A lot of us watch what we eat, but how often do we think of all the empty calories we drink? Sure soda is the number one thing that people point out, but what about alcohol?
I remember a food challenge on The Biggest Loser they mentioned how drinking a six pack of beer would be like to sitting down and eating two loaves of bread. Who would do that?
When we are at the bar, in the club, or at a social event, there are no nutrition labels on the beer or cooler bottles. Certainly none on mixed drinks. Friday night, I had 4 drinks. To most people (at least those I hang out with) this is nothing. So let's break it down, shall we? Now keep in mine, my dietitian wants me on a 1400 calorie a day regimen, which I'm sure I reached, if not exceeded that Friday BEFORE going out.
(Facts from CalorieKing.com - For Food Awareness )
3 Smirnoff Raspberry Ice bottles:
249 Calories each = 747 Calories
40 Carbs each = 120 Carbs
1 Long Island Ice Tea:
276 Calories per 8 oz = Aldo Glasses 21 oz = 725 Calories
33 Carbs per 8 oz - 21 oz = 87 Carbs
In one night out, I drank 1472 Calories and 207 Carbs. That's over my entire daily allowance!! I had two days worth of calories in ONE DAY! Sad thing is, afterwards we all went to Denny's and had a big fatass burger too, so who know what the hell that came too!
It's frightening to see these totals. I hope to help my partners in crime at the bar and at the gym with this information too. Check out that site, as they have one of the biggest lists of alcoholic beverage nutrition info. I even have the pocketsized book I'll bring to the bar, so we can look things up before we decide to drink! LOL
So enough with the whining and crying about gaining weight. I eat great during the week, all to just blow it on the weekends. I'm fighting an uphill battle, and it sucks ass!! I have to go back to my non-alcoholic lifestyle. I went from having drinks about 5 times a year to twice a week. That has really helped pack the pounds back on.
I just wanted to dedicate this post to my greatest online inspiration, Jody (click here for her site/blog). She's just amazing, and her comments and tough love on my blogspot always brighten my day. I call her my "online Jillian"!! There's just some people, that you may never meet face to face, but they definitely leave their mark and impact your life. Jody is one of those people!
Anyway, after seeing those calorie counts, my mouth just dropped and my head shook. I've totally been my own worst enemy. No more will I let a week's worth of diet and exercise go down the tubes because of alcohol. It's back to water and diet pepsi for me!
Ciao for now.. have a great Monday y'all!!
Sadly, I would eat 2 loaves of bread in one sitting. "Bread" was my nickname as a child. I used to roll bread up into balls and eat it like an apple. I won't tell you how I got the bread to stay in a ball (gross kid stuff).
ReplyDeleteBread is my alcohol, so yes, it is time for change.
Cher, you are way too kind & give me way too much credit! I have been where you are food wise (not alcohol) so I understand it. Yes, CalorieKing is a great resource!!! I have that link on my site & pass it on too people, including my politician cousin who is obese (the tech term, meaning he is VERY overweight, along with his wife & passed on to the children). That with stress is NOT a good combo!
ReplyDeleteAlso, not only does alcohol add tons of unnecessary calories but when you drink, you "lose control" and usually end up eating more... which happened to you Cher. It also has 7 calories per every gram of alcohol, not the typical 4 calories per every gram of carbs.
Sometimes our friends and family don't want us to succeed. I AM NOT saying this is your case but we always have to evaluate if our friends are pushing us to "join them" even after you tell them you are getting healthier & drinking/eating certain things is not part of that right now. PLUS, your health is definitely a big factor for you so I hope those friends are supportive of you when you say NO to alcohol when out with them. If they know your situation & still push you to drink then you need to re-evaluate. I have read plenty of success stories of people that had to distance themselves from friends that did not support their efforts OR the friends dropped them unfortunately.
Studies also show that people that do their "splurge" all weekend long end up making up for it the whole week & ultimately end up not losing weight because they just splurged too much. Try not to make the weekend the off days all day long both days. Maybe pick a couple meals or a meal & a dessert. Me, I never do a full day of splurge.. plus I feel gross after if I do that anyway. I like my big ole cookie treats so I tend to have a couple over the weekend but I keep my other meals clean on that day. If I have planned to have a dinner out then I make all other food that day very clean & maybe less calories if I plan to eat more.
Also, Cher, I want to offer up a couple things I read to help you regarding your post about Friday night. First, I saw this on Diet Tired & thought of you: Repeated failure at losing weight (or as I call it, Diet Baggage) can have long term affects on your outlook. This creates a pattern of negative thinking and an expectation of failure. Some experts speculate that this is a protective measure to avoid disappointment. Of course, the real disappointment is the failure that this negative thinking ultimately leads to.
You are trying to find out why you do what you do. Maybe it is the above. Maybe fear of failure. I have battled that all my life. Baggage from younger years! There is obviously something going on for you so I sure hope you are able to get past that. Only you or you with help of a professional can do that. Diet Blog mentioned a book today that had some great info about emotional eating. Maybe you can look at it at the bookstore or see if your local library will get it in for you.
You health is a huge part of this & you need to be around for your family so make sure and make yourself #1 for a while. You are worth it!
OH, jeez! I wrote a book. SORRY!
LOL.. that's ok!! your "books" are worth the read, as i know others that read my blog will get just as much info from my blog as they do your comments!! thanks!!
ReplyDeleteIt's disheartening to work one's tush off all week just to blow it with a night of partying on the weekends. Smoke weed instead? Seriously, I still drink, though not much right now because I am quitting cigarettes, and a drink or two tends to make smoking seem like a good idea (as well as eating burgers, pizza, etc., while not hungry) I'm not going to give it up, but I do it infrequently enough that one or two mixed drinks (vodka + grapefruit) does it for me. So that's like an extra meal, not an extra weekends food. It's such a social thing to do that I don't want to cut it totally out of my life (plus I like the buzz), but it sure needs to be super-moderate.
ReplyDeletehah, I don't care how much is in those green drinks of Jays.
ReplyDeleteOMG!!!
I'll not eat for a week, will that even it out???
hehehehehehe