Drunken Appetite

Okay, I’m trying to drop some bodyfat here. I’m at about 235 and think my ideal is at 215. I would be about 6% there. I am Money with the nutrition Monday - Friday. The problem comes on the weekend. I tend to be a guy who is almost literally “working for the weekend”. I gotta go out and drink my ass off Friday and Saturday night. The problem is the day after I drink, I have some serious issues with crappy fast food. I’m out of control with it. So basically during the week I am taking 5 steps forward and on the weekends 4 steps back.

Does anyone else have an strategies on dealing with those next day munchies (besides not drinking - I gotta do it)? Extra water? Supplementation of whatever? Does anyone know exactly what cause appetite to increase and crave carbs after drinking? Thanks for any ideas.

I have no idea what causes my body to crave greasy shit the day after drinking but it does. Sorry I couldn’t
answer your question. Just wanted you to know it happens to everyone.

I actually have the opposite problem, the next day I feel shitty and don’t have much of an appetite at all, even to drink a shake. Plus a lot of times I will have used up my store of “good” foods in the house and just not eat. Of course then later in the day somebody at the house will go out and get some crappy food and then it’s “Ooh, me too!”
I think it is a matter of planning ahead so that you have got some of the proper foods on hand. Also, maybe you are being too restrictive during the week for your level of willpower and the result is you pigging out on the weekend.
Hate to say it, but unless you are genetically gifted it is hard to have your cake and eat it too. 6% is a pretty darn low bf% and is tough for most people to achieve without some lifestyle sacrifices.

Let’s just set expectations in reality. Unless your some sort of genetic freak, I can guarantee you will not be getting to single digit bf % while binge drinking on the weekends. For 99.9% of the population, single digit bf % = no drinking at all during cutting.

Agreed with randman…I’ve noted significant progress since giving up booze completely over six months ago…read some of JB’s articles on nutrition, he alludes to alcohol being a huge T supressor.

If you absolutely have to have some alcohol, how about limiting your intake to once per week in moderation? This should at least allow better gains then you are making. However, I think you’re killing your progress saucing up like that on a regular basis.

Did this answer your questions? I dunno, been there and done that…scrap the booze outright, get your nutrition in order, and fat should start to melt off.

Have you considered recreational drugs instead of alcohol?

Thanks for the replys, but I am going to stick with the weekend ravages. I’m not addicted to alcohol, but I am addicted to “going out” which requires me to drink like a fish. Its just my lifestyle. If it came down to it, I would rather be 235 at 16% and having rather frequent
“one night stands” then sitting in my apt at 215 and 6% dating pictures of my new body.

I am one of the genetically lucky ones to a point. I’m 6’2.5" and LBM is about 200, and that is with heavy lifting in my college days (I’m 27) and very inconsitent lifting since then. With about 2 months of hard training I am strong as I ever was and more lean mass. This is with the drinking of course.

I think I have figured out something that works for me though - ephedrine. It worked in the past for a limited time. Of course, it acclimated to it quickly. I think now though if I used it on weekends only, it could work for me.

Does anyone have any idea on how to get my hands on it? Ordering over seas? Any thoughts would be appreciated. It has been the only thing that suppressed my appetite except for high anxiety, which I would rather not revisit.

[quote]TDA wrote:
Thanks for the replys, but I am going to stick with the weekend ravages. I’m not addicted to alcohol, but I am addicted to “going out” which requires me to drink like a fish. Its just my lifestyle. If it came down to it, I would rather be 235 at 16% and having rather frequent
“one night stands” then sitting in my apt at 215 and 6% dating pictures of my new body. [/quote]

It’s a shame you haven’t figured out how to get hooked up frequently without having to drink like a fish.

No kidding, you can party like an asshole and have a good time without being drunk, can’t you? Well, can’t you?

Anyhow, sounds like you’ve made your decision. Maybe someday you’ll want it bad enough to develop some discipline.

It’s like saying, y’know, I like to eat tubs of ice-cream each weekend, but I’d like to get ripped… you guys have any advice for me?

Hahaha… yeah, grab a clue.

