Q: Alcohol...what is a person to do?

Q:  if you’re going to have a night drinking do you make sure it’s on Cheat Day?  Or do you do the PAGG/coffee/grapefruit/air squats stuff if you have a few drinks and it’s not Cheat Day?


A: This is another great question - you guys keep giving me good stuff that is so useful for making this work for your lives - real lives.  The answer is, of course, "it depends."


If you can make a drinking night be on a cheat day, that's definitely best. But, even then, alcohol is not a good thing for so many reasons, but mainly the extremely high amount of carbs (and sugar, specifically) regardless of what kind of booze you're drinking. It also taxes your organs, which should be cleansing your blood and keeping you healthy and well.  Someone on 4hbpeople.com said it really well, "Drinking beer is like drinking a loaf of white bread." Ew.  So, wine is best, and red wine is better than white, but moderation is really the key here.


So, if it isn't a cheat day, and you either don't drink wine, or it isn't a wine kind of place/event, is your life over and are you destined to pack on 80 lbs that moment? No. Like I said in a Tweet recently, this isn't a yes/no situation. It's a continuum where making a less than ideal choice will not mean you suddenly fall apart, but that, instead, you don't do quite as well as if you didn't make that choice.  It's not a light switch, it's a dimmer.


So, have fun, but do it with your eyes wide open. If fun means drinking a bunch, then know that you will slow your progress or maybe step back a bit when you weigh yourself next. If fun can mean nursing a glass of red wine while laughing with your friends, then so much the better.