What effect did drinking have on your weight?
 

I've seen a lot of alcoholics that are very skinny due to lack of nutrition (I suppose). But then I see some who get big bellies (the so-called beer belly).

I used to be very thin, before I turned into a full-fledged alcoholic. Over the past 10 years I've put on 30-40 lbs and am now trying hard to lose it. Not easy!

I never stopped eating because of my drinking. I didn't always eat dinner because that was my drinking time. I didn't drink during the day so I ate plenty and then for dinner would have 8 or 10 or 12 beers and then eat something later in the evening as I was winding down.

What effect did drinking have on YOUR weight? And how has stopping drinking effected it?

***Disclaimer***
I'm having a brain cramp. Is it effect or affect? :rolleyes:

I was not over weight while I drank however I did almost kill myself trying to maintain a good body weight by working out everyday while wearing a layer of saran wrap plus two workout suits then I sat in a dry sauna so I could sweat some more. It was not good for my heart and I do have some problems now.

When I quit drinking I lost alot of weight and was close to being too skinny. I did continue working out using the same methods when I became sober. I do have somekind of disorder that when I look at myself in the mirror I think I am very large. I do weigh myself to make sure I am not getting too skinny.

I think my biggest problem was bloating. I ate OK except when I had to choose between drinking and eating. Drinking always won. I always looked puffy. When I'd stop drinking I'd loose a number of pounds in first few weeks. As much as 20 pounds. Of course it was all fluid. I'd wake up soaken wet from the sweat. And needed to get up many times to pee. The problem also was what ever I ate the vitamuns are destroyed by alcohol. Of course there aren't that many vitamins in bar food. Even after you stop drinking, many down play the importance of what you eat. Don W

I was very malnourished for about the last two years of my drinking. Got very skinny the last year, was down to about ninety pounds.

During rehab and the month or so after, I gained quite a bit of weight. Almost forty pounds!! I was craving sugar so bad and I went a little overboard.

Now I'm at my ideal body weight and just need to tone up a little. I didn't crash diet or anything, just cut back on the sweets and am starting to eat on a regular schedule.

When I was drinking, I ate as little as possible. In the mornings, I could not stomach anything, at lunch I would eat some crackers or egg salad and in the evening I would be drinking the second I was finished work. If I was not at work the next day, I would just start in drinking as soon as I had finished throwing up from the night before. Then about every four or five days, I would pig out on something and start the cycle over again. Very sick.

I gained a lot of weight drinking. I still have most of it because I have a tendancy to binge eat more now. I know not a good thing, but I can only fight so many battles at once!!

I've been sober for a little more than 3 months now and have lost only a few lbs. I started off losing 10 right away but then I was craving sugar soooo badly I put it all back on. Now that I think I've got my sugar cravings mostly under control I've lost a few lbs again.

The thing I see the most when I look in the mirror is that my face isn't splotchy or bloated anymore. I've always had dark circles under my eyes but they aren't as dark anymore.

Slowly...ever so slowly...I see my health coming back. I know undoing the damage is going to take a long time but I'm seeing the light.

Now, to lose those 30 lbs!!!!!!

I carried some extra weight from drinking. I'm suprised I didn't gain much more than I did due to the huge amount of empty calories I consumed. Most of my problem was bloat from the alcohol inflaming my digestive system. I would go days without eating. I would only drink. When I did eat, I would eat a large meal to try to catch up. Mainly it was to try and relieve the pain in my stomach.

I lost my muscle tone. I just posted about this on another thread. I was suprised how quickly I lost any muscle due to excessive drinking. I'd look in the mirror and was horrified by that body that stood before me. When did that happen? Maybe some time inbetween the first bottle and the 2000th bottle of wine. I don't know?

After I quit drinking I was determined to get back into shape and get firmed and toned. I have continued an excercise routine for about two years now. I lost about 15 pounds and feel great. I'm so glad to be able to leave my drinking behind me. It was a horrible existance.

Lively, There are many different thoughts on this and other subjects like smoking etc. This is just my thinking. I feel it is important to not drink number 1. Just try and eat some healthy stuff also. Don't even think about 30 lbs. That is setting yourself up. I decide my fist 6 months or so that I wanted to lose 35 lbs. When I didn't I started to get discouraged. Instead of drinking I ate more. I still go up and down but, not because of alcohol. Many people thought I lost weight because of the reduced bloating. I lost inches but not pounds if that's possible. Don W

Like Don, booze bloats me. Recently after only about a week of sobriety, a relative that I had not seen for a year said how much weight I lost. In actuality my weight was at an all time high (almost). I shed the bloat. Like Don said, inches not pounds.

After drinking, as I come down from the booze I tend to be famished and have few inhibitions so I tend to gorge late at night then crash on a full stomach. Not a good way to stay fit.

I used to drink vodka and diet tonic. I figure I would ingest about 1000 calories a night with zero carbs!

Finally, when drinking my body is too fried to work out. When the weight goes up harder still.

So:
water bloat + 1000 empty calories + late night food binge + no workouts = you know what

Ditto on a weight GAINER...it sucks trying to loose it but it does come off with hard work! I drank and ate just like you did.. ohh those midnight "snacks"!

"When the majority (in my case ALL) of our calorie intake was from alcohol our bodies did the best they could to try and keep us alive even though we were treating it like total crap.
But when we get sober and start to eat normally again, I believe our bodies get into the red alert mode and tell all systems to store those healthy calories because who knows when we might start starving ourselves again with alcoholic (empty) calories?
I put on a good 15 lbs after I sobered up. After over a year of mostly sobriety my body is finally starting to shed those extra pounds." -me

Although I did start to eat more sweets (like chocolate, which I rarely ever ate before) it never got out of hand.
__________________

My last five years were as close as possible to a pure liquid diet. I lost 100 pounds.

I had weighed 360...360 of solid muscle when I was in my mid 20's playing football for a living...360 lbs of fat as I aged. By the time I quit I was down to 267...without even trying.

I do NOT reccomend a half gallon of gin a day as a diet method.

BubbaBob

I think
 

ones age is a factor too.

My doctor saud your metabolism slows after 50.
Without any change in food intake one gains 2/3 lbs, yearly.

This has proved true in my case.

I am downright fat.
And all my vody mass has shifted diwn

Gravity sucks! :rolleyes:

Geeze, I think my metabolism started slowing at 30.

Don, at what point should I start thinking about those 30 lbs? I purposely avoided thinking about it too much for the first 3 months but really feel at this point I'm ready to start losing. I need to pull myself out of my newly sober depression and part of my depression is finally realizing how fat I've become. Another awful effect of being a lush.

What about smoking? I need to quit that too!! But really, I don't want to put too much on myself too soon and end up relapsing. What a tight rope we walk in early recovery.

Hey there... I definitely gained weight with the drinking. A night of drinking generally ended with bad food choices - and if not that night, then the mad eating the following morning to try to make myself feel better. And do you think I was eating carrots and celery? Of course not! Ugh. I'm still working on getting my shape back too... I have a long way to go, but I'll get there.