Drinking and weight loss
 

It turns out I'm only 22 pounds away from my ideal weight, so I've decided to go for it. I'm mostly watching my intake and trying to walk after I get home from work. My main problem is I am going to be having a party in a few days as well as going to California with friends in two weeks. My friends all drink, and while I can abstain if I have to for the good of my diet; I was hoping you people knew some good low calorie drinks. Something that will let me join in the party without feeling bad about how much I have messed up my diet.

avoid beer like the plague, i'd say go for spirits, get you drunk quickly, with only minimal calories.

I agree with the above, avoid beer at all costs. Liqour would be better, the lighter the better but don't mix with sweetened drinks like Coke, etc. Red wine would be alright. None of the above is great for weight loss but I know where you are coming from. Its hard to say no when all your friends are having a good time. Above all try to avoid a hangover. When hungover we often seek out comfort foods, ie: pizza, chips, etc. to try to make us feel better. This blows the diet doubly since they are full of calories and you don't feel like moving around much so you aren't going to burn them off. Have fun but be careful, good luck.

Some of the light beers, while still loaded with calories, have less than soft drinks. It is pretty hard to go to a bar and order a Jack and Diet Coke. I drink one night a week and make sure I hit the gym hard the day of and after.

Well, your best bet is straight shots, but even then, the calorie count is not that far from a light beer. A shot is 1+ ounces so approx 30 ml. If we take something like vodka, that 12ml of alcohol. Each gram of alcohol supplies 7Kcal. You do the math, that come out to be about 84+ Kcal, conservatively. I say go out have fun, just run a few miles after the night of drinking, and that'll help you burn off your excess calories and you rid your hangover.

Maybe try smoking weed instead.

I agree with the red wine -- or white, as well. Get a glass and nurse it. Two or three won't hurt if you're getting exercise. Just stay away from the party snacks, they're even more dangerous. There are more calories in a small bag of Cheetos or Fritos than in a beer or a big glass of wine. And the booze is more fun. If you want to munch on something at your party, keep some veggies and nonfat dip around.

If I remember right, Michelob Ultra has less than 3 grams of carbs.. if you need to lose weight and can't kick the beer, I'd try that.. never tried it though. Might be better off with water :P

If you are serious about weight loss then you shouldn't be drinking alchohol, simple as that. Once you hit your target weight then start drinking the light beers and liquors not cut with sugary high calorie liquids.

I guess the party is over now, so I can give my irresponsible advice freely ;)

1) working out hard before hand can make you get drunk easier
2) drink on an empty stomach
3) fizzy alcohol is absorbed quicker
4) drink through a straw, it gets absorbed through the roof of your mouth

this should enable you to get drunk on a minimum of alcohol. I'm not 100% sure of 3 and 4 but they sound very plausible.

Alchohol has almost as much calories as pure fat.

So, when you drink a 80-proof shot, that's 40% alchohol, or as many calories as a 35% pure fat drink.

It also has 75% more calories than sugar. So, imagine the drink was 70% sugar and 30% water.

(Carbs: 4 Kcal/gram. Protien: 4 Kcal/gram. Fat: 8 Kcal/gram. Alchohol: 7 Kcal/gram)

does anyone know how quickly the energy from alcohol would be available to you? like sugar is pretty quick, but fat is slow.

Depends how often you drink and how well you stick with your diet.

If you eat right and workout 6 days during the week, you can take the 7th off and eat/drink whatever you want without screwing up your progress.

Damn, no gravy shooters for me tonight.
If you're gonna drink and diet, straight hard liquor is the way to go, there's no carbs in Vodka (could be a good way for Smirnoff to hit the Atkins demographic). You should still keep your drinking to a minimum though.

a friend of mine with a chemistry degree was telling me the other day that measuring the calories in something doesnt tell you much, as it is simply a measure of how much energy it releases when it is set on fire.

alcohol burns pretty well, and its a "poison", so does the body actually treat it as fuel just the same as sugar or fat ?

What about those low-carb, low-cal beers?

http://www.i-a-r-t.com/graphics/News...ails/beer.html

depending on how much you've had to drink, several hours. when the dehydrogenase enzymes in your body start to break down alcohol into it's constituant elements you get the energy release, but since the body takes an hour to break down one unit of alcohol, a big binge drink could take a long time...

Best advice I can give if you are going to drink (which you shouldnt) is avoid eating with it. Your body will store any food as fat because it cant be burned due to the alcohal being in the system and alcohal has digestion priority to be burned over other foods due to its toxic properties im pretty sure? Lol just dont eat with alcohal I can vouch for that but I just avoid the stuff like the plague because personally it tastes like sugary water so I never learn anything about it ><

Pretty much, just drink a few glasses (im moderation) and also try working out before you go or maybe after or something of that sort. (I dont know much about alcohal so im not sure if working out after since your blood pumps faster could be dangerous?)

*nod*, but our digestive system kicks ass. Billions of years of practice at consuming things. We even have a special name for roughage we can't eat: fibre.

I suspect the alchohol you piss out won't be turned into energy, the rest would.

I drink between 2 to 6 beers (non-light) probably about twice a week. Ive also lost 15 pounds in the past 6 months( Im down to 155, and I meant to stay around 160). There is a secret formula,

Exercise Bike + Netflix == weight loss

I get 3 movies a week, and ride the bike for the duration of each movie.