Going cold turkey - 1 month booze ban!

Blueminerva

Blueminerva

New member
Hey guys!

I lost a lot of weight at the start of the year (30lbs or so) which puts me within 30lbs of my ultimate goal (154lbs). During the last 3 months I've quit the gym (for money reasons and because I was getting bored), and started cycling to and from work instead (40 mins a day, 14km-ish).

Recently I've started backsliding on the cycling, and as a result I've put about 3lbs back on. I put this down to eating a bit more garbage (I've visited the dreaded golden arches more than once...), doing less exercise and above all: drinking.

I'm quite a big drinker. I'm not an alcoholic by any means, but I do tend to binge on big nights out (a common problem in the UK!). To this end I forced myself to calculate some (excuse the pun) sobering facts today.

I drink around 30-40 units of alcohol a week, mostly beer. Using values I found on , I calculated that in an average week:

I spend around £50 on alcohol.
I consume around 3,500 calories in alcohol alone.

This equates to about a pound a week of weight solely from drinking, which is totally unacceptable, as well as £200 a month spent purely on beer!

To this end I am proposing to go one month without consuming any alcohol whatsoever. Not only will this help me lose weight and save money, but also hopefully build up some self-control when I go to the pub with my friends and order a lime and soda instead of a pint!

My goals for this month are:

1. Lose weight (theoretically I should lose around 4lbs from this one action alone, combined with an increased effort to start cycling to and from work again).

2. Feel healthier

3. Save money!

If I get through the whole month I'm going to go and spend all the money I've saved on cool stuff as a treat, because if I'm going to slog I should at least get a reward!

I'll be recording my experiences and thoughts here if anyone else is interested. If you're in a similar situation and you'd like to try and get through the month with me then that would be even better! I'm starting TODAY (no time like the present!), so if this strikes a chord with anyone it'd be great to hear from you! We could even have mini AA meetings...

Luke x
 
OK, so I'm halfway through day 2.

I think I cleared a hurdle last night when a couple of mates came over to watch Match of the Day and I refused a can of lager when my mate handed it to me - probably the first time that's ever happened! I also managed to sit in a room with 3 other people who were drinking alcohol and drink squash, which is a very new experience!

I opened a can of diet cola just now but I'm not sure I even want that. Might just stick to water and coffee. I wonder if there'll be a 3-day hump....

Stay tuned to find out :S
 
Hi Blue and welcome to the forum!

Blueminerva said:
OK, so I'm halfway through day 2.

I think I cleared a hurdle last night when a couple of mates came over to watch Match of the Day and I refused a can of lager when my mate handed it to me - probably the first time that's ever happened! I also managed to sit in a room with 3 other people who were drinking alcohol and drink squash, which is a very new experience!
Click to expand...

Nice job overcoming that temptation!! It's usually hardest when you are with a group of friends so way to go!! Looks like you are off to a great start :)
 
Thanks mate! :)

I've started exercising when I get home too - just cycled 20 mins from work, so why not do some pressups and crunches when I get back as I'm already warmed up?

If I can keep up cycling to and from work every day and squeeze in a cheeky 15 minute session when I get home, it'll be equivalent to a 55 min workout per day! That plus no alcohol equals mega calorie save-age!

Assuming I usually have 2 pints a day, I'm already saving 450 odd calories a day (!) Add 40 mins of cycling a day at a rough estimate of 400 calories of burnage (cycling along broken up tarmac in a headwind is hard!), plus the 15 minute mini-workout at home which probably burns another 120 odd, and that's almost 1000 calories a day saved!! That's almost 2 pounds a week!! Add to the fact I'm eating around 1800-1900 calories a day (for my weight it should be about 2550) and that's a huge saving!

Sorry if it sounds like I'm bigging myself up or anything, but it really is helping me to write all this stuff down. If I keep a note of how much I've accomplished it might stop me from just jacking it all in and grabbing a pizza and a beer like I usually do :ack2:

I'm gonna add the amount of calories I've saved so far based on all this stuff to the end of every post just for my own motivation!

Calories saved so far (2 days in) = 1820
 
Blue,

Keep up the good work, it will only get easier as time moves on.

I too have recently (jun 17) drastically changed my alcohol consumption. It was just getting in the way of what I want to do with myself too much. I went about 5 weeks without a drink, and since then I have had alcohol, but in small and infrequent doses.

On Jun 24 (after the alcohol fog cleared from my head) I decided to start eating better and getting some exercise as well. Since then, I have lost an even 30 pounds! I feel MUCH better, sleep MUCH better, dropped a full pants size, and am really enjoying my workouts.

I am working with a professional counselor on keeping my alcohol consumption in a healthy range, as for many many years I drank very similar to what you described. Not an alcoholic per se, but definitely a habitual drinker. During my first session with this counselor she added up the calorie intake for the drinking I told her I was doing....a whopping 4000 calories per week...no wonder I was a big tub of lard!

I wish you all the best in you 30 days, and encourage you to take this time to carefully plan for what you want your alcohol consumption to be after the 30 days. I have done many sessions like you are on, but always ended up back in my old habits because I had not taken that 30 days to put together my limits and plans on how to acheive them.

Good luck and keep going!

Dave
 
Thanks for the support and advice guys :)

I'm one week in and I still haven't caved - this is definitely a new personal best! It's probably the longest I've been without a drink since I was 17 :S (I'm now 23!)

I've had a couple of weird side-effects - my bowel movements have been irregular and a little odd (I'm sure you all wanted to know that :p), and I've also had a slight headache/muscular pain behind my eyes which has lingered for the last couple of days. I woke up last Thursday at 7:30am with a pounding headache and thought I had swine flu (no joke!), but a couple of hours extra sleep sorted that out. The headache has faded to almost nothing today, and I've been eating lots of fibre and veggies to try and solve the other problem!

The upside is I feel less bloated and it already shows. My friend at work commented that I looked thinner yesterday, which means the beer belly must be beginning to melt a little. I've also noticed my skin has cleared up a lot since I'm now drinking only water and black sugarless coffee (though I should probably cut down on the coffee as I'm up to almost 4 cups a day!)

The all important weigh-in reveals I've managed to lose one whole pound between now and last week! I know that's not loads, but every little helps right? ;) My exercise level has stepped up from sedentary to moderate, and my diet from semi-healthy to pretty healthy (less junk food and treats, more veggies and fruit), but I'm still waiting for my body to respond to this (I'm expecting slightly better results next week!)

As for the alcohol elimination, since we're on the week mark that means a saving of:

3500 calories (which explains the missing pound of weight!) and £50 so far! Since I've decided to reward myself each week to keep the focus on I've decided week 1's treat shall be a new pair of trainers :D

Next weekend is where the real challenge begins as it'll be my first weekend so far when I haven't got a shift at work, so there'll be inevitable invites to go drinking! Watch this space for updates...
 
keep up the good work!! I'm doing the same thing. Well I'm calling it a 'Commitment' Its a commitment to myself not to drink until my birthday and while i'm attempting to lose weight. I started 8/7 my birthday is 9/19. i dont drink beer but i love mixed drinks. So far so good, although hubby brought a big bottle of ciroc and i got tempted. but i didnt give in!!! i will continue to come and check on your progress. you can do it!!
 
Just thought I would see how you are going two months down the line. What were the end results like? did you last the full 30 days? Just started my first serious attempt at a 30 day ban and I am worried that it will be almost impossible to do, especially as everything revolves around drinking. I am two days in and while I have not had any serious temptations, the thursday night outings are getting close. I have to say I liked your idea of blogging and you did inspire me to do the same.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top