alcohol ... does it really hurt in moderation?
 

As a Brit, I'm used to drinking socially. I've now cut beer out, but I do enjoy drinking wine and the occasional cocktail. Is this really going to affect my low carb dieting?

Check out Protein Power. They actually recommend 1 to 2 glasses of wine, preferably red, with dinner.

;-Deb

It depends on your philosophy. If your mindset is "I want to get this weight off before such-and-such date, and I'll do anything to do it - I'm movitated", then try to avoid it.

OTOH, if your philosophy is, "The weight will come off eventually, I'm not going to put off living until some arbitrary future date when I'm 'thin enough', I'm going to live life to the fullest," then a little in moderation is certainly okay. It will probably slow your weight loss, since you're close to your goal. That last 10-20 lbs is stubborn.

I'm a social drinker, too. Canadian daughter of a Welshman. So I know how you feel. ;)

From personal experience, the weeks where I drank a few whiskeys-and-water a few nights a week, I didn't lose weight. In fact, I single-handedly attribute my stall to the alcohol -- but I was ok with it, I knew what I was doing. :D Now I've stopped drinking again to break the stall and have lost a few more pounds in the past few weeks. As always, it's a YMMV, but I would suggest that you expect to lose less (if at all) if you have more than one or two drinks a week.

G'luck, and have fun :)

-Jinkster :wave:

Kristine:
I love your attitude!!! :cool:

Heathersav,
I, too, am an occasional social drinker, I know for me it stallls my progress, BUT....as Kristine says I will not stop living but I will modify my behavior by not imbibing on the weekdays (although I screwed up Weds-went to happy hour after a bad day!).

BTW-Friday is not a weekday!!! :p

Judi

A glass of wine a week will not stall me. More will. I think all you can do is see how it personally affects you too. I've had friends who drink light beer and still lose.

Like the rest you have to decide if it's more important to you to live while you lose or lose fast and then live or somewhere in the middle like me.

Shelley

Hi there.......

When you drink alcohol, as long as there is alcohol to burn, your body will burn it first and not burn fat.

For some of us, it's definately something that will stall us. If the drinking is more important to your lifestyle than losing the fat, then the choice seems obvious, however, should you stall, the first thing I'd recommend cutting out would be the alcohol.

Marlaine

Thanks for the advice
 

Thanks for all your inputs. Confirmed to me what I know already, that its down to me to make that decision and that I have a choice! Well, I decided to go for it last night, it being a Saturday and all. Four long island iced teas later, and I feel terrible today, can't even make it to the gym (I go every day) and I know I'm gonna waste this sunday (hot and sunny as always - I live in Bangkok).

Think its going to be easier not to drink out here anyway, not surrounded by my beery London friends, and Asians don;t really tend to drink so much.

Haven't lost a kilo in 2 weeks, so will go off the booze and see what happens.

Thanks again.

Heather

Hi Heather!

Looks like learned something else about drinking when you low carb....unless you drink a LOT of water afterwards, the hangovers will be much worse than they were before. This is because alcohol dehydrates you which will make any hangover you experience much more intense. Many people also report that it takes much less alcohol to get them drunk when they are low carbing, so be very cautious if you do drink and plan to have a designated driver. I've never been much of a drinker so it's easy for me to go without. My DH, on the other hand, had a glass of red wine before dinner the other week and was really feeling it.

What hard alcohols are low in carbs or have zero carbs. Does anyone know about Jack Daniels? I don't drink often, but I'm anticipating one good night next weekend and want to at least cut the carbs if my body will be working OT with the alcohol. Thanks.

Whiskey, bourbon, gin, vodka -- all of the hard alcohols are "carb-free". Which means that they won't kick you out of ketosis, but neither will they aid in weight loss (similar to those Atkins breakfast bars ;))

I drink JD on the rocks, personally. :D

-Jinkster :wave:

I didn't know that bit about hard liquors
 

I don't drink a lot -- it pretty much always makes me sick. I can do one drink once in a blue moon but since LCing, thoughts of just about everything I can't have like to dance in my head. A gin and sugar free tonic is in my future, dash of lime.

Thanks for the info.

I tell you what. I like my Jack on the rocks with a splash of coke. I actually did go out and drink over the weekend and I've never had a bigger headache in my life. Swear it. Someone warned about LCing, Drinking, and headache. And I'm here to say, uh huh. But what are you gonna do.

It depends
 

Hi, just to add my two cents.

I find that it's true that I get drunker sooner, but not THAT much. I always stick to low-carb beverages. I drink wine, vodka with no mixer, and occasionally I will drink beer if there's nothing else, but no sweet mixed drinks. I haven't found the headaches to be worse, in fact I find that I have LESS hangovers now. I think it has to do with the fact that I don't have low blood sugar when I wake up in the morning like I used to... and I ALWAYS drink tons of water while I'm drinking AND before bed.

Does drinking the water while drinking alcohol lighten the buzz or does it really have no effect?