Alcoholic drinks?? what is the best option for weight loss/maintainance?

boomhower

I realize that it's probably best to avoid alcoholic drinks altogether if you're concerned about your weight.
However..
no1-I'm not a regular drinker, i drink maybe once every two weeks
no2- i'm not overly concerned about weight loss, but rather am just concerned about weight gain and so i would like to know what are the best and worst alcoholicdrinks for someone who doesn't want to gain weight?

like i know that alco-pops are a big no-no
is coors light better than wine?
are spirits better than wine?
which spirits are the least fattening?

etc etc etc

i would appreciate any info as i have been "pondering" this for a while..

thanks

Piste

Vodka is low-cal for alcohol...but still high in calories. Spirit-wise it's probably your best bet.

rubadub

Depends on a lot of things.

Do you want to get to a certain blood alcohol level? (i.e. get pissed)
Or do you just want something to drink?

Alcohol has calories the lower the % the lower the calories. So if you drink 100ml of coors light it ihas less calories than 100ml wine, but the wine is stronger so gets you more drunk, so if you aim is getting pissed wine may be better. You really want to find out the calories per unit alcohol for the drinks.

Vodka should be just alcohol and water, so there are no other calories in there, while beer, wine, liquers etc will have other calories in there.

Sweeteners are supposed to increase alcohol absportion, so again if your goal is to get to a certain blood alcohol level you might want to drink vodka or rum with diet mixers containing sweeteners. Also drinking quickly on an empty stomach increases absorption.

Piste

Fizzy drinks also force the sphincter at the bottom of your stomach to open so the alcohol flown into your intestine where it is absorbed thereby getting you drunker faster.



So vodka and diet coke could be the tipple you're looking for!



(tastes rank though)

boomhower

Piste wrote: »

So vodka and diet coke could be the tipple you're looking for!
)

i can live with that drink option!:D or maybe vodka and 7up free! that's great advice guys!! thanks a million!

what about malibu? is that high cal? malibu and OJ? it always gave me a bloated stomach but is that just because of the fibre in the OJ?

rubadub

Malibu is a terrible choice. I expect it is at least 20% sugar. Also it is only 21%, so extremely expensive per unit alcohol.

A shot is 35.5ml, @21% that is 7.455ml of alcohol,
Compare to a pint of erdinger 568ml @5.3%, 30.1ml of alcohol, over 4 times the amount.

OJ is ~11% sugar too, and has very little fibre in it. You can basically view OJ as almost as bad as your full sugar softdrinks, fresh pressed OJ would be better, but few pubs will have that.

Piste

Heh, gone are the days when I would drink Malibu and Orange and convince myself I was being healthy cos of the Vitamin C in OJ

Boomhower, vodka and 7up free or diet sprite should work for you! Vodka is about 97 cals pershot though, so you're still looking at almost 100 calories a drink :eek:

boomhower

YIKES!:eek:

ok,ok.. thanks for that!

ha, yeah- i thought the OJ was "healthy"...

vodka and 7up free for me from now on!! mystery solved!!

oh, actually.."weight watchers wine"? what's the deal with that?

Khannie

120 odd calories in a can of bulmers light (if that helps). It tastes.....moderate. Nicer than vodka and diet coke IMO, but it's all down to taste.....

What is your drink of choice? (ignoring all concerns for weight gain)

MJOR

Vodka and slimline tonic is good to avoid the bloat ( although my friends have nicknamed me Audrey Roberts)

boomhower

Khannie wrote: »

What is your drink of choice? (ignoring all concerns for weight gain)

see it varies.. i go through phases of white wine, then was into coors light, then vodka and blackcurrant, now i'm back on wine..

i'm not really a big drinker and i admit that i only really drink to get merry, so while taste is obviously a bonus-i'm more preoccupied by getting merry with the least amount of weight gain risk..."more bang for my buck" i suppose!:rolleyes:

boomhower

MJOR wrote: »

( although my friends have nicknamed me Audrey Roberts)

your friends are geniuses! :pac: that's savage!

boomhower

MJOR wrote: »

Vodka and slimline tonic

is "slimline" tonic the standard one used in pubs and clubs? or do you ask for it specifically??

laurak265

In unislim terms my bacardi and diet coke is only 1.5points. Tonic and slimline tonic actually have the same points value so just have your regular tonic if you can stomach it!

Westwood

whats wrong with drinking pure orange juice for example. pure apple juice, tomato juice etc? peoples biggest concerns seems to be the mixers..vodka & water? no thanks id rather drink nail varnish remover.

Piste

Some people don't like drinking fruit juices because of the high sugar/low fibre content.


I find them a great pick-me-up in the morning if my blood sugar's low, it wakes me up quickly and stops me feeling dizzy.

Westwood

if i was drinking shots of gin, bicardi or vodka id have different drinks everytime, its alot easier at home, but even in a pub you can have a couple of fruit mixtures, then tonic, then vegtable then a diet fizzy. chop and change is the key in my book

boomhower

Westwood wrote: »

, then vegtable

vegetable??????
like....broccoli juice?

