Any drinkers with advice?

[Ash_Raelyn]

My problem isn't the food I eat, I can resist the temptation to eat most anything but my problem is at night I really want a drink. And then i want another drink. And crown and coke, vodka soda, gin and tonic.... theyre all my kryptonite and almost 100 calories in 1.5 ounces or liquor! And thats not counting the coke or soda I put it in! I drink and then i regret the empty calories later but I am just not sure what to doooooo. Food isn't my problem but drinking sure is. I was losing weight and doing well and now i have plateaued and even though I workout and eat well I know I am going way over my calorie goal once I start drinking 😕

[WendyB]

I know its hard to do but can you limit your self to just weekends?

That's what I do

[DominicJ]

Diet Coke & slimline tonic limits the damage at the start.

Then its just wean yourself off it.

I didnt drink for 6 months once, after the first week you dont miss it, for most people its the sugar they get addicted/used to, rather than the alcohol.

[Baltoscott · Accepted solution]

Hi @Ash_Raelyn.  It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.  

Drinking sounds like prime low hanging fruit for you in terms of weight loss.  I was sitting where you are about a year ago, a couple of drinks (beer or wine in my case) every night after work.  The pounds were adding up so I  decided to try a dry January.  Lots of cravings the first week but that was at least partly because I was breaking a very ingrained habit.  Of course alcohol feels good, but it was also the ritual of opening a beer or pouring a glass and winding down on work days, and always drinking when we went out with friends on weekends.  Basically I just started drinking ice water when I got home and iced tea when we went out and kept reminding myself that ‘it’s only one month.’  Got through the month breaking the no-drinks pledge only four times — all for events like birthdays, or the college football championship instead of the routine after work drinks that had become my habit.

After I proved to myself I could do it, I decided I would go dry on even days for the rest of  2017.  That worked about 95% of the time too (just a few special occasion exceptions).  Sure, sometimes I wanted a drink on even days, but I’d tell myself ‘it’s just one day moron, even you can wait one day, so give it a rest!’  Over the course of seven months I blew through my initial goal of losing 25 lbs and wound up dropping 45.

Of course I did other things to lose weight last year besides cutting back on drinking, but when you think about it, by going ‘dry’ every other day, I cut those empty alcohol calories in half, saving around 1000 calories a week!  Not bad considering the longest I ever had to wait to satisfy a craving was a day.  A side benefit is that once you get used to NOT drinking every day cravings go down and it is much easier to take multiple days off when you want/need to.  I’m doing dry January again this year and so far have made it through the month with exceptions on just two days for a total of three beers.  I’ll go back to drinking only on odd numbered days next month.  😉

Give every other day a try; it’s not all that hard to say no when you realize you only have to wait a day.  If you follow my rule you can have a drink or two tomorrow night (1.25), and you’ll take the next day (1.26) off.  Rinse and repeat.

[Ash_Raelyn]

Thats actually a pretty good idea

[Ash_Raelyn]

@Baltoscott Thats actually really good advice! I have realized that the
habit is more of the problem than the cravings sometimes. I came home from
work yesterday and when I got to the kitchen I just started mixing a cosmo
without even thinking... I had a martini glass in my hand and then realized
I actually didn't want to drink hahaha. It was just that work sucked and I
always make a cosmo or a martini after days where i work overtime. But i've
had to go a few days without drinking at a time for doctor stuff so doing
every other day sounds alot more manageable then thinking I just have to
stop drinking! Thanks

[DanielleinDC]

For people who engage in mindless eating, they should try to remove trigger foods from their home. For you, you should not keep alcohol in the house. You later talk about how you like the ritual of fixing a drink. Why don't you make a tea/herbal infusion instead? You have the ritual of making a drink, but tea has zero calories unless you add sugar/honey/agave nectar.

[SunsetRunner]

@Ash_Raelyn I used to drink really a lot and had this attitude of not knowing when to stop. Somehow it just gradually stopped. I can't explain it. I just stop craving for ales, wines etc. I do have a drink from time to time, but a glass of wine will do. The same with soft drinks. There are few pitfalls here that you have to be careful about. Let's start with soft drinks.

