this is a different question I suppose

[cindylou]

Okay my diet has been perfect for 4 weeks ; not one cheat.....Meal.

But I have been drinking one night a week.

I've subbed my cheat meal for just drinking ; no actual food involved. I eat my same meals but just add some beer and rum on Saturdays. Not a crazy binge drink session ; but more than just a couple and enough to be drunkish but not wasted.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'd rather drink with my friends than eat a pizza and some ice cream for a cheat.

How long can I get away with this? lol.

How bad is this??? I want to live too ; but the only thing I crave is alcohol. I could watch all of Pizza Hut commericals and KFC and applebees and nothing happens to me ; but if I'm watching a show on TV or whatever and they are drinking ; my mouth starts to water.

This has only been since I cut out drinking totally last spring to diet down and it totally sucked! I can do without the food ; but not my good time with the girls and everything - I'm still young!!

do you think its wierd that I would rather drink than eat cheat food? Because I'm totally serious!!

Is it all just calorie responsibility and I can pick my cals from wherever? which is worse donuts or margaritas?

 

[treilin]

Okay my diet has been perfect for 4 weeks ; not one cheat.....Meal.

But I have been drinking one night a week.

I've subbed my cheat meal for just drinking ; no actual food involved. I eat my same meals but just add some beer and rum on Saturdays. Not a crazy binge drink session ; but more than just a couple and enough to be drunkish but not wasted.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'd rather drink with my friends than eat a pizza and some ice cream for a cheat.

How long can I get away with this? lol.

How bad is this??? I want to live too ; but the only thing I crave is alcohol. I could watch all of Pizza Hut commericals and KFC and applebees and nothing happens to me ; but if I'm watching a show on TV or whatever and they are drinking ; my mouth starts to water.

This has only been since I cut out drinking totally last spring to diet down and it totally sucked! I can do without the food ; but not my good time with the girls and everything - I'm still young!!

do you think its wierd that I would rather drink than eat cheat food? Because I'm totally serious!!

Is it all just calorie responsibility and I can pick my cals from wherever? which is worse donuts or margaritas?

No your not wierd many people would rather drink then eat their cheats. Bad thing about the alcohol is it affects your hormones decreasing test which can have an affect inside the gym. I just don't bother with it especially if I am cutting. If you are not shooting for a particular competition, or goal body fat etc.. then I wouldn't worry about it to much.

 

[velvett]

I prefer a glass of wine (er, or two) - I enjoy it and the following day I don't feel like hell.

 

[cindylou]

hmmm. Well ; I thinking more along the lines of 4 or 5 beers and a coupla spiced rum's and diet cokes over the course of 5-6 hours instead of pizza or hamburgers.

Total cals coming in around 600 -800 sometimes more ; but thats along the lines of a hamburger or whatever.

I'm working on drinking less and less each and each week ; but its easier for me to feel less deprived if I'm allowed to indulge and I find if I dont eat my cheat meals and drink them instead I'm less likley to crave sugar fat ; carbs etc.

I'm suprised because I always thought if I drank it would cause me to eat taco bell ; but so far so good ; as long as I dont have to sit at home I will sacrifice all!! LOL.

I might let myself have a cheat meal (actual food) once per month? I dont know.

I am still trying to lose fat at least .5 to 1 lb per week right now so I am still dieting.

Not drinking sugary drinks or anything ;

I'm glad to hear that im not the only one who likes to drink their cheats.

Maybe I'm not such a boozer after all. lol.

 

[superqt4u2nv]

It really depends on your goals etc. I know for me personaly nothing packs on the pounds like a few weekends of drinking.

 

[velvett]

hmmm. Well ; I thinking more along the lines of 4 or 5 beers and a coupla spiced rum's and diet cokes over the course of 5-6 hours instead of pizza or hamburgers.

Not drinking sugary drinks or anything ;

I'm glad to hear that im not the only one who likes to drink their cheats.

Maybe I'm not such a boozer after all. lol.

Yikes.

rum is made from sugarcane and molasses

4 or 5 drinks is kinda a lot and will bloat you just like regular food.