Westwood

Whatever floats your boat, look online for vegetable smoothies recipes, try a few and pick your favourites, then just add alcohol when at the pub I mainly drink tomato or fruit juices. But ask the barman what he has. You might be surprised. Get your 5 a day the easy way and get langered in the process :cool:

spaceylou

laurak265 wrote: »

In unislim terms my bacardi and diet coke is only 1.5points. Tonic and slimline tonic actually have the same points value so just have your regular tonic if you can stomach it!

Really? So what makes it slimline then? But anyway....I had slimline tonic the other night with gin and it was nicer than regular tonic - we did a little experiment and ordered one of each to be sure :P - 2 out of 3 preferred the slimline!!

Gin would be similar cal to vodka wouldn't it? Or am I all wrong??

boomhower

i've found a website

http://www.nutracheck.co.uk/calories/calories_in_alcohol/calories_in_pint.html


southern comfort and diet coke may be the best option according to this (for those of us who want to get merry but not flabby)

so i've found my answer

southern comfort and diet coke or vodka and 7up free or vodka/gin and slimline tonic.. that should keep me happy!!

i'm a happy camper!!:D


oh it also says there's more calories in normal tonic than slimline(but not much) and also, in terms of alco-pops-VK ain't as bad as the others! (it's actually low-ish in calories) smirnoff ice are the worst!!

cozmik

This might be of interest to some...

http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/research/alcohol.htm

rubadub

boomhower wrote: »

oh, actually.."weight watchers wine"? what's the deal with that?

It is simply a dry wine. All of the sugars are fermented out almost completely, turning them into alcohol. If it was only half fermented it would only have half the alcohol, then it would take twice as much to get drunk on, and you would be drinking lots of sugar.

Pilsner beers are brewed out until dry. Coors light is brewed out to completion too with little sugar left, however many stronger beers have less calories per unit alcohol than coors light. And they taste better and are cheaper (per unit alcohol).

laurak265 wrote: »

In unislim terms my bacardi and diet coke is only 1.5points. Tonic and slimline tonic actually have the same points value so just have your regular tonic if you can stomach it!

Many online sites are incorrect. Normal tonic has sugar in it, not as much as coke, but it has sugar, while slimline has artificial sweetners. So the normal one does have more calories, and should have more points, unless they rounded them wrongly, or more likely incorrectly calculated it. READ THE LABELS!!!! it is all there!!

Westwood wrote: »

whats wrong with drinking pure orange juice for example. pure apple juice, tomato juice etc? peoples biggest concerns seems to be the mixers..vodka & water? no thanks id rather drink nail varnish remover.

Orange juice is ~11% sugar, as is apple juice. Orange juice has more calories per pint than beer. Milk has about 1.8 times the calorie as beer per pint. Drinking diet mixers is essentially like water, since there are negligible calories.

boomhower wrote: »

i only really drink to get merry,

Diet mixers will increase alcohol absorption so you need less calories overall to get the same drunkeness.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/health/08real.html?ref=health

spaceylou wrote: »

Gin would be similar cal to vodka wouldn't it?

Gin is around the same, there is usually no sugar in gin, just flavouring. Many gins are 40% while vodka may be 37.5% so there is a little difference in calories due to that, but then you need less 40% than 37.5% to get the same effect, so same calories per unit alcohol

boomhower wrote: »

southern comfort and diet coke may be the best option according to this (for those of us who want to get merry but not flabby)

That site is incorrect. Be very careful of sites, most on alcohol are incorrect. It is listing UK 25ml measures too, we have 35.5ml here. Do you know what southern comfort is?? it is a highly sweetened whiskey liquer. The site is obviously incorrect. SC is 40%, I think JD is 43%. with all the sugar in SC it would be way higher per 25ml than JD.

I would recommend rum or good vodka, but most vodkas in pubs are crap, while rums have less nasty alcohols, methaol and cogeners left over since they are brewed from sugar based brews. I stick to beer myself, I prefer it and spirits are an absolute ripoff in pubs, it would cost me about 3-4times as much to get pissed drinking spirits & diet mixers.

El_Dangeroso

Scotch n soda!! mmmmmmm...

Alcohol technically doesn't have 'calories' per se..as in you can't store alcohol calories as fat.. it converts to acetate in the blood which is burnt before any other fuel available.. thus storing all other calories that happen to be floating around at the time..

rubadub

neddas wrote: »

Alcohol technically doesn't have 'calories' per se..as in you can't store alcohol calories as fat..

Many people equate "calories" with "a unit amount that makes me fat/thin". i.e. trying to do the math of 3500kcal = 1lb of fat lost or gained.

So they will view 500kcal of beer the same as 500kcal of coke in terms of "if I drink either they will put on the same amount of fat", but this is not usually the case.

Calories are a measure of fuel intended as a unit for engineering purposes, e.g. how much diesel will I need to burn to travel 50miles in my truck.

