Cut back on Beer because the belly is too big?

[Billy-Klubb]

mmmm. BBQ potato chips & Coke. so what are we talking about?

 

[sjohnv3]

I am quite opposite to some of the high protien eaters. In December I had my retirement physical from the Army and found out I was 15lb overweight and had LDL of 190! After talking to my Dad I found out it runs in the family. I was started on Lipitor. I used to eat whatever I wanted and also drank to excess. Now I am eating many whole grains and vegetables. Beans and salmon are top of my list too. It is hard for me to cut back on drinking but the Doc told me I have to drink in moderation for liver health. I have lost 5lb the last two weeks by concentrating on whole foods even if they are high in carbs and naturally cutting down on protien because of cholesterol.

Oh, and I brewed Bier munchers cenntenial blonde last weekend so I will be able to safely enjoy two beers when I want too.

 

[PatDunkel]

Make meat a secondary to veggies.
Don't eat fruit after a meal, give an hour or so before eating fruits.
Nuts are an excellent snack and contain a lot of protein.
Don't overdo the protein as the human body only needs something like 6 grams a day of protein to remain healthy (Do some research on this)
Shop the outside aisles of the store, everything in the aisles is crap food so keep it limited.
Once a week break your diet, then go right back to it. Having a rigid diet schedule is mentally taxing and you will always fall off the wagon if you try.
Lower intake of processed grains in things like breads and such, it is easy and has far more flavor than white bread or heavily processed wheat breads and is easy to do as well.
Exercise regularly, get your heart rate up for 30 minutes a day minimum.
Drink lots of water, cut sugars such as adding it to coffee (my downfall).

Biggest thing is to track calories and figure your intake needed to make it through a day...not the RDA average but do some math by trial and error then stick to it. As wass mentioned myfitnesspal which is available on Iphone or Droid OS is an easy way to do a lot of this.

I agree with most of this and follow a lot of it. There are some great things in the center of the store but agree with the concept. Black beans and canned chicken ( when no time to cook the real stuff) are two I like.
As for calorie counting, I've been doing that religiously (except for the Dark Lord and BCS last weekend). Seriously though, I've been using a free iOS app called lose it. It's fantastic! It tracks exercise, calories, goals, and even has a scanner to scan commercial foods into it so you can easily track those. You can add foods and recipes into it as well.

A question for all of you now. What are some commercial beers that are low on calories but still taste like something? Heineken Light is something I can tolerate but am looking for some other suggestions. Homebrew is great, but after one or two I need something less taxing on the diet. I know I can make something like a cream ale but that's just not as fun. Recipes suggestions that fit this bill would be great top,
Thanks,

Pat

 

[Jayhem]

Just remember that most beer drinkers who are gaining weight are doing so because when people drink they tend to drink late at night and snack at the same time. Not good!

I only drink after dinner and am sure to drink lots of water between beer and sleeping.

The key is that calories are not burned off while you sleep and BAC slows down your metabolism! Sober up before you go to sleep if you drink too much and minimize getting drunk, know your limit! Works for me...I have ~8% body fat at age 34, I work outdoors often but do not have a gym schedule and I drink on average 3 beers every day!

 

[unionrdr]

Don't cut down on protiens just to cut cholesterol. Cut out ham & meats like that that are loaded with saturated fats. Lean protiens is what Cleveland Clinic dieticians taught me. Buffalo is a great example. Higher in protien than beef,very low bad fats & carbs. Wild salmon has omega 3's,while they found through testing that farm raised has just the opposite. Bad fats from all the highpro glow dog food the robots feed them. Dito on catfish. It's what they eat in the wild that gives them all those omega 3's.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

Get a pair of Australian Shepherds and walk them until they (or you) keel over. Repeat daily.

MC

 

[sjohnv3]

Get a pair of Australian Shepherds and walk them until they (or you) keel over. Repeat daily.

MC

I like this one. I should take my rottweiler out more often.

 

[Nuggethead]

Starting to sound like we need Richard Simmons as a moderator for a BEER site these days.

 

[jbaysurfer]

exercise more, eat less...but never mess with the Homebrew intake!

 

[Nuggethead]

exercise more, eat less...but never mess with the Homebrew intake!

Amen..

 

[Dodonkious]

I have let myself get to obese levels, and was even worse until my GF decided we needed to do something. Add to that the fact that we were going to take a flight to CA to meet her family and my 400lb butt had to loose weight just to get on the plane. (Mind you I was drinking a four or six pack a night plus eating what ever I wanted and wasn't brewing.) Once we got into the calorie counting, I swore one thing, I would never give up beer and would always pick beer over food. It actually helped because I refused to eat something bad in order to allow myself the pleasure of a good beer. I never weighed myself but I know I got "down" to 350ish, maybe less. The point is, I never will give up beer when I could just not eat the bread in a sandwich. That being said, alcohol is one of the worst things one can consume while trying to lose weight. Since it's technically a poison your metabolism freaks out and starts trying to get the alcohol out of your system. Thus slowing your metabolism. That's ok though, an imperial stout is worth it.

 

[Zamial]

Give up sugar, soda, most breads and potatoes. Go find a fun physically demanding sport and give it 4 hours a week.

 

[IanJ]

I've been cutting back for the sake of my general health. I don't have the body type to enjoy multiple beers a night... or I regret it the next day. Weight isn't really an issue, but feeling like an unproductive mess the next day is.

 

[dabeez]

This has been a very interesting thread. I was wondering how people balanced consumption of good home brew with overall health. I can see that others have the same concerns I have.

My consumption rate has been going up since I started brewing my own. They are so delicious. I find myself trading desert or seconds at dinner so I can fit in another home brew. Maybe I have a problem...

