How much of a difference does alcohol make (re: weight loss)?

[Anonymous]

I’m a drinker (1/2 drinks most days) and suspect this is preventing me from losing weight. I’m tweaking a bunch of things but have decided I probably can’t drink - or can only drink 1/2 drinks a week as opposed to per day - in order to get fitter. How true was/is this for you? Is quitting alcohol a determinant in how quickly and how much weight you lose?

[Anonymous]

Personally I think you’ll have more success if you quit for other reasons since weight loss is rarely enough of a motivation to sustain a big life change.

But I did lose weight without even trying after I quit drinking. About five or six months after I quit I noticed my pants were too loose. I don’t know my weight but I went from a size 8 to a size 2.

[Anonymous]

I lost 15 pounds in four months by cutting down from drinking 7 days a week to weekends only. Was around 3 drinks per day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lost 15 pounds in four months by cutting down from drinking 7 days a week to weekends only. Was around 3 drinks per day.

This was my husband's experience as well. He also stopped drinking during the week and only drunk on the weekends and socially. He was also a snacker and that did not change but he just switched to healthier snacks (fruits and nuts instead of junk food). He dropped 20 pounds in about 6 months. He actually did not do this to drop weight as his weight was fine and he was in great shape and worked out almost everyday. He just wanted to be more healthy in his eating habits. His family also has a history of alcoholism and at some point, he decided he would feel better about himself if he didn't drink as much. It was probably a combination of the weight loss and less alcohol but the best thing about it was he stopped snoring! He had sleep apnea and had surgery for it but that didn't help with the snoring until her cut alcohol and dropped the weight.

[Anonymous]

"Don't drink your calories" is pretty much a weight loss axiom that includes but is not limited to alcohol. If you replace your alcoholic drinks with pumpkin spice lattes, you won't lose weight any faster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Don't drink your calories" is pretty much a weight loss axiom that includes but is not limited to alcohol. If you replace your alcoholic drinks with pumpkin spice lattes, you won't lose weight any faster.

Strictly speaking, yes.

But alcohol has other impacts that tend to make people eat more calories. It dulls your senses, making it harder to tell when you're full. It dulls your inhibitions, making it easier to do what you normally wouldn't (like eat that third slice of pizza). Often people eat more after drinking or while drinking to avoid either getting too drunk or avoid a hangover. Lastly, alcohol causes anxiety and often people eat to manage anxiety.

You can definitely maintain all the same eating habits sober as you do when you're drinking. But the fact is that most people don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a drinker (1/2 drinks most days) and suspect this is preventing me from losing weight. I’m tweaking a bunch of things but have decided I probably can’t drink - or can only drink 1/2 drinks a week as opposed to per day - in order to get fitter. How true was/is this for you? Is quitting alcohol a determinant in how quickly and how much weight you lose?

I was a frequent drinker like you. I stopped drinking altogether and lost 25 pounds in a year (among adopting other tactics like IF). When I do drink socially now, say a few drinks in three consecutive weeks, I will gain back 5 pounds easily.

[Anonymous]

None. I lost no weight during Dry January.

[Anonymous]

I loose weight more easily when I don't drink. Even when I count the calories for alcohol it seems to slow down my progress. I think some of it may be increased water retention even when I drink lightly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None. I lost no weight during Dry January.

You forgot to mention 1) how much you were drinking outside of "dry january"....2) how much food you were consuming during that time to make up for not drinking.

[Anonymous]

Of course giving up alcohol won't make you lose weight if you replace it with other calories. But in general, sugary drinks, including frappes, milkshakes, and alcohol, are empty calories. They offer nothing nutritionally. That being said, weight loss is a numbers game. If you need 1500 calories a day to lose 1 pound a week, then you can eat 1000 calories a day and drink 500 calories of booze.

TLDR you can drink and lose weight if you're dieting enough to still have CICO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course giving up alcohol won't make you lose weight if you replace it with other calories. But in general, sugary drinks, including frappes, milkshakes, and alcohol, are empty calories. They offer nothing nutritionally. That being said, weight loss is a numbers game. If you need 1500 calories a day to lose 1 pound a week, then you can eat 1000 calories a day and drink 500 calories of booze.

TLDR you can drink and lose weight if you're dieting enough to still have CICO.

Theoretically yes. But alcohol slows down your metabolism. And has a lot of carbs & sugar. So in reality its a little more than just CICO.

[Anonymous]

It only works for me if I can abstain for a month or more (while also watching calories and exercising). Then it seems like the weight starts falling off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course giving up alcohol won't make you lose weight if you replace it with other calories. But in general, sugary drinks, including frappes, milkshakes, and alcohol, are empty calories. They offer nothing nutritionally. That being said, weight loss is a numbers game. If you need 1500 calories a day to lose 1 pound a week, then you can eat 1000 calories a day and drink 500 calories of booze.

TLDR you can drink and lose weight if you're dieting enough to still have CICO.

That is pure twitter-age-shortcut nonsense and not how body chemistry actually works. It is much more complicated. What goes in matters even more than how much goes in, and most important is how your individual body reacts to what you put in, which is not universal.

[Anonymous]

When I stopped drinking during the week (at the 1-2 drinks level), what I noticed was that I also made healthier food choices, had energy for exercise, slept better, and didn't wake up feeling lethargic. Your 2 drinks are probably 500-700 calories. Reducing that expenditure will definitely help your overall plan, but in my experience, it is more about the other changes that not drinking facilitates than a strict CICO metric.