Can I replace food with wine?

Just some of my daily cals, not all of them! I work at a wine store and get a great discount, so I have access to high quality, affordable wine. I often work an evening shift and don't really get hungry while I'm working, so I don't eat dinner. Lately I've been getting home late (about 11pm) and I still have no appetite. Knowing I've only eaten about 900 cals that day, I sometimes opt to replace the remaining cals with a couple of glasses of wine. This happens a few times a week.

So, will "filling in" my calories with wine affect my weight loss? Overall, I am still not drinking excessively. I just wondered if there is a difference in weight loss when consuming alcohol as part of my daily cals? Any advice would be much appreciated!

you can if you really want to; but the fact you're not hungry after work is probably because your body has already started consuming its own fat/muscle reserves....

...AND, that glass or two of wine will turn to fat a lot quicker than a simple healthy dinner would.

i'd just have both; you'll probably find you don't drink as much of the wine, and you're not too bothered.

Finally, i think replacing meals with alcohol a 'few times a week' is a little excessive.

It'll affect your weight-loss because wine isn't food and you'd effectively be undereating even though you were taking in some calories.   At some point, therefore, you'll overeat like mad in an effort to catch up.  That's when it affects weight-loss. 

It's wishful thinking to expect to carry on with the bad habits that make us fat and hope we get slimmer....   Cut your wine down to a couple of glasses a week and see the weight fall off.

At my heaviest, I could not understand why I was so fat when I was only consuming about 600-800 calories (in food) a day.  Well it was the other 1000 + calories in alcohol that I worked up to with my mixed drinks and good wine consumption.  Be careful.....alcohol is so fattening!

It is completely fine. Calories are calories - there is not any agreed upon research that says that one type of calorie burns or turns to fat any quicker than another type of calorie.

I generally have my largest meal in the mid-afternoon and only occassionally will have a salad or some cooked greens in the evening. For the most part, I will have a glass (or two) of red wine in the evening.

I should disclose that I have been in the wine business since 1995 and come from a long line of daily wine drinkers (we are Italian); I think it is completely fine - even healthy - to drink wine daily.

I started calorie-counters on June 15, 2008 and have lost 27 pounds with the practices described above. And, I feel great.

But too each her own; I think different folks tolerate alcohol differently depending upon many factors.

Completely fine?

What about nutritional value? Yes a calorie is a calorie when you're thinking it weight loss terms but what about health? Reducing food calories to such an extent reduces the probability that you're getting all the nutrients you need. Protein? Vitamins and minerals?

I try to limit my intake of non-nutritious calories to 10-20% of my intake and make sure that they're not part of my base calories 1200F/1500M +300teen +%exercise.  This includes chocolate, dessert, alcohol, etc.

Red wine is 25 calories an ounce. If you're having a few 6 oz glasses that adds up to 300 to 450 cals.  If you're only consuming 900 cals in food, that's one third or more of your calories in wine.  While you might be able to drop weight with that scenario, you will be missing out on a lot of other nutrients you need.

I love red wine too.  I didn't cut it out of my diet.  I don't think you should have to either if you don't want to.  I would just recommend eating more and eating a wide variety of nutrients while including a glass of red wine with a healthy dinner each night.  Good luck.

I agree that you can drink or eat some junk and still lose weight (I've done it successfully), but my point is it needs to be part of your discretionary calories and not replacing the basic nutrition that you need.  I budget about 100-200 calories for discretionary purposes, if I decide to go overboard then it becomes a maintenance day although I don't generally do that from junk.

Er, is no one going to point out that the liver metabolises alcohol as though it were fat?  Alcohol is unlike anything else that you consume in that it's a really difficult substance to metabolise and is therefore "stored" with very little that's used as fuel.

The worst part is that it can totally thwart your weight loss efforts by interfering with fat oxidation, making it difficult to lose even the next day at the gym.

The above said, a 6 ounce glass of red wine with a meal can be beneficial to your health.  Red wine has enzymes and antioxidents that can actually help digest your meal.  Thing is, you want to limit your consumption to just 6 ounces and not help yourself to a second glass. 

Big BUMMER! I read this thread with the hopes of hearing, "Yes, sure, go ahead! Drink wine instead of eat!" Alas, I am afraid it ain't so. Drat! No wonder I have such a hard time losing weight! I wish Merlewhite lived near me so we could share a nice bottle of wine and discuss how much better we look 10 pounds thinner! And how this glass of wine was making us healthier! lol

A glass of wine a day is perfectly fine, but unfortunately, not when you're only eating 900 calories.

Bring snacks to work and eat them on your breaks, even if you're not hungry. Get your calories up, and by all means buy the wine and have a glass a day.  Red wine especially is very good for you in moderation, but it's not a meal replacement.

Thanks everyone for the advice... I generally eat a very healthy and varied diet - as I don't particularly crave salt or sugar it's mostly fruits, veges, wholegrains and protein. So I'm not too worried about nutrition as I think I am getting adequate nutrition - at least my calories are hardly ever taken up by dessert or chocolate etc. However for the sake of losing weight I will try and stick to a glass on the days I do drink (about 3x week, and I was having 2 glasses on these days).

Original Post by carolann5111:

Big BUMMER! I read this thread with the hopes of hearing, "Yes, sure, go ahead! Drink wine instead of eat!"

 I know, it is a bummer isn't it.  Like I've said on some other threads, my husband and I love red wine and we used to share a bottle a few times a week.  Now I stop after only one glass so we don't finish the bottle anymore.  It's just doesn't taste the same the next day  :(   But I decided I'd rather drink a stale glass of wine the next day instead of finishing the bottle and undo all my hard work throughout the week.  

How about saving up wine drinking for a day on the weekend and then have 2 big glasses as a treat?  I don't see the purpose in having 1 glass.  Might as well just have a glass of grape juice.

Yup: completely fine.

In the context of a balanced diet, it really is.

Original Post by onmywayto120:

Yup: completely fine.

In the context of a balanced diet, it really is.

Yes, except she's only eating 900 cals a day outside of the wine.  It's very hard to have a balanced diet on so few calories.

Yes, Kukua - good, and important, point  -- the % of cals from alcohol should not be more than "X" (not sure what the right % is - maybe a coach can suggest).

Original Post by kukua:

Yes, except she's only eating 900 cals a day outside of the wine. It's very hard to have a balanced diet on so few calories.

Like I wrote in my original post, this is not an every-day occurrence. Most days I don't drink at all, so I consume more than 900 cals a day. Plus, when I do only eat this much it is a very balanced diet as it's all healthy food. I don't think anyone who ate 900 cals plus a piece of chocolate cake would be in a much better position in terms of a balanced diet! Guess you can't have your cake and eat it too... sigh ;)

True, but eating 900 calories a day of perfect food then making up the rest in chocolate cake is probably just as bad lol.

Honestly, if this is a rare occurance, I wouldn't worry about it.  Going over or under your calories, or eating part of your calories as alcohol every so often isn't going to make or break your diet.

If you're doing it several times a week though, which I thought you mentioned, then you need to change something.  But if it's once a week or less often....meh, you're probably fine.

How many calories do you eat on a non-drinking day?

I usually have a couple of glasses of wine 2-3 times a week.

On the other days what I eat varies as I don't really have a daily limit. It varies between 1200-1600 cals.