[Closed] Benefits of not drinking?

The danger is habitual drinking; drinking every night. Not to excess, just 1-2 drinks EVERY night. I think thats what makes you sluggish/fouls you.

[i]The danger is habitual drinking; drinking every night. Not to excess, just 1-2 drinks EVERY night.[/i]

Agreed, especially when the habit creeps up from 1-2

Lost 5lb from not drinking for 2 nights which seems a bit alarming as there has been no other change in terms of exercise or diet. I guess the first pounds are the easy ones to lose.

Plus you have too much energy on your hands. Amazing how relaxed/lethargic a couple does to you every evening. I've started going to sleep at 11pm+ now (before it was 10pm). Last night I had to endure a whole hour of WRC action 😀

I tried abstaining a six years ago (we were trying for kids) and didn't lose *any* weight at all nor feel any better for it.

Over the last few years though I started drinking more and decided to cut back (I still drink at the weekend but leave it during the week) and that, coupled with increased exercise, has led to a 7kg weight reduction since last September. I have no idea which of the two has caused the biggest effect on my weight though.

And I sleep rubbish when I don't drink – very restless and easily woken by little sounds.

I lost 4 stone in the 9 months before I snapped my foot off by not living in hotels, eating hotel meals and drinking every night.

The first 2-3 stone disappeared pretty much on their own but the last one required a bit of exercise too.

Unfortunately 6 months in bed after the accident followed by a pretty depressing couple of years afterwards has put most of that back on again. Mainly down to the booze which is why I decided to cut it back. Let's see how it goes.

Since the start of this thread I have been amazed how many of the 'happy clappy' squad selling hypnotherapy and herbal enemas tell you that you will get great benefits and encourage you to think of the benefits and how it will all be worth it. From what I can tell from this thread the benefits are :

Spend less money
A bit more energy
A few less rough mornings
A bit of weight loss sometimes depending on where your calories come from

Whoop de friggin doop! I shall be joining the Thursday night slow ride for a beer in the garage 🙂

Well tonight was designated drinking night so lets see how it goes.

1/2 a bottle of wine in the sauna while Mrs WCA prepares food.
Other 1/2 with the food
A few beers with the boys when they return from the Thursday night ride

If I don't wake up with a cracking headache weighing 2 stone more I will be severely disappointed!

Cutting down not cutting out
I removed approx 30 pints of beer from my diet last week

[b]1st week Summary
[/b]Not feeling that much different
Evening TV seems even duller than usual
Lost 5lbs in weight

Target
41 lbs to go

I was originally thinking 1 pound a week was a steady and sustainable rate or weight loss which gave me a completion date in December.

I know I won't continue at the current rate but might up the target to 2 pounds a week which gives me a July target date.

The great thing about setting your own targets is you can adjust them to fit the achievements 🙂

Good luck WCA. Keep at it.

After my 30 days off I can report the effects!

6kg weight loss!

Went to the pub, got pissed on much less than I used to!

Normal service has now resumed 😆

[b]1st week Summary[/b]
Not feeling that much different
Evening TV seems even duller than usual
Lost 5lbs in weight
[b]Target[/b] - 41 lbs to go

[b]2nd week Summary[/b]
Not feeling that much different but went for 8.5 mile ride on Sunday
Seems strange to be relaxing in the hydrotherapy pool without a glass of wine
Lost 3lbs in weight
[b]Target[/b] - 38 lbs to go

I'm a bleeding saint when it comes to looking after myself, don't eat any crap and i'm as fit as f*** for 51, but i could never give up my ale. I don't really enjoy drinking at home, but just love going to the pub for a few real ales a couple of times a week.
A lot of people use alcohol as a stress buster, that's when the problems start, imo.

I, on the other hand, have been a heavy drinker since 14 or 15 and it has just become a habit. Normally beer or wine starting around dinner time and continuing until bed. The bit I am finding unusual is breaking the habit of just having a drink to end the day - not stress relief, just a pleasant end of the day marker.

This time last year I was getting through a couple of bottle of whisky a week, plus saturday afternoon cocktails, and a few beers here and there.

Went at this pace for most of the first six months of 2014.

Since then, I have the odd beer once or twice a month, normally less..

I feel a lot better, I'm not wasting my days feeling like shit, I can ride further, faster, lost weight.

It was the right decision, I would knock it on the head completely, other than I enjoy the odd pint at a local restaurant here that imports fancy beers on tap.

