Alcohol. No judgement please

#1

Greetings. I have been following Keto for almost 8 weeks. I love how I feel but I have not lost any weight. I drink 4-5 drinks per day. I try to keep my carbs at 25. I recently switched to vodka and a no carb no sugar fizzy drink. My weight is around 210. I am wondering if switching out the wine for this new drink will help?

(Mark) #2

I know the Vodka that I typically drank was made from potatoes. Do you know what your Vodka is made from?

(Natasha) #3

Im sure someone who knows more will jump in with some good advice but in the meantime, my first thought is that (I think) the main issue with alcohol is that the liver prioritises metabolising it, so while that is happening, not much else is.

#4

Hi. It says distilled from grain.

(Carl Keller) #5

If your goal is lowering carbs, switching to vodka will help but if your goal is to lose weight, any alcohol will interefere with the process. Our liver views alcohol as a toxin and will prioritizing removing it from our body.

(less is more, more or less) #6

We strive to keep KF free of moral judgment, please flag any posts you feel cross that line.

As @Natasha writes, I’ve heard others, here, say similar, that alcohol may have this effect. When I started, I might have had a shot or two a day, (usually bourbon) but, years in, I’ve dramatically reduced my alcohol consumption, as, well, I find myself simply wanting to drink less. (I drink less and spend more money on the good stuff :wink: )

Anyhow, maybe this article from Diet Doctor will be helpful.

Interesting pull quote:

If [my patients] experience any weight stall, I recommend they stop the alcohol completely.
– Dr. Sarah Hallberg

(John) #7

For me I went to 5 days a week instead of 7. Then to 3. At witch time I figured out if I fast all day and just have one or two shots on an empty stomach I’m set up pretty well the rest of the evening. My general understanding is your body will prioritize burning the calories from the alcohol before it burns any more fat. So if you drink at night instead of burning fat while you sleep you will keep slowly burning the alcohol until it’s gone. Five ounces of wine has the same amount of alcohol as 1.5 ounces of vodka. But the wine adds additional carbs. So the net difference means vodka will likely metabolize faster. One shot of vodka contains 97 calories. So you’re adding up to 500 calories a day to your diet with no nutritional value. You will need to add those to your food log to see how it works with your macros.

(Marianne) #8

I’ve been doing keto for four months. I don’t drink now unless I go out with friends, usually 1-2x/mo. Then, I’ll have brut champagne, which I love, otherwise chard. I find I will crave champagne now when I am at home or if it’s a weekend and I try to tell myself that I deserve it. I have such a compulsive personality that I have to be careful not to have it on a regular basis. I’m no tea-totaler, but I don’t want to stall my progress or lose a day when I’ve been doing so well.

(Susan) #9

One of my best friends wants to lose 20 pounds and keeps asking me about Keto but I told her the things she would have to forfeit for success, and one of them is the alcohol, so she doesn’t want to do that yet.

I haven’t had any alcohol since April ( started Keto in February), but more strict strict on the Monday following Mother’s Day. I am going to still; on occassion, but when I do I plan to have probably 3 ounces of Vodka with water or a diet pop (I haven’t had any diet pop since I went strict on my Keto, so not sure I wanted to have any, which is why I might just have it in water). The evening I think I will do this is on our concert nights, or my bday, or New Year’s Eve, that sort of thing, so it is more of a treat =).

I think maybe if you could experiment and just reduce to one or two ounces a day at first to see if any difference, if not having it at all will be too hard =).

(Stephanie ) #10

I’ve been keto since March 2018 and have lost close to 80 lbs. One thing I never gave up was my few times a week alcohol drinks. Since the start I’ve enjoyed low carb beer, vodka and tequila. I have personally never had any issues, however everyone is different of course. You will probably have to experiment a bit and see what works for you. Good luck :blush:

(Full Metal KETO AF) #11

Old school vodka was sometimes made with potatoes, now the mostly use wheat. All alcohols are fermented sugars. Doesn’t matter what it’s made of, it’s distilled so there aren’t any carbs or sugar in it. Any unsweetened unflavored distilled liquor is carb free. All of them. Whiskeys, rums, gin, tequilas vodka etc.

