Can someone explain why my alcohol intake is slowing down my weight loss?

[Bubblefart]

I calculated my basal metabolic weight and eat and exercised enough to lose weight. Since Jan 1st I have lost 10kg through using this calculation and calorie counting.

Only issue is, a stressful lockdown has made me drink a lot of alcohol, and wine has become my way of switching off, rewarding myself or as a marker between work and home (even though I am working from home.)

I am counting my wine calories as part of my daily calorie count, so essentially eating less and drinking more on some days. My friend when I asked her “blames the booze” for me not being able to shift any more weight and I am trying to understand why - if I am counting the alcohol calories and adjusting and counting them based on the amount I need?

I think if I understood the science behind it then I would find it easier to stop drinking so much to lose more weight.

Because all calories are not equal. Despite what some schools of thought may try to persuade you. Alcohol is basically a form of sugar, therefore it provokes an insulin response. (In addition to all the other bad stuff it does!)

If you're looking for assistance in understanding the science behind weight loss & why some methods are more /less effective, Robert Lustig is very good. Several university /conference lectures are available on Youtube on various aspects of the subject.

Honestly, alcohol bloats you for a start so you retain fluid. It's essentially liquid sugar with zero nutritional value so if you are not putting in the good stuff (healthy food) your body will have trouble processing the bad.

If you drink lots of a long period, you start to not be able to absorb nutrients at all and end up with the opposite problem of the skinny drinker look.

Have you joined any of the unexpected joy of being sober type FB pages? So many amazing photos of weight loss when people stopped the booze.

How much do you weigh? 10kgs is probably a significant percentage of your body weight. You need to recalculate you TDEE or what you are using. And then adjust your calorie intake. The metabolism of alcohol is a bit of a complex area but dieting and then further denying yourself nutritious food in order to drink is somewhat problematic. And I say that with all the love in the world. Life is hard and maybe now isn’t the right time to lose a lot of weight.

When you consume alcohol your body burns that first instead of the other things that it would burn for fuel leaving them sat there turning to fat.

That's a really basic way of describing it I know! Basically as well as the basic calories you get from the drinks, the alcohol itself actually changes the way your body metabolises everything else.

I get swollen after alcohol.

Also, you shouldn't really be swapping food for alcohol a lot. That's just not healthy. It's ok sometimes. You shouldn't also eat under your bmr.

What people are saying about alchol essentially being sugar (which causes inflamation as well as anything else) and about it being a poison which your body has to deal with before it can burn any fat or anything else are true (I drink too, but its good to be realistic!). If you're drinking you may also be nibbling on a few savoury snacks you're forgetting to count properly or having bigger glasses than you think too...

On the other hand you've lost 10kg in seven weeks. Its pretty normal to slow down after initial fast loss - and that is fast. 0.5 kg is still over a lb, so after the initial fast drop its still good going to lose 3kg in the next 7 weeks - the rate you start at isn't sustainable.