Alcohol - giving it up for weight loss

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I have around a stone to lose and it's the most stubborn bloody stone ever - I've been trying to shift those stone for ages now and I get close but then the pounds come back on again.

I'm looking at my diet and I don't eat a lot at all, most days around 1300 calories however - I do binge drink on a weekend (this is another thread entirely :-( )

This week for example I drank half a bottle of red wine on Thursday night, drank 6 cans of lager on Friday night and did the same Saturday night. I sometimes drink lager Sunday nights too.

Could it be this weekly habit that is stopping me losing weight??? Anyone given up alcohol and lost weight as a result?

I have a hell of a lot more to lose than you, but this is what I've found:

I started dieting in November (low carb), but kept up my half-bottle of red on a Friday night habit. Not every week, but most weeks. I lost some weight, but was finding it hard work. The scales wouldn't really move for the first half of the week, and then by the time Friday came round again, I was down a pound or two. Then repeat...

I started again in January - low carb, and dry January, and it has been SO much easier to shift the weight, and it's coming off far more consistently, with no 'start of the week slump'. So if you're really wanting to shift the stone, I'd recommend it .

As a rough calculation (with some numbers I picked up off the net) - allowing 180 cals per lager, and 300 cals for half a bottle of red - you've looking at drinking nearly 2500 cals over a weekend - which almost like eating an additional two days worth of food on your current diet. I'm not a nutritionist, or by any means an expert, but I think that's bound to be having an effect.

Well done on recognising it might be having an effect, from my experience, I'd definitely recommend giving it a miss for a while. Good luck

Alcohol def doesn't help weight loss.

If dh is away in th week I don't drink and can lose 2lbs. Come the weekend when he is back I drink and put it all back on again. As well as the empty calories and sugar I get th munchies and eat crap.

It's definitely my downfall.

Cut back massively on the alcohol since new year and have lost a steady 1kg a week.

If you only have a stone to lose you will find this slower as the difference between what you need to maintain weight and the amount you can sustain as a diet is much smaller.

Cutting out the alcohol doesn't just save the calories. It also keeps the hydration levels more steady. Also, for me, it has meant I have been able to stop the wine munchies!

I don't drink as much as you. I gave up alcohol on 1st Jan and have lost 8lbs so far (I have a stone to lose in total)

Alcohol has three things against it, as far as weight loss is concerned:

1. calories (wine and lager are both high in calories compared with spirits, which you haven't mentioned!)
2. carbs (lager especially is high in carbs)
3. fuel source (the body is very lazy and alcohol is the easiest source of fuel; it will burn this in preference to anything else)

So it doesn't really matter what diet you're trying to follow - sadly alcohol really isn't going to help

Yeah, drinking alcohol definitely won't help. Try and up your water intake if you haven't already, it helps a lot!