Help I like to drink!

I like to drink too. And I still drink. In fact, I have a glass of red wine almost every night, and on the weekends I drink beer. Not light beer either.

So, what I do, is work out like a beast so I have extra calories for my delicious booze! I make sure on weekdays I have a decent amount of cals leftover, kind of like "stockpiling" my extra calories, and then I get in really intense workouts on the weekend so I have some wiggle room for beer or cocktails or whatever. I also make sure I'm eating right and staying well hydrated...haven't had much of a problem losing with this approach!

^^this. Commit to counting calories, if you want that drink, make it work...you just gotta work(out) for it.

Alcohol lowers your will power and increases your carb/sugar cravings. So EVERYTHING tastes great when you drink!! Do yourself a favor and ditch the drinks for a little while. Then after you get your eating under control, maybe have one or two every Friday night. But include that in your days calorie allotment or plan for a cheat that day.

I used to have 1-2 drinks on most nights (usually 1, but sometimes 2). Lately, and not even deliberately, I find myself drinking a lot less. I might have half a glass of wine with dinner, and maybe a half a shot of Bailey's in a cup of decaf coffee (or a kamikaze, or a margerita) maybe 3 nights a week.

And yes, I'm losing more now that I've cut down.

Someone said earlier that alcohol lowers inhibitions about eating other things you shouldn't eat, and man is that true! 'Tis a slippery slope... a slippery slope, indeed...

quit drinking till you have your *kitten* sorted out.

gonna have to sacrifice the booze for a while. then you can drink occasionally in moderation :-)

So EVERYTHING tastes great when you drink!!

Untrue. Spicy cheddar cheese queso tastes like crap when paired with a belgian ale.

I didn't drink at all, then the typical "i turned 21' thing happened. After just a few months of heavy drinking a couple nights a week, i gained 20 pounds!! You have to make the decision for yourself - is it worth it?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16047538

The take away is that alcohol calories count more for occasional drinkers and the overweight. Skinny alcoholics rejoice.

Alcohol represents an important source of energy. Despite its comparatively high energy content of 7.1 g/kcal, it is still controversial whether moderate amounts of alcohol represent a risk factor for weight gain and obesity. Epidemiologic data showed a positive, negative, or no relationship between alcohol intake and body weight. Despite the difficulty in assessing alcohol intake as well as controlling for different confounders of the energy-balance equation, the conflicting epidemiologic data can be explained in most instances. Every component of the energy-balance equation is affected by the ingestion of alcohol. Moderate amounts of alcohol enhance energy intake due to the caloric content of the alcohol as well as its appetite-enhancing effects. Alcohol-induced thermogenesis is approximately 20% in healthy nonalcoholic subjects, i.e., moderate alcohol consumers, which is higher than for other energy substrates but considerably lower than in heavy alcohol consumers. This would suggest that a major fraction of the alcohol energy represents a navailable energy source for ATP synthesis in moderate non-daily alcohol consumers. Experimental evidence from several metabolic studies showed a suppression of lipid oxidation by alcohol and thus the enhancement of a positive fat balance. The nonoxidized fat is preferentially deposited in the abdominal area. The experimental metabolic evidence suggests that the consumption of moderate amounts of alcohol has to be accounted for in the energy-balance equation and may represent a risk factor for the development of a positive energy balance and thus weight gain. In the heavy alcohol consumer and eventually also in daily moderate alcohol consumers, a larger fraction of the alcohol energy might not be an available source of energy due to the induction of the microsomal ethanol-oxidizing system (MEOS). Experimental data in combination with epidemiologic findings suggest that alcohol energy counts more in moderate nondaily alcohol consumers than in some moderate daily and all heavy consumers. Accordingly the question is not "Whether alcohol calories do count" but "How much do alcohol calories count?". There seems to be a large individual variability according to the absolute amount of alcohol consumed, the drinking frequency as well as genetic factors. Presently it can be said that alcohol calories count more in moderate nondaily consumers than in daily (heavy) consumers. Further, they count more in combination with a high-fat diet and in overweight and obese subjects.

Try going out and having fun without drinking if you can not achieve that you may have a more serious problem then staying in your cals.

i'm probably in the minority here, but i'm inclined to agree with this guy ^

(spoken from someone who loved to drink and ended up having a problem. five years sober in one month!)

Alcohol lowers your will power and increases your carb/sugar cravings. So EVERYTHING tastes great when you drink!! ...

Not asparagus...

Try going out and having fun without drinking if you can not achieve that you may have a more serious problem then staying in your cals.

i'm probably in the minority here, but i'm inclined to agree with this guy ^

(spoken from someone who loved to drink and ended up having a problem. five years sober in one month!)

Congrads on your 5 years! I have it all through my family, although I seem to have dodged that particular bullet (which, it can be argued, ended up moving me directly into the paths of other ones, but I digress...).

Really, nice work!

Try going out and having fun without drinking if you can not achieve that you may have a more serious problem then staying in your cals.

i'm probably in the minority here, but i'm inclined to agree with this guy ^

(spoken from someone who loved to drink and ended up having a problem. five years sober in one month!)

Not trying to minimize the fact that alcoholism is a serious issue, but not everybody drinks specifically to get drunk. I LOVE the way beer tastes. I don't waste my time on beer that doesn't taste good. If I was out at a sports bar with my friends and everyone had a beer and I was drinking water, I'd be pretty unhappy about it. Not because I have a problem or anything, but because I'd be pretty jealous everyone else gets to have something really delicious that I really like and I'm stuck with a boring alternative.

ETA: Congratulations, though, that is a really huge accomplishment that takes a ton of hard work and dedication

I feel your pain!! I like to drink as well. Here's what helps me - my husband (on the program with me) and I have lots of fun together without the booze. I suggest you spend time with someone you enjoy and have fun with without the drinks. Also, I budget for an indulgence - I will have ONE drink on Friday nights - worth 313 calories - and work that in to my daily numbers. I know that anything beyond that will really undo all my hard work, so that helps me resist and stay strong enough to stop at one. If I am strong enough to resist, so are you!

Try going out and having fun without drinking if you can not achieve that you may have a more serious problem then staying in your cals.

i'm probably in the minority here, but i'm inclined to agree with this guy ^

(spoken from someone who loved to drink and ended up having a problem. five years sober in one month!)

Awesome job!!!!! I have a little over 4 months right now this exact topic was what made me notice my problem and take action! Someone close to me told me the same thing "if you can't have fun without drinking I feel sorry for you" was his exact words. And I quickly noticed that I couldn't, that most (if not all) of my social life involved drinking in some way....I still hang out with the guys, catch the game at the bar etc. but I do not drink. And I still have a blast plus, everyone loves the dd!

Captain Morgan and Diet Coke...... 60 calories of greatness!!!

Yup this is usually what I drink