If you don’t ever want to have a drink again for other reasons then that is amazing if that is your true desire. BUT if it’s because you think that you CAN”T HAVE alcohol in your life and still sustain weight loss, then that is where I want to start the conversation!! Alcohol will NEVER be on the good foods list, but there is a way you are able to have it on occasion. So, let’s break what alcohol is so that you can go in informed about what decisions to make!

Alright, so here are the basics. Alcohol is just empty calories and there are NO health benefits in alcohol, no matter what you have heard about wine or sherry! (maybe in small amounts, but not in multiple glasses at a time. And it’s not the carbs that make it not good for your body, it’s not the sugar, it’s THE ALCOHOL! It is basically the 4th macro and has its own macro count of 7 grams! Think about that, that is second to fat! Fat has 9 grams. And for some people that is a lot. So, you have to balance that out when you are making these decisions of whether to drink or not.

Let’s say you had some drinks. When that alcohol metabolizes (digests), it takes about 2-4 hours to digest it, depending on how many drinks you have had.  While your body is digesting this alcohol, it goes through several phases, and in that phase, it is broken down into acetate and acetate is highly flammable, so it starts to burn that alcohol up. But our bodies are lazy so it’s always looking for the quickest way to get energy and if there is alcohol laying around, it is going to burn that alcohol first before anything else in your body. And then it gets to the fats, carbs, etc. (If you are trying to burn fat in your body, and there is alcohol in the way, how is your body going to get to that fat to burn”’ See what I am saying”’)

If you have body fat to lose and you are having alcohol on a regular basis, I want you to stop and ask yourself, is this helping my goal. (I didn’t say stop the booze, I just said ask this question…) And since alcohol likes to hang out around our midsection, it can make it harder to lose that weight if that is your goal.  Alcohol is a toxin within our body, and our body doesn’t really know what to do with it, so it doesn’t break it down into glucose like the other nutrients in our body. So instead, it sticks it away for storage as FAT! And stops you from reaching your goals!

So again, I want you to figure out, What are my goals’ And How many drinks am I currently having’ We all know the key to weight loss is creating this caloric deficit so if you are trying to lose weight, can you bring yourself down to having 1 drink a night to have fewer calories a day to help with that weight loss’ I challenge people to look at their relationship with alcohol. Are you using it to unwind, to destress’ Are there other ways that you can do that, especially if you are trying to lose weight’ Because we need to create this caloric deficit when trying to lose weight.

Another thing that alcohol does to hinder us from reaching our weight loss goals is by causing us to crave foods we typically wouldn’t eat. What are some of the decisions that you start to make that you wouldn’t have made if you did not have that glass of wine or 2′  Are you reaching for pizza and crap”’

I am going to come back to this, and with like all things it is about MODERATION! You don’t need to do it every night, and wouldn’t you much rather eat really good food instead of wasting all of your calories on drinks instead of food’ I know I would rather eat good food than drink my calories!

What do you do if you ARE going out that night for dinner and drinks” If you are going out, great! But during that entire day, you are going to make sure you are hitting your protein numbers and you have a full belly. DON’T SKIP meals that day. The more that is in your belly, the less likely you are going to get drunk, and you are also fuller so you will be less likely to indulge too much in foods you would rather not eat. Alcohol is your TREAT, so pick your battles! Would you rather have a nice glass of wine or dessert’ Or if you had a really great week, maybe you can have a glass of wine and a dessert!! Once again, I am bringing you back to MODERATION and now COMPROMISE!

Okay, so you are out to dinner, but what do you drink that is NOT FULL OF CALORIES! Try something on the rocks, like a vodka on the rocks, or with seltzer or water, and stay with that drink. Don’t mix that drink on the rocks with other things like beer and wine. Just stick to 1 type during that night. Keep it simple and be sure to throw in some glasses of water in between drinks or after your ONE!

