I agree with the general consensus, nothing wrong with a few good beers, or a little red wine occasionally.
Let me do my best to phrase an addendum question: Has anyone else noticed a physiological difference (i.e. how good you look naked) if you drink wine/beer/vodka within your caloric limits. In other words, don’t do a food log, hit your target calories, and then add drinks to it; rather, account for the fact that you’ll be ingesting 300-400 calories of alcohol at night and eat accordingly.
I have the sneaky suspicion that doing so still doesn’t prevent physique problems. I’m pushing 44, and have been blaming the difficulty I’ve had of late maintaining a semblance of muscularity on my aging metabolism. But lately I’ve wondered if having a couple of glasses of wine/scotch each night might be the problem.
If it is a problem, add that to the things in life that really suck. I, like so many, work in a stressful job, and there’s nothing like a little wine at night to decompress and relax before bed (okay, maybe one other thing is better!).