[nods]

So, the good news is that I've found I haven't really overeaten during the holiday season. No cheese or pastries or cookies or anything like that...but it seems that I'm a bigger holiday drunk than Lois Griffin. I have bar fly tendencies all other times of the year but I have done really well suppressing them and have cut my beer gut by cutting my beer!

I just checked my Fitday...the last 3 days over 65% of my calories have come from alcohol! Wow. I've have been literally fueling my body and workouts on bourbon. A little crystal meth and I'd feel like a washed up rock star.

Ironically I went to my kickboxing class last night after showing my ugly mug at an obligatory office Christmas party. All of a sudden I had the coordination of a ballerina. I'm typically the type that throws a good cross at the heavy bag an knocks myself over. I know going to kickboxing tipsy is not a long term solution to building balance and coordination but I had to laugh. The instructor was like, "You've been practicing!" I thought to myself...no I've been drinking!

Any other holiday drunks out there having a tough time keeping the bottle down at all the office parties? Wanna start a dry out thread with me?

[JayEll]

Gosh, nods, 65% of your daily calories from alcohol is too much, in my humble opinion... Have you considered that you might have a problem with drinking?

I drank like you when I was younger, and I even went to martial arts classes after having had a couple. In the long run, it didn't work--so naturally I gave up martial arts... A sure sign of a problem...

Oh, and needless to say, drinking at that level really messes up weight loss, but that's the least of the problems.

Good luck!
Jay

[RealCdn]

I'm kind of with Jay on this. Last Saturday I had an, on purpose, kind of tipsy evening. Long story, but it was across the street at a neighbours. Usually when I'm out, it's a drink or two maximum as I'm driving home. Even that night, drinking way more than I usually would I hit 26% of my calories from alcohol. Although I'm imagining that you probably ate very little to compensate for the alcohol. That's definitely going to impact the ability to lose weight.

Having said all that I'm probably done with alcohol until New Year's myself.

[hiimnatalie]

First off, i love your writing style, "I'm a bigger holiday drunk than Lois Griffin" made me laugh out loud.

The holidays are a prime time from cases of "Drunkarexia" where people limit what the eat so that they can drink later.
I don't think you have a drinking problem like some one said before as , I know that the holidays, and the staff parties that come with them make this any drinker favourite time of year- yay open bar!, and every dieters nighmare.

I have cut out about 95 % of my drinking in the last month. When I go to funtions I allow myself one drink. Just one. So I make sure its a good one , and nurse that puppy all night. Try that maybe, or just alternate drink with a glass of water at parties?

[pucedaisy]

it's so easy to overindulge during these holiday parties! it's great that you didn't binge on cookies and so on but we have to remember that alcohol is highly caloric, too, and also needs to be avoided, or enjoyed in moderation. i say this as someone who usually drinks a bottle of wine every night! until my own work xmas party on tuesday, when someone took pictures and i didn't like the bloated, oversized me that i saw, and i made a commitment to lose weight. so it's only day four for me, but i haven't had a drop to drink, and it feels good!
i may allow myself a glass of wine for a special dinner, here and there. but while i'm trying to lose weight, drinking seems like a very poor choice. still, i'm a bartender, so it's around me all the time. i think a dry thread sounds like a great idea, a nonjudgmental place to discuss this particular temptation.

[nods]

Originally Posted by hiimnatalie

The holidays are a prime time from cases of "Drunkarexia" where people limit what the eat so that they can drink later.

DRUNKAREXIA! That's it. That's exactly it! I checked with my friend FitDay and it seems that for actual solid food, I ate one banana yesterday. I also had 4 mugs of coffee. (Yes, I'm a miscreant with horrible habits.) So that's the context of the 65%. There's always swedish meatballs, and pigs in blankets, and sugar cookies at the holiday soirees but I couldn't bring myself to nosh on the buffet.
Then after the party was kickboxing, then after kickboxing I had to pick up a piece of artwork from a friend of mine who is going out of town for the holidays...and of course THAT involved a few more trading family stress coping strategies over a few Amstel lights. So by the time I got home, I was thinking 'bed' versus 'healthy dinner.' Unfortunately, this schedule has been the last week of my life.

I knew that I was drinking too much, and during the last three months (coinciding with a grad school semester of course) I told myself I could have three drinks one day a week. Friday night. And I stuck to it! I was so good.

