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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To drink alcohol 3 times per week

33 replies

Bananatoastie · 02/07/2023 22:41

So my friend and I were discussing (over a glass of wine) how we both want to lose some weight and have a healthier lifestyle going forward. We wanted to settle a debate on whether drinking a bottle of wine every other day is normal? She seems to think it is but I think half of that would be more in the region of normal. I'm not much of a drinker so I wouldn't know really, but I'm curious to hear mumsnetters opinions.

So:

YABU: 1 bottle every other night is fine

YANBU: 1 bottle every other night seems a bit much

FYI - this is a lighthearted debate! Thanks in advance.

OP posts:
ShirleyPhallus · 02/07/2023 22:43

Of course it’s too much. Alcohol is literally a poison and a total waste of calories, it will seriously slow down your attempted weight loss

I say that as someone who likes a drink, and more than the MN sponsored thimble of sherry at Christmas, but you’d have to be a bit dim not to realise how it impacts you

IfIwasablackbird · 02/07/2023 22:44

A bottle every overnight seems an awful lot to me. So half a bottle a day?!
I have a bottle a week so I’m not teetotal or
anything.

IfIwasablackbird · 02/07/2023 22:44

Other night!!! Autocorrect…

PeachesOnTheBeaches · 02/07/2023 22:44

No, that’s absolutely not normal.

TwoFourSixEightNeverTooLate · 02/07/2023 22:45

A bottle? No.
A couple of glasses 3 x a week, yes.
A bottle is over 500 calories, never mind more that the recommended units. She won’t be losing much weight drinking a whole days worth of calories each week!

BeautifulSloth · 02/07/2023 22:46

Way too much for many reasons...too many calories, emotional dependence, bad for liver.

Thepeopleversuswork · 02/07/2023 22:47

It may be normal in some circles but a bottle every other night is not good for you and if you're doing it over a sustained period if time it's going to do some long-term damage to your body.

It partly depends on age. I think if you're in your 20s and in otherwise good health you can probably get away with it for a bit. But you don't want to be doing it for several decades.

Dacadactyl · 02/07/2023 22:47

I think it's far too much.

I've gone through periods of drinking like that in the past though, but it's not healthy and will slow down any attempts at weight loss being made.

AtrociousCircumstance · 02/07/2023 22:49

A bottle every other night is far too much. Sounds like an unhealthy dependency. Not really a light hearted topic I’m afraid OP!

StarDolphins · 02/07/2023 22:49

I have 1.5 bottles per week. I am the lowest drinker in my circle. I know loads that have a bottle of wine every couple of days. I think it’s a bit much but up to them.

AriettyClock22 · 02/07/2023 22:51

A bottle is 650 calories roughly so that's like another main meal three times a week. I love my wine but have had to cut back for this very reason. Wine bloat is a real thing.

waterlego · 02/07/2023 22:52

I don’t know if it’s ‘normal’ but it isn’t healthy. A bottle every other night is 30-40 units a week!

quietnightmare · 02/07/2023 22:56

Depends on your situation in life

University - that would be very minimal for me

Travelling - that would be loads and too expensive as would rather another activity when travelling than drinking for me

When I was younger in a relationship - some weeks that would be loads some weeks that would be minimal it would depend on what plans we had, how much work I had on or not had on

When I left my ex - that was minimal as partied like I was in university again

When I met my now husband - maybe three bottles of wine between us in the weekend and that's that m. Considerably more at weddings, birthdays, Christmas etc

Since having a child - I couldn't think of anything worse than drinking and dealing with a child the next day- so only drink at birthdays, Christmas , special occasions roughly once a month heavy drinking - so maybe 3 bottles of wine between us each time, or 6 bottles of beer for me but more for him, 5-6 gins. And then generally if it's not mine or someone's 'big birthday' I'll stop after two or three glasses of wine or maybe 4 beers

It really just depends for me personally what stage of life I am at

Back21970 · 02/07/2023 22:57

It’s at the high end but if we are talking 3 bottles a week I don’t think it’s that bad.

For me though drinking makes me hungrier the next day, so I would find it very difficult to lose any weight.

If I was on holiday or wasn’t trying to lose weight I wouldn’t have a big problem with it personally.

Avondale89 · 02/07/2023 23:04

Far too much for general health and especially if weight loss is really something she wants to achieve. Wine is (sadly) way more calorific than you’d think.

AtrociousCircumstance · 03/07/2023 00:23

Yeah the recommended maximum amount of units a week is 14. A bottle every other night is more than double that.

bumblebee2235 · 03/07/2023 00:54

Bit excessive imo, half a bottle 3 days a week I agree is more in the realms of normal. I class having a whole bottle in a night as binge drinking and a party night.

I'm pretty much teetotal now, I drink once a month but often go longer between. I have pre mixed cans so I can monitor, it's easy to get carried away and the "normal" to increase with habit.. plus given I rarely drink I would be on the floor.

I use to have a drinking problem (self medicated) started off with a bottle every other day.. the GP considered a whole bottle in an evening alcoholism.. it matched the units of problem drinking.

Deathbyfluffy · 03/07/2023 00:57

waterlego · 02/07/2023 22:52

I don’t know if it’s ‘normal’ but it isn’t healthy. A bottle every other night is 30-40 units a week!

To have 40 units from 3 bottles of wine it’d have to be well over 15%!

mondaytosunday · 03/07/2023 01:12

I give up wine regularly for weeks at a time (like for Lent). Sadly i never lose any weight, nor do I feel any different. If I did I might have more incentive!
I only started drinking after I had kids! I drink about three bottles a week.

TooOldForThisNonsense · 03/07/2023 01:14

It’s too much. I used to drink a bottle a night and that was way way too much. Now almost 2 years sober

Cockortwowhisperer · 03/07/2023 04:03

There is less kcal in white wine than red wine. From a weight pov, google says 615 kcal per bottle. If you just had that, and maybe a 200kcal snack, that might be reasonable for the purposes of wt loss.
from a pure alcohol pov, however, it’s quite far over the line the uk recommend 14 units a week which is about 1.5 bottles of wine. (Other countries recoupment more btw)

MavisMcMinty · 03/07/2023 04:38

It’s better than a bottle a day but it’s still quite a lot of booze in a week for a woman (assuming you are). How old are you, may I ask?

bladebladebla1 · 03/07/2023 07:27

Lol, I can't answer this coz it's Mumsnet and I'll just shuffle away

waterlego · 03/07/2023 08:08

Deathbyfluffy · 03/07/2023 00:57

To have 40 units from 3 bottles of wine it’d have to be well over 15%!

Show quote history

Well yes. The reason I said 30-40 units is that ‘every other night’ could be 3 or 4 bottles a week, depending on which night you start!

Maddy70 · 03/07/2023 10:12

That's 2/3 glasses a day everyone will tell you it's too much. It probably is calorie wise but I live in a country where thats a normal amount (it's also the country with the longest living people so make of that what you will )