Beer, alcohol weight gain?

misscpmfan

Did anyone ever see a change in their figure giving up the booze? Just curious to know what alcohol can do dramatically regarding weight. I'm quitting. I've lashed on the weight since I became a regular drinker.

12gauge dave

How much would you be drinking a week?
I crave fast food etc days after drink so I've cut down heavily and I've lost nearly 2 stone in 10weeks between quitting the booze and fast food and eating clean.

misscpmfan

12gauge dave wrote:

How much would you be drinking a week?

Oh dear......hmmm. ...well I am ashamed to say quite a lot. I drink every weekend like not just one day....Friday, Saturday and Sunday. ....also I would drink week days too.

Jon Stark

misscpmfan wrote: »

Oh dear......hmmm. ...well I am ashamed to say quite a lot. I drink every weekend like not just one day....Friday, Saturday and Sunday. ....also I would drink week days too.

Ah here.

Realistically if you want results you should only have two days max where you're drinking.

I was boozing Friday/Saturday/Sunday for a long time and it just doesn't work, regardless of how many days I did in the gym. My gut wad huge and I felt like sh1t in general.

But I reduced my intake a fair bit over the last two months and it really does make a difference. It's hard to break the cycle but it's worth it.

12gauge dave

To start off with try to drink only 1 night a week.
Stop fast food sweets chocolates etc.
Walk 20mins 4 times a week.

That's a start right that should be attainable for you.
You will feel much better after a week or two I'd imagine you can't drink every night and be healthy it just doesn't work that way.

guile4582

i just cut out the fast food, its tough i know, but has to be done, or if i do on occasion, i will go for a falafel wrap no chips and a bottle of water.

found it has helped cutting down on beers too. maybe 7 pints all week(which is still probably too much)


i cycle 9km every day and maybe on average a 30km big cycle on the weekend and swim twice a week for an hour

jive

A few pints once a week is grand just don't be a total pig and follow it with a kebab and curry cheese chip afterwards.

No need to cut yourself off from everything unless you have dreams of becoming an elite athlete. If you're really worried about calories then stick to things like whiskey/gin/vodka in some 'zero' calorie drink. If you're really really worried about them then lump on an extra bit of cardio the day you go drinking and earn them beers.

rubadub

I find alcohol has very little effect on my weight, same with heavy drinking friends.

Apparently this might be more pronounced in heavy drinkers. If the commonly said "3500kcal in excess will cause 1lb fat gain" was true I would not fit out the door.

As said above watch out for what you binge eat while drunk, it should be called a post-beer belly.

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/04/health/why-the-body-may-waste-the-calories-from-alcohol.html

weight gain was negligible in alcoholics who were given 2,000 calories of alcohol daily on top of the 2,500 calories from foods they consumed to maintain their weight. But when the same number of additional calories were fed as chocolate, a steady weight gain resulted.

Thus, the energy waste associated with a heavy intake of alcohol cannot be attributed to a reduction in the intake of other foods. More likely, it results from interference with the body's ability to derive energy from other foods.

misscpmfan

Thanks everyone! Some of your comments really put everything into perspective in fact all of them. ...I think I'll go about two maybe three weeks without the sauce to get my tolerance down and then maybe drink once a week. Also get back to the odd walk in the evenings too

lyinghere

misscpmfan wrote: »

Thanks everyone! Some of your comments really put everything into perspective in fact all of them. ...I think I'll go about two maybe three weeks without the sauce to get my tolerance down and then maybe drink once a week. Also get back to the odd walk in the evenings too

Bump that up to a run instead of a walk and combined with less days of drinking i reckon your sorted if you are just looking for some very basic improvements

Macy0161

As others have suggested, I've found that beer doesn't have that much of an effect, but it can impact on my willpower. The more I drink, the more likely I am to have that bag of chips on the way home, or open that pack of crisps when I get home, or fancy (half a pan) of white toast etc.

