Honestly, would you rather drink more than you eat..?

I was just reviewing my calorie intake on Thursday (my only day off from work) and I realised that about 60-70% of it comes from martinis, spirits and wine. I have to say that I love alcohol, but I only drink once a week. Used to drink almost every day which was very unhealthy.

Honestly, if it's not unhealthy, I'd rather drink my calories than eat them when I don't have to work. I'd stay away from the sugary ones (as much as I love lime margaritas, daiquiris) and the very strong ones (long island iced tea, ak47, french 75's) and now switch to dirty martinis, gin tonic and stuff.

I am definitely getting healthier now, eating small meals of yogurt, fruits, milk and lean meats, but I really don't like or go for full meals, but I keep my calorie intake to 1,500-1,700 and exercise for the rest of the 6 days in a week (mostly running/jogging).

I am wondering if anyone's like me in this forum? Do you crave for drinks more than sugary treats?

Original Post by girlabsolut:

I was just reviewing my calorie intake on Thursday (my only day off from work) and I realised that about 60-70% of it comes from martinis, spirits and wine. I have to say that I love alcohol, but I only drink once a week. Used to drink almost every day which was very unhealthy.

Honestly, if it's not unhealthy, I'd rather drink my calories than eat them when I don't have to work.

Sorry to burst your bubble but yes, that is very unhealthy. Alcohol in moderation is ok, but by moderation I mean one drink a day, a few days a week. Either that or a couple of drinks on the weekend is fine too, but 60-70% of your calories coming from alcohol means you are binge drinking. Even if you are drinking less often than you used to, I still think you need to cut down.

Over-restricting calories so you can drink more is even more unhealthy than just binge-drinking in the first place - there's no food in your system to slow down the absorption of alcohol into your bloodstream so you'll get drunk quicker and your liver will be put into overdrive. Not good for your system at all.

Hey, thanks for the reply. I know that it's unhealthy, that's why I cut down the number of days that I go out drinking.. from 7 to 1 in a week.

So right now, I suppose I'd restrict my alcohol intake to 2-3 drinks.. but at the age of 20, with all the parties and all, I don't think a lot of people my age can really stop at that! (But I'll try).

Just wondering if there are anybody out there in this forum who kinda do the same thing as I do..

If you stick to two or three drinks that would be a really smart & mature thing to do.  Getting blind drunk isn't necessary to enjoy a night out and no, it's not very good for your health to binge-drink.  You're not alone, of course...    People who prefer to drink alcohol and cut back on food to keep their weight down now have a fancy new title.... "Drunkorexics".  And unfortunately they're even more at risk than people who just drink a lot.   Interesting comment by one contributor in this article.  'It's socially acceptable to be drunk, but it's not OK to be fat'. 

Sorry, I can't tell you that it won't hurt you because it will.   Alcohol is the single most toxic substance that it is legal to sell.

http://alcoholselfhelpnews.wordpress.com/2007 /03/15/alcohol-is-toxic-and-damages-the-brain /

and

http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000 /21827/24750/261313.html?d=dmtContent

Be more concerned with nutrition.  Do some reading and focus on making sure you know what good nutrition is. 

No alcohol for me. EVER. ..and I'm young too. I'm a coffeholic though. I'd love to be able to just drink coffee all day long. :'D

I've been lead to believe that most health care professionals agree that it is better to have ONE alcoholic drink PER DAY than to have multiple drinks at one time... even if it's infrequently.  Multiple drinks put strain on your body because your liver can only process so much alcohol per hour. ..but if you don't care about your liver, heart or blood pressure and are looking at this in a strictly weight concise manner. ..drinking your calories is fine as long as you keep it in the same range of calories you'd normally eat. However I don't recommend doing that because it is unhealthy.

I second what gacktastic said about one per day being better than multiple at once. Routinely having a glass of wine or a pint with dinner is fantastically different and easier on your body than a night of binge drinking (imagine a drop of poison versus a tablespoon). Now, don't get me wrong- I prefer Scotch to...anything, and I do have it, but it helps for me to keep in mind that your body takes 3 times as long to burn calories from alcohol than food/non-alcoholic beverages. 3 TIMES! So if your shot of vodka is 120 calories, it takes 3 times as long to burn that versus the 120 calories in your yogurt (or whatever else has 120 calories haha). Just something that might help you want to make that drink last!

i would rather drink my calories than eat them, in fact i ration out my calories on the days i know i'm going to be going out so i can have a drink, or if i'm having a bad day, i'm extra carefull with what i'm eating so i can have a drink or two.

i know its not healthy, but i think most of us are on here because we dont choose the most healthy behavior to begin with. i'm not justifying it, just explaining, lol