Find a way to look at alcohol and blend it into your healthy life!
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So, I challenge you, to check in with yourself and ask yourself these questions:

1. Can you have X amount of drinks and feel comfortable with that’
2. Does alcohol make you lose your inhibitions with food and drink and make you eat things you otherwise wouldn’t’
3. Can you sleep when you drink or consume a certain amount of alcohol’ Or is it affecting my sleep’

Just know magic makers that if you feel drinking may be a problem and you find yourself questioning your relationship with alcohol, it is not something to feel ashamed of. Listen to this podcast I did a while back about it and maybe it’s something to explore and have your own personal conversation with. And then grab my Alcohol Resource Guide. It has all of the information we just went over and more, plus it gives you great mocktail recipes to whip up when you are craving alcohol!= Plus, I give you the details on how you can bring alcohol into your life and still lose weight. Download it and let me know what you think! Share it with a friend, a sister, a mother, or a significant other and do what is right for you magic makers

LINKS

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/FabFitSquad

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fitgirlmagic/

Website: https://kimbarnesjefferson.com/

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fit-girl-magic-healthy-living-for-women-over-40/id1476883661

Is it time to question your relationship with alcohol’

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-it-time-to-question-your-relationship-with-alcohol/id1476883661

The post Alcohol and Weight Loss How To Keep It Simple appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

Casey McGuire Davidson is a certified life coach specializing in helping women quit drinking and helps them create the lives they want and love without alcohol! As women, we talk about everything!! From dieting, to weight loss, to new fitness routines, to going gluten and dairy free, but for some reason we never talk about alcohol as being a problem, and that is something we want to limit!

I have always talked to my clients about alcohol from a health and wellness perspective, but I have always wanted to have that conversation from a LIFE perspective as well. It is an important conversation and at the same time a very difficult conversation to have as well.

Drinking is a social thing, right’ It is also a way to connect with people, it’s a way to cope, it becomes a habit, and for a lot of us, it’s a way of making life  We also drink when we’re anxious, or when we are happy and need more, when we are bored, resentful, angry, OR quarantined to our homes for who knows how long like we are right now. BUT when you decide you want to stop it can feel like complete peer pressure when you are out with friends, everyone always asking, why aren’t you drinking’ What is wrong with you’

Alcohol is seriously the ONLY DRUG that we DON’T have to justify taking! There is such a label when you stop drinking, if you didn’t drink, you’re either pregnant, you are boring, or you had a problem. There was no middle ground.

Modern life has really turned us into alcohol seekers, or release seekers would be the better term. Life is busy, jobs are demanding, you have kids, you have a demanding spouse, aging parents, or you are doing everything for everyone and not knowing how to simply say no, and alcohol becomes that pause button that you can press. We are always on the go and putting so much pressure on ourselves that the only way to relax and forget it all is to drink.

For Casey, drinking was part of her life for years. It was a nightly thing, it was a social thing, it was what she did but desperately did not want to shut it down! Finally, she had had enough of feeling tired, feeling anxious and just not reaching her weight loss goals after having kids that she had wanted to reach. She was willing to cut everything else out of her diet, except wine! So, she cut back to either twice a week drinking, or 2 glasses at a time but she still hated it. Casey was still waking up at 3am with anxiety, and the next day a headache, eyes watery, and feeling less optimistic.

She felt like her life was so hard and her kids were irritating. But you know what happened when she stopped’ When Casey stopped and got distance from drinking daily, she felt content, her life was good, and her kids weren’t that difficult!! And she finally realized that alcohol was what was making every day of her life harder than it really was!

As a Coach, Casey works with women who have decided that alcohol isn’t working for them anymore or right now. She helps you figure out that you have to step back and give yourself a chance to know how good you can feel with some time away from drinking. Start with 4 days, then 7 days, then 2 weeks. And then they move on to setting another goal for 100 days! And yes, it can sound crazy, but 100 days is possible!

If they are thinking “I am stuck, I cannot achieve my goals, I’ve done this on my own and I cannot make this shift. But you are also that girl that needs her wine. You have to look at what it is that you are doing that could be stopping you from hitting those goals. And drinking may be that very thing that is holding you back, and not letting you live your life the way you want to. And when it comes to trying to stop, you have to just stop completely, you cannot just limit your alcohol because in the long run that will not work. If you’re controlling your drinking, you’re not enjoying it. If you’re enjoying your drinking, you’re not controlling it.

So why 100-day goals’ Why does Casey set this for her clients who are struggling with alcohol and wanting to remove it from their lives’

• This takes longer than 30 days to work on. The first 30 days are tripping, falling and stumbling.
• The next 30 days you are figuring out what went to the right and what didn’t work, so you can figure out what is working for you or not!
• 30 days after that and you are starting to feel that ya know what, I am feeling okay!
• And of course, 100 days, you have just proven to yourself that YOU CAN DO IT and you got this! It takes that time to start really feeling good, feeling capable and proud of yourself!

