I can't tell you how many times someone has told me "I do everything right but still don't lose weight." When I hear it, I am sympathetic, yet skeptical. Why? Because weight loss is a simple matter of mathematics. Body cells require a certain amount of energy (i.e. calories) to maintain themselves and keep a human being alive. There is certainly variation in the amount of energy individuals need, depending on height, current weight, muscle mass, activity level, and a few other factors, but most people will burn between 1,000 and 3,000 calories per day doing absolutely nothing. This is a wide range, to be sure, but the people on the lower end of the range are almost certainly very small and not in need of weight loss. In general, the more you weigh, the more calories you burn. All of those extra cells require more energy and it also takes more effort to move the extra weight around. Think about walking uphill with an empty backback vs. walking uphill with a 50-lb. weighted backpack. The latter scenario will burn more calories. In the same way, a person who is 50 lbs. overweight will burn more calories during his or her physical activities compared with a normal-weight person.
Now that you understand this, you should also understand why I was skeptical when a 180 lb. man- we'll call him "Mike"-who works out daily told me that he's eating 1200 calories a day and still can't lose weight. This man had to be burning at least 2000 calories daily, so his reported intake and activity just didn't add up. After a little more prodding, I discovered the reason for the discrepancy. Mike went to a local bar for happy hour every night. He swore he ate only shrimp cocktail, a very low-fat and low-calorie food. What he neglected to tell me was that he also consumed 6-10 shots of liquor mixed with various juices. It never occurred to him that the alcohol he drank could be preventing him from losing weight.
If you are not already aware, let me be the one to enlighten you: alcohol has calories! A lot of them! A standard portion of liquor (1 1/2 oz), beer (12 oz) or wine (6oz) will contain between 100 and 150 calories. That's without any mixers. Mixed drinks and sweet liqueurs will have even more. A large pina colada, daquiri or margarita can easily contain over 500 calories. Even if you don't drink every day, like Mike in the example above, one or two nights of weekend drinking can be enough to undo your efforts during the week to eat right and exercise. If you want to know how your alcohol intake may contribute to weight gain over time, I highly recommend checking out this website, which allows you to calculate the alcohol calories you take in on a monthly, and yearly basis. To figure out how many pounds it amounts to, divide the number you get by 3500 (the number of calories in one pound of fat).
You can also calculate your BMR and estimate your energy expenditure here:
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