will quitting drinking really help THAT much??

Umm, yes. The occasional alcohol is ok. The weekly or bi weekly is a little much. For me I've realized the more I workout the less I can drink as my body is metatbolizing it differently, and I really dont want a drink every week or even month anymore, because I 'm already zapped. Plus, alcohol makes me retain water for a few days.


" Alcohol increases insulin sensitivity predisposing carbs ingested with alcohol to be converted to fat. Alcohol inhibits fat burning predisposing fat ingested with alcohol to also be stored as fat. So if you are looking for a practical strategy for alcohol consumption, here it is.

1.Take an insulin mimicker when you drink – alpha lipoic acid is the first that comes to mind. This will help shuttle carbs into glycogen instead of store them as fat by limiting the insulin response. There are limits. If you ingest too many carbs you are going to get a big insulin response, which leads to the second thing you can do…

2. Limit your carb intake while drinking – More than anything else, this will keep the weight gain at bay.

3. Do not combine fats and carbs when you drink, or eliminate fats entirely. The combination of fats and carbs together when drinking makes weight loss impossible and weight gain inevitable."

- paraphrased from lookcut -

Quitting drinking is a responsible decision. We always seem to eat more when we do drink and more than 1 drink is hard on your liver

This, and I've noticed that my body is a lot more sluggish when I run the morning after I've had even a glass of wine!

Of note, read an article in a running mag in how sometimes an adult beverage the night before can enhance a run (1 or 2 though, not 6 or 7). I actually ran 5 miles after several adult beverages the night before with no real effect on my running. Guess it is all individaulized.

I drink ridiculous quantities of wine on a regular basis and it makes absolutely no odds to me as long as I follow my (very satisfying) food intake plan.

Check out the Banting Diet from back in the 1800's, that man is my nutritional hero.

I believe in a mix of rum and diet coke, rum is actually less harmfull for your health compared to coke. It's not only about calories!

Surely... it's all just about being within your calorie goal? I sometimes have a pint of beer..

I go out on some Friday's. It's just about having a sensible low calorie day to support the additional alcohol calories....

OH and, less calories and food in the day means drunken quicker = cheaper night! Classic!

If you can't for go the temptation to then eat pizza after a couple of drinks.... thats kinda your problem

I think that you can set your body up to preferentially burn excess energy in the face of a reasonably moderate calorie surplus so no, it's not about hard limits on calories, in my opinion.

It makes no sense that the human body is so inflexible that it needs such a narrow daily energy intake in order to maintain optimum health ... I know this is heresy to the 3500 calories = whatever crowd but hey, that's my belief ...

I avoid beer and that's about the limit of my alcohol intake rules. Works for me

I'm the same! I don't drink much, but when I started counting calories I decided to cut out alcohol completely.

I'm really happy with the decision for several reasons. The money I would have spent on drinks I've used for more fresh produce and interesting meats like wild boar and venison. A glass of wine is about 3.50 GBP, so if I have one drink out plus contribute a bottle of wine to a movie night, I'd be out around 12 GBP. That's a lot of fruit and veg!

Also, because a glass of wine or a pint is quite calorific, when I stick with water or Diet Coke I can spend those calories on the food at the social gathering. I don't have to be the person who doesn't have any birthday cake or can't have any crisps. I still have a drink in my hand, but I know that type of drink won't push me over my calorie limit.

Add to that the fact that I don't feel buzzy (or tipsy, which has only happened a few times) ever, and I just feel much better and fulfilled throughout the week.

Help? Whoa, slow down there, Pilgrim. No way, keep drinking! Sanity has it's place in all this. I mean lets not get ridiculous! Red wine is GOOD for you :drinker: I mean, if I have to quit drinking, what the hell am I going to do with all the wine in my cellar? :huh: :huh: Fanatics! :devil:

This subject is near my heart . BTW, I think alcohol is pretty awesome. Its just not that fun for me anymore. Special occasions (weddings, vacations, crazy bad day) I'll imbide (every month or three), but every Tues ( live jazz), Fri ( end of week), Sat (wine tasting) & Sun (Brunch), not so much anymore. I dont see the friends I did this with as much, because they want to drink and I want to gym, and for me tacos, and pastries taste better with my Jack Daniels neat than raw veg and fruit.

you can do it occasionally but I know there the same amount of calories in a glass of red wine as there is in a big mac but if you do it like once a month you should be fine

Holy crap how big is that glass?

A big Mac is about 540 cals!

Not sure I can tell you anything different than what's already been said. I wouldn't give up going out with your friends. Just limit the drinks to maybe one and drink water. It's sad that alcohol has so many calories. Just be wise and either drink lower calorie drinks and limit your intake. If you start giving up things you enjoy then the weight loss journey will get discouraging and you tend to give up.