new member looking to lose 15 lbs but LOVES her cocktails

Hi all!  I am really struggling because I am the heaviest I've ever been.  I'm 5'2 1/2", weigh 128 lbs, on a thin frame.  I'm doing alright, not great, limiting intake, but I have one huge issue:

I love my cocktails!  I've been able to talk myself down to flavored rum & diet coke, but I'm still drinking about 4 or 5 at a time, about 4 times a week.  These cocktails then make me hungrier, causing me to generally have some sort of snack between 10pm-12am (even if it's just soup or veggies). I have a very social lifestyle, am a night owl, and always find myself hungrier after 7 pm than the whole rest of the day. I also tend to binge eat at night after drinking, and I'm definitely an emotional eater- I just got laid off work about a month ago and have put on an additional 4 lbs.

I have excessive belly, thigh, and butt fat, and really hate the way I look. I'm aiming for 1300 calories a day, but it's hard, and I do about 25 mins of cardio 5 times a week. 

Anyone have any advice? I want to be 112 lbs ASAP!!!  My clothes don't even fit anymore!

i've lost about 25 pounds total, very slowly, and i've come to the conclusion that i can eat anything i want OR i can drink anything i want, but i can't do both. 

i'm not about to give up alcohol completely, but i know now that it's the key to my weight (i'm not going to give up eating, right?).  so while i'm trying to lose, i have to keep it to a minimum.  say - four drinks a week.  once i'm at maintenance, i'll renegotiate that.

maybe you need to give yourself so many nights out per month, and once you've used those up, you're a homebody until the next month.

HI!  Thanks for the response....great advice- the problem is, I drink at home.  Usually I'll be playing with my dog, playing poker on the computer, or watching a movie with my boyfriend.  I really only go out to drink about once a week, if that. 

I've been able to give up certain foods that I love in order to have the cocktails, but my concern is that I'm not being healthy (eg: yesterday, out of a total 1400 cals, 1055 were from food, and the rest from alcohol).

same principle applies, though, right? 

yes, you are right.  I guess I was just hoping someone would tell me how to "have my booze and drink it too", so to speak. 

I had the same problem... drinking beer is the reason I put on 40 pounds over 4 years... so, I had to make the decision to cut out the drinking... if I go out, then I allow myself to have a drink or two (and sometimes really cut up), but sitting around the house, I don't drink... or, if I do I have a glass of red wine... 125 calories per 5 oz. glass and I can sip it and make it last... you don't have to give up drinking, just make sure that 25% of your daily calories are not alcohol... oh, and to fight the urge to eat, drink water. I used to have the same issues, but now I make sure that I drink 3 large glasses of water after I drink and I'm not hungry (and it helps with hangovers!)... Good luck!

If someone would figure out that diet, they'd become filthy rich.  I can't have more than 3 or 4 drinks a week, even counting the calories in to my calorie intake.  It totally stops the weight loss process for me.  I enjoy my booze too, but I gotta make a decision; I work hard counting calories as is, do I really want to screw up my efforts for a temporary buzz?  Sometimes the buzz wins, sometimes I'm in control.  Always, the scale tells the truth the following morning.

You sound EXACTLY like me!!!!

Please don't take this as a judgemental reply, but I think you already know the answer.  It's not healthy for the majority of your calories to be alcohol.  I'm a beer drinker, and I used to drink 4-5 nights a week.  I would say the easiest thing to do is cut out at least of those drinking at home nights.  I think its hardest to cut back when you're out having fun with friends.  The other trick I use is to keep single servings at home so that I don't just keep pouring out of the bottle.  I'm talking about wine, but the same might work for hard liqour.  Drinking most definitely makes you hungrier.  Eating most of your calories at once could be holding you back from losing weight. 

hi all-

first of all, i dont take anyone's advice as judgemental- that would be awfully silly, considering i'm the one who asked for it!  I appreciate all the feedback and would like to report that I'm doing ok, not great.  Part of my issue is that I was fired unfairly about a month ago, and so drinking has been a way of "hiding my feelings" (i am classified as an emotional eater, so this goes along with it), and that's why I've been consuming so much at home.  When I was working, I only drank once, tops twice, a week.  Right now I've got a couple of job prospects in the works, so it's easier to steer clear of the alcohol, and with the help of this site's food listings, I've been following my 1300 cal-a-day diet.  How amazing is it that they have restaurants listed!  Anyway, I appreciate everyone's help, and keep up the words of advice! xo

Sorry to hear about your job loss.  That's a hard thing to go through.  Good luck with your job prospects.  I hope your luck turns around soon.  This site has been so helpful to me as well.  Take care!

Cocktails are my challenge too. I have a really rough job (dealing with child abuse and neglect all day) and having a wind-down cocktail (or 2 or 3) after work is part of how I deal with it. My goal right now is to cut down from what I usually drink, which is probably around 15 drinks a week (mostly wine, but also cocktails & beer) to 10 drinks a week, which is the max recommended for women by the surgeon general. I don't think it's a magic number as far as health because other countries have very different official standards and even more different unofficial ones, but I know it's a big problem for my weight loss goals and I don't want it to be a problem for my health too.

This week I got a six pack of Coronitas to share with my partner. It's actually been pretty helpful I think -- they are only 7 oz. instead of 12, so you can have a beer with half the calories. Another option is light beer- but if you're drinking for the buzz it won't give you much of one. My partner and I are in the habit of always having a bottle of wine open and having a couple glasses of wine while we unwind in front of the TV after work -- breaking the habit is hard!