"Dry January" and weight loss

I’m in the middle of a dry October, November, December, January .....

Haven’t touched a drop of alcohol for almost 4 months . Not through choice I hasten to add. I Don’t feel any better ( for it) at all and haven’t lost so much as an ounce of weight .

I gave it up for Lenten once. 7 weeks. Lost 1lb.

Didn’t drink alcohol last October and now doing Dry January. Not sure why as didn’t lose weight when I stopped last time. You’re supposed to sleep better as well so why am I writing this at just after midnight in our spare room having gone to bed at 10.30?.!,

You’ll get the moaners on here saying they only drink half a shandy once a year so anyone needing to do Dry January must be a total alcoholic - why they feel the need to say that I’ve no idea. I do dry January and Veganuary this year, not polishing my halo just yet. If you think that a couple of glasses of wine has similar calories to a slice of cake, then all being equal you should lose weight. However, if you replace your glass of vino with a bag of crisps or bag of cashew nuts, you won’t.

Im doing Dry January to reset my attitude to alcohol, try to get a better nights sleep and hopefully lose weight. Its bloody miserable and I am eating chocolate and biscuits to cheer me up!

I had a dry January a couple of years ago. I lost no weight felt thoroughly miserable and vowed never to do it again. I didn’t sleep any better either. So I am back to a glass or two of vino at the weekend.

Cheers ?

I have not had any alcohol for nearly a year, due to medical conditions and interraction with medication.
At least if I had lost any weight, I would have felt better about it.
I haven't lost a bit of weight, despite no longer gorging on crisps and dip with my wine!!!

Thank you for your comments, GNs. Oh dear, so far things are not looking good for the weight loss, though I take heart from susied's comments. On the plus side, I note this morning that I have lost 3lbs since Christmas, so I live in hope....

Perhaps any weight loss would be a bonus. Your liver will be grateful though. And your blood pressure. Good reasons health wise to do it.

Good luck!

I am doing it again after a successful attempt last year and I lost 7lbs without trying and I ate what I wanted, more or less. Apparently as alcohol is seen as poison by the liver it processes it first and leaves food until later. I think this is why even a few low calorie tipples can pile the weight on. Good luck.

I had one bottle of Porter over Christmas. There's no weight loss when I give up alcohol!

Good luck davida1968. I am doing dryish January! Trying to get back to 2-3 alcohol free days a week and then sticking to the 14 units per week. Not to lose weight but because I felt my alcohol intake was creeping up. Hope I can keep this up beyond January.

All the alcohol has gone now...so thinking about it seriously even though a few days into January.

Oh yes it’s my third Dry January... going ok so far but it’s SUCH a long month ahead. My Partner is doing it as well and it’s not so much the alcohol I miss but the social side of sharing a nice bottle at the restaurant or by the fire at home. The alcohol-free substitutes are ok-ish but I tend to just drink water... you do get a bit sick of it but I hate all sweet fizzy soft drinks. Off to the gym shortly to take my mind off it. The main aim, as Teetime said, is to reset my attitude after Christmas - I will then stick to only drinking at weekends going forward.

I hate having a birthday in January- it messes up resolutions and is not a good time for celebrating. To make it worse, my surgery have decided (unilaterally) that I must have my diabetic review "close to my birthday". It's enough to drive me to drink......!!

I find the weight falls off me when I don’t drink !

I wish there were better alcohol-free drinks around, the ones that are good are quite expensive. When we were in Italy I used to drink Crodino but it's difficult to get here and really expensive. Certainly a gap in the market I think.

A few years ago I lost two stone. I didn't give up alcohol. I still had a couple of glasses a night as I did before I went on the diet.

I had no choice due to husbands health conditions to support him, but also due to my meds. It's been 2 years now, and I can honestly say I do not miss it. I couldn't be doing with a hangover anymore. Sorry to say, I haven't lost any weight as a result but I do feel much better in myself for it. Good luck to all of you doing Dry January. Cheers to those that aren't doing it x

Did the sober October MacMillan thing, now going 'dry' in the week...October made no difference to weight unfortunately although I did feel a sense of achievement so that was a positive; albeit short lived due to 'letting go' over the festivities!

It depends how much you drink and whether your replace it with something else

Stop drinking a bottle of wine a day and spend your evenings eating sweets or pork pies and you will probably gain wait.

Stop drinking a bottle of wine a day and replace it with fizzy water with ice and a slice of lemon and you will probably lose weight.

Worth trying. Due to minor illness I didn’t drink for three months...also cut down on sugary foods and portion sizes and have lost (unintentionally) three quarters of a stone. Alcohol is calorie laiden and anyway, it’s good to give the liver a rest!

We both lost weight over Christmas- no idea why as we ate well. Possibly because we got a bug day after Boxing Day & we are still coughing. Unfortunately we still have a lot of food to eat up in the freezer.

This is my third Dry January and as with some other posters I did/do it to reset my attitude to alcohol. It works because the rest of the year, other than Christmas and holidays, I generally don't drink on 'school nights' (Sunday - Thursday). I feel healthier for it but sadly it doesn't have any effect on my weight.