jdooner

I am on Day 19 and I lost roughly 8 lbs the first week but have plateaued. I don't understand, as I calculated I was consuming 5K calories of vodka per week or 1.75lbs of weight. Now that htis is gone, I am not eating any more, in fact, my diet is healthier. Yet, I am not loosing more weight - could it be my body adapted to the alcohol and what everyone says about them being empty calories is not true? Any thoughts?

joshlyman

You have to make sure that you're burning more calories than you're taking in. Do you exercise? if you have an iPhone I recommend the app MyFitness-it's a great way to keep track of calories, fats, carbs, etc. You put in your information, activity level, and it'll give you how many calories you should eat to lose 1lb a week.

TexasMichael

I lost 20 lbs the first two months.

Gained back 10 the next two from a new craving for cookies and ice cream.

Have a fool proof diet plan: Eat Less, Move More!

Things will balance out over time.

Congratulations on 19 days!

13unluckyforsom

I think at this early stage you need to cut yourself some slack - you can't do it all - even though its a nice thought lol

Your body is making some major adjustments and is probably not back to full working order yet in a lot of ways so just be patient and focus mainly in staying alcohol free - one thing at a time

Fandy

try myfitnesspal...it's free and very accurate...
you do need to give your body time to adjust and perhaps you are replacing the fat with some muscle?
ok, you were training on a rigorous schedule..check your bmi

jdooner

Thanks - I understand the burning more than I am eating. What I am saying is the math does not work. I have a diary of what I eat. I train 6 days a week for two to three hours per day. I just tore my meniscus so my activity has come down - perhaps I was not giving this enough credit and my resting metabolism has slowed as a result - could be the missing variable.

losteverything

Congratulations jdooner, on your sobriety decision, and beginning to take care of your physical well being also. The first few weeks getting sober, the body is ridding itself of toxins and the weight loss is mostly fluids... I have noticed during my workout times, i will plateau out for a frustratingly long time, then lose a bit more, then another plateau. If you consistantly do some type of physical exercise, eat more healthy, and as said, eat less and move more, you will keep shedding weight. Dont give up, be gentle with yourself, and congratulations.

foolsgold66

The way I'm thinking about it, my first 4 goals are sobriety, in fifth place start my other goals. You might want to back off on the intensity of this goal and give it some time.

LadyBlue0527

I hear you. I was so looking forward to the fact that I was going to be reducing calories by a phenomenal amount between the beer and my bouts of Drunken Gourmet.

It's almost 4 months and I think that it's starting to turn around.

I am finding that the ice cream definitely didn't help and shirking activity.

However, cut yourself some slack, your body is going through a healing process and you'll get there! You're doing something that's very important.

ImperfectlyMe

Hey J, ok I totally hear you. When I was drinking I ate pretty healthy but the majority of my calories were in the form of wine probably 1000 most days(yikes) when I quit drinking I thought I'd loose weight like the snap of a finger but to my suprise I gained 7 pounds the first week WTF? I like fandy used myfitnesspal love it.
Once my body fully healed and relearned to absorb nutrients it was desperately deficient in I lost the 7 I gained plus 10 put me at my high school weight YAY!!!!

Give your body time to heal, the weight will come off. Might want to measure your tummy I bet your loosing inches even if scale doesn't budge!

james872

If you're heavy and start losing weight by cutting out all those alcohol calories, you will start losing weight, as you noticed. Carrying a heavy body around requires more calories than a lighter one. So at one point, if you don't change anything else, you will plateau. That's because your body is lighter and it requires less calories for you daily routine.

The solution lies in getting more exercise. You can start with walking. Going to a gym. Best thing probably would be something you think is fun. Find something active and fun and do it often.

Keep a healthy diet. Don't starve yourself. If you do that, your body will burn fat as well as muscle. Not good. Eat healthy in the right amounts and add exercise.

Hope this helps.

