Hiya Patsykona
My problem is wine…… Every night for the past 3 years has certainly taken its toll, my first day is today and decided to fast. I’ve has 3 pints of water already and a cup of tea. I’m trying to get my head around it all but the women at work swear by it and with great results so I guess perseverance is the key!
I need to lose at least 2 stone so the wine will have to go ( only on fast days at first)
Fingers crossed and good luck 🙂
Liz

Ha-ha, glad to have drinking buddies here I’ve just joined after being a yo-yo dieter for years, tried them all and had some success. I have always been a drinker and know I should cut down for the benefit of my health & my weight, so I’m hoping starting with no alcohol on 2 fast days will help break the habit & get off the 1 stone I have put on over the last year or two.
Cheers, here’s to success for us all!

Hi – was interesting to read about 5:2 and alcohol. I have been on the diet for about 7 weeks and have lost weight (not measured but need to tighten my belt by a notch or two!) and have no problem not drinking or sticking to calorie limit during fast days. However, I did notice that I started to drink more on non fast days! Always enjoyed a drink but I do but keep active and play football 2 – 3 times a week – not bad for a 60 year old!

Must admit that after following the diet I do feel fitter and more alert. All my cholesterol and blood pressure reading have been excellent since starting fasting (they weren’t bad before but are better now). Cholesterol reading was due as part of regular check up and I was advised to check blood pressure regularly as I am on tablets.

So, I am going to enjoy a drink if I want one but perhaps remember that it’s easy to overcompensate. Cheers everyone 🙂

Hi Ainsley.

It doesn’t sound like you need to diet especially since you’re so active but hearing about your cholesterol and blood pressure readings coming down certainly makes the 5:2 worthwhile, not to mention the extra alertness you feel.
Good stuff, keep it up!
I’ve never ever had my cholestoral level read. Think I might go to the docs and have it done at some point.

Hi patriciasmith.

“Drinking any kinda alcohol is bad for your health” is a totally incorrect statement Patricia. However I think we can all agree that drinking “far too much” alcohol is definitely bad your your health (as well as the people around you) and drinking “too much” alcohol “can” be bad for your health in the long term. I say “can” because different people have different inherited genes, different tolerances and different reactions, and who sets the bar (no pun intended) as to what is “too much” since the so-called experts change their mind so often on health matters?
Personally speaking I’ve been a regular drinker since I was 16 years old and at the age of 51 now I have no health issues apart from wanting to lose weight which has crept up on me this last decade, a natural occurrence when ones metabolism slows down as we get older. I go out cycling when the Northern English weather allows and have a physical job (electrical engineer/electrician). In recent times it has even been reported that beer is “good” for you and a decade or so back it was said a glass of wine per day was good for the heart. No alcohol is a no-go for me. I take it you don’t drink?

So, how are we all doing? Have decided to try 6:1 maintenance but will probably try and have a complete fast – just water. Think that this will be the most effective way of maintaining my weight/benefits of fasting. Cheers

Thank you for that honest sharing all of you 🙂 guess this is a general tabu.
I have had the 5:2 book on my table for a few weeks and only started Reading today which led me to this site.
I definately know that my/an intake of alcohol (wine) increases my weight. And i Can manage to be indifferent with the wine some days but it just tastes(and feels) so good. So i dont drink wine everyday and “only” Half a bottle each time or less! 🙂 almost feels like this is an AA confession LOL.
So Nice to hear your input – Thank you so much – very inspirational.

Today Will be my first Day and i am hungry now but i Can skip lunch and look fwd to steak, vegetables and ONE glass of wine tonight 🙂
Love and karma to you all

Hi all,
I started the 5;2 about 2 wks ago and only saw a weight drop this morning, 3lbs. So that is good. One of the reasons I chose this was to help enforce at least a couple of non-drinking days. My favorite is bourbon.
This week I’m gonna try for no drinking Mon-Thur. I love the way my head and mouth feel after a no drinking night, but so enjoy the taste and feeling of sipping some bourbon on the non-fast days. Quite the dilemma.
I have found that a bitters and soda is a great substitute when I’m feeling like I’d really like a drink. Bitters does have some alcohol in it, but you use so few drops that I just count the small amount of calories and it seems to do the trick for me.
It’s so nice to know I’m not alone in wanting to better my health and body and drink just a bit less. thanks to all of you.

