URRRGGHHHHH Tequila!!!!!!!!!!!!

Had way too many bad bad hangovers from that stuff to every go near it again!

N i must admit, if i could pick any alcoholic drink it would be beer, but now i try to go for wine or gin n tonic.

Is your legal drinking age 21 then? ours is only 18

yes lol its 21, but I wont have to worry about that when I go to Europe next semester. It will be nice to walk into a bar and not have to have someone order for me. Not that I will drink that much when I'm over there. I'll probably drink a little more than I do now (which is pretty much never), but I will be too worried about empty calories to go binge drink every night! lol

YAY, how exciting, drinking legally, ha ha ha!!

Even so, make sure you carry ID, most places have gone challenge 21 crazy (anyone over 18 gets served, but anyone looking 21 or under gets ID'ed first)

Bet you cant wait to get over here, n im sure you'll find the weight thing easier cos you'll be too busy to think about food all that much, and prob a lot more active exploring etc..... enjoy!!!

x

Thanks and yes i'll be sure to carry my ID with me. I am hoping I get to be a lot more active when I'm there. I know I will be doing A LOT of walking just everyday going to class and roaming the city.

I think if you factor in your calories and have a limit, you can have alchohol. I usually tell myself four drinks Maximum, and we are talking about Rum, which is only about 60 calories per ounce. So if I end up having four ounces mixed with diet drinks over the course of the evening, I get buzzed and I've only had 300 calories or so.

I could definately not give up alcohol with a diet... I love having a glass of wine with dinner and my girlfriends and i go out for martinis every tuesday night.

But I think moderation is the key - and totally don't sacrifice food calories - b/c that makes you more prone to snack when you drink anyways!

I have had quite a few light beers as well that are pretty good and make me feel better - rock green light (rolling rocks light beer) is only 83 calories and is really good!

If you stick with a glass a day of wine, you should be fine. If you are going to drink more than that, try rum and coke with that no carb Bacardi. Also, isn't most vodka pretty low in carbs and sugar free? Just stay away from fruity drinks like margaritas and pina coladas, etc.

It doesn't matter if alcohol is "sugar free". What counts is that alcohol's calories are metabolized as pure energy, and they are metabolized before anything else. A glass of wine is around 80 calories; an ounce of hard liquor, be it scotch, vodka, rum, or anything else, is around 110 calories. So if you drink a shot of vodka, you simply have to factor that into your caloric intake for the day.

I drink socially just about as much as I did before starting my weight loss. I am much more careful though about eating after drinking.

The worst part is that if you drink enough it bottoms out your blood sugar, then you want to eat some junk to bring it back up.

I didn't drink much this winter while dieting, and when I started back up, I just got a big headache if I drank much of anything. I drink regularly without it bothering my head or my belly now, my metabolism is jacked up so high I just burn right through it.

if you don't drink it, you don't have to burn it off later !

--matt

Alcohol is empty calories, and really bad for kidneys and liver, even in small amounts.

You have to question whether it's really that important to you, or if you can forgo it for awhile while you are getting in shape.

Thanks everyone for your input, good to get different views, and hoping reading this back will be enough for me to stay off the pints of lager when i meet up with an old friend i havent seen in almost a year tomora evening, old habits die hard and all that, but I gotta start shifting the old habits!!

Cheers,

K x

I've heard that red wines and dark beers have some health benefits, like preventing heart disease and stuff. Maybe that's just researchers trying to justify drinking... I don't think there's any way I could give up alcohol - this is a lifestyle change after all! But I do try to keep it in moderation - one glass of wine or one pint of beer - and I'm careful not too eat tons of extra food along with it.

I like to have a couple on my free day for the week (that being 1 day only). I don't really work it in to calories, as I wont sacrifice food for booze. However, I don't get "hammered drunk" off of 2-3 beers, so I have less stupid drunken ideas, like 24hr breakfast joints and pizza delivery. Had too damn many of those in the past. 2-3 beers I can run off tomorrow and aside from a slight and temporary gain on the scales Monday morning, I have nothing to worry about. I think for me the stupid drunken eating after the drinking was more hazardous to my health than the alcohol itself.

sirant