Weight loss after quit drinking!?...

[wanttobesober]

Hi to All,

I think it is a good topic and I would like to know if you have lost weight after quit drinking.
I think most of us has/had weight issues since the huge amount of extra calories
that we were/are taking in when drinking.
Everybody thinks that since "I am going to consume much less calories (possible thousands per day) , I will lose a lot of weight". Not so fast!........
It did not happen to me and it did not happen to a lot of people either, as I was reading it
in some posts.
I have quit drinking 2 1/2 months ago on March 6.
At my workplace our company had a "Biggest Loser" contest from January and I was trying to loose weight as hard as I could.
Yet 4 weeks after I had quit drinking, my weight was only 5 lb less than on March 6.
First I thought that Antabuse is messing up my metabolism, but I did not find any evidence on the internet if that was the case.
After all now I weight about 24 lb less than in March, but I lost most of that weight
through Fasting on water and it was not easy to lose the weight at all.

So please share your story if your lost / gained weight (eating more chocolate) after
became AF free.

Cheers,

Brian

[Bruunhilde]

Weight loss after quit drinking!?...

Hi Want,

I think most people don't lose weight unless they're already fairly active physically. You definitely won't lose if you replace the sugar in alcohol with carbs/sugars of other types. As you know.

I was thinking about this because I'm actually getting fatter again, fatter than a year ago and then I was drinking martinis every night. Right now I go on and off AL so I would think that in spite of the occasional Ben and Jerry's, I should be losing a few pounds. Not happening.

I'm convinced its a metabolism thing. The AL screwed up our metabolisms. I went to an endo and they want to measure my cortisol among other things.

I only have two months til my bday ... need to crush this! I eliminated dairy, grains, sugars, etc and didn't lose weight until I did HCG and even then it was slower than everyone I know. But after the HCG, I didn't keep active and it came back on because I drank again.

How come some people can just eliminate the glass of wine or glass of milk daily and lose ten pounds in a couple months and we're sooooo far from being able to do that? Metabolism all F'd up.

[COSGringo]

Weight loss after quit drinking!?...

Well I am gaining weight. Granted I have not been AF long but my sugar craving is through the roof as is my appetite. Less empty calories going in me I guess.

[wanttobesober]

Weight loss after quit drinking!?...

Hi Cos,

COSGringo;1318169 wrote: Well I am gaining weight. Granted I have not been AF long but my sugar craving is through the roof as is my appetite. Less empty calories going in me I guess.

I hear you!
Sugar is the mother of all evil, as you know.
There is a book out there called: Sugar Nation.
It is about the huge sugar consumption of our Nation.
I have not read it yet, but I've heard that it is good.

Sugar is responsible for everything:

If you can keep your blood sugar level below 100, you are losing weight.
If it stays above 120-140 most of the time you are gaining weight.

[ATLThrash]

Weight loss after quit drinking!?...

I think the alcohol definitely has an effect on the metabolism that lasts for some time. I quit quite a while ago and expected the weight to fly off. Nope! One issue is that I am now a woman over 40 so that is an issue. But it has taken months to get any weight loss going. I think that the body has to have some time to repair that metabolism without booze-- though of course I have no study to support that! I am starting some weight training to help hopefully jog it more

[daisy45]

Weight loss after quit drinking!?...

Hi all; well, last time(a year and a half ago) I went AF for almost 12 weeks, I dropped a stone(14lbs) without really trying; this was definitely a result of not drinking 2 bottles of wine a night along with the drinking nibbles. It didn't start to come off until at least a month AF.
I am now almost 6 weeks AF and happy to say the same thing is happening again. I have lost 5lbs.
Having said that, I am very active, going to the gym and swimming about 3 times weekly, but I done that even when drinking and didn't lose weight easily. There ye' go; that's my tuppence worth! Good luck all.

[spacebebe01]

Weight loss after quit drinking!?...

I just want to tell you what happened to me, when I was drinking I didnt eat so living on vodka I kept my weight down for years. When I started trying to stop drinking I would crave food, my body was needing food so it could repair itself and I would put weight on. A big trigger for my drinking again after getting AF time over those years was trying to loose weight. As soon as I tell myself I cant have something I start wanting and craving it. So I would feel hungry and deprived all the time and often end up drinking.

