I turned 21 last Thursday. I have been having Irish coffee, or cocoa with Chocolate liquor in it every night since then. The novelty of being able to [legally] drink still hasn't worn off. There's no nutrition information on the bottle of Bailey's [and please GOD no one post it!] but I know it isn't good...

This isn't going as well as it was. I was going so great. Now I've been off the wagon for a week. This is going to set me back alot. I'm losing my determination. Maybe being overweight isn't such a bad thing......

<--- He's fat and cute...

Thwap...

That was the sound of a gentle e-slap. Don't get discouraged! Most of us fall off the wagon from time to time. What's important is that you're able to pick yourself up and get back on. Failure isn't really failure if you learn from it.

What helps me when I'm faced with a temptation is to remind myself that I won't miss it if I skip it right now. I can always have it later, but right now, I don't need it. I make sure to give myself two nonconsecutive "free days" a month when I can eat whatever I want without feeling guilty. When I have a free day coming up soon, it's so much easier to give up my treats the rest of the time. Would something like that work for you?

You asked for an e-slap, dear:

1 glass of Bailey's lrish Cream (5 oz): 468 calories

Being overweight isn't so bad, once you overlook the health risks, the limits on who you can date and who will date you, the clothes you can't wear, the places you can't go, how cute your friends are and how bad you feel next to them, and staying in on the weekends when everyone else is going out. Oh yeah, and living your life overweight because "it's not that bad" is great, until you look back and realize you totally and completely missed out on your 20s. And 30s. And 40s...

If that is correct in the calories in a cup, then cut it out. Drink a shot straight or mix one shot with a diet coke, fresca or something like sugar free low cal oj. Recall that u need to drink water to compensate earlier in the day due to the drink. The only other thing I can think of is to try to make ur own mix maybe adding an extract to a shot or mixing a shot with something that is choc. and low cal. A shot of this stuff doesn't seem terrible but a cup is too much. Take two shots and drink sugar free low cal choc. drink afterwards and save urself a 100 or more calories.

i really enjoy bailey's too! i drink it from a small glass (shot glass sized but its actually made for drinking out of) with a large ice cube in the middle. I sip it slowly all evening. It's yummy and at most only an ounce. so if you really enjoy the bailey's maybe try that? if you just like drinking because it's legal (i'm 22 so totally understand) they do make some rum with 1/3 the calories and low carbs (I think Kim Catrall does the ads lol) I like the lime flavor in a diet coke. It's not too bad for you!

or if you like the coffee lol... you might try those "creamers" i know they have non fat lo cal sugar free (you get the idea) ones and they come in irish coffee flavor. HTH!

I am not too worried about your baileys. I doubt you are drinking a cup of it, and a splash in your cocoa won't kill you. It's a waste of good calories, but there are worse things that you could be doing.

This paragraph of yours is what worries me. being overweight can't be a good thing for you, or you wouldn't have got this far. And being overweight may not be a bad thing for you now, but honey you are 21. This is a fabulous time to get the weight off. I only wish I had done it at your age. Now I am 33 it's HARD!!!

You're only 21 once, enjoy this week, then draw a line on it and move on. The best life long birthday present you can give yourself, is to get to a healthy weight.

Amen!

Just get back on the wagon, and having a drink every day isn't such a bad thing... but in a few years do you still want to be drinking every day? It might end up at more than one drink!

Draw a line under your daily drink and move on...

The fun part about being able to drink legally is that you can do so at any restaurant/pub/sports bar, and having said that you should enjoy your Bailey's Irish Coffee there. Use it as a weight loss incentive/treat. If you do well all week, then maybe you should choose Friday or Saturday to get dressed up, go out with friends and enjoy your alcoholic beverage there. With the price of drinks you will be less likely to over do it and it will give you something to look forward to all week.

Amy

You can have five gin and diet tonics to one bailey! There are better choices. Not that you want five of any drinks--but make your choices wisely. For instance, Bloody Mary's have some very healthy ingredients.
But it's up to each of us to pick and choose our poison. To me Bailey's wouldn't be worth it. I'd rather have cheese cake or a piece of fried chicken. And even then only once a week. LOL

Sure, it's one small thing, but lots of small things add up. I know a lady (ironically an aerobics instructor and personal trainer) and she refuses to give up small things. She has full half/half in her coffee, she eats butter liberally on her bread, she likes cream in her food, etc...and she's overwieght by about 30 lbs. SHe's in total denial. She doesn't even eat that much, she just makes dumb choices. Wouldn't it be terrible to be an aerobics instructor and have people feel shocked when you told them? Now, I'm more overweight than her. But I know why and I'm not of the mindset that "it won't hurt me". I know it will. I am willing to change.

I've had the EXACT same mindset you are having. "Overweight isn't so bad." I can't tell you how MANY times I've told myself that. But when you're young the weight doesn't look as bad. It doesn't feel as bad. When you're my age you start getting bad knees. Your kids start imitating your lifestyle. You start to know people who are dying of heart attacks and breast cancer only 10 years older than you. It gets very scary and you start to wish that you'd have kept the weight off when you were 21. You start realizing that all those momentary pleasures were not really worth it at all. It starts to dawn on you might have cut a decade off of your life so you could do all the fun stuff like drink Bailey's.

It really IS that bad. Sure, the pillsbury dough boy is fat and cute. Do you want to be cuddled up to somebody and have them whisper in your ear, "Oh darling, you look just like the pillsbury dough boy?" Baby's can be fat and cute and healthy. We can be fat and tired and unhealthy. God made fat ugly for a reason--it's doing ugly things to us.

So there's your e-slap. Take it in the spirit given and move on.

Karma

Someone above questioned having a drink a day at 22, never mind the calories. As someone who is well familiar with the cycle of drinking, I caution against it also. That is NOT a good habit to get into. I am a lot older than you (51) but I can tell you that my ex-husband and I did that when we were in our early 20s. Hm. He died last week of alcoholism, at 53 years old.
But I know at 22 nothing would have scared me.

Let's see, what else. Overweight at 22? The older we get the harder it is to lose weight. If you are overweight and drinking a drink a day at 22, what will you be doing at 32, or 42 or 52?

I hope you get this under control NOW. I was not overweight at 22, but it has gotten harder and harder to maintain my weight. Now I am very overweight and am determined to lose it. I just wish I had never put it on to begin with!