They clearly explain the dangers of drinking in the early daily emails. Not only is it dangerous to your health but should someone be pulled over by the police the breatherlizer test can show a false positive with an unqualified amount of consumption. Don't even try one drink! You'll find out why quite interesting.

Wow, this is a tough plan to follow. Just wow. Kudos to you guys.

But no alcohol would be a deal breaker for me.

** I am not on IP **

I don't always get the daily emails (they seem to come some days and not others) and haven't seen the one about drinking. And I would NEVER drive after I've been drinking, whether on IP or not. We will be staying at the reception site, so driving was never a concern.

Thank you again to everyone who commented. I now have all the information I need to make an informed decision. I will not be drinking, as I don't want to take the chances with my health or stall my weight loss.

Thanks again to everyone.

I was on P1 from late October to Mid-March. A very short time to give up things that really are not good for me anyway. Now I can have the occasional drink and be ok....but it is occasional. It is worth it to me to maintain my health.

Kudoos, a good choice and you will not regret it.

drd I am only starting week two so a drink is way far away for me. Nice to hear first hand that a drink is okay down the line. I am a wine drinker, do you think few glasses on the weekend fits in on maintenance? I know of course that everyone is different.

Great weight loss you have there. Amazing!

I am still new at maintenance, having only started mid March. Just like the other phases it is all about planning. If you want wine on the weekend, then during the week you may need to stick more toward P2, P3 type meals. The other thing I am finding is that I need to see how my body reacts to certain foods. I tried sushi, and my face broke out and I immediately showed a weight gain. Obviously not something my body liked. I had some trail mix, and that was something I simply cannot control, so it also will not be on my diet. However, I can have a beer ever now and then and not have trouble with it. When the weight goes up more than I like, I tighten it up and make it go down. So far, so good.

I really thought when I hit maintenance I would really want to have alcohol but that hasn't been the case. Granted, I'm only a week into maintenance but I'm finding a lot of what I thought I would miss just doesn't sound all that good. I figured I would wait on the alcohol for a bit since I've added back in so many things, kind of give my body a chance to adjust before I give it too much "new" stuff to deal with.

And like drd, it wasn't really that hard to give it up while I was losing - regaining my health was way more important to me than having a drink!

Makes sense and how I imagine it. Just one day at a time. Plenty times for a social drink down the line. I broke out running and I am not looking back!

Ditto..the beauty of a lifestyle change...is WE are actually Ok with the
changes we have made. In fact...it is a conscious choice and deprived is NOT how we feel once that switch has flipped. We all know people who "choose" things......and respect their choices.

Now we expect that from others on our choices...

The change in my attitude to alcohol over the past four months and 10 days (not that I'm counting!) to be interesting. Before IP, I would have said that I drank moderately (mainly Friday nights, weekends and social occasions) but the thought of no wine on a Friday night or no rich red Pinot with dinner was horrifying. Now that I've been doing this for some time, I know that I could easily never drink again. I know my friends and family would find it a bit strange but I've learned that I don't need to have an alcoholic drink at every opportunity that it is available. And that I can live quite happily having it on an occasional basis rather than it being the norm. I'll admit that there have been slightly awkward social occasions where I think that a drink would assist the situation but it's also been a learning experience to begin to rely on my own social skills to improve the situation and get beyond the awkward stage.

I'm now looking forward to maintenance and continuing to wake up on Saturday and Sunday mornings with a clear head! And as 65x65 said, this is a lifestyle change and I'm OK with that.

WOW, isn't vitriol hard on the liver too?

my 2 cents: alcohol does kill whether we're following IP or not!!! and this is not a judgement - just look at stats

have a good one we deserve it

In what i have read on maintenance, alcohol is discouraged, as it has no real nutritional value. However, this is real life... Red wine is the least of the evils, according to the IP docs I have read. Lucky for me, I enjoy red wine. I know some people don't. I used to love sweet, sweet white wines, and now I find I do not enjoy the taste. I had my first vodka drink in maintenance two weeks ago- it was an orange crush. It took me about ninety minutes to drink the one drink. It tasted good, but it definitely hit me quickly. There was no way I could have had more than one!

Same here! My co-workers could not believe I was giving up wine as the school year started!! I was nervous, as I like a glass every now and then, but it was WAY easier than I thought. As yummy as they may be, alcoholic drinks can be full of empty calories...what a waste!

Renee

I'm not a scientist but I am a teacher and a student and I can say that it's not something I'd use as a trusted source or reference.