Drink far too much so giving it a miss for a month, to start! Not going to change eating or exercise habits, just going to see how much I lose simply from not drinking any alcohol.
Weigh exactly 16 stone at the moment 🙁 am reckoning I'll lose half a stone?
Anyone else tried this with success?
Managed two days last week, which I thought was a good effort
I know of someone who gave up drinking beer but replaced it with coke, ginger beer etc... surprisingly giving up the booze didn't have the weight loss effect that they were after 🙂
Two days - good effort mate!! That takes me to Tuesday, which is cricket training with a few beers with the lads after! We'll see!
Get your psychology right.
You're not giving up for a month - you are choosing not to drink because of reasons X, Y, and Z. Write the reasons down and refer to them when you think you want a drink.
If you can't do without alcohol for 4 weeks you are already an alcoholic and should consider professional help.
If you can't do without alcohol for 4 weeks you are already an alcoholic and should consider professional help.
Oh Shit!!!
SB 😉
Had a couple of glasses of wine last night, but that was the second time I've had alcohol in the last month. Once you start not drinking, it's easy to carry on. Just make it easy on yourself and avoid hanging around with people that drink.
Good advice Willard - only thing is it means I won't be able to see the other half, no comment!
"If you can't do without alcohol for 4 weeks you are already an alcoholic and should consider professional help" - oh, bollocks!
I gave up ale for a month.
Not consecutively, obviously.
Currently on a break from any form of calorific drink. 2 weeks in, plan to make it 5 then have a stag do ( could be very very messy)
It's not as hard as I thought, worse day was visiting 2 pubs in one day and only drinking tap water.
Weight is dropping off at the moment, dropped from 13st 1lb to 12st 9lb in that time. I'm also solely riding the new road bike and following a rough idave though...
willard - Member
Had a couple of glasses of wine last night, but that was the second time I've had alcohol in the last month. Once you start not drinking, it's easy to carry on. Just make it easy on yourself and avoid hanging around with people that [s]drink[/s] don't understand not wanting to drink.
I like periods of drinking loads. But then I like periods of not drinking too.
Remember : all generalisations are dangerous, especially this one.
Utterly pathetic that it's such a big deal to stop drinking alcohol for a month. Get a grip, seriously...
You will never manage it!!
God im finding it hard enough to stop drinking Monday to Friday .Im drinking Saturday and Sundays only at the moment .The trouble is I love real ale to much.
Loddrick has a point. I used to drink ALOT when I was 20-25 now 30 and fit as a fiddle. Lost a lot of weight.
It's not difficult...
Janesy - can't comment about Loddrik on the point that he is a total arse, in my opinion.
Why did you stop drinking? Have you stopped totally now, and is that why you are as 'fit as a fiddle'?
What about if you are fitter than a fiddle and still drink "too much"?
Anyway, day 1 off the ale going great here, am enjoying some white wine 
I've just started an alcohol sabbatical, I'm on day thirteen today. I've not changed my diet (indeed I've probably eaten a teeny bit more than usual) and I'm exercising the same as usual - five times a week.
I've lost about 1/3rd of a stone already...the handles have disappeared and I've got some muscle definition showing on my midriff.
I didn't drink for a month last year. To make sure I could, I suppose. The first Friday night felt strange. I did miss having my mid-ride pint a little. But it was easy. Make your mind up and do it, you'll be fine.
Haven't had any booze since mid-May now. Little potential health scare suggested I give it up at least until I got things checked out. Got the all clear last week but haven't really missed it enough to mop up the few ciders still in the fridge since then.
Half a mind to leave it for good now.
Not sure about weight loss (don't own any scales) but seem to be dropping inches - belt has gone in notch or two and my Sombrio shorts are now in need of replacement by a smaller pair.
slainte 😀 rob
I drank larger at that age and wanted a life style change.
I may have probably 3 pints per week tops. I just Don't feel the 'need' to drink. I fill my time with other priorities.
Such as cycling.
I was 15 stone, stopped drinking and now 11.5stone. I think around 13.5% body fat. I ride 150-200 miles a week and other fitness stuff.
I think stopping drinking was the catalyst for the change in the last 5 years. I'm now 30.
Cynical al - you can't be as fit as you could be with alcohol. Just my opinion.
Good on yer Janesy. You've got ten years on me but I think I could take a leaf out of your book 😆
I have cut down on my ale intake as I measured my belly and it was 40" 😯 after three weeks I got it down to 35 then after a few more ales than I should of over a few weeks I put another couple of inches on, so with me alcohol is the main culprit for putting on weight around my middle.
Almost a couple of years for me since I last had a drink.
Really don't miss it at all; so many benefits from not drinking.
Weight loss took a bit of time but I'm in as good shape now as I was 15 years ago.
Janesy - can't comment about Loddrik on the point that he is a total arse, in my opinion.
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Last drink for me for a week tonight, start 7 nights tomorrow & won't even think about alcohol until next Monday night. I then have 6 days off then do another set of nights. Might try & stay off the sauce for 3 or 4 weeks!
One guy I know at work has a couple of cans when he gets in from work on a morning!
