30 Days Without Wine

Although I consider my alcoholic beverage consumption to be just a little over "moderate" levels, I know it's damaging my weight loss goals. I calculate that I drink approximately 2 glasses of wine per day. (Some days I drink none, some days I drink 1 or 2, and on a Saturday night I may drink 3 or 4. It probably averages to 2 per day.)

When I say "glass," I mean a larger-than-6-ounce-serving. So each "glass" is probably 110 calories.

Two per day is 220 calories per day. That means 1,540 calories per week.

1 pound of fat = 3,500 calories.

That means... give or take a Saturday night party... my alcoholic beverage consumption equals a half pound of fat every week.

Or, another way of saying it: Every month I gain--or fail to lose--two pounds because of the alcoholic beverages I drink.

That doesn't include the calories I get from eating all the junk that seems so tempting after I've had a glass or two of wine.

Although all of this is very sobering, perhaps the most disturbing way of looking at this situation is--for me--this:

The wine I drink totally negates all the calories I burn off through exercise each day.

I bust my tushy with running, lifting weights, martial arts, etc. It needs to count for something!

Now that I've finally done the math, I've decided to go on the wagon for 30 days. I started my new goal yesterday. For 30 days, I'm going to be dry. A teetotaler. A non-drinker.

I'm curious to see if it makes a difference in my waistline.

I have a feeling it will.