I am certain wine is the worst thing for weight gain

[WeirdArchitecture]

I know it is usually a personal thing, weight gain, but crikey my own experience was interesting.Inspired by another thread i've just been on, I would love to ask your thoughts on this, to see if anyone else experienced what i did.

I used to drink whiskey if i was going to have a tipple. A few times a week, 3 shots or so spread out over an entire evening, nice and relaxing. If in a party/social situation i would mix it with coke and ice.

Then the lockdowns came, and my tastes changed up a bit. I got really, really into red wine, white wine, Prosecco, etc. At one point i was having a bottle per night, or at least every odd night.
After a few months i noticed weight gain, thought it was inactivity (wfh) and just shrugged and bought an exercise bike. Nothing changed, except the wight kept coming on.
After 12 months i had gained a stone, which is the most I've ever gained or lost in my life. I couldn't bend over comfortably to tie my boots and my body felt fairly alien to me as the change seemed so sudden.

I tried upping my activity, cutting calories, cutting sugar, making smaller meals. Nothing. I asked on here and everyone just said it was menopause.
Then, without connecting it to the gains I got bored of wine and quit. Within 2 months the weight had completely gone and was creeping lower. Had a health panic, saw GP, everything fine. It has now stabilised.
But the only thing that changed was the wine.
I drink whiskey instead again, like previously, and my body is back to it's previous state.

It can't just be me, surely? That stuff is something else! I would never have suspected it at the time even though i knew wine contained many calories.

I agree. For me it’s not just the booze itself, it’s the late night snacking that comes with it.

What im saying is, i previously thought 'booze was booze' but in weight terms, perhaps it isnt.

You were drinking a whole bottle a day though. That means a minimum of 600-900 calories a day. Of course you lost weight once you stopped!!

yes i absolutely grazed my way through the evening but only when drinking wine. I am sure it encourages appetite!

I also switched from wine to whisky and saw a huge difference

I used to drink wine stopped in September and dropped two dress sizes. Maybe a little more active but I definitely think wine is awful both for weight gain and just general bloatedness.

650 cals I’m a bottle of wine compared to 180 cals in three shots of whiskey!

Wine has a lot of sugar in. As a pp said, its 600 calories upwards per day.

Not sure how you thought a bottle of wine the same calorific content as 3 whiskeys.

A bottle of wine a night is absolutely loads of calories! That’s like saying you’re amazed at what a difference not drinking coke makes if you drink 1.5 litres of coke per night!

I think it's the quantity that you were consuming that was the problem. The odd glass of wine as part of an otherwise reasonably healthy diet isn't going to be disastrous for your weight, but of course a bottle a night will do some damage!

I think wine is absolutely great for weight gain. It's worked for me.

@Kendoddsdadsdogsdadsdead

Wine has a lot of sugar in. As a pp said, its 600 calories upwards per day.

Not sure how you thought a bottle of wine the same calorific content as 3 whiskeys.

I didnt, the thing is i hadnt give the calorie content of the wine any thought whatsoever. I'd always been slim and didnt suspect it.

Btw i didnt drink a bottle per day, in general, more like every two days. I did increase around the time i lost a relative though for a month or two last xmas, i was having a bottle of (not very strong) wine every night :(

Bottle of wine is 10 units and nearly 700 cals.

3 small whiskys is 3 units and 180 cals.

This is why I drink vodka!

That’s certainly been my experience. I’ve found I can (within reason) eat what I like if I don’t drink wine. But the second I add wine into the mix I pile on the pounds.

I am now a WISER WOMAN

Wine and beer - both awful for weight gain. My uncle is a pub-goer, meets friends there and drinks pints. Maybe a few times a week. He had quite the belly. The only change he made was to swap to gin & tonic, no dietary or exercise changes or anything, and he has lost stones. He is still a little overweight, but not much, and it is all down to not drinking beer (not the same as not drinking at all!).

I did not think one single thing alone could effect so much gain. Whilst i obviously knew it was calorific, I am still surprised at what happened to me, personally. You live and learn.

I had previously considered weight gain and loss to be more generalised, like concerning the entire diet (or medication, etc).

Yep, I only drink gin

Because of menopause I can't drink wine at all - gives me a banging headache

For me it doesnt matter what alcohol i drink although i do prefer JD and coke. My problem is the sharing bag of crisps that i dont share that i consume easily in an evenings drinking session even after my normal sized tea. I am under no illusions where the extra weight is coming from!

Aside from the weight loss, did you notice any other major benefits from quitting wine? Did sleep or general health improve?

@neverornow

Aside from the weight loss, did you notice any other major benefits from quitting wine? Did sleep or general health improve?

Mood mostly. I was much more stressed and bad tempered all round. Dp was similar, we argued more when drinking wine regularly. All of this odd tension resolved after quitting and going back to how we drank previously (couple of times per week with different alcohol).

I always perceived drinking wine as de-stressing, but it made stress worse somehow.

As for sleep and general health, much better skin but sleep not much altered. I always sleep badly if i drink one glass more than I ought to, so no alteration there.
I had developed blotchy redness to my face a bit too, that has gone now.

But the most vital thing for me was the bloating. I have IBS and that stuff really exacerbated it. My gut stuck out so badly during that time i looked pregnant. Belly fat was definitely a thing wine created for me.

Yes I lost 2 stone while pregnant because of not drinking wine. I can only maintain my weight while drinking wine a few times a week by exercising every day.

It’s no surprise that wine is full of calories surely? Delicious as it is..

I could have written this. I have put on a stone in the last year because of lockdown, (booze) after being the same weight most of my adulthood. I did Sober October (well three weeks of it) and the weight starting to come off was almost immediate. Genuinely did not realise how many calories are in wine as opposed to my old normal of a spirit and a soda. It's so nice though.