Monday, March 12, 2007

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.

7 comments:

Cory said...

Good Luck! I'm sure you'll see a change.

jeannie* said...

Cant wait to see how it pans out. Either way I think its great to try! Great work :)

Fatinah said...

yikes - that is rather a sobering thought - since I drink around as much as you do!

Tiffany said...

I have the same problem. I love to relax in the evening with a glass of wine. I have stopped drink every night and try to limit my glasses on wine to weekend and maybe one or two days during the week. Something I have found that helps is to pour a smaller glasses of wine. Then since I filled my glass up twice I feel like I am drinking more than I am but I only had maybe one or 1.5 glasses.

Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge said...

Look at you Miss Challenge lady!! LOL! Woohooo!! Setting up a mid-challenge challenge! I love it! You're gonna rock it!

Take care,
Michelle
http://findingmahealani.typepad.com

Anonymous said...

Great challenge to give yourself.

And I had to laugh at your comment about the gym being busy for Swim Suit time.
It's our march break week here so ALL schools are off.
I highly doubt the boys(~14 yrs old) goofing off in the weight room were worrying about the fit of their ass dragging swim suits!

Carolyn said...

Good Luck!!
It's really sobering to count out all the wasted calories isn't it?
You can do it! Keep up the great work...I love checkin gyour blog everyday!