It has certainly made me happier as well.

Try a shot of empathy as a chaser when you're next having a round.

+1 DD. Just passed the another anniversary of the death of a university friend for whom alcohol was too much a part of his life. He died the day before his 28th birthday.

I raise a glass to him now and again. The silly sod.

I drink pretty moderately, though have found that more time away from home with work means I'm more likely to have midweek drinks than I would do when at home.

And I have hated getting drunk for years - for no other reason than I hate hangovers. Rarely drink more than a few pints when I go out and, being a parent, that's about once a year!

Well I had a long discussion with a bottle of Scotch last night about the state of my ankle and what the Doctor is proposing and fell like crap this morning.

Not sure this is due to 2 weeks without whiskey or 4 hours with Whiskey!

I don't drink at all and haven't for about 10 years.
I think it's great.
There you go; an unqualified recommendation 🙂

[i]I removed approx 30 pints of beer from my diet last week[/i]

😯

that is a lot of drink

[i]that is a lot of drink [/i]

4 nights worth

4 nights worth? Lightweight! 😀

I don't think I could actually drink that much, I'd just wee constantly 😆

After not drinking for a month I didn't think I felt any different but looking at the miles I am doing on the bike now it's obviously helped something. And I paid my overdraft off with the money saved. Which was nice.

Having had an almost dry January / Feb, had a bottle of wine with the wife last night over dinner (my B'day). Both felt very rough this am (I've been awake since 4am with a hangover).

So not drinking certainly ruins your tolerance to a few glasses of vino....

WCA, despite what I said in January, by not drinking for the month, I seem to have broken the mental habit.

The bit I am finding unusual is breaking the habit of just having a drink to end the day

Just not going to the fridge of an evening now! And I've got really pissed really quickly on 2 occasions, something I'll have to grow out of before the BBB 😆

Just back from the Doctors so thought I would give a quick update.

The cutting out drink totally has become cutting down dramatically.

The weight has gone from 17st 10 down to 15st 10.

The blood pressure has gone from 162/84 down to 132/76.

This includes a couple of 4 week periods where I wasn't exercising much as I had ****ted my ankle again and was on crutches / stick and a boozy holiday and 20th wedding anniversary.

So weight heading the right direction.
Blood pressure gone from high to normal.

Impressive !

What you reckon weekly consumption is now, on average ?

I have been advised not to admit it on a public forum. Answer the question 🙂

😀

During my first year at university I had bloods taken and found my liver alt or ast value I forget which one was 10 times what it should be and that was just binge drinking on Fridays and Saturdays (less than most of my peers). I never felt bad and I don't feel better now (hangovers aside) that my drinking has been massively reduced, but it's worth it rather than risking liver disease

WCA in your case just reduce right down to weekends only.

I do think your intake was/is crackers.

When its ****ed you royally up its too late to say 'ok wish I'd done something'

My bestmate called me and told me hes mum had died. Aged 42 from liver failure after a very short illness. The cruelest thing is just before she died she made a recovery, sat up, ate like normal then was dead.

Apparently this happens.

I find cutting out makes me sleep better and have more energy, which I like, as I work to live and prefer to have energy in my spare time to do stuff I like.

A couple in the evenings is hard to turn down though!

A pal who drinks a LOT, not far off functioning alcoholic, got a liver test recently and was told to go home, there was nothing wrong.

Now gone a couple of weeks without any alcohol, can't say i miss it, feel better for it and the money i'm saving has got me thinking about a sporty little motor.
Another plus, is i'm no longer struggling to hang on to my six pack.

^how much were you drinking?

Everytime I've had a break from drinking I find when I return to it I can't cope with as much volume and get worse hangovers on small stupid amounts of booze. Therefore its a self promoting activity.

For example, discovering that a G&T with a slimline "t" is only 52 cals and I can only manage 3 is a calorific win.

Haven't touched a drop in five years. Happier, fitter, healthier and don't lose any bike/surf time to hangovers.

Don't miss it a bit.

WCA congratulations, it's not a medical version of rocket science to say you are in a much better place and what you've done isn't easy, in fact beyond most people. Respect and Chapeau. Hope to catch up sometime in person to say the same face to face.

Good work fella! 🙂

[i] Hope to catch up sometime in person to say the same face to face. [/i]

At the bar at the Big Bike Bash?

😉