How a night out can kill weight loss

Jon Wade, Founder of MotleyHealth
Jon Wade

This week I started logging my food intake again. The aim is to lose fat, ideally without feeling too hungry. I did consider starting a 5:2 fast, inspired by Corinne’s post, but in the end decided to just go low calorie every day.

I started on Monday and all was going well. On Monday I consumed around 1363 Calories, which is a reasonable deficit. I also went to the gym in the evening.

Tuesday was going well too, but I had a little binge in the evening – just some peanuts and a glass or two of wine. I was pretty shocked when I calculated the calories in the nuts and wine.


OK, so Wednesday – I decided not to make that same mistake again. Guess what happened? Sometime after lunch I spotted an email from a mate, no message, just the subject: “Anyone available for a cheeky beer tonight I could be ready by 8.15pm”.

We had not been out for well over a month so it seemed like a good idea to catch up. Well, I had an enjoyable evening, but in the morning I calculated my calories for the day ….. 3415 Calories! How did I do it? Well, it was not all beer (although I did drink 720 Calories of Adnam’s bitter). I also had 2 glasses of red wine when I got in, adding another 250 Calories. But the worse, or at least equally bad, was a mince pie binge brought on by the fact that the alcohol had destroyed my ability to make sensible decisions! I ate …… 1250 Calories of mince pies while listening to a Neil Young album and sipping wine. Five deep-filled, luxury mince pies. The saddest thing is that before my binge I had only consumed 1195 Calories. I would have been a good day, had I not gone out!

Today I am currently sitting on 936 Calories, and it is already 10.30pm. I think I am back on track for the week!

Lesson learned this week: if I go out for some beers, go straight to bed when I get in! And make sure beer is only once a week ….

Food log so far this week is below. All calorie data is from the Internet, some are estimates (e.g. the amount of ham I ate, and the number of peanuts, although I did make an effort to count the peanuts!).

Date Food Calories
Monday 21/10/2013 Carrot and Coriander soup – Heinz 164
Some cooked ham (approx calories) 229
3 eggs 270
and more ham 230
about 40 peanuts 300
whey protein – 1 scoop 85
glass of red wine 85
Total Calories 1363
Tuesday 22/10/2013 Half a satsuma 13
Whey shake – 1 scoop 85
Heinze vegetable soup 188
3 sausages 480
1/3 tin of beans 109
oven fries 324
Whey shake – 1 scoop 85
peanuts 360
ham (calorie guess) 300
2 glasses of red wine 170
Total Calories 2114
Wednesday 23/10/2013 Heinz lentil soup 190
a mince pie 250
Whey shake – 1 scoop 85
1.5 potato 450
Tuna 60 kcal 60
Cheese 60 kcal 60
Apple juice 100 kxal 100
4 pints of beer 720
5 mince pies 1250
2 glasses of wine 250
 Total Calories 3415
Thursday 24/10/20136 Heinz carrot and coriander 164
Whey shake – 1 scoop 85
about 10 slices of ham 60
chicken thighs 300
kung-po sauce 85
half a pepper 10
6 mushrooms 132
half cup of rice 100
 Total Calories  936

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