Advice on alcohol

So, I'm a drinker.  I know it's not the best thing, but a lot of my friends are drinkers, and it's fun to cut loose with them sometimes and just get drunk.

So, I'm 5'7" and about 35 pounds overweight at 180.  This website says I should be limiting my caloric intake to about 1750 calories a day.

My question is this: let's say that, on a Saturday night, I drink ten Miller Lites.  That's 960 calories, no fat, no protein.  About 120 calories are from carbs; the rest is alcohol.

How much food should I eat for the rest of the day?  Should I limit myself to about 800 calories, make the target, but not get adequate nutrition?

Or should I eat 1750 calories of nutritious food, end up almost a thousand calories over target, and just resolve to make sure I hit my target for the rest of the week?

Or something in between?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Don't drink that swill.  You need to find a sippin' beer.  That way you can drink two or three beers and have it last as long as the 10 Miller Lites would.

Try a Sam Adams Triple Bock, Stone Double Bastard, Samuel Smith Taddy Porter or Oatmeal Stout, Chimay, or Rouge Shakespere Stout.

And if you won't take my beer suggestion, don't drink ten Miller Lites.  You'd be better off drinking 5 cans of Icehouse.

If you don't take that advice either.  Add in the 960 and eat maintenance for the day.  Nothing worse than drinking on an empty stomach.

Well, putting the question of what I drink aside, when I do drink, I like to get reasonably inebriated. And apparently it take about 800-1000 calories worth of alcohol to get me there. There are a lot of drinks that don't have many calories besides the alcohol, but whether I drink lite beer or red wine or shots of Jack, I'm getting a lot of calories.

Granted, I probably need to cut down on both how much and how often I drink, but that's a whole different issue.

The question I have is: if I do go to a party, and end up drinking a thousand alcohol calories, how much nutritious food should I eat that day? 750 calories? 1200? 1750?

I don't totally understand what you mean by "eat maintenance for the day" - just eat the normal amount?

Maintenance is what your body burns for the day.  How did you come up with the 1750 number?  I figure you subtracted 500-1000 from your maintenance.

A 5'7" 35 year old male who does light activity for the day would need to eat 2500 calories to maintain the weight of 180 pounds.  So if this person were you, 2500 (maintenance) - 960 (Miller) =1540 (calories left).  This person should eat 1540 calories for the day.

Now, I don't know your age or activity level so I don't know if 1540 is right for you, but you can use the burn meter tool here to figure out your maintenance.

hrm....maybe you must realise there is a problem with your drinking habit - you know you can have just as much fun drinking responsibly. it sounds to me that it is all a joke for you - i'm not telling you how to live your life, if you want to get 'inebriated' then go ahead, but then don't ask how to build up your nutrition for the day, you can't have it both ways. you destroyed your 'healthy' day by drinking. 

jewelsmcblah is right to also tell you to drink responsibly. there is no 'loophole' in getting slim.

Hey there... I used to like to cut up and have a good time too, so this is a question I actually have some experience with... I am with Jewel, you should include your beer calories in your calorie total and eat the amount of calories you would that day if you were trying to maintain... It also might help to alternate beer and water... after one beer, drink a water - it will keep you feeling fuller, keep you from drinking so much, and help you to always feels like you have some drink in your hand... also, I have found that a glass of Merlot or a beer like a lager tend to fill me up a little fuller and do the trick a little faster without having to consume so many calories... and most of all, don't make days like this the rule, make them the exception... have fun, just not too often, or you really won't be able to get the weight off! Good luck...

ayhy....this is something I deal with as well! I seem to still be able to lose as long as the beers I drink fit into my daily allowance....so yea, if I know I'm going out I try to get in as many 'good' calories as possible during the day, or make sure it's a workout day before I go out, so I have a little cushion.

BUT, I have actually just switched to wine (my sis is a figure competitor and she seems to think its the best choice when trying to lose).....I am a big beer and shot girl so this is weird for me; going to a bar and ordering a glass of wine just seems....I don't know, weird! haha I'm getting over that, and for some reason a glass of wine affects me a lot more than a beer and a shot. And I can't seem to get a lot of wine in, so it's going ok so far! Over the weekend I did pretty well haha.

Hey I love beer too.  I drink light beer as well.  I have a pub night once a week (dinner consists of wings/nachos and beer....) and I just don't worry about counting those days.  I just make sure I drink lots and lots of water the next day. 

The OP asked about calorie consumption....not our opinions about his drinking habits.  We all have habits of some sort, that are not so great, however, it's his life and beer isn't the WORST thing on earth.