Now with all these stupid parties, I swear I'm so susceptible to peer pressure. I'm pushing 30 and I'm like a character in an after school special. Its so sad. And I have this weird job where I have to make rounds to parties, so I've been to 7 in one week. 8 if I count the non-work holiday party we had with my sister in law who was passing through town (but I had a nice healthy dinner at that party...along with 2 glasses of bourbon.) I have at least 4 next week that I know of.

My name's nods and I'm a holiday drunkarexic. I can't wait for stupid Christmas to be over.

[JulieJ08]

Originally Posted by nods

DRUNKAREXIA! That's it. That's exactly it! I checked with my friend FitDay and it seems that for actual solid food, I ate one banana yesterday. I also had 4 mugs of coffee. (Yes, I'm a miscreant with horrible habits.) So that's the context of the 65%.

I would feel like s*** leftover from last week.

[NightengaleShane]

I had a problem with holiday drinking pre-weight-loss and a problem with general drinking during my before-I-was-fat thin days. I noticed my tendencies towards partying and getting smashed returning recently now that I'm single and I made a resolve to either not drink at all or stop after one drink (or two if it's something like Bacardi & Diet Coke). Most of my friends are very into drinking and laugh at me for this, but I don't care -- it's my body, and I'd rather treat it with respect.

Drunkarexia. Hah. I like that term. Funny, funny.

nods

[Darby1]

I just got back from a week in Las Vegas and drank about 2 months worth of alcohol in that time! I never felt drunk; just always a little buzzed. It was fun, but I'm getting too old for this. I'm planning on taking the month of January off from drinking. I'd start now, but if you knew my family, you'd know that was impossible. But it'll only be a glass or two of wine, not all day drinking like in Vegas.

[nelie]

Ok this is the opinion of someone who drinks maybe 1 alcoholic beverage a year and has been that way since I was 25. Although in college, I drank plenty.

Anyway, just because you feel compelled to go to parties, doesn't mean you have to drink alcohol. Grab a non alcoholic drink and you can even make them look like mixed drinks. Club soda with lime looks like a gin and tonic, diet coke in a glass looks like rum and coke, etc. It is true that alcoholics like others to drink because they themselves want to fit in. If others don't drink, then they just look lame. You could also lie... saying you are taking a medical test and need to be alcohol free or say your doctor told you to not drink for a month or whatever it has to be. I don't drink at work functions although others might and I've never been questioned about it.

[EZMONEY]

I can't help ya out here nods I am not a quitter

I am thinking I need to bring my Beer For My Horses back for another rodeo....

I was doing so much better when I was accountable here at 3FC...

doing better than before....but....3 a day during the week and up to a six pack a day on the week-end isn't helping my weight out either...

I know Jay...I know...

[Lori Bell]

Hey Nods, I feel for you toots. I love to drink, and almost everyone we know loves to drink, and it's 10 fold around the holidays. I have given up drinking during my weight loss journey for many health reason but mostly because eating was/is my first true love/addiction. I much rather eat than drink for the calories. It really sucks that my dh loves to buy expensive booze and wine. He's spent several hundreds of dollars on alcohol the last several days for our parties/celebrations. I'm having a hard time not cracking. It doesn't help that he's an alcohol pusher who hates to drink alone...! I told him I might have a glass of wine on Christmas day so he buys six different bottles of my favorite brands of chardonnay's.

[EZMONEY]

PAR-TAY at Lori Bell's!

[pucedaisy]

i'm with you, EZ! I've given up drinking for now, but it sounds like Lori Bell needs some help with all that chardonnay. Anything for a (new, virtual) friend!

[ChefsGirl]

Ha! Nods your thread cracked me up. Honestly, I could've written it myself.

I dove headfirst into a bottle of wine last weekend at my DF's birthday party & have been swimming around in it ever since. I'm having a good time & so for it's not affecting my weight loss so I'm not quite ready to dry out.

I need my wine if I can't overeat or smoke (which I recently quit). I know, I probably need therapy or something.

I did go sober the entire month of January last year. Probably one of the most boring times in my life. But I did lose 20 lbs & fell awesome that month. My house had never been clearer or my closets more organized.

Noticed that there are some BIG losers on this thread. Hats off to ya! Wondering what plans you are following?