omg... I am so going to post that onto my fridge!!

This is so tough because I'm a big wine drinker and I will never give it up. So, how does one explain my situation when I lost my initial 32 pounds? I drank a lot! I guess I averaged 3 nights a week (many glasses) and I still managed to lose the weight. Granted, it was a very slow process and that makes sense now, in retrospect, but I still lost weight. I'm back to eating healthy and exercising again because I gained some back. I'm still having my wine at night. I've been more conscientious about how much I consume this time though and have cut back on the evenings but it's still something I enjoy and have not cut out of my diet. There was no mention about the amount of exercise one does in the info that Tim posted. That is an important thing to leave out, don't you think? I can see a considerable amount of weight gain (obviously) if the person never exercises.

When I used to drink before I got put on medication that makes my stomach very sensitive to alcohol, that I would always get the munchies and didn't pay as close attention to eating. My husband has gained some weight since he really does get MONSTER MUNCHIES when drinking and even the next day it seems like his eating is out of control.

It seems like a lot of folks like to make room for some alcohol in their plan. Of course, there is a line one doesn't want to cross with alcohol. Me, I crossed that line a long time ago, and now I don't drink at all.

Other than alcohol addiction, a couple of things are worth keeping in mind.

One is "empty calories," as others pointed out. Not a lot of nutrition in alcoholic beverages--essentially, none. So, if someone is staying, say, between 1200 and 1400 cals to lose weight, they might want to have 100 cals of protein instead of a drink!

Another is that alcohol does lower inhibitions, and that means the food plan can go right out the window.

Jay

last week monday was the first time I had ANY alcohol since I started "dieting" again. I had 2 10oz tomatoe beers (light beer at that) and then last week thursday we played horseshoes, well then I had several beers! (NOT A GOOD IDEA). This week when we play again I will have to stick to the water and diet pop...because my body and scale are yellin at me now! I am definately up a couple pounds and the alcohol is what started it.....grrrrr

WOW! That really made me think. Thanks for posting it. Right now, I have a couple of drinks about 5 nights a week, but I think I will cut it back to Friday and Saturday nights...I enjoy it too much to cut it out completely, but I can see that if I cut it back, it would help a lot.