i am very interested in starting either Atkins, or the south beach diet.. only drinking alcohol (mainly beer) is a pretty routine thing for me on the weekends, and im not ready to give it up..

what would happen if i did atkins or south beach, but then just drank alcohol like once or twice a weekend. would i still lose weight, just not as much? or would it completely backfire, and would i gain weight?

any ideas??

thanks http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Definitley drinking while on the Atkins diet will slow your weight loss (I'm not sure about the South Beach diet). Something to consider if you're not ready to give up beer is low-carb beer such as Michelob Ultra. You are able to have carbs on the Atkins (just not during the induction phase/first 2 weeks). There are also other alcoholic beverages that are low-carb such as Crystal Lite and vodka. I've also heard of a recipe for a low-carb margarita if you're interested (no salt). Just a thought.

Drinking, irregardless of its other health risks, is going to slow your weight loss on any diet because of the amount of calories alcohol contains. You need to make a decision which is more important to you. You don't necessarily need to give up alcohol entirely, but it shouldn't be a regular thing either.

Michelob Ultra is pretty much just clever marketing targeting the new low carb rage. Michelob Ultra contains just 1 less calorie and 0.6 grams of carbs less than Miller Lite. Nonetheless, either is quite an improvement over regular beer.

Actually, it's not so much the calories in alcoholas the alcohol itself that will slow your weight loss progress.

Even if you count the alcohol calories into your daily intake - and make room for them - the a;cohol will slow your progress.

This is because of the way your body "processes' the alcohol. It is a toxin and your body will try to deal with it before it deals with anything else. This means that any food you've eaten that has to be digested will be put on hold - and may be stored as fat as a consequence.

so just to clarify.. i would still lose weight, it would just take a lot longer??

thanks for everyones help!

Various substances that can slow weight loss can also be contributors to improving weight loss, or they could have no impact at all, depending on the person.

You might still lose weight. It depends on your overall alcohol consumption as well as the other aspects of your lifestyle. I wouldn't recommend it, but if you're insistent upon it, try to keep it in moderation. If you do have trouble losing weight, that would be one of the first places to look, though.

Hello, I don't know about what the affect would be on a low-carb. diet, but I do know that it doesn't affect my diet. The trick on my diet is that I allow myself no more than one drink per week. I also stick to the same day of the week...I have one drink each Sunday. I never do any binge drinking. I can't imagine how one drink per week would slow weight loss down that much. I was always under the impression that rapid weight loss is usually just water weight loss and is not a good idea. Try it one week and see what happens.

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Magpie

I have been on the South Beach Diet for 4weeks, and i have never had such great results and lost fat in the places it would never come off before. I've lost like 15 lbs in 3weeks. The thing with beer is it contains Maltose which is the sugar with the highest glycemic index(which is bad) i think i said that right. Dr Agaston discuss' it in his book(South Beach Diet) Myself i didnt drink for 19 days str8 and now on the weekends i have had a couple drinks(hard liquor) I used to drink beer every weekend and a couple times a week. Now i have only had one beer in the last month.
Good luck man.