Hi,

Ive been LCing for a month 1/2 now. My first 3 weeks (Induction) i drank very little. And when i did drink it was Mich ultra beer. I have no problem staying very low carb with my food intake... I really love the foods i can eat and dont get suger cravings or anything. So the food aspect is no problem for me. My only problem with the LCing is alchohol. I have a very stressfull job/life and a few drinks a night really helps me relax after work. I dont go overboard and get drunk everynight i just enjoy 2-3 drinks a night after work. I know.. I know.. Some of you will call me an alchoholic, but it poses no problems in my life or to my family and friends. The only problem i have ever had with drinking is the LC lifestyle.

Ok finally, to my actual problem. In my first 2 weeks i lost 10lbs. I have about 25ish more i would like to loose. After my first 2 weeks the loosing slowed majorly. In the next few weeks altogether i have only lost 2-3 lbs. My first 2 weeks of induction i drank 1 mich ultra a night.. somenights 2 and lost pretty good. Now ive upped it to 2-3 mich ultras a night or a few drinks with wiskey and splenda koolaid. and my loss has slowed drastically.

I know that you burn the alchohol first, But should I have slowed down this much? Does anyone know how long it takes the alchohol to burn out of your system and fat burning to restart?

I would REALLY love to hear from others that drink nightly... Let me know how it works for you.

I have read lots of posts and im not sure if im just in a slowdown or if the alchohol has just screwed me up. Even with the Mich ultra drinking I stay within 20 carbs.

Thanks
Jody

Oh my, what to say, O.K. first, I have at least one or two drinks every night Now, But had nothing for the first month. If you can not do with out it, then, maybe you are what used to be called a "gentleman Alchoholic". I had an Uncle who was one, he could never touch dinner til he had 2 drinks. ( my Aunt was a good cook, tee,hee).

So if you are counting your drinks as your carbs, rather than having the required carbs from veggies/dairy ect. then that will effect your loss. In the first month or so those 20 carbs in the form of good healthy food is very important.So that will be working against you.

Try test yourself, only allow one, for a few nights, then replace it with things like soda water and lemon or lime and a bunch of ice, see if you can go with out a real drink for a week and stick to the 20 carbs, see what happens.

I know I do better on white wine, than red, that's my drink of choice, and I can have hard stuff, with club soda, with no effect on my weight, but 2 a night is the max and not every night.

It is true what they say, it's not the amount of what you drink, it's what you can't go with out, that determines if you have a problem

Good Luck, I wish you well.
Kathy

Ok I'll put in my experience then I HAVE got to get to writing my massage paper! (these boards get addicting).

My first two weeks I had a couple of drinks a night. Sometimes only one or none for that matter. I only lost 2 pounds, but 2 inches from my hips and 1 from my waist.
Now this last Saturday I had two friends over and I had 3 glasses of wine, usually no big deal at all but... this time I was really not well the next morning.
Now I had been drinking hard alcohol during induction with no problem and then the wine through me for a loop. So when they say everyone is different they really mean it! Either way I decided since my weightloss was so minimal I decided to give up alcohol for two week and see if I lose more weight.
So my point is for everyone its different triggers. I'll let you know the results of my two weeks without alcohol, maybe I'll have a whoosh moment?!

Not only do you burn the alcohol first, but the food you eat will be stored for future use. Atkins says no alcohol at all on induction and only moderate amounts on OWL for that reason. Yes it is probably the beers that are slowing you down. Try having a glass of green tea. Not at all the same as alcohol, no. But it may help you to relax and get over the urge to have something in your hand. You can also try diet rite if the feel of a can helps.

I'd try and just drink on the extra stressfull days. the problem with the beer here in utah is it's 3 percent alcohol so you have to drink twice as much....horrible

I also like my couple of glasses of wine each evening, I didn't have any alcohol during my first week of induction and found it easy to stick with water, since then the amount I'm drinking has been creeping back up with each passing day so I'm setting myself a challenge today, no alcohol at all at home until next friday - want to join me?

I just love my couple of glasses of wine every evening. But sometimes
I pour myself some sparkling water with a few drops of lemon juice
in a beautiful wine glass; just holding the glass en taking little sips
makes me forget it is water and not alcohol. So I guess it's just a
stupid habit of holding something in your hand?? And I try not to
drink when I am by myself, only in company.

I've been in induction for 5 weeks at this point, and hardly a day has gone by when I haven't had a shot of scotch with my hors d'oeuvres and then a small glass of (dry) wine with dinner. I've lost 17 lbs, and so I don't see that the small amount of alcohol has been a problem. Maybe without it I would've lost 18? Go know!

In my opinion that is alot of drinking. I couldn't dunction while drinking every night. You all most have a very high tolerance to alcohol.

if I could drink a drink and be ok that would be fine. but it always makes me ravenous and although I haven't cheated, it makes me want to binge on old HC faves. I keep it to a min.

It's nice to see someone who is honest. I too have difficulty giving up the alcohol, however, I have been reaaly trying! I have limited myself to one vodka tonic per night and I have lost 5 lbs in 10 days during induction. Good luck

Been on atkins since 2/3 & lost 37 pounds & drink every night. Your post sounds like my life. At first I drank wine for about 2 wks until found Mich. ultra. Now thats all I drink. Don't find the beer stalls me, have found where if I'm drinking every night I do have to keep my calories alittle low (I say low what works best for me is to keep my calories between 1300-1600 a day to make up the difference. As long as you add your carbs and calories and keep it where it should be then you will still loose. Your cal. intake might be higher depending on your wt. Maybe take your current weight times 10 or 12 and go with that calorie intake and see how you do. Good luck

I don't lose if I have more than 2 or 3 mich ultras in a week, although I can have 3-4 glasses of white wine a week instead and do OK (though it's pretty rare for me to drink that much in a week). 2-3 beers a night winds up being a lot of empty alcohol calories and carbs over the course of a week. Try cutting it back to one nightly, and perhaps switching away from beer -- I personally find it's easier to have one glass of wine than one beer anyway.

The thing I have noticed is that I feel soooo terrible the next day it is almost not worth it. The next day I am low-energy, depressed and exhausted. It has affected me this way for a couple of years but since I started low-carbing- the aftermath has become far worse then before.

I have mainly had vodka and soda- and last week I had a DELICIOUS dirty martini. I keep it to a minimum because of the effects on the next day. Also, part of what I love about this WOL/WOE is feeling so good and having so much energy-drinking seems to rob me of that so I choose to stay away from it most of the time. My boyfriend is in a band though, so when I go to see him play- it is nice to sip on a drink.

Good luck to everyone.

God low-carb thoughts to all!!

Tracy