In my opinion, just eat healthy during the day as usual and not worry so much about exact calories the day you must go out for your socializing.  You can always do extra exercise that day or the next to help rid of extras.

~H~

LOL!  I'm always amazed at how people try to break down booze as though it's just a question of calories and carbs.   Like it's a loaf of bread or a bar of chocolate.   Whereas the bottom line is that alcohol is a poisonous substance that does a lot of damage and is fatal in large amounts.  'Toxin' is a word that gets bandied around on CC....  start talking about artificial sweetners, saturated fats or refined sugars and 'toxin' crops up pretty quickly.  Positively deadly!  (Not)  And yet when it's recommended that someone cuts down on a genuinely toxic substance which will turn their liver into pate in quite a short space of time.... hold on there...  that's a step too far.   Civil liberties are at stake!! ....

OP... I'd say if you're serious about losing weight and improving your quality of life, hanging up your binge-drinking boots will be a very sensible & mature thing to do.  Good luck

Original Post by gi-jane:

 

OP... I'd say if you're serious about losing weight and improving your quality of life, hanging up your binge-drinking boots will be a very sensible & mature thing to do.  Good luck

You know I might have jumped on you a year ago with this but damn as hard as it was to give up the drink, I feel so much better. No more hangovers, no more missed work/class.

When I have the urge, I have a NA beer or three with a massive 60 calories each. If you are at a bar and don't want to look like you are not drinking, have it in a glass.

I don't think there is any reason you can't have weight loss goals AND drink when out with friends.

if your normal caloric intake is say 1700 to lose weight, and you have 2200 as maintenance, then go ahead and eat 1700, and then save the rest for your beverages.....just keep it in line with your calorie goals and you should be ok. I wouldn't limit to the food intake to 800 or whatever to keep the rest of the cals for drinking, just because you want to make sure you are getting cals from good nutrients, not the empty carbs from beers/drinks.

But if you really are only going out every once in awhile...then don't worry about it at all. 1 bad night out of 30 isn't going to do you THAT much harm....just drink plenty of water before, during, and after (which helps w hangovers too!), and get back to it the next day!

I'm sure ppl won't agree with me......but there is nothing wrong w an adult partaking in alcoholic beverages from time to time, and can still have loss goals.

Good luck....and HAVE FUN!

Original Post by itsbutters:

Original Post by gi-jane:

 

OP... I'd say if you're serious about losing weight and improving your quality of life, hanging up your binge-drinking boots will be a very sensible & mature thing to do.  Good luck

You know I might have jumped on you a year ago with this but damn as hard as it was to give up the drink, I feel so much better. No more hangovers, no more missed work/class.

When I have the urge, I have a NA beer or three with a massive 60 calories each. If you are at a bar and don't want to look like you are not drinking, have it in a glass.

NA beer is soooo nasty.

I can't believe how many people are jumping down your throat about this. Hopefully you can get the answer you're looking for and not the scolding that you are recieving atm.

The whole point is to learn how to still live one's life AND maintain/lose weight. 

I am a fan of beer as well but I dont like light beer.  Not only doesnt it not taste as full and rich as regular ale but I find that the calories I am saving with the "light" aspect I end up losing by drinking more of them.  I drink craft ales which are far more satisfying and I drink less of them.  And I have been known to drink a few shots of tequila (1 oz = 69 calories) as a supplement, another way that keeps my beer consumption down.  I believe the beer I like is between 150 and 200 calories, probably closer to the 200 mark. 

Lots of people drink, its a social thing, so enjoy...Just dont get into your car afterwards!!!!!

I've read my share of weight loss books recently. There's much controversy about fat, carbs, protein, calories, glycemic index, yadda yadda. It's dizzying trying to figure out which one to follow. One thing that everyone agrees on is that alcohol is empty calories. When you drink alcohol, it affects your blood sugar, which affects your insulin production, which in turn affects your fat stores. Your body can not gain any nutrients from booze and so it just gets converted directly to fat. All alcohol does this, but beer seems to be the worst, maybe because of the barley...I'm not sure.

That being said, I LOVE BEER. I'm a beer girl. Particularly Miller Lite. I'd mostly say it's contributed to my weight gain the most. I recently began a lifestyle change of really watching what I put into my body and how it affects me. I've noticed that after going 3 weeks with no drinks at all, my tolerance to alcohol has significantly reduced. Really, when you think about it, 3 weeks is not a lot of time. If you want to get drunk, but you're concerned about your weight, unfortunately there isn't a way to marry the two. (That I've found, anyway.)

