My worst enemy
I am now paying the price, in waistline and wallet. The wallet I can deal with – good beer is one of those luxuries I afford myself, and I get a lot of brewing inspiration and education by drinking a wide variety of brews. Plus, it gives me something to write about!
However, the waistline is a different story. Beer has a lot of calories. And it usually brings along some tasty friends like nachos, hot wings, pizza, and potato skins. It has gotten to the point where I’ve had to start using a new hole in my belt, and that is a warning sign I cannot ignore. So, no more weekday beers, and I am making some major changes to my diet and exercise routines. It’s really not so bad not having my customary just-got-home-from-work beer – I missed it for a few days, but dropping this extra weight is well worth the sacrifice.
I’m sure there are readers out there who have struggled with the beer & weight gain issue. Or, maybe you have to regulate your drinking for other medical or dietary reasons…any stories or advice to pass on? I’ve already been told to switch to lite beer, but honestly, I’d rather have no beer at all than watery beer.
I’ll let you know how it goes… For now, I’m just looking forward to the weekend, when I have some brewing and a little beer experiment planned for the blog.
Want to drink beer and loose weight? Moderation and knowing the nutritional values of your favorite beers are the keys to weight loss success.
“Does My BUTT Look BIG In This BEER? Nutritional Values of 2,000 Worldwide Beers” provides the calories, carbohydrates, alcohol by volume and Weight Watchers POINTS.
You provide the determination and the moderation.
With just a little extra exercise added in, you don’t have to change your drinking habits (though you might want to watch the eating habits that usually go along with drinking). I tend to drink 1-2 beers a day during the week and even most weekends with the occasional day of more. Exercise helps maintain the waistline (and has actually shrunk mine).
I spent the last year on a diet that resulted in my loosing 55 lbs (228-173). My take was that I gave up pretty much all food that was bad for me (cheese, mayo, pizza, hot dogs, chips, fries and pretty much everything else) but kept 100% of my beer consumption. I quickly learned that I enjoy a good beer rather than most of the foods I was drinking. Dial it in just like when brewing. Give things up, start exercising more, drink the beer you want and look for results. Not loosing enough then increase exercise or give more food up until your hit your sweet spot.
I’ve also had problems maintaining my weight over the years. I’ve considered the effects of alcohol on my overal diet. The last 18 months have been good to me. I’ve maintained a weight 15 to 20 lbs lighter than before. My secret? Can’t say for sure. Here’s what I do know.
I keep an rough eye on the amount and type of food in my diet and know that with beer comes a habit of salty, fatty, high calorie food. So I try to minimize that. The problem is that with the first beer comes some snacking and then the second starts to lower inhibitions so the stage is set for binging.
So, I’ve decided to eat more good food like oatmeal, whole grain, fresh fruit & vegies and less bad food like pizza, cheese steaks, rubens etc. I also have on average a beer a day (homebrew/craft beer) and watch out for the binging on beer and the binging on food.
Your post is timely. Mr Papazian is blogging about stuff like this too :-)
http://www.examiner.com/x-241-Beer-Examiner~y2009m1d13-Drink-beer-to-your-health–part-1–Why-beer-and-hard-liquor-may-be-just-a-beneficial-as-wine?cid=exrss-Beer-Examiner
I’ve always had great success with Weight Watchers, which allows you to account for beer as food using the same points system, and it accounts for the occasional splurge. The key to any true lifestyle change is moderation, so having your daily post-work brew isn’t the issue, it’s the post-post-work brew (and those that follow) that can cause weight problems. And yes, this is coming from a yo-yo dieter who busts his hump half the year, then coasts through football season and the holidays, which I’ve done for the previous 4 years. But this year’s gonna be different! (sure it is)
Cheers and good luck!