Determind

I am a large woman and i think this is due to drinking alcohol.
I eat reasonably well as i enjoy cooking but i have gained a large amount of weight.

Does people think it is possible to lose weight with just quitting drinking?
Please tell me your stories.

SamanthaIam

Yes, it sure seems like just eliminating all those empty calories should help weight loss. For me, when I drink I also eat a lot of salty/fatty snacks like chips, so when not drinking it is a lot easier to avoid those things.

But I was still surprised last time I went through this that it took a couple of weeks for the scale to move at all when I quit. I did lose the Puffy Drinky face right away though, so I looked better quickly.

At times, I've also overindulged in food with the excuse that I'm not drinking -- sort of like, hey, I can eat whatever I want as long as I don't drink! That's been counterproductive in the weight department.

So when I've been sensible about everything -- not drinking and eating like a normal person, plus taking a long walk every day -- it's worked great. Seems like it took my body a while to sort of adjust to the new program and to function in a more normal way.

I'm starting again now. Let me know how it goes for you.

sugarbear1

Welcome to SR!

Glad you are here!

Sudz No More

This I can definitely agree on. I lost 20 lbs when I first quit drinking. As most know here, I have had some slips and one of the motivating things to stop again was weight gain.

YVRguy

For myself , you bet. I am neither a tall or large guy but once I stop drinking for a few weeks or more my body begins to rebalance and I drops a few pounds or more with no change in activity....okay I am not in bed all day wishing I was dead from withdrawal lol. YMMV but alcohol is all calories and no nutrition.

DONUT

Absolutely
The calorie intake from alcohol can be staggering
I may be a bit extreme as i lost 30 kg (?4 stone+) in a few months- most of my calories were from alcohol and when i stopped drinking by body could not cope with solids (still on liquid food) and the weight fell off quickly (too quickly)
Regardless of the individual nuances you are likely to be drinking more calories than you realise so it stands to reason that removing this (and not filling the gap with comfort food - which i assume some people do) the weight will come off...and as an added bonus the alcohol will be out of your life
Good luck
DD

Jeff63

Hi!

I started a diet that is well known and went from 242 pounds (I am a guy by the way) down to 210. I was stuck there for a month. So I abstained totally from alcohol (last June) and went from 210 down to 180 - 183. I have been in that range for a while now.

So I would say "yes"!

jimihendrix

I tried dieting when I was drinking and was able to lose a little bit of weight, but not much and couldn't keep it off.

I lost 30 lbs when I quit. 230 -> 200. I'm not dieting, and the weight stays off.

I think its a combo of
a. no empty calories from booze
b. liver working properly

CarolD

Hmmm..
There may be info here....and support too

Fitness, Health, and Nutrition - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information

Fandy

it takes time for your body to adjust...but do the math, calories in vs. calories out.

Booze is empty sugar calories too. i was just about to jump into Type 2 diabetes, now it's normal.

figure (for simplicity sake) 10 glasses of wine a day at 100 calories a glass....1,000 empty booze calories a day or 7,000 a week, and 3500 calories in a pound.

Lookahead

So that means a weight gain of 2lb per week!

MysteriousGrl

Yep, its disgusting!

I was drinking 1-2 bottles of wine a night, more on weekends. When I stop drinking, within two weeks I notice a considerable amount of weight loss. Love it! :bounce:

zjw

i think i was consuming something rediculous like 12000 calories in beer mighta been more per week. I know it was awefully high I wanna say that broke down to a few lbs per week. I was well over 100lbs overweight at the time. You would have thought that additional intake woulda had me HUGE and i guess i was after i quit i lost 17lbs only and that was it. Crazy that i could consume that much less and not drop the weight.

babycat

When I stop drinking, the weight melts off for sure. I am actually lucky/ astonished that I stayed as small as I did, given all the extra calories I know I was consuming...

thisisme

Absolutely.
55 pounds so far.

You get sober and need to find something to do so you go for a walk. It all starts to fall into place.

Deschain

Same here. I was just over 200 before I quit. Dropped to 190 within a couple weeks without changing anything other than no drinking.

188 this morning, though now I am also making a concerted effort to eat better and get more exercise, which is no doubt contributing.

Jfanagle

I quit in October I am 6'2" and weighed 272lbs. By Feb. I weighed 215lbs. I did begin taking long walks both early morning before work and at about 6PM after work to take my mind off drinking. I have continued the regimen of walking with some light jogging and I am still at or about 215 to 220.

I quit when I was 46 years old and I turn 60 this year. I was a prodigious whiskey drinker when I quite; over a fifth of Canadian Club a day. Lots of calories that aren't there anymore.
Jon

MrsKing

I have lost a lot of weight since I stopped drinking 2 months ago. About a stone in total. I have, however, been dieting at the same time - so who knows whether it is a mixture of the two. If you tend to eat badly when you drink - as most people do - then not only will you be eliminating the calories from the alcohol but also from that food, too, so you are almost bound to lose weight.

FlyerFan

I did lost a little bit of weight when I quit drinking, but I am still trying to lose a little more. I tend to overeat when I get too stressed I have been working on this lately.

DoinThis

I'm eating loads more but still losing a bit of weight. Ice cream every night is better than a six pack of beer! It's quite amazing to me that I'm eating chocolate and ice cream, stuff I wouldnt eat when boozing, but still waking up with a flat tum! Weight loss would be better of course if I cut out the booze and didn't pick up the ice cream habit of course