Lol, drinking a lovely glass of red wine while reading all this- so glad to know I’m not the only lush out there 🙂 I’m fasting tomorrow so time will tell if my one glass remains just one!

I definitely agree that having a tasty drink around the time you’d usually start drinking makes a difference. I should have poured a cranberry juice instead of wine! My problem is as soon I as start drinking alcohol I start snacking .

Fast days are a great way to curb that. Good luck everyone, this regime is awesome because you are constantly starting and stopping dieting, which is how I was before anyway. My huge draw to this regime is the concept that your body starts to repair itself while fasting, including new brain cells, which is something constant alcohol abuse is known to destroy. I could really use a few new brain cells!

Hello Ainsley and everyone on here.
That sounds great Ainsley, the 6:1 sounds like it’s benefitting you. Might give that sugar book a look.
I’ve now reached the historic milestone weight loss of 10Kg after being on 5:2 for 4 months. My target was 10Kg but secretly I want to lose 15-18Kg overall so sticking to it until around Xmas and see where I am. Three alcohol free days seems to be the norm now,which isn’t really impacting on my social life as much as I thought it would. Keep up the good work!

PS – Kdaggie, hope the renewing of brain cells is going well hehehe (liked that post). The repair side of the 5:2 does sounds feasible.

Ainsley, I’ve not long returned from Budapest.
When you want some chilling out time checkout a bar called Élesztő, it has 20 ales on tap. Szimpla Kert another bar for good ales.

Hi garypatt – I think you need to count the calories in alcohol. When I fast I time myself from the last calories that I had i.e. – last glass of wine (or any other calories) at say 10pm on Sunday evening would mean I would fast until 10am on Tuesday. Agree that alcohol can lead to having more snacks/nibbles so this is another reason not to drink alcohol on fast days.

Good luck with the ‘bloodwork’ check. Worth persevering with 5:2

Cheers

Hi:

Many people do not know how many calories there are in alcohol and when they find out, and apply them to how much they are drinking, they immediately understand why they are gaining, or are not losing, weight.

Beer can have between 150 and 400 calories per pint. Wine, about 600 calories per bottle. Mixed drinks vary considerably depending on the mixer. The spirits themselves are around 80 calories per ounce, but many drinks have 1 1/2 or 2 shots and the mixer used can double the calorie count.

Nice to know I’m not alone .. wine is my friend .. though I have managed to go without two days this week,(week one of 5:2) I think that the act of fasting alone must be helping with abstinence. I also think that this section of the forum alone may be my motivation .. it’s looking like I I’ve lost a over a kilo and it’s day 5 .. time will tell … thank you and good luck to all.

Well done Yvonneca, early on the motivation is the big weight loss then it becomes a bit more difficult when things plateau out. I spent an entire month without losing more than a Kilo at one point (July) but stuck at it. I’ve now lost 10.6Kg overall since I started in early June and I’m so in the groove regarding my Mon and Thu fasting days that it’s almost second nature. I say almost as some fasting days are more of a struggle than others.
Good luck.

