Question about alcohol

[Audacious1]

Monday the 10th is my birthday and on saturday my husband is taking me out for a night on the town with a few old friends of mine from high school that i haven't seen in ages...now i have never been a real drinker except for a few special occasions like new years and birthday's and haven't drank at all since i started getting into shape. I am not a beer drinker at all, can't stand the stuff and know how fattening it is, but how bad is regular alcohol for me now that i have been getting into shape and eating clean for the past 4 months? Is one night of binge drinking going to hurt? I usually don't drink much to get tipsy...maybe 3 or 4 drinks tops. I am going out to dinner before hand and using that as my cheat meal for the week. So if anyone knows, let me know how this may affect my progress if at all and what, if any, type of drinks are better than others. Thanks.

 

[BrickGirl]

my opionion Make it a cheat night, just be sure the next day to consume extra water and get back on track the next day, rememeber, water water water water water but of course, that is just my opionion

 

[Audacious1]

That's good to know...when i do drink, i always have one glass of water for every drink i have...so i will have a drink, then get a glass of water and down it before i allow myself to have another drink. It keeps me from getting hungover in the morning.

 

[ann]

Just as BG said....and go out and have a wonderful time The gym will still be there waiting for you.

 

[BigEasy]

Probably no problem, but it still depends...

In alcohol there is GENERALLY 7 calories/gm. This is opposed to 4 calories/gm for protein and carbos or 9 calories/gm for fat. Thus if you drink 7 calories/per gm times 14gm alcohol per 1.5 ounces (for a typical mixed drink) you get 98 calories.

Now alcohol calories are hard to quantify when it comes to their overall impact on weight. So, my opinion is gin and tonic, etc., is no problem. Unless one wants to have cocktails that are highly sweetened or contain liqueurs. Now we have simple sugars and alcohol (which turns into fat calories eventually) to contend with.

Make it one night of heavy binge cocktail drinking and it will probably be like sitting down with a bag of fresh doughnuts and eating them all. Can you recover? Yes! Will you suffer for your indiscretion? maybe. It just depends on how carb sensitive you are. I say go for it but prepare for it in advance by starting to limit carbs the day before if you plan to drink sweet cocktails.

For more info:

http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol-info/AlcoholCaloriesWeight/AlcoholCaloriesWeight.html
http://www.confex.com/ift/98annual/accepted/75-2.htm
http://www.wineinstitute.org/res_ed/newsflash/weight_cordain.htm

 

[ashe]

i agree with the rest of the girls....have a blast! afterall......don't you deserve it!!!!

 

[Audacious1]

You know what...i do deserve it! Thanks

But here is another question. Sundays are usually my days off from any type of training. If i were to have my "cheat day" on saturday, should i still take off on sunday, or should i still work out on sunday and maybe take monday off or something. I usually do 30 minutes of low intensity cardio first thing in the morning monday through saturday and weight train right after my cardio for 30-45 minutes...(i want to do the weights in evening, but my schedule won't allow it at this time.) I don't know if i should just rest on sunday b/c after 6 days my body needs a rest or if 7 days in a row is ok, especially after my night out.

 

[BigEasy]

Go with how you feel...

Your body needs periodic rest, or you will suffer impaired gains or losses from 'over training.'

Just listen to your body and go with the flow.

 

[JLo]

You know what...i do deserve it! Thanks

But here is another question. Sundays are usually my days off from any type of training. If i were to have my "cheat day" on saturday, should i still take off on sunday, or should i still work out on sunday and maybe take monday off or something. I usually do 30 minutes of low intensity cardio first thing in the morning monday through saturday and weight train right after my cardio for 30-45 minutes...(i want to do the weights in evening, but my schedule won't allow it at this time.) I don't know if i should just rest on sunday b/c after 6 days my body needs a rest or if 7 days in a row is ok, especially after my night out.

I, personally, would workout on Sunday if I cheated on Saturday.... I usually love to workout on the weekends anyway because it's usually not crowded. But, I think that you would feel better about yourself after a good cardio workout the next day. Even if you don't lift weights....just go to do cardio for a bit. I think it'd make you feel good.

 

[Debu]

Happy Birthday!