Hello everyone!
I have been peeking around this blog for about a week now. And this is my first post. I have a few things I am working with. For the past week I have been counting calories and using ************ to help me and it is really going well. I have set a mini goal of 10lbs by Valentines day. But by far the most difficult hurdle will be drinking. I live with my boyfriend and we are very comfortable in our after work beers. The food is something I can control, but it sucks to think about throwing away hard work for a beer. But I feel like I am missing out. Now that I am writing this it sounds like a piss poor excuse. But I have even tried drinking low cal drinks like vodka and soda but I end up getting drunk and it isn't.... beer. Is there anyone out there that has worked through this. Is there a way to drink beer on a diet without starving all day long? Should I be giving myself a weekend from the diet? Or will it throw it all outta whack. Ok, there, I broke my first post seal. Hi!

I can't live without Dr Pepper. It's ridiculous, but whatever. So, I allow for Dr Pepper in my calories. I would rather drink it than eat something, so I just allow myself those calories & deduct them from my total during the day.

I was just talking to my traine about this... b/c I am missing my beer too. He said if I am going to drink beer I should choose Coors Light or Michlob UltraLight. So- I m choosing Michelob. Coors tastes watered down to me... and Ultra Light is better then nothing.

PS- I am not counting these calories... but I'm not having it every night. Maybe 2 once a week.

I totally understand your dilemma, I was there myself 5 months ago. the question i had to ask myself was Am I TRULY THAT dependent on alcohol? I mean what does that say about ME as a person? I cut it out of my life completely (at least during this time of my life while trying to get on the healthy track) and to be honest, after the first week, I haven't missed it.

I would much rather EAT my calories than drink them. I hope you can come to some resolution soon!

Oh this is one of the biggest problems I have myself...

I had initially decided that I was going to stop drinking completely from Jan 2 Feb 17th (when I'm taking a big trip out of town). This weekend I went out as the DD with a bunch of my friends and was miserable because I really, really wanted a beer.

I ended up having 3. Now, I could've kicked myself for having it, but instead of feeling guilty I feel much better about drinking a total of 3 beers going OUT on a Friday night than drinking much, much more.

The more you work yourself up and don't allow yourself to have something you really want the harder it is to resist it. Why don't you cut back or as someone already mentioned, allow for it in your calories. You could also work out (if you aren't doing that already) and that could be your "extra" calories for a few beers.

Don't feel bad, even my therapist said that at this age that we are it is very, very hard to not drink because we are social creatures and it's part of what we do....

I do weight watchers. I use 5 point per day (out of my weekly stash) for a Sam Adams beer. It is delicious and 1 is enough. I wouldn't waste points on "lite beer." I've been losing weight steadily, too.

So, you could probably have one beer a day. Part of losing weight is changing habits, so less beer may be a habit you need to change (and really, more than a beer per night isn't good for you anyway).

The bolded is more my line of thinking. When I lost the bulk of my weight I just stopped drinking all together. It's just one of those things I changed. And I used to LOVE beer.

I am not much of a beer drinker anymore. I do love a glass of wine once a week or so, though. When I go out I drink vodka sodas. Tastes change and that was one of the tastes that changed for me.

I do love a good beer now and again (I do live in Colorado -craft beer heaven), but I drink it so rarely that I don't worry about it. It's really up to you and how much of your lifestyle you want to change.

See here for an article that discusses some of the scientific research behind alcohol consumption and fat gain/loss. (The article is geared toward bodybuilders, but human metabolism is human metabolism.)

//b. strong