At the risk of sounding like a completely alcoholic, I'm frustrated that I can't have it. Just need to vent.

Over the past two years (of steady weight gain, natch) I've got into the bad habit of decompressing at the end of the day (well, not every day, but several) with beer and snacks. Total stress eater/drinker. Of course I know what this does to my waistline (the evidence is quite clear), but...I honestly thought I could have it once or twice a week and keep the cravings at bay. Not so much. It's almost as if my body "remembers" and my rational mind forgets all it's learned and knocking a few back...BAM. I'm overeating again and definitely drinking over my limit (inhibitions down). I'm completely stalled. Add to this that I'm in that glorious time of the month as I type AND have the sore throat/cough/cold that the kids gave me and..................yeah.

It just sucks because I love beer. Call me Homer Simpson, but it's better than any dessert (and probably has just as many, if not more, sugar content as any of them). I guess I just have to get to the place where I hate being fat more than the taste of any Pumpkin Spice Ale out there. Boooooooooooooooooooooo.

Anyone relate?

I have decided not to cut out drinking. I have 1-3 drinks a week and avoid beer, which I love as well. I stick to a glass of wine or rum & diet Coke. I am very lucky in that drinking does not make me forget to stay on plan otherwise... I don't have a drink and then eat off plan. I just like it too much to cut it completely out, and if that means losing more slowly, I'm OK with that for me.

I have totally quit drinking alcohol, and I will admit I was a daily boozer. I quit at first because of several reasons...the calorie content, and I had also quit smoking, and booze makes me want to smoke. I went from March to December of 08 without a drink and got hammered on Christmas Day 2008. I felt like 100% complete and utter $hit the next day and I have never touched it again. It is not worth it *for me*.

Interestingly I have had a handful of total sugar binges since then and have felt almost exactly the same as I did the day after Christmas of 08. Maybe it wasn't the booze afterall, maybe it was the food I also consumed that Christmas day. I can say one thing for sure, I don't ever plan on going back. I have learned to LOVE an alcohol free life. One less thing to worry about. Now to live a life without sugar

I allow myself to drink MAYBE a few times a year. When I drink, I'm an EATER and it never turns out well for me. LOL

And on the 8th day, the gods created LITE BEER, and it was good

You may not like lite beer. I feel the same way about unsweetened tea. It's like, BLEH! -why even drink it?? So I generally have no tea at all, because unsweet tea is just... like I said... BLEH!

The trick really is "all things in moderation". But of course if you CAN'T have just one and leave it at that, then maybe you should kick it to the curb for awhile (or forever) - until you learn how to control it.

And yeah, I feel ya on the sugar thing. Ugh.

I know this is going to sound weird, but until you feel as if you can consume in moderation, can you just buy your beer one at a time (I don't drink beer, so I don't even know if it's possible to buy just one at a beer/wine store)? I know it's a pain in the neck, but at least you're forcing yourself to practice moderation. Of course, that doesn't solve the snacking problem, so if you cannot drink without overeating, then it's best to go cold turkey for now.

I've had some good weeks where I had one or two per week and stayed on plan (mostly). worked out a bit more the following day to compensate. But for the most part, I can't not snack...couple that with it being Oktoberfest season and....dang.

I know what you mean. I once did Atkins and, obviously, fell off the no/low carb wagon with some cake and I felt like I was completely hung over. It's definitely related.

Light beer???? ANATHEMA! I *might* give it another try...it just typically sucks. A lot.

Not weird at all! At some specialty stores, you can. That might be a good idea...or maybe just sending my husband out to get it so I'm not tempted to get a sixer.

I struggle with the alcohol as well. Beer being my drink of choice. For me it's several issues. One, a long ingrained bad habit and two, the carbs and sugar.

I've been packing an extra snack to eat about 4pm. 1/2 turkey sandwich and a few apple slices seems to be helping. That way I'm not starving when I get off work and wanting to fall straight in to a cold one.