I will tell you, I do feel better not drinking. But also, there are times when I want a beer or two. So I have them. With my new lower tolerance, I only need 2. (Cheap date, LOL!!) Maybe taking a short hiatus from drinking would allow you to not have to drink so much to get the effects you're after. Also, I would tell you to not cut your food calories drastically to make room for beer, you know, nutrients and all. I would look at the quality of the food you're eating though. Hope that helps, and sorry for the novel.

Hey like to do the same myself, thing I did was switch to vodka and diet coke or else bacardi as it's the lowest in calories or else i'll split my night between beer and vodka! My problem is at the end of the night how do i stop myself eating bad food???

The previous posts have some good advice. The hardest thing i find myself is resisting the urge to eat junk when i have had some drinks.

BUT apart from that, i count my drinks in my calorie allowance and that's it. I have lost 35lbs since June 19th and i feel fantastic. I can't be to rigid or hard on myself when it comes to good food or the occasional drink or I would have given up a long time ago. I think if you are sensible you can have a little bit of what you fancy and still lose weight!!

Good luck!!

everyone deserves an allowance, i know it's not written in the constitution ro anything, but it's just true. Just give yourself a certain and reasonable amount of calories each weekend, so it helps you stick to your diet.

so, let's say your allowance is like pshh i don't know like 500 calories, that'd be about 5 miller lites. so that's your reward, you get a bit tipsy and it's all fun, you still get a few laughs with your biddies and still maintain your diet.

it's a compromise dude, maybe not a great one, but a compromise, none the less. try it out, see if it works, if it does, great! if not, well then you're beat.

At least he's being honest that he drinks 10 Miller Lites. My husband always asks when I come in smelling like a brewery and slurring, "so how much did you drink?" and I'm like oh, just two beers. Uh huh. More like 2 shots of whiskey, 4 beers (big german beers) and a cocktail.  People go out. People have fun. Sometimes it involves alcohol. We're not all sitting at home knitting and watching the 10 o'clock news. I think Jewel had the best advice. I just know that when I owned a bar, I gained loads. But of course, I was drinking almost every night for 3 years. Scary. Now it's more like once a month when I'm playing a concert and drinks are on the house. I don't log in those drinks, I chalk it up to a bad day and move on. But I log in if I'm having a glass of wine with dinner. I found that since CC I rarely drink at all during the week, and I don't miss it. Weird.

First off, people are crazy--skip the scolding he had a simple question and he didn't need everyone's anti-drinking campaigns.

Secondly, I agree with Jewel, but I think I have a better solution for you. Normally people know when they are going out so if you get a call on Monday saying hey lets go out Friday that leaves you 5 days to eliminate 1000 calories. Instead of eating 1750 eat 1550 or eat 1500 just in case (you may find 10 is not enough). I think if you eliminate that many calories in food for the day it will be unhealthy (i.e. the least amount of calories you can eat for the day is 1200)

Now if you get a call on Friday and your friends are like hey lets get drunk tonight you are somewhat screwed. If that is the case eat the most nutricious food and still try to shoot for AT LEAST 1200 calories for that day and minus 225 calories from saturday and sunday.

Or, you can just say F-it and go over for that day and have a good time, which I think is important. Sometimes restricting your life makes dieting suck and you want to give up.

Keep in mind I'm not a nutritionist and I'm probably gonna get a lot of criticism, but drink responsibly.

Ayhy I got this one down pat.  When i first started losing weight I would need at least 20 drinks to carry a buzz all night but since i have lost tons of weight I can roll with only 10 so and it is much easier.  This is what you do........Plan ahead.  On the couple of days leading up to your drinking eat only 1600 calories or so (do not go below 1500), on the day after try and do the same thing.  That way you save about 450 calories.  On the day that you drink take your calories from food down to 1500 (get good foods like beans and protein) and drink your face off.  I also used to drink beer only but I have changed to Vodka soda's instead since soda water has nothing in it and vodka has 65 calories per ounce.  I still put down the beers but I try and put three or four Vodka Soda's down (or shots of vodka with a chaser with no calories) and that way if I have ten drinks I am closer to 700 to 800 in extra calories. I have done this religiously (some times 7 times in a month) and I continue to lose 1.5 to two lbs per week!

But I have also found that my drinking has gone down considerably since I started because I am addicted to seeing the scale drop. 

You can do it player I know you can!