LimaCharlie

I was the same way. Skip the late afternoon snack - that would just soak up the first drink and be wasteful.

LimaCharlie

Let's see here. 1.75L vodka = 60 oz * 60 cal/oz = approx 4000 calories.

Say you mixed them 2 to 1 cran to vodka, that's another 2000 calories if cran juice is about 17 cal/oz.

That's about 6000 extra weekend calories. That's 2-3 days worth of food for most people.

You should definitely be losing some lbs by now as far as I can tell.

humblestudent

I know!!!
But - I just have to stay the course. I think if I'm honest, I've increased my food and sugar intake as well. I'm going to start on a more balanced eating plan this week, and I think THEN the lbs. will just have to pretty much fall off.

getr345

My weight loss from quitting drinking has been dramatic. I was 275 lbs of bloated booze gut when I quit drinking and now I'm 225. That's 50 pounds gone, and I credit it primarily to not drinking and secondarily to eating better, but I always tell people, wanna lose weigh? Cut out alcohol and watch the inches melt away...as long as you don't start overeating as a result.

gritgirl

i'm a little over 7 months sober and at first i craved sugar in place of the booze. and frankly if eating a piece of cake or drinking a smoothie is what i had to do to keep sober, i did it. so i gained about 10 lbs. c'est la vie. now i'm backing down on the sugar and starting to exercise more. i ate and drank so was surprised that i gained weight after stopping drinking since so many calories i had were the booze. but i guess the fat in a piece of cake is more than the fat in a martini. :-)

i mentioned this problem to an old timer in a meeting and she said, "no one ever got arrested for driving while fat." good point.

and for the withdrawal, i'm not sure if mine was a physical and emotional withdrawal, but all i know is that the first 30 or so days were rough. i craved the booze, i felt horrible mentally. the only thing that kept me sober was going to a meeting every day, and being told by old timers that if i relapsed, i'd have to go back to the beginning of withdrawal and no way did i want to do that. it got better as time went on. and now it's okay which is a big improvement.

great thread. i'm so glad i found this group.

HercTRock

I lost 20 pounds after drinking. When I drank, not only did I drink thousands of empty calories, but I would eat big calorie-ridden extra meals to make my stomach feel better. I have heard of people gaining weight after qutting because they eat when they have cravings. Also, I had a friend who would so regularly throw up when drinking, that she could never keep a meal down. When she quit drinking she gained wight up to about healthy (maybe a little more) than started exercising and controlling her diet to maintain at a healthy level.

Food is the ultimate addictive substance. I'm using food right now! (gasp!)

ghostgirl

alcohol did not replace food for me, and i've lost five pounds so far in the three weeks that i've not been drinking. most of the time i eat relatively healthy, so i'm expecting to lose a few more pounds. my face was swollen from my drinking, though, and i can really tell the difference in these few weeks of not drinking. and i feel so much healthier.

Nettaja

Alcohol made me eat more. I've lost 9lbs in 2 or so weeks after cutting out drinking. I reckon about 3 lbs of that is "bloat", 3lbs is fat, and 3lbs is carb depletion as I've been trying to lose weight and working out.

Alcohol is empty calories which can only be used, they can not be stored. However they can be used while we store the calories from other food (or the other calories in the drink such as the malts and barley in beer).

Molendie

When I started drinking I weight 290lbs.

When I quit drinking four years later, I was down to 185lbs with most of that weight loss coming the first year.

Six years into sobriety and I'm back up to 280lbs.

Yes, this weight gain is horribly depressing but the only diet plan that ever worked for me was living off booze, cocaine, sugar packets, and walking 3 miles a day to get my fix. I was a homeless mess when I got sober. I can't use that plan anymore haha. I've been trying to lose this sober fat but it is really hard.

Most people I know gained at least a little weight when they got sober.

Sneezy

I'm 29 days sober now and have lost about 5 lbs. My eating was always fairly healthy, though I lost track of portion size when drunk! Anyway, I have definitely given in to some potato chip binges but if that what it takes right now, so be it. The best thing I've noticed is that I don't feel bloated anymore! My body is feeling more and more like its old self, even though I weigh 30 lbs more than I did 10 years ago.