 

[badlee]

you dont have a problem,you just see the real value of your efforts!
I dont drink sunday-thursday. I have 1-2 bombers on friday and 2-3 on saturday.
I think that hte key is keeping a healthy diet AND not drinking too many high OG beers. A hogh OG beer is going to have lots of residual sugars and make you fat.

 

[whitehause]

I'll stop drinking beer when there's six feet of dirt between me and the nearest homebrew.

That might make my top 10 quotes list!

 

[stvo]

Ok, some people in the last 11 pages of posts are saying cut out potatoes, bread, or carbs in general. I personally don't think I could live without those foods!! You can still enjoy those... just in moderation, basically most carbs/starch are a calorie dense food, example 7 oz rice is like 300+ calories (depending on which website you look at) at the same time that 300+calories in lets say broccoli that's like 10 cups! or 7 average size zucchini squash, which will fill you up more?? Another example 2 oz of pretzels (which is a homebrew staple at my home!!) is about 220 or so calories now those same calories could equal 2 cups of grapes+a 3" apple..... It's about the right choices.
Pretty much it's calories in and calories out (exercise)
Here's a way to figure out what's up with your diet, write down everything you eat for 3-4 days (be deligent about it) then if you can find out (internet/label) the calories for those foods, you'll be astonished on how many calories your consuming and how small the serving size is!! (servings per package) And how quickly it adds up. I try to make the right choices, I'm a runner/cyclist so watching what I eat is important to me... but at the same time I enjoy at least 2-4 12oz home brews a day.

 

[theveganbrewer]

I am trying to do drinking only on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday. I think that should help but I'm reaching the limit on my clothes. Going to need to cut back.

 

[snaps10]

I just stopped eating breakfast and lunch. I supplement them with beer

Actually, I gained 35lbs while my wife was pregnant and breast feeding. Seems I forgot that just because she was burning a billion calories a day producing milk, I wasn't. Match that with my first year or not racing bikes since 1992 and I ballooned. Recently I've begun getting only slightly more active, walks, riding the bike on a stationary trainer while my daughter sleeps, and speed rope once or twice a week. I've also watched what I ate more. I focus on keeping the preservatives out and I've found that I naturally eat healthier leaner food just by keeping my eyes on that. But I have not cut back on the beer. I've lost 16lbs and have 9 more to go.

 

[KurtB]

I have let myself get to obese levels...

I never weighed myself but I know I got "down" to 350ish, maybe less....

How does it feel to be 7 feet 7 inches tall?

I did a quick calculation and in order to only be considered "overweight" and not obese at 350 pounds, your height would have to be 7'7". My guess is either you are grossly overestimating you weight, don't really know what classifies you as "obese", or you are trolling.

Back in August, for various reasons, I started making an effort to loose weight. I did cut down on the amount of beer that I drank as well as the amount of food that I would eat. I did not make any drastic changes to my eating as I knew that I would fail if it was too restrictive. I did simple things like more veggies and fruit, and picking the 1/3 pound burger at the restaurant instead of the 1/2 pound burger. As for beer, it is maybe 1 durring the week and 2 or 3 on the weekend. Before I started loosing weight, it was more like 2-3 every other night with 4-5 on Saturday. Even now the weeks when the home brew club meets mean the beer intake is quite a bit higher, but that is only one night a month.

As of yesterday I was down 65.4 pounds from the 292 that I weighed when I started. I still have about 15 pounds more to go in order to only be "overweight" according to the CDC.

 

[Whippy]

I gained 20kg when I stopped smoking a couple years ago and then hovered at around 92kg for a couple years. I went on Atkins (fatkins) after Christmas 2012 and have lost 6kg...the weight loss is slow because I am still drinking, just red wine and bourbon. I have had a homebrew on three occasions and usually pull about 4oz once a night. If I had just stopped drinking completely, I'd probably be back down to where I want to be weight wise....but nope lol

 

[mannye]

Yes. Drinking packs on the pounds. I'm currently on the second week of a 4 week teetotal. Together with lots of gym and a lot less food. The results are dramatic and rapid.

There's no other way folks... less calories in more calories out. The math is simple but the execution is torture.

 

[Nuggethead]

I now only drink on days that end with "Y". Watch the Lbs:cross: drop...

 

[HopHoarder]

I drink around 3/ day on average. Eating more fresh food and some regular exercise though helps keep things in check.

 

[Polboy]

So i read half of the posts and have one question, how do you guys decide its time to loose some lbs? im gaining a little bit of weight every year but feel i still have few years before i start actively exercise, diet ect, my bmi is 23.1 but was around 22 2-3 years ago and before that it was 20.5 for as long as i can remember, is it time for me to look for a gym?

 

[kaconga]

If you feel like you need to shed some pounds then it is probably time. Other than that I would have to say ask a Dr. Personally I care less about the numbers and more about living a healthy lifestyle. Eat right and drink merrily.

 

[PatDunkel]

So i read half of the posts and have one question, how do you guys decide its time to loose some lbs? im gaining a little bit of weight every year but feel i still have few years before i start actively exercise, diet ect, my bmi is 23.1 but was around 22 2-3 years ago and before that it was 20.5 for as long as i can remember, is it time for me to look for a gym?

When you feel like crap or you don't like looking in the mirror anymore. Mine was a little of both.

Pat

 

[MoPhunk]

I also use small shifter glasses for beer during the week. Same # of glasses, a lot less beer.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

try to poop on a regular basis.

 

[BigRedHopHead]

Beer is the whole reason I workout! so I can drink them. I cut the carbs too.