the week. In my opinion there are no disadvantage to being aware of my drinking.0
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My two cents... I love LOVE red wine, and love having wine with dinner, and after dinner... if I'm going to drink any at all, I will end up (usually) drinking the whole bottle, since my boyfriend doesn't like to drink very much. And red wine does not keep very well, so wasting it would be a crime, right? Might as well just drink it and enjoy!
However, in the past I when I have been super committed to a weight loss goal, I have given up ALL drinking until I reach my goal, and then make adjustments with the calories when I decide it's OK to add alcohol back into my diet. That might be tough, it's not for everyone, but it's just one approach. The reason I adopted such a drastic approach, is because I get the munchies when I drink, and being drunk causes me to lose all self control, and I end up with not only the extra calories from the alcohol itself, but also about 1,000 extra calories worth of munchies too!0 -
Alcohol is liquid sugar for your body - it is dumped into your bloodstream ready to be stored as you guessed it fat. It takes nothing for your body to store it. Work your *kitten* off the day before the the night out, the day of and the morning after if you can. Get the sugar out of your system the next morning or it will be just sitting there ready to go to your belly. Watch carbs if you are drinking - your body will crave carbs and fat - can you say pizza. Eat low fat protein instead, veggies. If you are a guy chicken wings should be right off the list. Do whole wheat pita bread and hummus, veggies and low fat dip. Salsa and meat.
I find this works for me and yes I like my beers on the weekend only.0 -
Well...I'm a beer lover so I have two ways of dealing with drinking. Also, it's worth noting that I am now in graduate school and have been since August of 2012 and I do not have any money, LOL. So I don't really drink as MUCH beer as I used to. When I was working full time and had the cheapest rent imaginable it would be nothing for me to be try a new beer most days of the week. Alas...
At that time, if I was going to have a beer in the evening (or a glass of wine...etc) I would count it in my log. I still ate the same things that I would normally...I'd just replace a snack with the drink or have a little less of my snack. It's not really a good idea to not eat to make up for the calories you are going to drink if you're planning on having more than ~2 drinks. Like you said, it just leads to you being hungry, more drunk, and more hungover (and possibly eating something crazy on the walk home, lol).
If there was something going on like a party (like one of the many bachelorette parties I attended....) and I knew I'd be getting drunk...I wouldn't count them. I did not regularly have a 'cheat' day, so I guess I explained it by thinking it would be like some really rare 'cheat' day.
As long as you have the self control and discipline to eat well the rest of your time, I don't think it's a big deal not to count them. I wouldn't do that every weekend though.
Now, I still drink beer (mostly homebrewed stuff...so I have no idea how many calories it is anyway) but not nearly as much. I'm poor and busy as all get out with grad school. =D
But...you can't deny yourself a good time every once in a while if that's what you enjoy.0 -
Well, I like a beer once in a while, I have Rosacea so I never get more than one a day anyway. So, If I'm going to drink a beer, I want it to be a good one not a wimpy diet beer. I'll take the 2 or 300 calories since I only get one. But, I will work out after, to burn off the sugar, now that I know (from reading previous posts) that it turns immediately into sugar. I'm diabetic so that's not good for me.
Just BTW, IS there any really GOOD TASTING diet (low calorie) beer?0 -
Icehouse comes to mind... 16oz comes in at 180 calories and it's 5.5% alcohol...0
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Alcohol is liquid sugar for your body - it is dumped into your bloodstream ready to be stored as you guessed it fat.
Actually it is metabolized immediately...your body cannot store alcohol sugars. The effect on your metabolism is that you can't metabolize all the other crap you are eating while you're drinking...but you can't store alcohol sugars as fat, they must be metabolized before anything else.0
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