Lose alcohol if you want to lose weight

Alcohol and Weight Loss – This is not just another one of those “crash diet weight loss stories” or another yoyo diet cycle.  This is not another one of those dramatic body sculpting exercises that only super models can relate to.  What I am talking about is the simple weight loss concept that is available to nearly everyone – Will I lose weight if I stop drinking alcohol?

Simple to say, but not so easy to stick to!

I think we all know that there are stacks of additional calories in every glass of alcohol.  The problem is the number of glasses, not just the number of calories!

Let’s play with the numbers.

If a bottle of wine has around 500 calories, then that is about half of the daily requirement for our energy intake.  How many of us stop drinking the wine before the bottle is empty?  Let’s just say, we have all of it.

How often to you consume alcohol during the week?  Most nights, or just on the weekend?  Either way, that extra 500 calories really tips us over the edge of the daily intake of calories, even if it is only on occasional days of the week.

Can we burn the extra calories with exercise?

Sure!  What is the best way to reduce the amount of energy that our bodies store as fat?  We can either reduce the intake, or burn the excess – or both!  But how does that work out for you?  Especially on those days when we treat ourselves and have a couple of drinks.  If you are anything like me, the exercise stops, and the couple of drinks becomes a couple more.  So where do the extra calories go?  Be careful!

Will I lose weight if I stop drinking alcohol?

No matter how good your intentions during the week.  No matter how well you stick to the diet and exercise plan.  It only takes a small lapse to cause a blow out.  It can come unstuck on the weekend very easily, or maybe that is every weekend?   And that is just the food – add a couple of glasses of wine, and you simply won’t be able to lose any weight.  In fact, you have probably just gained it all back again.

Why do we gain weight so easily?

Our body is finely attuned to managing our food intake, with the primordial fear about when our next meal will come.  Because our body is always trying to squirrel away some energy resources, whenever we consume those excess calories, they are converted to fat storage.  On the other side of the coin, it is much harder to extract those fat reserves, because the body doesn’t want to give them up too easily.

Put that in the context of diet and exercise during the week, with an occasional splurge on the weekend.  As far as our body is concerned, it probably managed to balance out fairly evenly during the week, but found some excess on the weekend, and safely squirreled it away for a rainy day.  You just gained weight!

If you thinking “to hell with all this, I will drink every night” – then I understand, because that is how it was for me.  And the consequences are that we will just gain weight every day…

What can we do about this – Will I lose weight if I stop drinking?

I know that this can sound pretty drastic, especially if you have been trying to lose weight, without success.  What more can you do?  You have been denying yourself from eating treats, and limiting the amount you drink, but it has not worked.

The problem is denial.  When you deny yourself these special treats, and especially when you deny those cravings for alcohol, the focus is how long till the next drink?  Or how long until the next piece of cake?  Until the waiting can become too intense, and you say, to hell with this, I just want cake and a drink…

Living in Denial

If you have been living in denial for a while now, you are probably thinking when will it all end!  But this is the problem.  The more we think about the things we are trying to deny, the more we want them!  The more that we feel like we are being punished, the more likely we are to rebel.

Food cravings

If we control our diet, then we can allow ourselves the occasional treat.  If we manage to keep up with an exercise plan, then we deserve a treat or two!  There is no need to live in continual denial about food – we have to eat!  But we shouldn’t snack between meals, and we shouldn’t finish the whole box of chocolates in one sitting!

We need to be realistic about losing weight, and if we control our diet, then we are on the right track.  If we throw in a little exercise, then that is much better for our health.

Alcohol Cravings

But alcohol can be a different problem.  The harder we try to cut back on alcohol, the more likely we are to need a drink.  The problem with alcohol cravings is that every time we have a drink, the cravings kick in about 24 hours later.  This is the daily cravings cycle, and it is the main reason we want to drink alcohol every day.  But it is not as simple as foregoing a drink for 24 hours.  The addictive nature of alcohol means that it can take up to 21 days to break the recurrence of the cravings cycle.

So even if you manage to deny the alcohol cravings for a day or so, there is always that nagging association with drinking that never quite goes away.  And the worst part is that every time you give in to the cravings and have a glass of alcohol, then the cravings begins again in earnest over the next 24 hours.

How to cut back on alcohol?

If you have tried to cut back on alcohol, and found that it works okay for a short while?  But then you find yourself slipping back into old habits?  It is a bit the same as losing weight.  You can always do it for a short time, but then it just sneaks back again.

Alcohol and Weight Loss

Yes you may have to stop drinking alcohol for weight loss.

Before you go into denial over this statement, we need to check our motivation for doing this.  If you are motivated to lose weight, then nothing I have discussed is such a big step.  In fact you don’t even have to take all of these steps at the same time.  That would be a bit like a crash diet, sure you see results in the short term, but unless you can change your long term habits, it won’t last.  That is why crash diets never last, because there is no long term change of behaviour.

Alcohol and Weight Loss can be tricky

Take small steps.  But you do need to make steps in the right direction, and it is entirely up to you which way you choose to go.  Some people take up jogging, and complain that their metabolism increases so they need to eat more.  But we need to watch how much we eat or this can negate the healthy effects of the exercise!

Some people choose giving up alcohol to lose weight, but complain that they do not instantly see a decrease in weight.  Well, maybe the sudden reduction in calories from alcohol triggers a craving for sugary food.  A couple of chocolate cookies instead of wine can quickly add up to more calories than the wine, so we need to be mindful of what we eat.

Quit Drinking Lose Weight

Alcohol and weight loss may not be the only answer.  Do you know that exercise actually reduces the craving for sugary foods, and snacking between meals.  Exercise actually provides feel good chemicals that overcome the need to seek the artificial high from sugary foods and alcohol!

Life is a balance – so what to drink to lose weight?

Alcohol and weight loss and exercise may be the keys to success.  A balance between alcohol and weight loss is the answer to the everlasting question – “If i stop drinking alcohol will i lose weight?”

I think we need to learn to find a balance in life.  If your balance is not working for you, then we need to look to change something.  If alcohol is dominating your life, then it can make it difficult to achieve a nice balance.

Alcohol and Weight Loss

If you have tried to cut back on alcohol, but it is not working for you, then you might like to know that you are not alone.  There is no need to feel desperate about trying to quit drinking to lose weight.

There is a way to do it – I know because it worked for me!  Feel free to join our blog at www.LoveBeingAlcoholFree.com, and we can show you how to quit drinking alcohol and weight loss.

 

 

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