ok heres my dilemma, i am a 21 yr old male trying to diet and lose some wieght. im trying to cut out all junk food and eat more healthy foods(fruit,veggies,whole foods etc..) and also lots of water.. i have replaced all my soda's with water. and my thing is this i like to have a couple drinks a few nights a week.and my girlfriend is telling me that it will not suit my diet. im trying to walk daily. im not cutting carbs totally just trying to reduce them but i like to have a few bacardi and diet cokes. so i was wondering if anyone could give me a few facts on alcohols affect on a diet so me and my girlfriend could put this debate to rest. thanks guys
Alcohol has empty calories, no nutrition. Probably best be avoided on a diet, plus I'm always tempted to have the snacks with the drinks (and that would be a definite no-no).
I have no scientific data/resources to back this up; only personal experience between my hubby and me.
We've done the same thing you're doing, daily walking, no junk food, replace soda with water...we haven't reduced carbs, per se, but we incorporate healthy carbs into a more balanced diet than we had before. We started this last July.
Hubby was a beer drinker; I liked vodka and just about everything else under the sun . We swapped all that for a nightly glass of wine (sometimes white; sometimes red -- never pink!!). It took some getting used to, but to be honest, eating "good" foods taste really good with different wines...so it wasn't too, too hard . Plus it was a learning experience for us in addition to learning/trying new healthy foods, and now we have incentive to enjoy different restaurants that have a good wine list.
Anyway, we've successfully lost a good bit of weight (25 lbs or so for me; 30 or so for hubby). Could we have lost more without the nightly glass of wine? I don't know. I'm pretty happy with our losses up to date, and we didn't have to sacrifice our evening buzz.
I've always heard that rum is very high on the calories. If you just can't do wine no matter what, maybe a liquor that's a little more frugal on the calories?
Alcohol is essentially pure sugar, something you want to avoid when trying to lose weight. Also, consuming alcohol makes the liver work harder. And when the liver's main function is to metabolize fat, drinking alcohol can disrupt or slow down this process, making fat-loss harder. Lastly, most alcohol worth drinking is a bit high in calories, and since the liquid goes right through you instead of sustaining you like food, it's a waste: in the calories you spent drinking a couple beers, you could've had a delicious, nutritious sandwich (which is, ironically, what I tend to crave when I drink ;P).
It all comes down to moderation, though. A lot of people cut out alcohol completely when trying to lose weight and have great success. But if you limit it to a couple drinks maybe 1-2 nights a week and live and eat healthy the rest of the time, I think you'll do just fine.
Here are several reasons why you'll want to avoid drinking if you’re serious about losing weight:
1. Alcohol has 7 calories per gram. That's almost as much as fat which has 9 calories per gram. And they're empty calories too.
2. Alcohol suppresses your body's ability to burn body fat. Alcohol is basically a toxin that needs to be detoxified immediately. It takes priority over processing other nutrients. So while your liver is busy processing alcohol, it's not burning fat.
3. Alcohol decreases natural testosterone production and suppresses the functioning of testosterone. Testosterone helps burn fat so if you want to burn fat, you wouldn't want to do anything that makes its job harder.
well thx for the input guys..from what i gather from u all.. it will just take longer for me to lose the wieght if i have a few drinks. which is ok by me.. i want to lose it and i have alot to loseim 6'1 and close to 300 id like to hit 230 thats my goal.. and this south beach diet and atkins are too strict for me so im just gonna cut the junk out and minimize my drinking but i cant get rid of it totally and its good to know it wont kill my diet
ok heres my dilemma, i am a 21 yr old male trying to diet and lose some wieght. im trying to cut out all junk food and eat more healthy foods(fruit,veggies,whole foods etc..) and also lots of water.. i have replaced all my soda's with water. and my thing is this i like to have a couple drinks a few nights a week.and my girlfriend is telling me that it will not suit my diet. im trying to walk daily. im not cutting carbs totally just trying to reduce them but i like to have a few bacardi and diet cokes. so i was wondering if anyone could give me a few facts on alcohols affect on a diet so me and my girlfriend could put this debate to rest. thanks guys
I started the whole foods thing back in Sept and lost 2 1/2 sizes and i drink a cocktail or 2 every night. I eat totally organic as well and I feel 100 % better than I had before organic. I never drink soda s othat was not an issue for me. I would think you would lose more cutting out alcohol but i know for a fact that you can still lose with a few bacardis and diet soda.
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"Under the Boardwalk Down By The Sea"
to whoever said it.....Alcohol is not pure sugar..Not True!...there is not any Carb in alcohol. It is alcohol!!! Just look at the calories in the barcardi and ajust that to your diet. It should not be a problem....having it with diet coke is the best way to avoid the calories. The Problem most people have trying to lose weight and drinking is the Mix they put with the alcohol.
Alcohol contains calories but cannot be made into fat. It CAN however be burned (for heat and motion) and thus replace sugars and fats that might otherwise be burned thus indirectly it can promote weight gain.
An ounce of 80 proof UNSWEETENED spirits, whether gin, whiskey, vodka, or rum contains 67 calories, a jigger (1.5 ounces) contains 100 calories, a really good bar pour with a wink from the bartender MIGHT be 2 jiggers.
Higher proof stuff goes for proportionaltely higher calories.
Any sugars add to that, so the margherita, and the cokes and the sour mixers and all the rest add considerably more.
To drink while dieting it is wisest to make sure the alcohol calories are the ONLY calories, thus Scotch on the rocks, a martini, and a rum and Coke made with DIET COKE are the way to go.
But tally the calories; a good night's bender even with sugarless drinking can add 1,000 calories to the day's total and contribute to porkiness.
. We swapped all that for a nightly glass of wine (sometimes white; sometimes red -- never pink!!). It took some getting used to, but to be honest, eating "good" foods taste really good with different wines...so it wasn't too, too hard 
. Plus it was a learning experience for us in addition to learning/trying new healthy foods, and now we have incentive to enjoy different restaurants that have a good wine list.