Now I am probably at my heaviest and would love to loose weight, but there is no way Im going to start trying to, I have far more important things to worry about than fitting into a smaller size jeans. I do try to eat healthier tho.

[COSGringo]

Weight loss after quit drinking!?...

Be right back, I have to go grab myself some gummy bears.

[wanttobesober]

Weight loss after quit drinking!?...

Hi Cos,

COSGringo;1318233 wrote: Be right back, I have to go grab myself some gummy bears.

LMAO!

That was funny!

[COSGringo]

Weight loss after quit drinking!?...

Sadly, I really did.

[Heavy Fuel]

Weight loss after quit drinking!?...

I am losing weight. Now that I am not taking naltrexone every day, I find myself craving sugar. I keep a package of Oreo Double Stuffs around and eat 3-4 cookies per night. It seems to hit the spot.

My drink of choice is very lightly sweetened tea. I add about 1/3 of a cup of sugar to a gallon of tea. I am going to try and go straight unsweetened tea. I feel better and need to start going to the gym more often.

In the last seven weeks, I have lost a belt hole. I can cinch my belt one more, but it isn't comfortable yet. I don't know how many pounds that is, but I know I am losing some weight!

[Running4life]

Weight loss after quit drinking!?...

Hi:
I have been AF minus a couple of short slips for about 7 months. I have been craving carbs and sugar more and my appetite is far too good.
I have not really lost much weight but every year around this time I would work to loose any weight gained over the past year. (usually about 5 lbs or so) I am happy to say that I have not gained since quitting. I am quite active though.
If you want to loose weight then it is best to cut out something that you regularly eat that you can afford to quit like pop or chocolate and then up your activity level.
Lifting weights will help with metabolism.
I find that since quitting I have more energy for exercise. Sooner or later it should pay off.
Take care,
R4L

[Dave_]

Weight loss after quit drinking!?...

spacebebe01;1318220 wrote: I just want to tell you what happened to me, when I was drinking I didnt eat so living on vodka I kept my weight down for years.

This is the same for me. When I am drinking, I rarely eat so I drop heaps of weight and the the constant vomiting etc also helps keep any excess weight off. Apparently you can't just live on booze. Who would have thought it?

Anyway I have put some on but I just keep my sugar consumption in check and it doesn't seem that bad.

[Greg]

Weight loss after quit drinking!?...

I lost a lot of weight during a period of 19 months abstinence back in 2010-2011. People said I was visibly a lot thinner, in particular around the stomach area, and that I looked heaps better. They said I just looked fat and bloated while drinking. Unfortunately I had a few relapses, although sober again now. During those relapses, which lasted 1-6 weeks, I put on weight again, enough to regain the beer belly and start looking bloated again. I eat a lot more when sober than when drinking, but even that didn't stop me losing all that weight.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Weight loss after quit drinking!?...

Greg;1318330 wrote: I lost a lot of weight during a period of 19 months abstinence back in 2010-2011. People said I was visibly a lot thinner, in particular around the stomach area, and that I looked heaps better. They said I just looked fat and bloated while drinking. Unfortunately I had a few relapses, although sober again now. During those relapses, which lasted 1-6 weeks, I put on weight again, enough to regain the beer belly and start looking bloated again. I eat a lot more when sober than when drinking, but even that didn't stop me losing all that weight.

That was my experience too. It's been ~14 months for me. (sobriety, not abstinence)
I ate (and still eat) too much refined sugar. I try to get my sugar needs from fruit. (I'm not scared of sugars, I'm just scared of the health complications related to refined sugars.) I feel like I need sugar, particularly when I was newly sober, because it was related to the lack of alcohol. Now I think it's a perpetual cycle.
Eat it, crave it, so eat it some more.) The only way I can break it is to eat enough from other sources. (Abstinence from all sugars makes me very anxious/miserable. Abstinence from refined sugars makes me...WOW! productive and energetic and really, it's unreal.
(I would not have believed this to be true if I hadn't experienced it. I generally don't believe in restrictive/exclusive anything diet related. I was very wrong when it comes to refined sugars! Who knew? Okay, a lot of you MWOers knew. But I didn't believe it until I tried it. Thanks.)

EDIT: Sadly, MnMs are almost as addictive for me now as alcohol once was. And the strategies I employed for booze are no more effective with MnMs.
Damn the 24 hour 7-11 two blocks from my house!!!