Tombi!

I stopped drinking for about six weeks and dropped around 10-15lbs. I think it depends on the person.
But for me I noticed it after maybe 3-4 weeks.

rubadub

Tombi! wrote: »

I stopped drinking for about six weeks and dropped around 10-15lbs. I think it depends on the person.

If I stopped drinking I would expect to lose weight, but more to do with the eating that goes with it (for me).

When most people give up drink they are probably changing other things in their lifestyle as they would tend to be on a health buzz.

It could also be to do with water retention or something too.

Do you reckon you changed anything else? eating, exercise etc?

guile4582

its not only the poor food choices on the night out - the lethargy that follows causes me to make poor food choices up to two days after.

this is why I try to limit my intake

Tombi!

rubadub wrote: »

If I stopped drinking I would expect to lose weight, but more to do with the eating that goes with it (for me).

When most people give up drink they are probably changing other things in their lifestyle as they would tend to be on a health buzz.

It could also be to do with water retention or something too.

Do you reckon you changed anything else? eating, exercise etc?

Not that remember. I may have no eaten as much fast food but I didn't cut it out or decrease it dramatically. Probably missed one day of it a week at most.

No change to exercise or longer walks or anything like that.

Tar.Aldarion

That sounds like it is only really excessive drinking that is causing that because it poisons the body essentially. Does it not sound like if you are drinking enough so that that effect kicks in it is damageing your body a lot? I would expect most people to lose weight if they stop drinking, and i certainly know people very big from drinking (that dont eat takeaways or anything like that, just meat & veg, older generation).

rubadub

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

That sounds like it is only really excessive drinking that is causing that because it poisons the body essentially.

Could be it, but even for occasional drinkers I simply do not believe the body extracts the same amount of energy per calorie from alcohol as say sugar.

Calorie counting is very simplified for humans, yet some people think its an irrefutable exact science -it is exact when you are calculating the heating of water etc, or fuel consumption of engines etc.

Petrol & alcohol are very good fuels for cars, loads of calories, a good car engine can extract a lot of that energy, a human is not so good at it.

There was a guy here who was convinced you would gain as much fat by drinking an excess of 500kcal per day as petrol as you would 500kcal of sugary drinks. That's how messed up peoples minds have become with this calroies in = calories out stuff.

Some drinks have lots of sugar, so it would certainly effect you. Bulmers is high in sugar so people drinking 8 pints or more are taking in loads of sugar.

UnknownSpecies

In my own experience, beer/cider will cause weight gain in just a couple of sessions, even without food binging. Spirits with sugar free mixers have a much smaller effect on me. I think rubadub is right though in saying it's not exact and could be wildly different from person to person. It's been said already, but the worst effect alcohol has on weight loss is sapping all motivation and energy from you the day after and also the big take away (or two if you're feeling sorry for yourself during the hangover!) that follows.

eviltimeban

What about wine, specifically red wine? And just drinking with food, without having a late night food binge?

IOW, drinking wine, eating, then drinking some more wine, without eating anything further?

UnknownSpecies

eviltimeban wrote: »

What about wine, specifically red wine? And just drinking with food, without having a late night food binge?

IOW, drinking wine, eating, then drinking some more wine, without eating anything further?

I don't imagine the timing of the eating and drinking would matter. The effects of drinking, then eating a massive takeaway would be the same as eating a massive takeaway, then drinking. That would be my own take on it anyway.

skallywag

dorgasm wrote: »

I don't imagine the timing of the eating and drinking would matter.

You are correct.

There tends to be a feeling that eating late at night is worse from a weight-gain perspective, which is incorrect.

eviltimeban

dorgasm wrote: »

I don't imagine the timing of the eating and drinking would matter. The effects of drinking, then eating a massive takeaway would be the same as eating a massive takeaway, then drinking. That would be my own take on it anyway.

I mean just eating a regular meal. What kind of effect has red wine been proven to have?