Alcohol

H

hanabi

New member
Hey everyone,

As a recent 21 year old (as of yesteray!), while I don't plan on being any sort of a regular drinker, I do anticipate that I'll be consuming alcohol at least time to time from now on!

So I was just wondering how everyone deals with it in the context of your diet.

I noticed while celebrating yesterday that for some reason, it was very easy to not think much about how much I was drinking, in terms of calories. While I'm usually vigilant about every bite I put into my mouth, and was careful to not consume too many cupcake, I found myself not caring how much I drank (and I really couldn't guess, since I basically just sampled a bit of every type of alcohol there is, don't know exactly how much). I'm not talking about drinking too much as in getting drunk, but purely from a diet perspective.

Do you guys plan for if you know you're going to drink in the evening? Save up calories for it? Do you measure how much you're having?

Thanks so much for any advice! Like I said, I don't plan on drinking much, and not even large quantities since I actually don't much care for mixed drinks that it's easy to drink a lot of, but still, I would hate for my progress acquiring a healthy diet to be completely thrown off track after adding alcohol into the mix.
 
Hiya Hanabi,

Happ Birthday (for yesterday)

best of luck with your diet or healthy eating. I hope I can offer you some useful advice.

I'll just quickly mention some reasons why alcohol is so bad for diets, but then add some advice if you real feel like a drink.

Alchol is so bad for a diet for these reasons,

1. Its very full of calories. And completely empty calories. A glass of wine is about 150 cals, the same for a pint of beer and a shot of vodka. Even though it is so high in calories there is virtually no good nutrition in there. You are just drinking empty calories.

2. If you have some alcohol you could well get drunk, and if not drunk then just a bit tipsy. This could well mean you lose your ability to consider the consequences of youre actions. After a glass of wine you will be easily give into temptations to have some pizza as well. Alcohol also makes people hungry.

3. In the morning if you wake up with a hangover you may lose so of your motivation to go for a walk or some exercise that you had planned to do in the morning.

So to sum up, alcohol is very high in calories, makes you feel even more hungry, can make you make bad diet choices and hinder your exercise regime.

However, saying this, alcohol is pretty nice and if you do want to have some I'd do something like this.

1. On the day you drink work out roughly how much you want to drink, say 3 glasses of red wine (450). Don't knock off 450 off your diet, but maybe knock off 200 cals and do a bit more exercise.

2. Drink plenty of water while drinking, to stop effects of hangover.

3. Find the one drink you like and try not to mix drinks. This way its easier to count calories and you won't get so drunk.

Hope that helps!

all the best
 
I enjoy the occasional beer, but it does count against my calories for the day. Consequently, I don't drink very often because it always seems like there is something else I'd rather have for the 140-150 calories - a half cup of ice cream or some nuts, perhaps.
 
JohnL12 said:
1. Its very full of calories. And completely empty calories. A glass of wine is about 150 cals, the same for a pint of beer and a shot of vodka. Even though it is so high in calories there is virtually no good nutrition in there. You are just drinking empty calories.
Click to expand...

From what I've read (and happy to be pointed out wrong on this one), most spirits are much lower in calories - probably because drunk in smaller quantities with a mixer. i.e. a shot of vodka should be around 50 cals and a diet soda pretty much nothing.

Like anything, drinking in moderation should be fine - but yep, watch the calories and if you do get a bit drunk don't throw caution to the wind and drink more and then eat a kebab on the way home!!!
 
Thanks to all of you SO MUCH for your advice!! I really appreciate it.

I guess I'll have to go out and do some research on the calories in various kinds of alcohol, and commit that to memory! Mixing spirits with no-cal drinks like Coke sounds like a great idea, so I'll have to try that as well!

It sounds like I've also got to guard against the possibility of my judgement getting impaired and making further bad food or drink choices, too....suppose I'll have to make sure I have an accountability buddy there with me. :D
 
I actually... and this is going to sound bad... lost a bit of weight from partying at college. During those nights I wouldn't eat a lot, just get kind of drunk on spirits and diet soda. And of course we were running around being silly.
 
the best advice i can give for alcohol is try not to get wrapped up into it to much. sorta grin that you can and move on.
 
Last edited:
I plan to drink if I want to drink. I normally have a small glass of wine or two once in a blue moon, I then get tipsy quite easily and end up with 1 glass being enough for me.

I'd allow 125kcals per small glass of wine, 250kcals for a large but bear in mind that home measures are slap happy, hence the 125ml glass (which would be 100kcals if measured out correctly) ends up being 125kcals. I rarely order a large glass as its just the taste I want.

Sprits are definetly the way to go, Pimms is great as Pimms and diet lemonade is 50kcals per shot and plump it up with fresh fruit with mint leaves and its a nice drink. Vodka and diet coke are good for the more Autuminal months and mulled wine made with diet blackcurrent squash, diet lemonade and a little red wine with lots of Chritsmassy fruit added is good for Christmas.
 
Thanks to everyone for the info and tips, and for being willing to help out an alcohol newb. :D

I haven't had anything to drink since my birthday anyway, so I guess it won't even be a huge problem. But it's good to have a plan for it anyway!
 
