Shaking Up The Diet: Giving Up Alcohol For Lent

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Last night was the last glass of vino...until after Easter. Yep, I'm giving up alcohol for Lent.

Last night was the last glass of vino…for 40 days. Yep, I’m giving up alcohol for Lent.

It’s Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten season and time to give up something I enjoy for 40 days. This year I’ve chosen alcohol. Over the holidays, I’ve noticed a slight uptick in the amount of wine I normally consume.  I figured, after the holidays, it’d subside.  It didn’t. Lent is the perfect time to get back on track.

When I started my weight loss journey, I significantly cut back on my drinking, especially wine (my favorite). I have no doubt that I packed on a lot of pounds going to all those after-work happy hours. Once I committed to losing the weight, I limited drinking to no more than twice a month and no more than 2 drinks on those days.

While cutting back on alcohol alone didn’t cause all of my weight loss, I suspect it was a big reason.  Lent’s the perfect time to reflect and gather strength as I continue my weight loss journey.

Are you giving up anything for Lent?

2 thoughts on “Shaking Up The Diet: Giving Up Alcohol For Lent”

  1. Andrew

    Didn’t know that wine has lots of negative influence on weight loss. Can you write more about it? I thought bear is bad but wine is actually healthy.

    Reply
    • Dot2Trot

      Thanks for the comment Andrew. Wine is certainly lower in carbs than beer. However when you are seriously overweight (I lost 100+ pounds and have another 90 lbs. to lose to hit my goal weight), alcohol is a problem. It’s metabolized mostly in the liver and increases the production of fat in the liver. It also might make us fat in other places. If it’s stored as fat or as fat to burn later depend on whether we eat or drink carbs with the alcohol — which people usually do. When I was at my heaviest, wine was my drink of choice, although I’d drink beer too. I’d have 1-3 drinks a night 3-4 times a week. When I went low carb, I limited myself to 1-2 drinks (portion size!) twice a month. I noticed I didn’t eat as much when I changed how much I drank (when I drink, I tend to get hungry, like most people). And I always drink a lot of water when I do have a glass of wine. I no longer drink beer because it’s too high in carbs. Wine is only 2g of carbs per glass so it is my preferred alcoholic drink but only in moderation now.

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