Living sober feels indescribably good!

FakeyMcFakerson

I've lost 10-15 lbs because I am eating less and eating healthier. When I was drinking, it would be normal for me to eat a whole bag or two of doritos to "try and sober up." Yikes. Now I am eating salads and things from the health food store. Still not exercising, but some day...

spryte

I lost about 10 pounds in 2 months. The interesting thing is that I didn't even realize it until someone told me I had lost weight, which was at one month in. I was like, hm. Yeah, I am tightening the belt. Then I weighed myself and whuddya know - lost 5 pounds.

MeAndOnlyMe

If I remember this correctly, alcohol dehydrogenase is the enzyme responsible for breaking down ETOH and the human body gives preference to this reaction (as it's removing toxins from itself) over carb/protein/fat metabolic reactions. ETOH is metabolized as fuel over everything else which leads to other energy sources being converted and stored as fat.

Or maybe it's just carbs processed like this. Sigh...so long ago, so much forgotten.

Nettaja

Yeah that sounds something like it! I think other foods are still metabolised but at a slower rate, all I remember reading is that alcohol calories can't be stored as they cant be properly converted to anything the body can store.

I've now lost about 11lbs (5kg) in my ~23 days sober, and yet I'm probably better nourished than I have been for a year. I think my alcohol obsession has morphed into a healthy eating one.

SamanthaC

I'm two weeks sober and have lost four pounds so far. I hope to lose more, because that alone is great motivation. haha

flavinho

I'm 21 kilos above my weight, my new "passion" is lots of burgers and dominos. I'm a former alcoholic, but I've paid with a massive weight gain.

sobernfree

I ate quite a bit along with drinking so I wouldn't feel sick or throw-up. I guess with the extra calories from the pint of vodka two to three times a week and the carb loaded food. I got up to 173 at 5'10". Not an unhealthy weight but I had a very unhealthy habit. I have been sober for almost 5 months and replaced drinking with exercising 3-4 days a week and eating right. I am a very "habitual" person so I stick to good and bad things very easily. I am a bit worried though. I have lost 33 lbs in these almost 5 months. I am down to 140 and at 5'10" look fairly thin. I have went from a tight sized 12 jean to a comfortable size 6. My family asked me if I was dieting and I said of course not. I eat a healthy breakfast, salad and protein for lunch, and whatever I fix for dinner plus fruit or sometimes chocolate for snacks (usually two snacks a day). I had a pretty high metabolism all my life and was really thin in high-school. I am 37 now and I wouldn't think my metabolism would still be so high. I should be happy but my friend asked me the other day if I had an eating problem, ironically she has had problems with eating disorders her whole life. I told her I have no problem at all eating, why do you ask. I don't know, I am just so proud that I have quit drinking and started living healthy but maybe I have lost too much weight. My hubby says I look great but don't lose too much more. I can't stop it, I guess it's the missing calories from all that vodka.... What should I do????

NEJeeper

I was so stressed I could hardly eat or sleep for the first two weeks. I would force the bare minimum food in terms of nutrition down my throat, making sure to eat vitamins as well.

I dropped 15-18 pounds in 2 weeks. Now I am doing much better. My head is on right and I have been exercising and eating well. I go to a lot of meetings so I eat about 3-6 cookies a day now, and drink a ton of coffee. I am working out a lot now so I have been gaining a little weight in the past two weeks but I think it is more muscle than fat.

When I drank I never drank soda, I always had beer or liquor. Now I allow myself to indulge in a nice root beer or cola with dinner and I sure do enjoy them!

I definitely am eating more stuff than I used to and not gaining weight. I don't make a habit of poor eating, but when someone offers me a piece of cake or ice cream on occasion I will think "I used to drink 1,500 calories or more of alcohol a night, hell year I am eating this little piece of cake!" It is working out for me so far.

I also have been substituting meals by making my own smoothie concoctions I take to school with me. They are healthy, delicious, and cheap to make.

littlebluedog

When I quit drinking, I began excericising, eating properly, and the pounds seemed to melt off. I lost over 30 lbs and maintain a healthy lifestyle.