Hey TDA, I support you. I drink every week or two, and I crave nothing but junk the next day. Believe it or not, I have taken Chasers Plus from GNC the last two times that I have not gone out, and I have not felt sick the next day. I also have not felt obliged to eat pizza and nachos all day. The key is taking them throughout the binge-drinking episode, as each serving is only good for 6 drinks (clearly the warm-up to the actual drinking). It has only been twice, but so good so far.

as dermo said, chasers could be a good bet.

try 5-htp before eating. some swear by its ability to lessen carb cravings and hunger.

Scotchy, scotch, scotch…I love scotch! What’s that? I don’t believe you! Scotch is good…

[quote]TDA wrote:
I think I have figured out something that works for me though - ephedrine. It worked in the past for a limited time. Of course, it acclimated to it quickly. I think now though if I used it on weekends only, it could work for me.

Does anyone have any idea on how to get my hands on it? Ordering over seas? Any thoughts would be appreciated. It has been the only thing that suppressed my appetite except for high anxiety, which I would rather not revisit.[/quote]

A lot of the gas stations in my area still sell ephedrine tablets. Not sure how they get away with it or if it is legal.

I’ve tried what you’re attempting before. I lost about 20 pounds in 12 weeks without losing too much muscle or strength. I went from about 20% BF to about 12%. Here’s what I did: First, I limited the binge to one night instead of two. Next, I cut my calories the day of the binge to somewhat compensate for the extra calories I was drinking. For me…and I’m guessing you’re in the same boat…a night of drinking could add at least 1200 calories, so it was hard to completely compensate for those by cutting out that much food. I kept it simple by just eating less during the day when I knew a big night of boozing was ahead. The biggest change I made was eating a very low-fat diet the day after the binge. I figured that since the body is primed for fat storage after such a binge, depriving it of bad fats during that time period might help to minimize the damage. Of course, when you’re hung over, opting for a bowl of cheerios instead of a greasy burger or some pizza is not easy, but you can’t expect what you’re trying to do to be easy. Now, all that said, I must agree that cutting out the booze completely is clearly the better choice. I was able to make impressive progress while holding onto my 1 night/week binge, but I had to cut the booze out completely to get into the single digits. Much of the strategy I outlined here might not make the most sense on paper, but I’m just sharing with you what worked for me in practice.

Thanks for the ideas guys.

Well, you can do cocaine, and you’ll start losing weight for sure. Or was it heroine? Some people enjoy it more than drinking.

Yeah, we all have that problem. At bar close I pretty much always end up having somthing from Taco Bell, then when I get home it’s like the ice cream was calling my name. And I would eat like half a gallon. That on top of 8 to 10 MGD Lites doesn’t really fit into any diet plan, except how to be a fat ass really quick. After about a month of this I decided this needed to stop. So now, I go out on Friday night, that’s it. I get a beer, then a water, a beer, 2 waters, a beer, 3 waters. I have yet to make it to the 4th beer with this plan, and 3 beers with a total of about 375 calories is waaay better than 9 beers at 1125 calories. Plus I stay hydrated, I don’t get drunk, I save a lot of money, and I have just as much fun. I still eat a shitload when I get home, but it’s a lot easier when I’m sober to stay out of the ice cream. You may want to give this a try, it works well for me.

Your statement about how you would rather be out than sitting at home by yourself doesn’t make sense to me. I am pretty sure heavy drinking is not a prerequisite to going out. I am also pretty sure you could sit at home and get drunk by yourself.

I think you have made your position clear that you are not willing to stop drinking, so just know what the consequences are and be willing to deal with them.

I find after drunken nights I crave carbohydrates. The idea of just eating (or actually consuming) heavy protein laden foods (shakes, eggs, meat) sickens me. Luckily, after my one night of mega binge drinking when I was 17 (15+ drinks), both cookies and fast food were in my presence. I literally threw up all of my alcohol the morning after (no food, just pure vodka coming back up my throat), and thankfully, have been thus classically conditioning against craving sweets and junk food post binge. Unfortunately, in place of that I LOVE to eat cereal the morning after… and continue eating it all day until the box is gone. I find if I keep myself under 5 drinks and consume atleast 64oz of water, I can negate the negative hangover effects and cravings pretty well the day after. BTW, I found hitting the gym the following morning the best way to put myself back on track.

More good ideas, thanks guys. I could probably hydrate myself much better during and after drinking. It would probably slow down the rate of consumption as well and save me a couple bucks (liquor is not cheap in my area).