Hi hanabi

Have you ever thought about giving up alcohol altogether. I can promise you that you will feel a lot more healthier. I haven't drank any alcohol for the last 30 years. I have a great vision and perspective of life in general. Life is a breeze. Eliminate the negative and acentuate the positive. All the best.
 
All things in moderation. Alcohol is empty calories and doesn't really do your body any good. But it can be a nice reward every once in a while if it is something that you enjoy. One drink a week would probably be a good rule.

I love beer. I used to drink quite a bit of it up until recently. I decided that losing weight and being healthy was more important to me than drinking it. I cut it out completely for a long time when I was on my weight loss plan. Since then I don't really want to drink as much anymore. Everyone in a while I will have one as a reward, but we are talking like one every couple of months.
 
TrumpetGuy said:
All things in moderation. Alcohol is empty calories and doesn't really do your body any good.
Click to expand...

That simply is not true. There are some benefits to moderate consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages (e.g. Red Wine). It's the moderation that is important here.
 
medicinenet.com:

Are there health benefits to consuming alcohol?

Many people have heard that there are health benefits to alcohol and claim to consume it for that reason. All reported benefits are limited to an intake at or below the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendations of one drink per day or less for women and two or fewer drinks per day for men.

There has been an association described between alcohol and reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). The reason for this is that alcohol helps raise the levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and lowers plasma fibrinogen levels, which contribute to blood clotting.

A Danish study of 27,178 men and 29,875 women who were free of CHD monitored their intake of alcohol over 5.7 years. The men who drank the most alcohol had a lower risk of CHD. One drink a week lowered the risk by about 7%, two to four drinks by 22%, and five or six drinks a week by 29%. Those who drank every day had a 41% lower risk of heart disease than those who did not drink at all. The women also experienced a decrease in risk, but the frequency of drinking did not have the same impact as with the men. One drink a week lowered the risk by 36%, but daily drinking lowered it by 35%. The limitation to this study was that binge drinking and the number of drinks at each occasion were not studied. The pattern of drinking seems important for the possible cardioprotective effect of alcohol, and the risk of CHD is generally lower for steady versus binge drinking. Higher drinking levels increase the risk of death from cancer, liver cirrhosis, trauma, and other types of heart disease.

----------------------------------

How to enjoy a drink without declaring war on your diet

By Elaine Magee, MPH, RD
WebMD Weight Loss Clinic - Expert Column

Reviewed By Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD/LD

If women say, "This dessert is going straight to my hips," men should say, "This beer is going straight to my belly."

That's because it's difficult for your body to use alcohol calories for energy. Which means -- watch out! -- those calories usually get turned into fat. A gram of alcohol is worth 7 calories, compared with a gram of protein or carbohydrate, worth 4 calories each.

So what's a beer-drinking or wine-sipping weight-conscious person to do? How can you walk through the alcohol minefield without blowing up your healthful intentions?

Consider alcohol beverages weekly -- and moderate -- "treats" instead of a daily ritual.

Eat before imbibing. You'll be less likely to over-consume and as the meal's protein and carbs are used as energy the negative metabolic effects of the empty alcohol calories are moderated.

Make better beverage choices. Choose certain beers, wines, and other drinks, and you can minimize the carb and alcohol calories coming from your cocktail.

100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

Take your pick: want fewer calories or fewer carbohydrate grams? Non-alcoholic beers have fewer calories than light beers but "light" beers have fewer carb grams and "low-carb beers" fewer still (averaging 95 calories and 2.6 grams of carbohydrates). Choose either kind of brew and you're ahead of regular beer drinkers, who imbibe 140 calories and 13 grams of carbohydrates with every bottle or can. Check out the carb and calorie stats below.

Non-Alcoholic Beers

There are two domestic and two import non-alcoholic beers available. My husband says the imports seem to have more flavor, but the domestic beers are good, too.

Beer (12 oz) Calories Carbohydrate (g)
O'Doul's 79 13.3
Sharps >58 12.1
Clausthaler non-alcoholic 89 18.8
St. Pauli N.A. n/a n/a


Light Beers

American beer makers seem to be into the "light" beer act these days. Which one tastes best? My guess is if you like Coors you'll probably like Coors Light, and if you're a Bud imbiber, you'll probably like Bud Light best. Check out the difference in calories and carbs below.

Beer (12 oz) Calories Carbohydrate (g)
Coors Light 102 5
Miller Lite 96 3.2
MGD Miller Genuine Draft Light n/a n/a
Bud Light n/a n/a


Wine contributes few carbs but around 160 calories per cup, with only sweet dessert wines tipping the scales in both calories and carbs. One way to make your one delicious cup of wine last longer is to make a spritzer by blending wine with an equal amount of seltzer, club soda, or diet 7 UP. Purists, of course, can simply sip theirs as is, or enjoy it with a meal.

Wine (1-cup) Calories Carbohydrate (g)
Dry White Wine 158 1.5
Medium White Wine 160 1.9
Red Wine 170 4
Sweet Dessert Wine 362 28
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top