Hi There,
Ive been reading your posts, and I find you guys….human! Its great ;0) I’m new to this 5:2 and wonder, after joining the site, how useful will the book be for me? I don’t have it yet, so some opinion on it would be great. Like alot of you on here, I miss my Mothers little helper..a tipple at night! But I have decided to treat myself to a bottle, whiskey for me please…once a month. Lols Its been a week of cutting out and re arranging when i eat..ie not at night in bed. So now I would like to give this 5:2 a go, I started today with a fast, which was ok, but its good to know I dont have to feel really crap if I dont make my own grade on fast day..I can try again the next. This is a good site, as I dont feel like Im going alone with this, very supportive place! Debs ;0)

Hi Garypatt,
I like what you have to say about drinking alcohol (relaxed but sensible)…And well done you! At 73yrs old and working hard at your health the way you are doing…I’m only 37 and notice a big difference from being 27! Glad I’m trying to sort it now, not giving up ;0) As regards to alcohol, I feel..for me, it is beneficial to help me relax as long as I am sensible…although sometimes its o.k not to be sensible! But I always put my well being, my loved ones (who I am responsible for) and finances(a roof over our heads and bills paid) first…that’s a job in itself I reckon! and now..of course i want to lose a couple Lbs…so focus! focus!focus!….Thank you for your pearls of wisdom, You make a lot of sense and provided..me…with some comfort xxx

Hi There are many studies that show statistically, that moderate drinkers live longer than non drinkers, even those who drink a little too much do not seem to suffer too much in the longetivity stakes.

Hi – first fast day for me today and coping – just!

I LOVE wine……….and Bombay gin……….

My husband and I drink most evenings, I love to cook and I love a glass of wine while I am cooking and then while I’m eating and then while we are relaxing in the evening……but this has got out of hand – I’ve put on 21lbs over the last couple of years that we have fallen into this pattern of drinking/eating…….my husband about 28lbs – he keeps saying its liquid how can it be fattening! lol Anyway now time for a change we are going to try and cut out alcohol on school nights and only have at weekends……. I must admit this is going to be hard – hoping the 5:2 will help kick start us to break the pattern.

I don’t want to never have a drink again as I enjoy it so much but have to cut back, lose some weight and gain back a clear head – hoping you guys will help me along the path.

Thanks for this thread – it’s good to know that I’m not alone in enjoying a tipple or several and good not to be judged for being honest about it x

I love Guinness, but that’s 210 cals a pint. I don’t drink on fast days normally Monday and Thursday and try to only drink Fri-Sun as one pint can sometimes turn into six. also I can’t handle going to work after drinking the night before – yes I know Mondays are miserable. When I started the regime I lost weight reasonably quickly, but it seems to have plateaued a bit lately. However I comfort myself by thinking how big I would be if I didn’t do this. I also think that doing the diet with my wife is so much easier. We now consider the 5:2 to be a lifestyle choice rather than a diet. Good luck to everyone ….especially to those of you who wake up early the morning after a fast day dreaming of a Mars

I too am a lover of wine!!!! I don’t have a great deal of weight to lose, but the extra lbs that I do carry all seem to be around my belly…..my wine belly as I refer to it. I’m hoping that the 5:2 diet will help me to lose the extra pounds, increase my health and also get my drinking under control. I particularly love to start drinking while preparng the evening meal. Hunger, or when my blood sugers are low is definately a trigger to open a bottle of red. I have found that on my fast days I’m usually so hungry by dinner time that the choice between wine and dinner is an easy one – I need to eat! Yes, hoping that this diet will also help me to reduce my alcohol intake as well, but being new I’m finding it hard. Good luck everyone and thanks for this motivational thread.

I have read many of these posts. We all experience about the same. Judging by my own dealing with alcohol with the fastdiet, I think the following is true, (even tho I do not always follow my own advice): The fast diet does work especially for keeping my cholesterol level, blood sugar and blood pressure at safe levels. Alcohol calories do count. Two small glasses of red wine on every day including fast days and just before dinner is OK, but no more. Exercise is important. Alcohol reduces my tolerance for anything requiring self control – like limiting my wine intake; and the fastdiet requires some resolve/control especially at the end of the day/evening when I like to snack. So, I plan ahead to have some low cal snacks prepared for the evening. Don’t start the alcohol until supper is being prepared. No drinking after dinner – even on weekends/party time. Good luck/wish me luck.