J.

alphaomega

Love it.

elderine

Hi J. Congratulations on 19 days and 8 lbs! I'm no expert but have done a lot of dieting (and drinking) in my life. In my personal experience, drinking hard alcohol didn't lead to weight gain as rapidly as beer or wine, I assume because it contains no sugars or carbs. This is old but perhaps still valid - suggests that alcoholics do in fact metabolize booze in a way that doesn't result in rapid weight gain: Why the Body May Waste the Calories From Alcohol - NYTimes.com

Depending on how much you weighed initially, losing 8 lbs in a week is extremely rapid weight loss. I find that when I lose a lot of weight one week while dieting, I'll gain the next week even if I eat exactly the same thing. There's a lot of room for noise, and I think the calorie numbers don't always show up on the scale in the short term. But I'm sure if you keep up your healthy ways eventually the weight will come off!

Mentium

I wouldn't worry too much. It is a secondary consideration after all I would think.

I have lost about 9 pounds in three weeks, however I just bought a large (very) bar of chocolate at the supermarket and to demolished the lot before I got home!

Feeling a tiny bit sick at the moment and don't expect to lose weight today..

Bebetter

I lost nothing since quitting drinking. I estimate I was drinking probably 800-1000 calories of beer and wine a day, and I hover within about 115 lbs as is. Maybe I'm eating more. I'm exercising more than ever and nothing. Who knows... I try not to focus too much on it. My body is so much healthier inside, so I try to focus on that. Imagine how happy my liver and esophagus are!

LillianGish

Elderine, I read that NY Times article and that was fascinating. Thank you!

I've been walking my dogs....good exercise for them and me. Clears the mind too!

Eleni58

Also, if you are working out, you are building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat. I would go more by pants size than pounds lost. I lost 5 lbs initially, then plateaued and then changed my diet drastically and lost 10 more lbs. I am at 52 days sober, so it does take awhile to shed the pounds..but I mostly notice that my pants are falling down and I need a belt now.

jdooner

Thanks all.

I was a professional athlete 15yrs ago 6'1" and weighed 187lbs 4% body fat

I am currently 245lbs 24% body fat (was 253lbs a month ago 26% BF)

My training routine consists of swimming 800m (200m warm up, with 4x100M 2min splits with a 200M cool down) 3 days a week with my swim coach, tennis with my tennis coach 5 days a week, hill runs 3 days a week and I am starting to work in weights too.

I tore my meniscus in my right knee last week during a tennis match. Yeah, perhaps too much...my feeling is my smoking has reduced my circulation combined with extra lbs and shocking my body from the recent changes led to the weakest link breaking - my knee.

I have MRI when I return and my ortho has scheduled a likely scope - bummed but accepting - feel like this is a test.

I appreciate the advice, concerns and recommendations. Mentally, I believe the smoking is affecting my ability to get to the next level in terms of health, so cigs are done, will never have another. This is sort of how I am am when I truly decide to move on.

I leave for a long trip and have ensured all my hotels have gyms and pools. I plan to swim and really focus on my diet during the next two weeks. Swimming seems okay on my knee.

In terms of my sobriety I find that the longer I go between AA meetings the more the voices inside my head convince me I am not an alcoholic as my cravings are becoming less and less and this is my first go at sobriety and its going fairly well. Then I meet with my sponsor and go to meetings and they ground me. I relate and tell some of my stories and cannot help but accept the fact I am an alcoholic and addict and this path is the only right one for me.

I have begun to work on my steps and have accepted step 1 and now focused on achieving #2.

I come on SR to post, as I like telling others what I am doing as it serves as self affirmation and I feel like I have made some friends on this forum. I do appreciate all the advice and will be checking in from overseas and around the World. I am pretty psyched to stay strong through some events on the road and hit my 1 month milestone, after which I plan to stop focusing days and check off the weeks/months.

Thanks,

JD

sugarbear1

step 2 came to life after step 7 for me....

Keep moving forward!!!!!!!!!!!

enembe

I'm on day eight and pretty sure I haven't lost a single pound even though I'm eating healthy and not using any of the alcohol calorie for anything... Pretty bummed. I was drinking upwards of 1200+ calories five times a week, more when I drank beer.