Calories are not tested on humans, i.e. scientists do not feed people say 10 chocolate bars and measure a gain of 1lb of fat, and then equate this as 350kcal per bar. They burn the "fuel" in a lab and measure the energy output. So a car might make efficient use of ethanol as a fuel, but a human might not. If I ate 3500kcal of wood I doubt I would put on 1lb of fat.

I know from personal experience that alcohol calories are very over-rated in terms of fat gain, studies have been done too. In the past week I probably had 10,000kcal just from alcohol, ontop of ~2500kcal per day, yet weigh the same. I know guys who would had 12,500kcal per week for 2-3 years religiously on top of normal food and remained underweight for their height.

Most "beer" bellys are really made in the chipper/chinese/pizza/kebab house on the way home from the pub.

boomhower

just to let you know... i've tried gin and tonic.. not a fan..

happily drinkin the vodka and 7up free!! doesn't bloat me either:D
happy days

Piste

neddas wrote: »

Scotch n soda!! mmmmmmm...

Alcohol technically doesn't have 'calories' per se..as in you can't store alcohol calories as fat.. it converts to acetate in the blood which is burnt before any other fuel available.. thus storing all other calories that happen to be floating around at the time..

Aha, so drinking on an empty stomach is the way to go- get drunker on fewer calories and there wont be anything there to store as fat if the alcohol is burned off \o/

rubadub

Piste wrote: »

Aha, so drinking on an empty stomach is the way to go-

It is what I try and do, but goes against most doctors advice! but most are concerned about people getting too drunk and irritating your stomach, rather than calories. I have a cast iron stomach from years of heavy drinking. You can get drunk very easily, that is the usual warning, since most people hit the pub and just keep drinking. So if you do it on purpose be very careful, both for getting drunk and irritating your stomach.

Spirits have little alcohol in them though compared to pints, and the price of spirits & mixers will keep you in check!

olaola

boomhower wrote: »

is "slimline" tonic the standard one used in pubs and clubs? or do you ask for it specifically??

You have to ask for slimline. They have it everywhere, "vodka and slimline please" should sort you out.

Loopy

boomhower wrote: »

i've found a website

http://www.nutracheck.co.uk/calories/calories_in_alcohol/calories_in_pint.html


southern comfort and diet coke may be the best option according to this (for those of us who want to get merry but not flabby)

so i've found my answer

southern comfort and diet coke or vodka and 7up free or vodka/gin and slimline tonic.. that should keep me happy!!

i'm a happy camper!!:D


oh it also says there's more calories in normal tonic than slimline(but not much) and also, in terms of alco-pops-VK ain't as bad as the others! (it's actually low-ish in calories) smirnoff ice are the worst!!

I think I love you - Suddy and diet 7up is one of my favourite drinks but always thought it was loaded...

EDIT - Sh1t, Just saw rubadub's post - I read backwards:rolleyes:

DéiseGirl

Piste wrote: »

Fizzy drinks also force the sphincter at the bottom of your stomach to open so the alcohol flown into your intestine where it is absorbed thereby getting you drunker faster.

Sounds charming!

I nearly always drink vodka and diet 7up/sprite zero when I'm out. the other night two friends were having diet coke with vodka but were sharing a diet coke between them each time. As if the diet coke wasn't watery enough! :eek:

BraziliaNZ

do they have lo-carb beers there? In Oz I drink Pure Blonde a lot, it's still 4.6% but very lo-carb and lo-cal too, and tastes really delicious, it tastes better than most other aussie beers.

El_Dangeroso

No, all we have is coor's lite..:(

I miss pure blonde so much.. it was so tasty and you could drink it all night..

keane2097

Westwood wrote: »

Whatever floats your boat, look online for vegetable smoothies recipes, try a few and pick your favourites, then just add alcohol when at the pub I mainly drink tomato or fruit juices. But ask the barman what he has. You might be surprised. Get your 5 a day the easy way and get langered in the process :cool:

This is hella clever...

BraziliaNZ

neddas wrote: »

No, all we have is coor's lite..:(

I miss pure blonde so much.. it was so tasty and you could drink it all night..

Coors light doesn't even taste like beer, plus it's totally gay and only for women. Do women still get glasses of ice and pour coors light into it? Dear oh dear!!!

El_Dangeroso

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Coors light doesn't even taste like beer, plus it's totally gay and only for women. Do women still get glasses of ice and pour coors light into it? Dear oh dear!!!

Hey, ya gotta do something to drink that horrible stuff!

rubadub

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

do they have lo-carb beers there? In Oz I drink Pure Blonde a lot, it's still 4.6% but very lo-carb and lo-cal too, and tastes really delicious, it tastes better than most other aussie beers.

just stick with pilsners, they are usually higher in % and so can actually be lower in carbs & calories per unit alcohol than the beers touted as low carb.

Beks

I hardly ever drink but I love my Jameson's and Ginger Ale! Also cocktails with nice fresh fruit juice. Unfortunately I don't eat very much so I tend to get drunk quite quickly... but I also find that if I go out and order a pint I also won't put on much weight cos I make it last ages - saves money too!!