Yes, you may replace sugar-based drinks with diet/light versions but there is a trap. They may increase your sugar cravings same as any other artificial sweeteners. Why is that? Basically, it's because how our brain works. Consuming sugar causes releasing of dopamine - commonly known as the "happiness hormone". It is what makes you feel better when you reach for a chocolate during your worse days. You get a shot of the dopamine. Hence consuming more and more sugar may and will lead to the addiction as you will be craving for sugar just to get the dopamine high. So why diet/light drinks may cause a harm? It is because your brain connects sweet flavour with upcoming dopamine shot. Now, after a few sips of the diet drink, it doesn't come, something is not right for the brain. So then, you crave for even more sugar etc. It is proven that people who reach for diet drinks tend to overdrink them. Instead of easing your cravings, diet drinks may work totally opposite way. You won't get any calories from such drink, but the danger comes after that. Your potential addiction hasn't been satisfied hence your brain is even more "hungry". I'm not saying that diet drinks and sweeteners are all evil but they should be used in moderation. All I'm saying is scientifically proven but I went through such issues myself. In fact, at some point, I got addicted to diet soda I suppose. The result was tremendous. I was craving for something sweet ( as with sugar ) all the time. Since yet another can of diet soda couldn't satisfy those cravings it was getting stronger and stronger. Problem stopped almost instantly when I simply stopped drinking those drinks.

Now the alcohol. I don't have to mention that all cocktail-like drinks are usually sugar bombs. This is a no-brainer. About that see the previous paragraph about sugar. Luckily for me, I was never a big fan of cocktails and preferred to stick with real ales and red wine - both could have a positive effect if drank in moderation. Real/cask ales can be even considered as quite nutrient drinks ( unfiltered, will all that comes from the production, full of vitamins etc. ). However, the trap here is the alcohol. Alcohol affects your metabolism. Hence, it isn't recommended when you're on a weight-loss diet. When consumed, then getting rid of it is a priority for your body. Using fat as a fuel becomes less of a priority. So drinking too much of alcohol may definitely slow down ( or if one tries it may even stop ) the whole weight-loss process.

Mind that one thing is removing sugary drinks ( soft and alcoholic beverages ), another issue may be overdrinking alcohol ( one may have a serious problem when doesn't know when to stop and may need an actual help ).

You may try to swap sugary soft drinks with diet drinks but mind what I said above ( also, diet drinks tend to taste sweeter than their sugary counterparts - this may be off-putting, which would be the desired effect ). With alcohol, turn towards wine ( preferably dry red, it doesn't carry lots of sweet flavours which may be helpful to keep your brain cravings in control 😉 ), resist all cocktails and try hard to control the consumption. After having a glass of wine get a glass of water ( maybe sparkling? ). Give yourself time before reaching for the next round. I would like to say it's easy but I know it's not and takes lots of willpower to keep things at bay.

[Baltoscott]

---

@Ash_Raelyn wrote:
@Baltoscott Thats actually really good advice! I have realized that the
habit is more of the problem than the cravings sometimes. I came home from
work yesterday and when I got to the kitchen I just started mixing a cosmo
without even thinking... I had a martini glass in my hand and then realized
I actually didn't want to drink hahaha. It was just that work sucked and I
always make a cosmo or a martini after days where i work overtime. But i've
had to go a few days without drinking at a time for doctor stuff so doing
every other day sounds alot more manageable then thinking I just have to
stop drinking! Thanks

---

@Ash_Raelyn — I hope you give it a try.  It is an approach that has worked for me for over a year now — but I’m only one person.  When I started, I decided to limit myself to odd numbered days because I knew it would make the process more mindless over time, and it also meant that I had to learn to exercise my willpower in different situations. Because I could not always avoid going out to dinner with friends on odd numbered Fridays or Saturdays, I learned not to drink then sometimes too.  In those situations I usually order ice water and iced tea and act obnoxiously virtuous ;-0).  Practice makes you better at handling different situation, but to practice you have to expose yourself to the situation. (And every day is practice— if you slip up on a non-drinking day don’t beat yourself up, just move on to the next day).

Report back next week and let us know how it is going.  In hindsight, I wonder if the ‘odd days’ approach seemed easy to implement to me because I took off a month first and it was less restrictive in contrast.

[Heather-S]

Don't buy it, don't keep it in the house.  

If you can't control yourself not to skip drinking for a night or limit to only on the weekends, that sounds like a problem or compulsion and perhaps therapy or counseling is in order?  I mean this in the nicest, most concerned way possible.

[Ash_Raelyn]

I live with family and my whole family over 18 drinks. So removing it isn't an option. I wish it were it's obviously the best choice haha but My family wouldn't stop buying it and bringing it into the house even if I did. 

[Ash_Raelyn]

I wanted to thank all of you guys for helpful suggestions! I didn't have a drink monday-thursday. And I just got a new job! Yay happy news and I am having a glass of wine tonight, but I did a lot better this week! Thanks again you guys! 

[Baltoscott]

Congrats on the new job AND on your moderation!