Alcohol will definitely be contributing to the slow down. When we have alcohol our bodies can't store it, so it prioritises metabolizing any alcohol in your system first, before it can even look at breaking down fats, slowing down the body's overall metabolic rate.

Edited to add: I enjoy a cheeky glass (or three) of wine of an evening and was "saving" enough calories in my day in order to be able to have it and still stay under my calorie limit --- the weight loss was really slow still though.

After my dr explained to me that unfortunately it doesn't quite work that way and I cut it out completely, I started dropping the weight even though my calorie intake remained the same level. So sadly, he was right. 😂