Quick background. I’m 5’10", 162 lbs. and 53 years old. I was a competitive swimmer until my 20’s and got deep into Ironman, MTB racing, and endurance swimming at the age of 40. I’ve always been plagued by extra fat around my torso area (aptly named “Eugenes” after my father who passed down the trait) and I’ve struggled to get the ripped look I felt I earned with the massive amounts of training. I’ve tried keto, low-carb, low calorie, high protein, etc. etc. but could never lose my torso fat. It’s be nearly 15 years of frustration.
It was tradition to enjoy beers after long road or MTB ride. I fully adopted the “I’ve earned these beers” mentality and lived it. I still couldn’t understand why, with all the calories burned from my training why I couldn’t lose that extra belly fat, even with the beer and alcohol consumption. Interesting enough, my vitals, which I tracked obsessively, were screaming at me. The alcohol was piling on even more stress than the exercise itself, putting me into a perpetual catabolic state. I chose to ignore it. Compound that with all the extra calories and it was a recipe for failure.
This past January I decided to stop the excessive drinking and have a beer/drink or two at most per week. I’ll even go weeks with no alcohol if there’s no social gatherings. Well low-and-behold, with no changes to my training regiment, I lost the extra fat around my torso and trimmed up. I’m recovering exceptionally well, sleeping soundly nearly every night, and my general motivation is through the roof. It took about four months to get to where I am today, lean and super healthy, so it does take time.
I hope my small journey might help anyone struggling to find why they might not be reaching their potential.
I completely under-estimated how hard it would be and how much of my life revolved around drinking. Initially it was a struggle because I’ve been a drinker since I was young, but once you get past the first few weeks, it got much easier and now it’s my way of life.
I went dry for six weeks and didn’t notice any change in body comp, sleep or HRV. How much had you been drinking and when did you see a measurable change of any kind?
Same here, it’s what’s stopping me giving up totally, as if I saw benefits it’d be easier to outweigh the pull of the other option. I keep having breaks and feel/look exactly the same, and if anything sleep is worse!
Well done! Congrats! Alcohol remains a substance that causes addiction, it can be hard to put completely aside.
From my personal experience, I went from 1 or 2 bottles of wine a week + a few beers and/or strong alcohol (whisky, gin, etc) to 1 or 2 beers a week max and no strong alcohol anymore. This had mixed effects on me: better sleep and better recovery. Also, in periods of anxiety, having a beer would help to loosen up and calm down.
So I guess it’s again one of this “it depends” topic.
So much of many of the world’s cultures incorporate alcohol far too much for our own good in my opinion. Here in the states almost every single event/holiday is tied to alcohol, and for no other reason than people like the feeling of the effects, and it’s completely engrained in our society.
I’ve completely ditched alcohol and I can’t tell you how much better I feel on a daily basis. I used Whoop for a year a while back and there were major effects in my HRV, sleep quality, energy availability, recovery, and general quality of life each day after drinking.
I too started my relationship with alcohol when I was (far too) young and at one point I had a realization that this sticky habit was taking so much from me and only giving me a temporary and false sense of happiness.
I appreciate you sharing your story! Modern beers are not low in calories!
I stopped 2 years ago, had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, I have an addictive personality so it is nearly impossible for me to keep drugs like alcohol in moderation. Still have some relapses from time to time but it’s mostly under control. Sleep is way better and all health markers are up.
I thought this was quite good, and starts the exploration of the different ways different people are affected by alcohol. Its stimulated my curiosity again anyway.
I would say I was having a drink at least 3 x week, I was a gin drinker, and often drank way too much on the weekends. It took a few months to really see the positive physical affects. An unintentional consequence was my eating habits also changed. I was often eating the wrong foods while drinking and certainly post drinking when I was hungover even though my diet was really good when I wasn’t drinking. The ripple affect of removing the alcohol from my routine was extreme but all positive.
This! I noticed the alcohol consumption being a part of culture thing when I moved from the states to Argentina (although people here do drink a lot).
In the US the beer after an MTB ride, or after work was a real thing! It becomes part of the routine that we don’t notice it’s happening.
When I moved to Argentina I’d only drink at night if we went out to dinner, then becoming pregnant and being a mom practically cancelled out any type of drinking. People in our hometown are very outdoorsy, so the lifestyle plus no alcohol has become a norm and I feel great!
I do enjoy a good glass of wine or beer here and there, but life has definitely been better with little to no alcohol!
I feel incredibly lucky I was able to dip out of the craft beer world before I became too problematic. I was 28 when I had my last drink, celebrated 6 years sober 3 weeks ago. I definitely packed on lbs during that period, strained relationships and did more than a few things drunk I wasn’t proud of.
It isn’t easy, I truly believe without cycling I wouldn’t have stayed sober. Showing up to a group ride reeking from the night before wasn’t my proudest moment. Once I committed to cycling and training there was no room left time or diet wise for drinking. I don’t think much about it these days, but being 28 and sober was an interesting time for me. If anyone ever wants to reach out, I love talking about my journey and recommending what helped me in the early days.
Congrats! Alcohol became a huge waste of time for me, as it cut into quality time with my kids, reduced my performance at work, on the bike, gym, and life in general. I was sick more often and had recovery days where I didn’t accomplish a lot. I have < 10 drinks a year now, and after years of not drinking I don’t even consider it a “treat” for special occasions. It’s not that I’m some teetotaler, but I get more enjoyment out of feeling like I’m able to conquer the world than living in a self induced state of sub par well being.
Tracking sleep metrics, I can see a pronounced difference in sleep after just a single drink. When I reduced my already-small amount of drinking to an even smaller amount a couple years ago, I found that the resulting handful of nights of better sleep a month was absolutely enough to noticeably improve my recovery and ability to wake up feeling fresh for the morning group ride. That alone has made the change worthwhile for me!
I experienced the same negative effects @SeanHurley but it was after two beers or one spirit. You could visually quantify the increase in stress on system from my Garmin stress widget and my HRV from that night’s sleep went down drastically.
I personally don’t track HRV too closely, but alcohol visibly impacts my sleep time and stages, and my overnight heartrate is markedly higher. This correlates with how I’ve always felt (and what the science shows): an evening beer puts me right to sleep, but that sleep isn’t nearly as restful as it’d be without chemical assistance.
. Thanks for sharing 
It’s way better here than it used to be on the dark side.