Is it healthier to be 2 stone overweight or drink half a bottle of wine a day?

[SodYouIllGoOnMyOwn]

Just seeking some views here and it’s a bit controversial so I opted for AIBU. Obviously neither is ideal but from a health perspective, what do you think?

Not unreasonable: Half a bottle of wine is worse.
Unreasonable: 2 stone overweight is worse.

Really interested to hear some views.

Thanks.

Silly question really but I think the alcohol is worse. I'm not sure just 2 stone overweight is such a huge strain on the body.

I don't think either is healthy. However, since you asked, I'd say being a bit overweight is less of a heath issue than regularly drinking that amount.

I'm way more than 2st overweight, more like 7, and recently had a whole host of blood tests. My heart, liver, kidneys are all fine and healthy. I'm not a big meat eater and am practically teetotal, maybe one drink a year at christmas. Never smoked a day in my life.

I definitely think alcohol every day is far worse than being fat, because it is literally poison, thats why you get drunk and have hangovers. Half a bottle of wine every day will take you well over the recommended safe units per week, and your liver will never get a break. Given alcohol is also full of sugar its really bad for you, can contribute to type 2 diabetes etc. Being carcinogenic is also a big reason its not great to indulge every day.

I can't work this out. For 2 stone to only make a 2 point BMI difference (25 to 27) wouldn't you have to be about 8 foot tall?

I thought there was around a 3 stone range between overweight - obese.

2 stone overweight eating a balanced diet is very different from 2 stone overweight eating bacon butties and sausage rolls.
Eating bacon and shit every day is worse.
My Dsis is 2 stone overweight, she can overeat but her diet is extremely healthy.

Both are very bad and this is not comparing apples to apples. Alcohol however has been declared a group one carcinogen along with asbestos, tobacco, cadmium etc. your risk also depends on other lifestyle factors and genetic disposition.

Look up the obesity paradox. I think 2st heavier is a better option than drinking 1/2 bottle of wine a day. Though when I was doing that because of chronic pain it caused me to love overweight. Combatting the drinking helped with weight loss so it’s a weird comparison

You can be two stone overweight while eating healthy food. But alcohol is a known carcinogen implicated in over a dozen cancers. And 2-3 glasses of win a night is over the recommended limit, anyway.

Two stone overweight isn't that bad, drinking wine every night is a problem, comparing oneself to another for justification is a tad ridiculous

I would like to know this because I am the person who is teetotal but eats bacon and sausage every day 😂

Do “they” drink daily? And who is they? Only about 10% of French people drink every day. And that might just be one small glass. Although I would hazard a guess the 10% are problem drinkers.

Culturally French people did drink wine with meals a lot but they don’t any more. Because it is not good for you. And as it turns out they could make a better choice.

Problem drinking is seeing it as a difficult choice. If you are setting rules for drinking you have a problem.

2 stone overweight is not slightly overweight though

It can't be a clearcut answer. There are a lot of confounders there.

You could be normal weight with liver disease as a result of drinking 1/2 bottle of wine daily. That clearly would not be okay for your health. You could be normal weight with normal liver function today but continuing to consume alcohol regularly may (almost certainly will) damage your liver in time. A healthy diet otherwise would not be able to counterweight the prolonged effects of alcohol.

Addiction is another issue. The longer you drink, the harder it becomes to come off - as unlikely as 1/2 bottle of wine daily appears to cause addiction, it really does.

Two stone on top of your optimum is quite a bit of extra weight to carry around but some people are in good health with that. Some are not. The quality of the diet also plays a part. You could be overweight but on a healthy maintenance diet i.e. not losing weight, but not putting on extra either. If you are two stone overweight but continue to pile on, that will cause issues in time. Food addiction is also an issue.

You’re not strictly comparing like with like.
Drinking wine is a behaviour that may or may not (but likely will) lead to adverse outcome.

Being overweight is an adverse outcome that may or may not (but likely has) resulted from a bad diet.

You could have a genetically ‘overweight’ person with a perfect diet who exercises daily and is in top shape.

You could also have a large framed 6ft 5 man who drinks a glass of wine with lunch and another with his dinner without his liver even noticing.

So you should compare alcohol vs diet
or
liver damage vs being overweight.

The alcohol is probably worse. Drinking that much nightly would be classed by a doctor as too much. If you were like six stone overweight then I reckon that would be worse, but two stone doesn't put that much pressure on your body I don't think? I'm not sure though?
I'm a underweight person who drinks and I'm definitely not very healthy.

If you have a bad diet, chances are you have Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Why drink 2-3 glasses of wine every night to compound the problem?

If you’re looking for personal advice, I’d suggest to quit the drinking first.
Then look at the diet.
Just don’t go taking up smoking!!
Use exercise as your ‘replacement’ drug. Find something you like. I’m absolutely astonished to discover that I enjoy swimming. Even though I hated it in school.

The alcohol. As it’s ingesting a toxin into the body daily, it’s a group 1 carcinogen. I’ve stopped drinking entirely now I’m recovered from cancer.

This is a bit of a silly statement. Half a bottle of wine is about two large glasses so roughly 500 calories. As long as those 500 calories are not taking you over your daily quota that you need to function you won't be overweight.

I'd say the alcohol is worse, due to its addictive properties. 2 stone overweight is not great, but depending on your height it may not be massive. It's easier to lose weight than to stop drinking once you're addicted.

First of all: well done!!

this is a question of nuance, I agree.

Is being a little to moderately overweight likely to adversely affect your health? Probably not (unless there are other factors). especially not medium to short term. And especially not if you’re leading an overall healthy and active life.

And the same goes for a (small) glass of wine a day…

but half a bottle is a different story. And the same goes for being morbidly obese.…

(I would however say - based on what I have observed - that alcoholism will wreck your life much sooner and faster than obesity will. So if this OP was a question of an obese person with an alcohol problem I personally would probably suggest to initially prioritise combatting ones dependency on alcohol. And a lack of alcohol related calories will most likely help with weight related issues as well…)

I wouldn't be massively stressed about either of those things tbh, but both could escalate to something properly unhealthy so (although they're not easily comparable) I'd put them on a par.

@SodYouIllGoOnMyOwn So are you person A and your partner is person B in a relationship where one of you is 2 stone overweight and the other drinks half a bottle of wine a day? And you're both growsing at each other about who is the least healthy?

YABU for puttuing the question this way.

Neither is reasonable or healthy. I hope whoever you're talking about has private health insurance. I really don't see why taxpayers should subsidise someone deliberately eating & drinking themselves to death.

I came to say the same.

Overweight category actually has better longevity. But that’s provided op doesn’t mean two stone into obese.

But at a certain stage of life the “ merely” overweight category is no big deal - and arguably had health benefits.