To think dry January is a waste if you're going to eat a takeaway!

[VillaMaria71]

If the end goal is to lose weight. I haven't drunk since NYE. Been very hard as I really like wine (hence my name) last weekend a Chinese was the only thing I had to look forward to and I didn't feel guilty as I had stopped drinking. However now I'm on the 2nd weekend and have just devoured another takeaway. I'm now thinking isurely if I didn't have the takeaway and had half a bottle of wine and a sandwich this would be more beneficial to losing weight? Aibu?

Dry January is about giving your body, especially your liver, a break from the excessive amounts of alcohol consumed over the Christmas period. If you lose weight then you really have been hitting the bottle hard and you need to seriously look at your unhealthy relationship with alcohol in general.

So for me I wanted to initially prove to myself I could give up booze but I also want to lose a stone. Overindulged at Christmas definitely. Drunk nearly a bottle every night for about 18 days plus Baileys etc every now and then. Before that drunk 4 days a week approx 3 bottles spread out. Always had a takeaway on Sat too.

Now I'm back to exercising most days and eating healthy mid week with treats on a weekend . This weekend has been tough. I think I would rather swap the takeaway for wine but I would end up drinking 3 nights again and cut out the 4th.

We're doing DJ as we pretty much drank every day from 1st December and really ramped it up over Christmas.

However for us, wine = takeaways so we're cutting these out too. We're hoping to lose a few pounds if possible but the main thing is to just be so much healthier for at least a month.

Also hoping to save money as drinking + takeaways every weekend must have been costing us at least £300 per month.

I don't lose weight from giving up booze. Dry January resets my drinking to nil/ low after getting used to a regular Christmas tipple. It's good for me.

I thought the point of Dry January was so you could tell people you were doing dry January.

No. While not the best of choices, the takeaway is food and is providing your body with nourishment snd energy.Vegetable heavy dishes would be better for you than the sandwich. The alcohol is doing nothing positive for your body and is dehydrating you, possibly triggering food cravings and encouraging visceral fat to be stored, all enemies to weight loss.
If you're serious about losing weight, maintaining the loss and avoiding the thick waisted apple shape alcohol encourages, you have to accept wine is not your friend.

@VillaMaria71 I enjoy alcohol but the amount you've described is a lot. If you are considering drinking already (a week in) it sounds like you are dependent on it.

I've done five Dry Januarys and never lost weight - I think one month I lost a pound.

I thought this was going to be about the health benefits!

😂

Even if you don’t lose weight dry January I think is a good idea for you reset your relationship with alcohol. You drank a lot in December having a bottle a day. 3 bottles a week in average weeks isn’t a small amount either so you may have some reliance to it and it won’t be doing you or your body any good.

If you are watching your diet nutritionally and exercising regularly one take away a week will be better than the 3 bottles of wine surely?

I'd imagine health wise drinking is worse for your health than being a bit overweight. I'd take one thing at a time, and focus on the drinking first. It will probably be easier to lose weight once you have got over craving alcohol.

Alcohol isn’t just bad for your waistline. It’s linked to many diseases and a carcinogen. Dry January is always going to be a good decision - or any kind of cutting down or cutting out alcohol - no matter what.

You would be better off doing a weight loss programme if your goal is to lose weight.

Also from the amount you drink weekly, it sounds like you do have something of a reliance on alcohol. Almost a bottle a night is a problem.

I don't think you can justify your alcohol consumption by saying it's better then a takeaway. These are 2 different issues but the fact you are suggesting it is indicative of an alcohol problem. Stick with the dry January, it will be much more beneficial for you.

Resolutions are for weight loss, the purpose of dry January is to reduce alcohol consumption

You can buy good indian sauces Spice Tailor brand, the calories are about 150 to 250 per half packet, I add lentils or chickpeas, veg, a 150 calorie portion basmati. It is a healthier option. I'd love a good chinese equivalent!

I agree with this ^

Takeaway a week. Full of hydrogenated oils, sat fats and salt.

I wouldn’t do it. I’d be worried about a heart attack and early death in my 50s

You will never manage your weight in a healthy and sustainable way while drinking large amounts of alcohol. Maybe in the short term, if you're young, but as a long term strategy saving food calories for alcohol is a big mistake.
If you're reducing calories every one you consume needs to count. Whether you want to lose weight for general health, to look better or to perform better in sport/excercise, where the calories come from is vital to make sure your body still gets what it needs.
I know several women who've taken your approach and at mid life there are similarities in their body shape, stick thin limbs, protruding stomachs. For years they've missed out on calcium, protein, vitamins because their alcohol calories don't allow them enough left over for the food they need. And that's without touching on the health issues (mental and physical) that you can't see on the outside.

I guess it depends on the takeaway.

The point of dry January is to cut out alcohol and give your liver a break as most people massively overdo it at Christmas.

If you lose weight and sleep better as a result, that's just an added bonus.

If you're only a week in and want to cave and start drinking again, I suspect you're a bit more reliant on your drink than perhaps you want to believe.

If your end goal is the numbers on your scale, then count the calories of “sandwich + wine” vs “Chinese + no wine” to work out if you’re being unreasonable.

but if your end goal is your overall physical, mental & financial health, then I’d say staying off the wine is the way forward.

You are not doing dry January. You are just dieting by giving up alcohol. As pps said, dey January is not about weight

I’ve never understood the lose weight from cutting out booze thing, you must drink a load for that to make such a difference. Weight lose is down to food.