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

[Anonymous]

I quit drinking 3 months ago and have lost zero weight. I was a nightly drinker, so definitely needed to stop. Just haven't seen a change in weight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I quit drinking 3 months ago and have lost zero weight. I was a nightly drinker, so definitely needed to stop. Just haven't seen a change in weight.

What’s your diet like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

No you are making it more complicated than it is. It is a numbers game. If you want to drink - drink. But drinks are worth a lot of calories and you will have to cut somewhere else to put yourself in a calorie deficit to lose weight. And that's how you lose weight, you put yourself in a calorie deficit. It doesn't matter how you get there but the only way to lose weight is a calorie deficit.

[Anonymous]

I used to have 1 or 2 drinks a day. Two months ago, I stopped drinking. I did not lose weight the first month because I craved sugar and overdid it with snacking. I felt better, my face looked better, and I slept better, but no weight loss. This past month, I have slowly been cutting back on the sugary stuff. A week ago, I lost a pound, and it looks as though I am going to lose another pound this week. I have more energy, so I want to exercise more.

It was a slow process, but that's what worked for me. I wanted to be a success with eliminating alcohol, so I took it easy on myself and compensated with food at the beginning. Now I have the willpower to cut out both alcohol and unnecessary carbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Absolutely this. I lost 15 lbs this year and cutting down on alcohol has made a huge difference in how I feel about myself, energy level, and sleep quality. I could work those calories into my day by eating less, but I just don't want to anymore. I want to eat nourishing food so I can workout harder or just feel better.

[Anonymous]

This podcast episode does a good job of explaining the science behind why it’s hard to lose weight while drinking:

https://www.soberpowered.com/episodes/e34

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I didn't add food. I subbed herbal tea (no sugar). Before, I'd have 2-3 glasses 3 times a week.

[Anonymous]

Alcohol calories are not metabolized by human bodies the way food calories are, so cutting alcohol won't be as helpful as the pure calorie count would suggest.

[Anonymous]

I think cutting out alcohol has had a large effect for me. I was never a huge drinker but a 3 beers on Friday abs Saturday night kinda guy. I also sleep much better without alcohol in the system and overall I think that has some impact too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

No you are making it more complicated than it is. It is a numbers game. If you want to drink - drink. But drinks are worth a lot of calories and you will have to cut somewhere else to put yourself in a calorie deficit to lose weight. And that's how you lose weight, you put yourself in a calorie deficit. It doesn't matter how you get there but the only way to lose weight is a calorie deficit.

I think it’s more about the overall quality of the diet than the numbers. If you’re eating quality food you don’t have to really count the numbers. I think drinking is not healthy and may contribute in more ways than just calories to being overweight and poor health.

[Anonymous]

No change for me—was 2-3 drinks/week and went cold turkey trying to find the cause of allergic reactions. Turns out I can’t have alcohol anymore, but I’ve lost no weight dropping it.

[Anonymous]

Drinking alcohol makes you sleep worse - which makes you eat more the next day, it also stimulates appetite so you'll eat more the night before.

Given weight loss is about calorie control it's probably a good idea to cut back or stop drinking.

[Anonymous]

It's clearly not cut and dried. Some people lose, others don't.

[Anonymous]

I quit drinking just because I lost my taste for it and it made no difference.

[Anonymous]

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

Me neither, but dry january is really just like any other month minus 3-4 drinks, total.