2 beers = anxiety and binging?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I experience this as well, as does my work friend. Significant work anxiety on the weekends, drinking, overeating, weight gain and shame.

This is exactly how I feel. Any solution?

Trying a few weeks without alcohol might help. But if you're experiencing significant anxiety about work it might also help to either seek help for the anxiety (counseling, job coaching, medication, meditation, etc....lots of options to try) or be looking for a less-stressful job.

[Anonymous]

Didn't you post about this before?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this happening every weekend? Try abstaining next Friday and see if anything changes.

When I’ve abstained I don’t experience this.

But how can 2 drinks result in this??

Because psychologically you are using those 2 beers as your excuse to binge the entire weekend (you have "no control" because you drank 2 beers). Bingeing during/immediately after drinking 2 beers? Sure. But what possible physiological reason can there be for continuing to binge 1 or 2 days later, when the alcohol is long gone from your system?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I experience this as well, as does my work friend. Significant work anxiety on the weekends, drinking, overeating, weight gain and shame.

This is exactly how I feel. Any solution?

Here's something I did that worked. It was not easy.

I gave up alcohol. This actually reduced my anxiety and improved my sleep. I ate better and was better able to resist sweets and carbs. For stress, I ate a high protein meal about mid afternoon, then did a high intensity workout after work at 5:30. Then ate a light high protein meal with veggies, toughed it out until bedtime. Brush teeth early and don't keep any crap in the house at all.

I’m considering I might need to do this. Another thing I’m considering is limiting my phone usage.

Try sitting down with a book or tv show and a glass of hot herbal tea rather than a beer. Or take a bubble bath with the tea.

[Anonymous]

This can absolutely happen.

[Anonymous]

Beers have a lot of carbs but they can also mess with your blood sugar and hunger/satiety hormones.

When your body sense alcohol it will focus on processing it and storing the energy as fat before it process anything else. This can set your body up to "think" it's getting lots of energy but it's actually just the alcohol. That in turn makes your body release the hunger hormones that prompt you to eat more later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beers have a lot of carbs but they can also mess with your blood sugar and hunger/satiety hormones.

When your body sense alcohol it will focus on processing it and storing the energy as fat before it process anything else. This can set your body up to "think" it's getting lots of energy but it's actually just the alcohol. That in turn makes your body release the hunger hormones that prompt you to eat more later.

Very true and I have experienced it. After losing 28lb, I gained about 2 to 3 lbs in two weeks as soon as I started drinking beer. Any type of alcohol is addictive and does not help manage weight. I am thinking of fixing it to be a once a month affair with a fear of addiction!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this happening every weekend? Try abstaining next Friday and see if anything changes.

When I’ve abstained I don’t experience this.

But how can 2 drinks result in this??

Because psychologically you are using those 2 beers as your excuse to binge the entire weekend (you have "no control" because you drank 2 beers). Bingeing during/immediately after drinking 2 beers? Sure. But what possible physiological reason can there be for continuing to binge 1 or 2 days later, when the alcohol is long gone from your system?

Alcohol and anti-anxiety drugs (namely benzodiazepines) have a shared neurobiological mechanism. Both of them bind to GABA receptors in your brain and make it easier for GABA to bind there. (GABA is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in your brain -- this is actually why a combo of benzodiazepines and alcohol can be fatal... it can cause too much depression of nervous system activity).

It is possible that the 2 beers have an anti-anxiety effect on you similar to what a Xanax or Valium would do. Then when you are in "withdrawal" from the alcohol (not legitimate withdrawal syndrome, but rather when the alcohol is no longer stimulating the GABA receptors) you experience rebound anxiety which in turn triggers the binge eating. Rebound anxiety is a known effect of abruptly stopping benzodiazepine use.