Been on the wagon since 1st March, business socials are the hardest for me - long day at an exhibition and everyone grabs a beer. I found it easier to tell everyone I was stopping, no timescales, takes them a while but soon they just start bringing you juice.
To stop hitting the red wine in an evening, I subbed it for cranberry juice but in a wine glass.
Lost a couple of pounds and think I feel fitter - Good luck
I had a month off last January, then jan feb and march this year. Felt great, but I don't know if I could actually give up? I didn't actually lose much weight, but that wasn't the aim.
Have given up the bottle a couple of times for Lent (religious girlfriend, no other reason) and yes, the benefits are amazing. After about 3 weeks detox! Weight loss, feel brighter and fitter, increased appetite. My problem is, I like beer.
I'm now nearly 40, juggle a drink and bike pleasure, and feel the fittest I ever have in my life (since late teens)
Biggest problem with not drinking? Feeling like an alien in the pub! Simple as that....
i've tried drinking less, but i am weak. feierabend bier (after-work beer) is a given here in germany. i've got two beers left of a 20 bottle case that i bought on thursday this week. had four beers already tonight. six yesterday and i'm not due how many the nicht before that.
i could stop, but i then need something to replace it with. i could drink orange juice or watered-down apple juice but then i'll be shitting buckets.
the GF doesn't often drink and when she does she'll have a couple of beers or three or shandies and then stop. odd, seeing as she is bavarian....
i used not be able to go a day with somking a "J"... i've not had an urge to smoke in quite some time, but if i had someting to smoke i would drink so much.....
catch 22.
One guy I know at work has a couple of cans when he gets in from work on a morning!
six of us finished work at 4:45 on monday and cleaned off a crate before going home.... ❓
chris - let me know when you've stopped editing your post
LOL at any suggestion that you're an alcoholic if you can't go a month without a drink. Try giving up masturbating, the car, TV, the web, STW, bread, riding, wearing women's underwear, being miserable. Would it be any easier than giving up booze? I doubt it.
Moderation.
In denial eh?
Post edited DruidH, tippety-tapping on dial-up decade old Highland technology. Best start again.
I'm new to your opinion that if abstinence can't be maintained, then addiction is the cause.
Can you explain further?
If you can't do without alcohol for 4 weeks you are already an alcoholic and should consider professional help.
What about not wanting to do without? As in most things moderation is what matters. I doubt I've gone more than a couple of days without a drink in the last 35 years. Only been drunk once in the last year though.
Cutting out my chocolate and cheese habits and riding my bike every day is enough to drop my weight at the rate of two stones in two months or so while still enjoying a couple of beers most nights.
[i]six of us finished work at 4:45 on monday and cleaned off a crate before going home....[/i]
Excellent! Can I join in??
you can do it......if you WANT to!! 😀
Good luck chunky. I wish you the best.
If you can't do without alcohol for 4 weeks you are already an alcoholic and should consider professional help.
Says who? You? Chill out man, your opinion is rubbish and doesn't help the op.
Stopped drinking for, I think, a few months until a holiday. Feeling psychically a lot better, even if I don't think I've lost much weight. Best thing about it is being able to drive at night instead of spending $$$ on cabs.
You will sleep better and recover from rides quicker without booze.
I've not had a drink for about a month and feel better for it.. especially in the mornings.
Mine was to do with hangovers though as it had got to the stage where 1 beer or glass of wine could give me a headache for 1-2 days.
I'm sure if it was professional NHS help they would tell you to get lost and stop wasting there time, if is was private help then I'm sure they would gladly take your money. I've never heard of an alcoholic who already admits they drink too much. Good luck, you will feel better but life might get a tad boring at times.If you can't do without alcohol for 4 weeks you are already an alcoholic and should consider professional help.
If you can't do without alcohol for 4 weeks you are already an alcoholic and should consider professional help
Bit of an extreme comment.
However I do find it a pretty sad state of affairs when not having a beer for even a few days becomes some kind of massive issue.
On second thoughts, perhaps if there's such a dependence then the 'alcoholic' comment above isn't so extreme after all.
Not last Monday but the Monday before I didn't have a drink for the whole day. Also last Sunday lunchtime I didn't drink. Quite pleased with that but now aiming for a month off also.
If you can't do without [s]alcohol[/s] making pompous self-righteous statements for 4 weeks you are already an [s]alcoholic[/s] insufferable arse and should consider professional help
FTFY 😀
i struggle like mad to not drink in the week, but slowly getting it sorted. the net result is that i feel so much better, and i'm dropping weight very nicely (with a lot of help from the idave plan) - plus all the cash i save.
big thing i found was getting past that kids in bed, dinner done, work computer off - sit down and have some wine to relax habit.
so what i do is keep some sparkling spring water in the fridge for after dinner and at about 10.30pm have a horlicks light (the chocolate one, and yes i know not idave freindly but got to be better than a bottle of red) which utterly knocks me out.
I have recently switched to having a pint of shandy made with diet lemonade. I now prefer it to a regular beer - normally just have the one pint as I cook dinner then that's me done.
One sure-fire way of cutting out drinking at home is to have a wife who is tee-total, regularly states that she wishes you didn't drink alcohol, gives you a slightly sad disappointed look when you arrive home with a bottle of red in the shopping, and then uses most of it for cooking ...
😀