Wine and Weight Loss

As those who are close to me know, I have recently lost a pretty significant amount of weight. While my appearance was a motivator for the change of diet and lifestyle, I was also motivated by the fact that many of my relatives have health issues associated with being overweight.

My initial path to weight loss was the Weight Watchers program, which I can't recommend enough. This diet's emphasis on low-fat, high-fiber foods mixed with the concept of accountability helped me achieve a total weight loss of over 30 pounds. However, some of my favorite consumables include beer and wine, and there is no weight loss plan in the world that would allow me to freely imbibe in my favorite beverages.

If consumption of wine and beer is so bad for you, then why do my francophone friends have diets high in fat and carbohydrates, smoke a pack a day, and drink glasses of wine with every meal, yet have thinner waist lines and longer life spans?

Common sense would dictate that the French are thinner and more healthy despite their dietary and overall lifestyle choices because Europeans are far more inclined to walk or bike to their destinations. However, research indicates that red wine contains an ingredient called resveratrol, which is proven to aid in weight loss. While it would take a shit ton of red wine in one sitting to provide enough resveratrol to have any measurable weight-loss effects, a lifetime of having small amounts of red wine (like our French friends) could possibly provide enough to allow our European neighbors to be less discerning about what they eat, while maintaining a great physique.

Well, this week, I decided experiment and drank a four-ounce glass of red wine with every lunch and dinner that I consumed at home (for some reason, I don't think the cinema would like me bringing a canteen of merlot to work with me...) and see what kind of effect it would have on my weight loss. Quelle surprise! Over the last eight months, I have averaged a loss of one to two pounds a week, and the week I drank red wine with every meal, I lost a whopping 3.5 pounds. While it might have just been a good weight loss week for me, I would like to continue my experiment by continuing to consume copious amounts of red wine.