alcohol consumption

[Lo]

hello!

this is my first post and i have made the decision to become vegan about 3 weeks ago and things are going great.

i am feeling AMAZING, having more energy and look better appearance wise. i haven't lost weight...yet...but i am pretty much convinced it is due to alcohol consumption. i am a college student and drinking is defenitly part of my lifestyle, though i know i need to cut back in order to loose weight. which alcoholic beverages are best to consume if i don't want to gain weight? (obviously i know moderation is key, but i know that there should be some better choices out there).

[Johnstuff]

Vodka maybe? I know beer has lots of calories. Still I'd stick to the beer 'n just try to
work it off rather than only drink vodka.

Sugery stuff like alco-pops are prolly worst.

Welcome to the forum BTW

[Ms_Derious]

Sorry to be blunt, but do you really need to lose weight?

Most people, if they eat a healthful diet and exercise will find they reach a healthy weigh without too much stress. Stay away from too much processed vegan foods, drink in moderation and you'll be fine.

Three weeks is very little time to see much in the way of weight loss anyway.

[Mr Flibble]

No alcohol is good for weight loss.

Whilst spirits contain less calories than beer alcohol slows your metabolism, which is the opposite of what you want.

[Lo]

Sorry to be blunt, but do you really need to lose weight?

Most people, if they eat a healthful diet and exercise will find they reach a healthy weigh without too much stress. Stay away from too much processed vegan foods, drink in moderation and you'll be fine.

Three weeks is very little time to see much in the way of weight loss anyway.

Over the past four years I have lost a total of 140 lbs and kept it off (this was from doin diet and exercise). Right now i am a size 8, weigh around 170 and i am 5'8'' tall. I i still have pudge to work off because i was so heavy at one point.

[BlackCats]

Over the past four years I have lost a total of 140 lbs and kept it off (this was from doin diet and exercise).

Wow, well done.

[Ms_Derious]

Well done It sounds that you are at a good weight for you now

I tend to get a little protective of people who are on weight loss plans because of my own issues with disordered eating. (long story!) and I dnn't like arbitrarily giving out weight loss advice unless people actually need to lose weight.

I used to drink quite a lot, maybe get through a bottle of wine with my OH each night, which would mean about 500 extra calories a day. Added to that that drink tended to make me peckish and I'd eat a slice of toast or a pack of crisps, and you can easily find that you are 700 cals up on a midweek night. This contributed to be becoming more that a little pudgy.

When I gave up drinking I felt a lot better, and my weight slowly drifted down to a healthy point.

Now, you say drinking is part of your lifestyle, so I get that, but how about having alternating alcohol free drinks with alcoholic ones? Distilled spirits are lower in calories than most brewed drinks, which is good, but they still all add up. The good thing about this is that if your mates are the type to have a bit of a joke about you not drinking, they won't really notice if you are having a vodka and diet soda or a just a diet soda on its own, so you don't have to deal with much static off of anyone.

Now I only drink vary rarely I find that after one glass of wine I'm tipsy enough to have a good laugh and lose a bit of my inhibitions, pretty much exactly as I was after 2-3 glasses of wine when I used to drink a lot more.

Anyway, my condensed advice is

Vegan food isn't always low fat - avoid too many chips, fake meats etc and you'll see that you lose a lot naturally
Eat Breakfast - Honestly, this gets your metabolism going and reduces the chance of you snacking on higher calorie foods
Drink a little less - Once your body loses it's tolerance to the higher levels of alcohol, you won't notice the difference between three vodka and tonics and two
Distilled Spirits are lower in calories
Make sure you have some sensible snacks for when you get home. If you have a nice fruit salad in the fridge you might eat that instead of a bag of chips.

Have fun and enjoy college, all things in moderation

I'm glad you have decided to go vegan, if you ever need any advice just ask anyone on here... most people are very friendly and being vegan in a non vegan world is a bit confusing at times.

[Lo]

Thank you SO much for the advice and the kind welcome to the fourm.

I have found that since going vegan that I am drinking less and feeling buzzed faster (I used to be able to drink six 80 proof shots and be pretty tipsy and now between one and three make me feel quite happy). That being said, I think that I should stick to drinking once a week to avoid exess calorie intake.

I do have a weakness for good wine though!

[Jasmin]

Mmmm....wine......