Is it possible to lose weight but still drink alcohol regularly?

[LittlePeepoToy]

I normally drink beer could switch to vodka and Diet Coke. I normally have a couple a night my diet is carb heavy which I can sort. Less carbs, more exercise can I lose a significant amount of weight despite drinking?

[Gwenhwyfar]

" it sounds like you can’t go without it, even for a few months to get your weight under control..."

Sounds to me like she just doesn't want to. Neither do I actually and I have also been able to lose weight while having other things I like such as chocolate and cheese as long as I'm cutting the calories overall.

[GrumpiestOldWoman]

Which is calories in, no?

Not quite bluezoo , not all calories are equal, calories from fat won't spike your insulin level and switch you to fat storage whilst calories from carbs will.

You work alot harder to lose weight doing low fat high carb than you do on low carb high fat.

[GrumpiestOldWoman]

ITonya

You eat what you want in your 8 hour eating window, though for best results try not to go carb-heavy. Have your alcohol in that window too. So if you want a glass if wine at 9 pm try a 1-9 pm eating window.

[dudsville]

I am, but I have cut out ALL other sugars and treats and have some nights of no alcohol. The weight is steadily dropping at a pace I'm happy with. I'm calorie counting, eating very healthily, slightly lo-carbing and walking more.

[AgeLikeWine]

I love beer too, but when I’m trying to lose weight I switch to gin & lo-cal tonic, and I don’t drink at all on school nights.

I try to hit weight loss quite hard, though, because my aim is to drop a significant amount before I get sick of the regime. If I was still drinking beer, I would be losing less than 0.5kg a week, which is far too slow for someone of my height & build (I’m 1.80m with size 9 feet).

[Leflic]

what you are saying is some foods make you hungry, so you eat more.
Which is calories in, no?
No, what it means is that high carb food produces insulin which in turns stores excess glucose. That’s all the fat around your middle.
Low carb doesn’t trigger insulin so you burn up the stores of fat you have.

Lots of alcoholics are skinny. Alcohol doesn’t metabolise in the same way. However beer is quite carby. Very dry wine and clear spirts are best. Alcohol does cause you to lose willpower and I need breakfast in the morning when I drink the night before.
When I did low carb I had one night a week to drink as much or whatever I wanted. Lost weight really quickly.

[Vodkacranberryplease]

I used to do a fasting diet and then have cheat days (I know, I know) and on my cheat days the only one that didn't really mess up the weight loss was red wine. White wine makes me absolutely starving.

I lost a lot of weight on a 1000 calorie a day diet plus beer years ago because it's very filling. Vodka and diet tonic too.

But this is so tough as hangovers make me eat.

[nanbread]

My very slim friends who have never been overweight don't drink much, but when they do drink they have very high quality, neat vodka on ice or, very infrequently, a single glass of wine.

Another thing to consider is what sort of diet can you stick to?

I'm doing a low sugar, reduced carb diet and my decades-long sugar cravings are finally under control and my blood sugar feels even... If I drank loads of booze however I'm pretty sure it would throw it out of whack. For that reason it wouldn't work to drink a lot on this kind of diet. I'm currently having one drink a week if I feel like it.

[Gwenhwyfar]

"My very slim friends who have never been overweight don't drink much, but when they do drink they have very high quality, neat vodka on ice or, very infrequently, a single glass of wine."

I can assure you that very slim, slim and medium sized people often have more than one single glass of wine. Your friendship group doesn't reflect the average.

[bluebluezoo]

Lots of alcoholics are skinny. Alcohol doesn’t metabolise in the same way

Alcoholics tend to be skinny because they prioritise alcohol over food.

Metabolism is far too complicated to make sweeping statements about insulin and fat storage.

[Vodkacranberryplease]

Indeed. One of my skinniest friends drinks like a fish. Pretty much everything too.. but food isnt her thing. It's not even that she's trying she just seems to not care. She never has bread in the house, will happily eat very fatty meat but not often. She does eat but just not that much.

Somehow she has managed to turn food into something she does but doesn't care about. But isn't caught up with 'trying'.

But another skinny friend rarely drinks because of the calories probably and has that more 'fashion' approach eg one glass of champagne, going on about feeling all dizzy after one etc. She's actually borderline anorexic in her approach. And a lot harder work.

[Evileyecherry]

For me - no.

Give me one drink and I’d want ten. And food.

So I’ve cut it out completely despite absolutely loving wine.

After a month and a half the cravings have gone. I couldn’t have lost weight whilst still drinking.

[Spodge]

Yes. I have lost 5 stone and kept it off and I have not stopped drinking, though I have cut down. The big thing for me was stopping lager altogether, though. That made a difference even without changing any other habits. I switched to gin&slimline or wine.

[Leflic]

Metabolism is far too complicated to make sweeping statements about insulin and fat storage

That’s not me saying that, that’s science.

I’m not sure the research around drinking and low carb/low sugar is that definitive though.