I am a 37 year old woman and have always maintained a good diet along with exercising every day typically on treadmill and elyptical Little sugar,startches,etc..On average my food caloric intake is 1000-1500 calories. I am 5’6′ and 40 pounds overweight.I used to be slender until the last 6 years when I put the weight on.My one vice is I like to drink red wine and I drink perhaps 3 or 4 bottles a week.My face, chin and arms have gotten puffy.I have read that acetate from drinking wine may inhibit the fat burning process even if one diets and exercises. My question is could the wine drinking be inhibiting my fat burning process causing weight gain and puffiness. Does your clinic test causitive factors for weight retention in the individual who maintains a sensible diet and exercise regimen..Thank you

Yes, definitely drinking that much wine almost certainly is a major contributor to your weight gain/lack of weight loss. Each bottle of wine has about 600 calories. At 4 bottles per week, that means about 350 of your calories per day comes from wine. Weight reduction generally requires about a 1200 calorie per day regimen, or something close to that. That means that about 30% of your reduced level of calories comes from wine. Something in alcohol may well inhibit weight reduction, possibly by preventing the liver from mobilizing stored fat for use as energy. I generally suggest to my clients that a rough way of guaging the effects of alcohol on weight reduction is to double the calories listed for the alcholol. That would make more than half of your calories coming from wine. That usually just won't work to produce weight loss.
My colleagues and I at the Center for Behavioral Medicine do help our clients understand the likely factors that affect their weight. There are no medical tests for this, just the process of systematic analysis - when all key variables are understood. I'm confident we could help you refine your diet and work toward decrease the wine intake to help you make this work. Dan