 

[Sassy69]

I had this discussion w/ my trainer years ago - I had a month before going on vacation & I wanted to lose 10 lbs. He gave me the diet & the training and then I said - OK I belong to a scuba diving club - we do happy hr once/ week & we drink - what can I drink. He said if you must, the clear alcohols are better - e.g. vodka and something like cranberry juice is a juice but cranberry is good for you -- so.... If you must that's what I was told was "optimal". Personally I opt for silver Capt Morgan & Diet Coke these days. Or vodka & Crystal Light. But as long as this is the balance you've chosen to accept in pursuing "Fitness" and still having this aspect of your social life - no one dies. It won't be optimal if you have specific goals on a time schedule (absolutely no drinking if you are on a competition schedule!)

You might consider changing your choice of adult beverages, but either way I'd make sure to drink LOTS of water. Beer has an estrogenic effect. Sugar booze in general causes insulin spikes and the depressant effect zones you out and it all dehydrates you -- say for each 8 oz drink, drink 2x that in water to keep yourself hydrated & keep the garbage moving.

 

[cindylou]

AH!

I am having a hard time w/ the whole moderation thing. I thought mabye if I excluded all cheat MEALS I would end up at the same amt of cals and could drink w/ abandon. Not total abandon ; but at least enough to feel a buzz and keep it for a couple of hours when I go out. I really like to drink. Cant help it ; the whole family does when I cut it out completley I feel like they dont want to hang out with me anymore or that I'm not fun or something. I'm not sure what it is ; but I dont like it.

Well ; I guess rum is off limits for now. Vodka and diet sprite it is. Yuck!!

 

[velvett]

AH!

I am having a hard time w/ the whole moderation thing. I thought mabye if I excluded all cheat MEALS I would end up at the same amt of cals and could drink w/ abandon. Not total abandon ; but at least enough to feel a buzz and keep it for a couple of hours when I go out. I really like to drink. Cant help it ; the whole family does when I cut it out completley I feel like they dont want to hang out with me anymore or that I'm not fun or something. I'm not sure what it is ; but I dont like it.

Well ; I guess rum is off limits for now. Vodka and diet sprite it is. Yuck!!

Vodka and Crystal light is not bad.

 

[cindylou]

I had this discussion w/ my trainer years ago - I had a month before going on vacation & I wanted to lose 10 lbs. He gave me the diet & the training and then I said - OK I belong to a scuba diving club - we do happy hr once/ week & we drink - what can I drink. He said if you must, the clear alcohols are better - e.g. vodka and something like cranberry juice is a juice but cranberry is good for you -- so.... If you must that's what I was told was "optimal". Personally I opt for silver Capt Morgan & Diet Coke these days. Or vodka & Crystal Light. But as long as this is the balance you've chosen to accept in pursuing "Fitness" and still having this aspect of your social life - no one dies. It won't be optimal if you have specific goals on a time schedule (absolutely no drinking if you are on a competition schedule!)

You might consider changing your choice of adult beverages, but either way I'd make sure to drink LOTS of water. Beer has an estrogenic effect. Sugar booze in general causes insulin spikes and the depressant effect zones you out and it all dehydrates you -- say for each 8 oz drink, drink 2x that in water to keep yourself hydrated & keep the garbage moving.

No I dont have a time limit per se but want to at least make SOME progress while dieting and somehow fit in some drink time w/ the friends. I've never done this before ; most of the time its all or nothing ; and then I binge drink for about a month! LOL. I've never tried captain morgan silver but I'm buying it tomorrow I am celebrating one of my close friends birthday's that I deeply love and I SKIPPED it last year because I was dieting!

I'm very excited to try this Captain MOrgan silver ; Spiced Rum is my drink of choice but this sounds good; I will also try and keep beer to 1 or 2. I drink miller light so its a little less cals / carbs.

See how excited I get about Captain Morgan? Most people get like that about Ben and Jerry's I must be a closet alcoholic.

 

[*Bunny*]

Or vodka & Crystal Light.

^^ you can get those little packs & put them in your purse, or you can BRING one of those tiny bottles of diet tonic in there and get a vodka rox.

You can double up on the limes or lemons for flavor as well, tiny splash cran for coloring and to take some bite out of the booze b/c it has a twang to it as well.

IMO stay away from beer and shots if you are trying to lose fat.

for every 1 drink have 2 of water, that's my rule usually... you're peeing all night anyway if you're drinking once you 'break the seal'

How old are you btw? Under 25?

 

[cindylou]

I'm 25

I'll try and do that with the water. I've never had diet tonic before. All of this is kinda new ; usually I cut out drinking totally.

This is all great advice!

 

[*Bunny*]

I'm 25

I'll try and do that with the water. I've never had diet tonic before. All of this is kinda new ; usually I cut out drinking totally.