I love to drink, absolutely love it. I haven't been hanging out with my best friend because she is my trigger! Every time we are together we eat and drink, and I can't seem to spend time with her without just wanting to have an all out good time with some chips and salsa and some long island ice teas! I will never give it up forever, but I really want to give it up until I reach my goal weight... it's been a week so I'm doing good so far! We'll see what happens next time I see my bff...

This is my biggest struggle as well. I really think I am going to have to quit alcohol altogether, but it's hard when I'm out with friends and they are having a glass of wine/cocktail or three .

Our neighbor stores his beer in our fridge. Or more accurately he comes and gets a beer from our garage fridge or garage tap now and then and now and then a 6 pack of something nice shows up. But it keeps him from drinking too many because a) we have to be home (although we usually have our garage open when we are home so we DONT usually know when he goes in and out) and b) it would be more obvious? embarassing? work? I dont know the real term for what it would mean if he came and got 4 beers in a row.

I dont do lite beer. Guinness is surprisingly not as calorie dense as one would think. Wine is my downfall though. Fewer calories but impacts the next days workout more

I can freely admit that every night when I got home I would have a couple drinks to decompress...and I liked it, haha!

Once I realized that it was keeping me from losing weight I cut it out completely. Then I slowly added it back in, I would pre-measure what fit within my calorie budget. If it fit then I could have it, if it didn't, then I couldn't.

Now I only have it on my higher calorie days and have learned to self-soothe during the week in other ways.

I struggle with the same thing! I really like to sit out on my back porch with DH and knock back a few. I have been trying to fit them into my calorie range for the day, though.

This is embarrassing, and totally makes me feel like an alcoholic (which I'm not at all) but I have to admit, a couple of weeks ago I was going over to a friend's house where I knew there was going to be food and I hadn't eaten dinner yet. I stopped at a convenience store and bought a slim fast and a 6 pack of lite beer. I drank the slim fast in the car on the way there and then while we were hanging out I had 4 lite beers (this was over the course of several hours). It felt nice to be able to have 4 beers and not feel too guilty about it, b/c with the 190 cal from the slim fast and the beers being 100 cal each, it was only a 600 cal dinner!

Also, as much as I thought it would be HORRIBLE, I switched to lite beer for the most part. I know, I KNOW! I, too, was a fan of the Pumpkin Ale, all things dark, spicy, and Guinness (or Blue Moon, OMG!). BUT, once you get used to some of the light beers, they are really NOT that bad- especially with A LOT of lime in them. Corona Light is pretty palatable for me, especially once you get used to them. I've tried some of the MGD 64's, and I guess it's better than nothing, and with a bunch of lime it's really kind of ok. Also, I used to think whiskey was gross, but I'm learning to like it on the rocks with water or seltzer. It's something I will probably never be able to drink very quickly, so it's a good drink to sip, and the traditional mixers are 0 calorie. Also, I was not much of a wine enthusiast (still am not) but sometimes I like to have a glass of wine in the evenings mixed with seltzer. It makes the wine last longer, and you can have 4 oz of wine with another 4 or even 8 oz of 0 cal seltzer for about 70 cal. It lasts longer than a beer (for me) and I'm less likely to drink a bunch of them. Hope this helps somewhat, but I'm feeling it with you, sister!!

This is a problem for me on the weekend. I don't drink beer. Rum and diet coke is my choice but there is only 75 or so calories in a big glass so I am okay with it. I am just now at 41 breaking out of my shell and still am shocked at myself that I close the bar down at 2:00.
I am not a daily drinker but I will not stop it completely. We have to learn how to do it in moderation and maybe plan caloriewise during the week for the binge on the weekend.

I would follow that, personally.

No one is saying that you have to give up alcohol permanently. But I find it's easier to try to stay completely focused on my weight loss. I know that this is a different approach than most people take, and it's different from the approach I have taken myself in the past. But this time, I really intend for this to be my last time to have to lose a large amount of weight, and I am willing to put up with some temporary sacrifices because I know they are temporary. A year from now (well before that at this point!), there will be room in my eating plan for all kinds of treats (although still in moderation, not binges). I would rather continue to see good progress forward and finally reach goal than enjoy a temporary treat.