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> most people underestimate the calories in alcohol Funny, I feel the other way around. I kept hearing about how much calories there are in alcohol, and then w
by yreg 1y ago
> most people underestimate the calories in alcohol
Funny, I feel the other way around. I kept hearing about how much calories there are in alcohol, and then when I started calorie counting I didn't find it so high.
Like 6 shots of gin are ~550kcal and enough to get anyone pretty drunk. Unless one is a regular heavy drinker it's not that hard to once in a while budget calories during the day to be able to get a few shots when going out in the evening.
Obviously staying sober is the healthier option.
- n4r9 1y agoI definitely find it suprising that a shot of gin has as many calories as an apple.
- SketchySeaBeast 1y agoI think when people are mentioning alcohol they typically mean beer or wine - a can of beer is ~150 calories, so have a few of those a night, which isn't at all uncommon in some households, and over a week you're up ~1 lbs.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- hedora 1y agoAlso, 150 calories is somewhere between cheap American beer and a nice IPA or stout. You can easily hit 200-300 calories per beer.
- spelunker 1y agoNew Belgium "Juice Force IPA", I'm looking at you!
- washmyelbows 1y agomy favorite stout is 400 calories for 12oz
- malfist 1y agoSure six shots are 550 calories. But who drinks six shots of gin? You need to also include all the mixers as well and they're usually all sugar
- yreg 1y ago> But who drinks six shots of gin? Haha, I'm from almost-eastern-europe, so pretty much all drinkers I know. (Actually "Borovička" is the most popular. It is not gin, but somewhat similar to gin.) But I mean, when someone is trying to reduce calorie intake, they don't consume whatever they want to. They need to make some concessions. So instead of a fancy cocktail or a bottle of wine, you can drink some vodka (provided getting intoxicated is the goal).
- foobarian 1y agoHeh, Borovička is the most amazing thing ever. I need to find a source stateside :-)
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- gadders 1y agoFor a G&T, you can get slimline tonic which tastes quite good.
- reedf1 1y agoThe idea that a night out with 4-5 pints might clear my daily total requirement for calories was not something I had really considered until my late twenties.
- gadders 1y agoIn your early 20s your metabolism is that much higher as well that it can cope.
- wredcoll 1y agoOh so that's why college students famously gain weight when they go to college, they're too old to have a fast metabolism!
- gadders 1y agoHow much more would they weigh if they underwent the same changes at 40? It's faster metabolism, but it's not magic.
- Kirby64 1y ago20s to 40s metabolism isn't that different. 4-5 pints is nearly 1000 calories, and basically nobody has a 1000 cal decline in base expenditure from 20 to 40. A bigger change, generally, from someone in college and someone in their 40s is their activity levels. Even just considering the amount of walking most folks do on a college campus is a huge difference, compared to someone that gets in their car and drives to and from work.
- n4r9 1y agoThat doesn't match my experience, or most of the stuff I've read. The number of calories I need to hit to lose weight has been pretty constant from my early twenties to late thirties. That said, I didn't have to be as careful in my twenties because I did a lot more exercise. And that's because I had more free time and opportunity for sports, fewer energy demands, less money for food, and more incentive to walk or cycle places. So I agree it's probably easier for university students to be slim, but I suspect metabolism is not a primary reason.
- mock-possum 1y agoSure, that means that 6 shots of gin basically replaces one whole meal.
- kelipso 1y agoIf 550kcal is one whole meal to you, then 6 shots of gin will get you absolutely blasted, probably black out too.
- n4r9 1y agoThat's nonsense. A shot of spirits is one unit of alcohol. A pint of strong-ish beer like Stella Artois is 3 units. 550 calories is easily a dinner's worth for a woman of 70kg, or a man that's heavier but trying to gradually lose weight. Either of whom would normally not be too affected by two pints of Stella.
- kelipso 1y agoWhat is nonsense? Go to https://alcohol.org/bac-calculator/ https://alcohol.org/bac-calculator/. Putting in the numbers for a 150lb woman drinking 6 shots over 2 hours gets you 0.21% BAC, which is plenty enough for black out drunk.
- n4r9 1y agoI see. That looks a lot like it's applying a Widmark-style model [0], which assumes that absorption is instantaneous, and that drinking starts in a fasted state unaccompanied by food or water. I guess that makes sense if we're literally talking about replacing a whole meal with alcohol. But normally I imagine cutting back on portion sizes so that I can have some drinks later. I don't know about other users but the idea that an 80kg man will have body control or speech impairments after 3 pints (60oz) of beer over 3 hours just feels wrong. Especially if they start after dinner and have a glass of water in the middle. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_alcohol_content#By_intake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_alcohol_content#By_intak...