When you stop drinking you should feel like it’s the kindest thing you can do for yourself. Then you need to treat yourself and take care of YOU versus numbing out to tolerate your life. When Casey quit drinking, she saved $550 in the first month alone! WHAT” Use that money and DO SOMETHING FOR YOURSELF!!! Treat yourself and feel proud of your accomplishments! My life is so much bigger since I stopped drinking and overcame that fear.- Casey.

She doesn’t like to use the term alcoholic. Whether it is functioning alcoholic or alcoholic. It’s a label that has a lot of negative connotations and it doesn’t add value. But she did say that she used to drink a lot. It wasn’t good for her. It’s an addictive substance. She stopped, and now she feels a hell of a lot better! But if you are able to function around this addiction, yes you may be able to drink and function, it still doesn’t give you the licensing to say nothing is wrong or that you need help. JUST KNOW that nothing is wrong with YOU and you are NOT ALONE! Nobody talks about it, but there are thousands and thousands of doctors and nurses and lawyers and stay at home moms and really successful people who are waking up with a hangover every SINGLE day, I promise you that!! This is a slippery slope and it is not your fault!!

How do you approach someone about this’ Or if someone approaches you to confide in you about their problem, how do you talk to them about it’

Say something WITH LOVE. “How do you feel, what is this bringing to your life. ”.. OR “I know you think you need it; I know you think you love it, but is there something else that could be more for you’” And in the same aspect, if someone says, “I am worried about my drinking, I think I have a problem, or I think I drink too much, don’t dismiss it! Ask questions, take that chance to talk to them about it. THIS IS SO HARD FOR THEM TO COME OUT AND SAY SOMETHING. So just be respectful and come from a place of love. AND if this is you needing to go to someone to talk to them about your drinking, expect to have the same courtesy that you would give someone. You should expect that same level of love towards you as well.

There are SOOO many resources out there now where you can get help and where you can get tips or talk to someone. On Casey’s website, she has tons of guides to help you. The one being Sober Girls Guide to Quit Drinking which consists of 30 tips for your first 30 days. She tells you what to expect on day 4, day 7, and so on, podcasts and books that are centered around women that are empowering, exciting and can also be extremely helpful! How to talk to your friends, spouse, family, and co-workers about what is going on and what you are doing, and how to get support from them as well.

YOU DESERVE BETTER!! I know you don’t believe me when I am saying this, but you are going to be so much happier, healthier, feel better, and be able to move forward in your life. AND be that woman that says straight up NO to things that you know will push you over the edge, or completely overwhelm you and take you away from your day and your focus and your happiness, and know that you can put up boundaries, without sounding like a total bitch! REMEMBER, No is a complete sentence.

For Casey, when she admitted she had a problem with alcohol, everything else got easier. Her anxiety went away, her depression went away, the ability to stay with weight loss and stay working out got easier and taking joy in her relationships got easier as well. If you are feeling this way and have a fixation with alcohol, just try and experiment with it and try setting a goal to stop. You will be surprised and amazing at the areas of your life that will get better.

If you are thinking like, maybe I should really think about this, download her 30-day program and take on those 30 days, and the 30-day mini challenge! Or contact Casey directly! There are no labels! Don’t feel like you have created a label. Your choice is you choose not to drink. That is your label!!

If we don’t ask ourselves the honest questions NO ONE WILL! They are hard as fuck, but we will live a better life for having asked them!!

What is one thing that makes you feel magical Casey’

Not drinking sobriety is the foundation for everything I want in my life. Even if you have a bad day, even if you are really frustrated or aggravated, joy always comes in the morning. Waking up and smelling the coffee. Every morning waking up, not having that 3 am dread and feeling like crap, it is amazing, and I am grateful.

LINKS:

https://hellosomedaycoaching.com/

https://hellosomedaycoaching.com/sobriety-starter-kit/

https://www.instagram.com/caseymdavidson/

https://www.facebook.com/HelloSomeday

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/FabFitSquad

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fitgirlmagic/

Website: https://kimbarnesjefferson.com

The post Is it time to question your relationship with alcohol appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.