I quit alcohol for a month and lost 8 pounds with no other change. AMA

dfa wrote:

Subject line says it all.

Feeling a lot better overall.

Do I miss a drink or two? Why not. Nothing beats pounding a cold one after a long run.

That said, had to do it to lose some weight ahead of Boston.

How much were you previously drinking on average each week? Did you feel better on runs this past month?

Congrats man.

dfa wrote:

Subject line says it all.

Feeling a lot better overall.

Do I miss a drink or two? Why not. Nothing beats pounding a cold one after a long run.

That said, had to do it to lose some weight ahead of Boston.

Congrats, don't go back to drinking a single beer the rest of your life.

Maybe it's because I'm younger, but I never really understood the appeal of drinking during a normal day. I only drink socially, I've never just sat down and had a beer after one of my runs before. How did that get started?

1. Drinks per week (~20 servings)

- I was borderline alcoholic. I'd run about 65-70mpw, with about 5-6 runs. After each run, I'd make a stop at Rite Aid, and grab a Miller High Life tall boy.

- I'd stop there on most days, unless I had a particularly stressful day at work. That'd mean that I'd go back down to a Bodega down the street to grab another one.

- If I had a really bad day, I'd just go to Safeway and grab a 0.5L Jack and try to finish half of it.

2. Why did I stop

To be honest, I like drinking. That said, I thought it's a problem that I wasn't losing weight after 70mpw weeks.

I just wanted to run faster and PR at Boston. That's why I stopped for this month. No other reason.

dfa wrote:

Subject line says it all.

Feeling a lot better overall.

Do I miss a drink or two? Why not. Nothing beats pounding a cold one after a long run.

That said, had to do it to lose some weight ahead of Boston.

If you lost 8 pounds in a month with no other change other than stopping drinking of alcohol, then you are an alcoholic and you should never drink again. Don't kid yourself. You weren't just pounding one cold one after a long run. So, maybe two long runs a week, so 8 beers in a month. Count on 180 calories per beer. 180x8=1440 calories. There are 3500 calories in a pound, so 8 beers isn't even a half a pound worth of calories.

Be honest with yourself.

You are right.

Above I wrote down "borderline alcoholic" - but I guess I was an alcoholic.

On the surface, I'm a pretty well put together dude, but I haven't found much else to do but drink after 8pm on most days.

Do you go to the graveyard to “pound a cold one?”

dfa wrote:

You are right.

Above I wrote down "borderline alcoholic" - but I guess I was an alcoholic.

On the surface, I'm a pretty well put together dude, but I haven't found much else to do but drink after 8pm on most days.

Any activity at all is better than drinking and being an alcoholic. Congrats on this big step, I hope you do the right thing and hang up the alcohol for good.

You just have to accept that there are going to be good days and there are going to be bad days, and there are going to be really bad days. This realization is what helped me stop smoking marijuana for good, 2.5 years ago. I haven't had a drink since then either.

Bad days are a part of life, we just have to face them head on like a man, and appreciate the fact that we ultimately handle the ups and downs of life much better if we are living completely sober.

dfa wrote:

You are right.

Above I wrote down "borderline alcoholic" - but I guess I was an alcoholic.

On the surface, I'm a pretty well put together dude, but I haven't found much else to do but drink after 8pm on most days.

Well, key to not being a drunk is to recognize you have a problem, and it looks like you have. You don't want to have to get a new liver. Connections now to many kinds of cancer even based on one drink a day. I wish you luck.

Do you plan to go another 20 months and waste away to nothing? Be careful.

Yes, do not ever even have one more drink. It's insidious stuff even though it feels good. I watched all kinds of good and healthy people turn into the complete opposite. My father was a noted executive. We had very nice things growing up but in my teens these started to go away. It wasn't until years later I learned my father wasn't away at business meetings - he was at the bar! One cold winter day I got a call that he was found at a department store in only his underwear his trying to use an expired credit. Alcohol is finish!

I used to drink. Then one day I just "No more, ever." and that was it. I have never even had the desire to drink again. Running keeps me healthy now.

dfa wrote:

1. Drinks per week (~20 servings)

- I was borderline alcoholic. I'd run about 65-70mpw, with about 5-6 runs. After each run, I'd make a stop at Rite Aid, and grab a Miller High Life tall boy.

- I'd stop there on most days, unless I had a particularly stressful day at work. That'd mean that I'd go back down to a Bodega down the street to grab another one.

- If I had a really bad day, I'd just go to Safeway and grab a 0.5L Jack and try to finish half of it.

2. Why did I stop

To be honest, I like drinking. That said, I thought it's a problem that I wasn't losing weight after 70mpw weeks.

I just wanted to run faster and PR at Boston. That's why I stopped for this month. No other reason.

for example;

Wow.

(It does not look like the CH3CH2OH 'problem' went very well.)

. . . Interesting . . .

SomeoneWhoKnows wrote:

If you lost 8 pounds in a month with no other change other than stopping drinking of alcohol, then you are an alcoholic and you should never drink again. Don't kid yourself. You weren't just pounding one cold one after a long run. So, maybe two long runs a week, so 8 beers in a month. Count on 180 calories per beer. 180x8=1440 calories. There are 3500 calories in a pound, so 8 beers isn't even a half a pound worth of calories.

Be honest with yourself.

Alcohol encourages water retention. He/she probably lost quite a bit of water as part of that 8lb.

always quit for about 3 weeks prior to Boston... the least i have lost is 3 pounds

alcoholic drinks have a lot of empty calories

dfa wrote:

You are right.

Above I wrote down "borderline alcoholic" - but I guess I was an alcoholic.

On the surface, I'm a pretty well put together dude, but I haven't found much else to do but drink after 8pm on most days.

Been there.

Wasn't necessarily an alcoholic in the sense I couldn't stop or I'd have some kind of health-related issue or that I would black out, but I had an extremely bad relationship with alcohol (i.e., drinking almost daily, drinking vodka in the morning just to get through the day, etc.).

Stopped drinking ~6 months ago. Dropped over 40 lbs and now maintain a great weight for me. I've had 3 beers since then (two work parties and a Christmas party) and didn't really want one, but just wanted to be social.

Now I just toke up once or twice a weekend to relax (have a great vaporizer, so I don't have lung/breathing issues). I will never go back to drinking. It kills your health.

aoxomoxoa wrote:

i.e., drinking almost daily, drinking vodka in the morning just to get through the day, etc.

Were you able to train while drinking like that?

Saturday night I made a conscious decision to cease drinking beer for as long as possible. I enjoy craft beers, and I've noticed that I'm consuming 2-3 beers 3-4 times a week. Really crept up on me. I rarely ever just drink "1" though. Once it hits your lips...

Uncle Rico wrote:

Saturday night I made a conscious decision to cease drinking beer for as long as possible. I enjoy craft beers, and I've noticed that I'm consuming 2-3 beers 3-4 times a week. Really crept up on me. I rarely ever just drink "1" though. Once it hits your lips...

What's wrong with 2-3 beers 3-4 times a week? That seems like low to moderate alcohol consumption.

I had a friend in our running club. I knew he ran marathons, but he looked like a non-runner, which I found curious. Until one day we went over to his apartment and I found he had installed a beer tap in his kitchen. He basically drank back all the calories he burned running.