This is all great advice!

Just wondering .. been there, when I turned 26 everything kinda changed.. hang in there and have fun.
I also used my cheats as drinks once a week when I did my 1st log. Well that and a big steak and larger servings of the salad I had or tato, so my cheat's were 'clean' ... I stuck to wine though ... Ive always been a Vodka Gal ... that and Jager Bombs or redheadedsluts, lol... (and I couldnt stand jager alone ...)
sorry Im probably getting you excited lol

 

[cindylou]

Just wondering .. been there, when I turned 26 everything kinda changed.. hang in there and have fun.
I also used my cheats as drinks once a week when I did my 1st log. Well that and a big steak and larger servings of the salad I had or tato, so my cheat's were 'clean' ... I stuck to wine though ... Ive always been a Vodka Gal ... that and Jager Bombs or redheadedsluts, lol... (and I couldnt stand jager alone ...)
sorry Im probably getting you excited lol

I know what you are talking about things changing. It hits me in waves. There are times in my life when I'm more grown up and really settle down ; but there are spurts where I just wanna go out and have fun. The summers are spent at the lake and at the pool and its hard not to have a cocktail in my hand and enjoy life.

i just dont want to NOT make any progress either. I understand I wont have phenominal results while I'm still drinking ; but I think that I can somehow make decent progress no? At least to the tune of .5 pound of 1 lb of fat loss a week. I've been keeping my cheats as clean as possible with chicken breast and steamed veggies ; but still drinking.

I loooove Wine but wine gives me really bad hangovers no matter how much water I drink. I dont get it?

I suppose when progress stops I'll have to reevaluate. Maybe then the booze phase will be gone again. I doubt it.

 

[treilin]

I see some of your reasoning is that you feel you won't fit in if your not drinking?!?! I played for a long time and was just drinking diet coke and lime, no alcohol. As long as you have a drink in hand most people don't even notice. They may ask what your drinking... I usually say DCW/lime. They come back,"That's it, what alcohol?" I say,"None." Then they are like,"What your not drinking?" The whole I'm dieting for a competition works great. If I'm not then usually I just say I don't feel like it, and I'm enjoying myself just the same. I usually get left alone. Haven't had many issues at that point. You can also be DD then and not get harassed. I've got past the point of people influencing what I eat or drink. I already have people saying to me,"I'm going to make you this full laden sugary cake after your show for you to eat." All the other people around are like ,"Yeah I can't wait." They are all excited to eat and drink and celebrate when I'm just as fine without the food and drinks.
Like Buns said it could be just a phase... I switched when I was about 25 as well.

 

[superqt4u2nv]

Vodka and Crystal light is not bad.

It sounds dam good actually I have soft spot for vodka.

 

[cindylou]

Yeah ; i get what you are saying ; not sure if Its the fitting in part or me just really liking to relax and have a drink ; cant say for sure.

all I know is that I dont really crave the foods ; but if I see beer or cocktails on TV I'm squirming on the couch and my mouth starts to water and I want a drink really bad! wierd huh?

I think its wierd. who knows.

I'm going to try all of these awesome suggestions tomorrow at the party!

 

[Sassy69]

Give it a shot for a couple weeks and also watch your fitness progress. Esp if you are drinking more water - like you can alternate drink / water / drink / water / drink / water - that by itself will keep you with something in your hand all night and you won't get as bombed so quickly -- I think that just that state of mind by itself makes it easier to just keep refilling the glass (esp if its $2 pitcher night at your fav sports bar...). YOu may notice that just being full is enough to keep you satisfied and not so much that its booze. Also that will help keep you hydrated, flushed and not drunk.

A big part of social drinking is the habit -- so try the first switch to just more water mixed in. See how your progress is during the week, and after a few weeks it may just be less important to have as much beer & booze. And then some times on special occassions you can let it go more. Its a behavior change and eventually it may just not be a big deal.

 

[cindylou]

Thanks Sassy I'm going to try that.

There are times when there is nothing in particular going on and I'm going to try that and maybe after time I will need less and less and then occasions like holidays/weddings etc. I can let it go a little.

I noticed at 20 when I was going out drinking that it was getting out of hand and I put limits on myself before I turned 21 that I would only drink on weekends ; and now I've limited myself to one night a week ; so I guess I'm moving in the right direction. lol.

Surely these changes will make a difference ; its better than before. And every other day I'm freaking perfect ; just for the reward of my beloved drink.

LOL.