@Montymoon, @CarlKeller is correct. The liver will prioritize processing alcohol while fats and carbs you consume during this process will mostly end up stored as fat while your body uses the easier processed calories in alcohol. Those are empty of nutrients as well. Not being judgmental, just giving you the facts. That’s why the vast majority of us only use alcohol occasionally, many of us not at all :cowboy_hat_face:

(Tamela Robinette) #12

I drank wine and occasionally vodka with diet soda when I was on my weightloss journey (I’m at maintenance now.) I lost weight on the days I didn’t drink but would stall if I drank more than one day in a row. As others have stated you do start to want it less and less. I used to be a daily drinker, mostly beer. Beer makes me feel awful now. I have found if I fast 18 hours or so and then have a glass or two of wine with my meal it’s quite nice. I used to drink a bottle or two lol. Alcohol affects you differently once you are fat adapted. Can be quite shocking when you get a buzz off of one glass of wine. I look at as an economic plus haha. Anyway, the general rule I have heard is that you are not burning fat for 12 hours after your last sip of alcohol. Maybe you could switch to drinking every other day? Or minimal amounts every other day to see if the scale moves. I will never give up alcohol all together but I realized to reach my goal I had to cut back. Let us know how you fare. This is a fairly common topic in keto circles.

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #13

Doing keto without alcohol is surely better, but don’t let perfect get in the way of good. I’ve lost over 40 lb drinking most, but not every, nights. Pre keto it was mostly wine, now I prefer gin with soda water and lemon. I’m experimenting now with reducing the alcohol to get 5 or 10 more lbs off. But the sugar is, in my opinion, more dangerous than the alcohol unless there are other issues. And since alcohol tolerance lowers on keto, it might be a good way to lower intake anyway.

(Susan) #14

@Ruina

My friend is verrrry social, she goes out a lot with different friend groups and I think from talking to her, she didn’t want to have to give up having all the “munchie” snacks at the sports bars, etc along with having the drinks. She actually said to me, “Keto looks very interesting but I don’t think I could stick to it, I would be going off it constantly, so I guess I am not ready yet”. We discussed Keto and she was really interested (in my opinion she is not overweight at all it would be more to lose maybe 20 pounds and just feel healthier if she does do it). She knows the info, and I think she has to decide for herself if she wants to take the plunge. While she was here, she asked me if I could email her some recipes and PDF files I have on my comp about Keto, so she has those. She usually comes over for a coffee and we chat away about everything, and she knows I am very willing to talk about Keto =) so I just left it at that for now.

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #15

Sounds like she is self aware. That’s good. Hopefully she will be ready later.

Not a bad motivation! The earlier you take care of your body the better!

Wise. And she knows where to go when she is ready.

(Jay Patten) #16

I am not going to lie to you, here.

An occasional vodka on the rocks (or even a few!) is fine, but drinking pauses ketosis while your liver processes it out of your blood. So if you want the full benefits of keto weight loss, you will need to cut back on drinking.

No judgment here… I like my libations too. But I didn’t really get awesome results until I cut way back.

(Scott) #17

I drink Scotch, wine and beer most days and have managed to lose weight. Would it be faster without alcohol, no doubt. I am contemplating giving up scotch during the week to see what happens. The problem is that it sounds like such a good idea at lunch time however at cocktail hour it requires more willpower than I can muster.

(mole person) #18

Haha…this is me exactly except with my creamed coffee.

(Jill Carpenter aka space coast spinster) #19

I enjoy a regular evening cocktail with my neighbors, but did cut it completely for the first 2 weeks just to get in the groove.

I do get loopy much quicker now. :rofl:

(Carolyn De Franco) #20

Agree 100% with you! I just started keto today…and although I am switching from Moscato to Pinot, I am going to drink tonight…I’ll see how things go over the next 7 days.