8 reasons you’re not losing weight when you give up alcohol for dry January

Despite the perception that quitting drinking inevitably means losing weight, this is not always the case.

Sure, many people lose weight if they drink far fewer liquid calories, they sleep longer and better, avoid late-night fast-food bingeing and hangover burgers the next day.

But it’s also common to maintain or gain weight, at least initially, Ana M. Abrantesa professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University’s Alpert School of Medicine told Insider.

The way your body processes alcohol and food, your behaviors and genetics all play a role in how your weight changes. Furthermore, sustainable

weightloss

it takes months and years, not days and weeks, and much of your body’s appearance is out of your control.

“We can choose our behaviors and how we take care of ourselves,” registered dietitian Sumner Brooks, who quit drinking in May 2020, told Insider. “We can’t say, ‘I’m going to stop eating this and stop drinking this and get a six pack.’ It doesn’t work that way.”

Your body doesn’t treat calories from alcohol and food the same way.

While the body sees a sandwich as fuel used for energy or to build muscle or support organ function, it has no use for alcohol. Therefore, it prioritizes metabolism and elimination of alcohol while storing the actual nutrients as fat, Registered Dietitian. vanessa rissettohe has been without alcohol for nearly a year, he said.

After drinking enough, the body also begins to store alcohol as fat, according to the dieticians behind the biting truth.

While stopping drinking means your body focuses on metabolizing useful nutrients and burning stored fat, it won’t happen overnight, Rissetto said.

You may be using food to counter the drink that was helping make you sleepy.

In the absence of alcohol, you can also seek out foods to numb uncomfortable emotions, “which are quite common in the challenging period of early recovery,” Abrantes said.

Going dry can also, over time, relieve depression — leading to increased appetite. That is good. Disordered eating patterns such as binge eating they also tend to appear in early sobriety.

It is important seek help for underlying or newly discovered mental health problems conditions to avoid falling back into alcohol abuse.

Food can also serve as a temporary solution to boredom.

“Any time people change a behavior, our natural reaction is literally to experience more hunger.” Katie Witkiewitzpsychologist at the Center for Alcohol, Substance Use and Addiction at the University of New Mexico, he previously told Insider. “There’s the boredom factor and there’s the reward factor,” Witkiewitz added, “and food is a very accessible natural reward.”

Fortunately, he said, the intensity of the cravings shouldn’t last. “The body is really miraculous in getting into a homeostatic state,” he said. “Eventually, people have more cravings for healthier foods and have more energy.”

Weight maintenance or weight gain may not be related to having recently stopped drinking.

Maybe you are perimenopausal, maybe you have been more sedentary in the cold weather, maybe you have jet lag. Genetics, socioeconomic status, and medications can also affect your ability to lose weight.

“Weight is really complex in itself on top of stopping drinking,” Brooks said.

To reach a healthy weight for your body, focus on self-awareness and self-care.

If you find yourself eating to numb difficult emotions, try calling a friend. If you’re eating out of boredom, revisit an old hobby.

Then focus on how you feel. More energy, clarity and presence are all “wonderful benefits of not drinking,” Abrantes said. “Focusing on these positives and less on one’s weight can lead to naturally gravitating toward healthier options.”

Reframe the way you think about food, Brooks recommended. Rather than something that needs to be restricted, it is something that can support your new lifestyle.

“When you stop drinking, you really need to step up self-care because it’s such a vulnerable time,” she said. “And part of self-care is nutrition.” Considered that way, you might feel more compelled to eat a hot oatmeal with peanut butter than a couple of donuts on the go.

“No matter what happens to your weight,” he added, “it doesn’t tell you what’s happening to your health and well-being.”