I am giving up beer for 30 days

[Dixon9717]

Congrats glad you made it. You have inspired me to become a more moderate drinker. Thanks for that and good luck to you.....

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

Well yesterday was hellish... I had a massive breakfast of pretty disgusting Paleo Meatloaf (yeah i know for breakfast) then a 50g protein shake, then ... gasp... no dinner... I had to up a huge tree that fell in mine and my neighbor's yard... 3.5 hours later... I lost 2lbs in water weight haha.

So i'm at 218.2 as of this morning!

 

[storytyme]

DAY 30 - it's over...

Thanks to all of you for the support. Without you I would have caved for sure, many times over. Kudos to all of you who are on your own quest too.

Tomorrow I will be embibing at Epic Brewing in Salt Lake. I will let you know how I feel on Friday morning.

Moderation must be my new mantra. Looking forward to trying many of my homebrews that have been collecting dust, and hopefully getting better with age.

Cheers and God Bless!!!

Great job!

 

[fsr_racer]

Day 25: Down 15lbs and finally into my summer jeans, with diet and other changes. I'm looking forward to the end, but don't plan on going crazy as vacation is just 2 weeks away.

 

[Rhumbline]

The 30 day experiment is done for me. Some days were tougher than others.

I think what I'll do from here out is to only drink with a meal, and no, I can no longer consider a bag of Doritos a meal. I just grilled some chicken and had a 12 oz beer that was kicking around in the fridge and that was pretty much all I was interested in having.

The final numbers:
I take no medication.
lost 13 pounds
Blood sugar is the best it's ever been
blood pressure is in the yellow zone, but for a 54 year old dude who's 35 pounds overweight i'll take it. I have to continue with the weight loss.

 

[Scriv]

Day 18: the weekdays are always easier for me. Walked 6 miles with my daughter today. My weight isn't dropping as quickly as I'd like, but that's life I guess. I'm 209 today, 190 is my goal.

12 to go.

 

[brewcat]

The 30 day experiment is done for me. Some days were tougher than others.

I think what I'll do from here out is to only drink with a meal, and no, I can no longer consider a bag of Doritos a meal. I just grilled some chicken and had a 12 oz beer that was kicking around in the fridge and that was pretty much all I was interested in having.

The final numbers:
I take no medication.
lost 13 pounds
Blood sugar is the best it's ever been
blood pressure is in the yellow zone, but for a 54 year old dude who's 35 pounds overweight i'll take it. I have to continue with the weight loss.

Beer with dinner is good policy. It gives you an after dinner beer option without it being your 3rd or 4th. I'm also contemplating going towards smaller glasses. I can always do half poors on the kegs but sometimes glasses just get full.

 

[Charles1968]

I recommended the Alcodroid app earlier on this thread as a good way to cut down on beer without giving up. Here are a couple of screenshots of my recent graphs. I've set alcohol units to US standard drinks.

 

[Charles1968]

 

[Charles1968]

You can see a drop at the start (Aug 2013) from my previous intake, which was higher. I don't know exactly how much as I wasn't monitoring.

I have a beer just about every day but find it easy to stick to just one by keeping an eye on the tally. This works for me as a way of enjoying beer yet staying well under the healthy limit (lower than normal in my case as I'm only 160 pounds).

 

[Scriv]

Day 19: having a hard time today, it's 105 here and a cold beer sounds fantastic. I'll get through it, but it's getting harder! Down a pound as of this morning, 208.

11 to go

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

DAY 31:

Off the wagon. It started by tasting a few samples at Epic Brewing. Amber. Pale Ale. Brainless. A couple IPAs.

Settled on a couple full pours of their "Escape to Colorado" IPA. Good beer. Their full pours are Utah pours, so maybe 9oz each - 6.2%.

Next I had a full 22oz of their lager (5.2%). Ended the evening with two Cutthroat Pale Ales from Uinta Brewing (4%).

Had to be up early to catch a flight back to San Diego, so I had a slight headache, but I think it was from only getting 4-5 hours of sleep.

The beers tasted great!

To all of you maintaining your vow of celibacy, keep up the good work!

 

[Firewalker11]

Day 19: having a hard time today, it's 105 here and a cold beer sounds fantastic. I'll get through it, but it's getting harder! Down a pound as of this morning, 208.

11 to go

Hang in there! I know its hard but stay the coarse.

 

[Scriv]

Hang in there! I know its hard but stay the coarse.

I'm trying! I cooked dinner tonight for my wife and a girlfriend of hers, they asked for Pliny with dinner. I poured two, and took a long deep breath of hop goodness while whispering "I miss you so much".

I'm joking about the whispering part... Kinda

That'll probably be my re-entry beer.

 

[Rhumbline]

Its still early in this phase but I think I may have stumbled on something that works for me. I'll have a beer with a meal and only then.

The way it has been going, I typically don't finish the entire beer with my meal, so I do get to relax and finish it, without snacking.

I don't plan on drinking during the week. But I'm not going to be religious about it. If im only having an occasional one and my weight isn't suffering, I'm ok.

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

Finally got to crack my Sam Adams Summer Ale clone last night.

Oh my was it good. Not spot on, but just as good. My version is clear, less wheaty, a little more peppery. Almost like a Hef with west coast ale yeast. I'm loving it.

Also enjoyed a bottle of my Hoppy As Hell wheat last night. Sofa king good.

Still monitoring my calorie intake...

 

[naturebrew]

Day 19: having a hard time today, it's 105 here and a cold beer sounds fantastic. I'll get through it, but it's getting harder! Down a pound as of this morning, 208.

11 to go

These days I find I nice tall glass of ice water the best on a hot day, 2/3 there, well done!

 

[Scriv]

Day 20: warm Saturday with family, just hanging out relaxing.

10 to go

 

[P_Bio]

Thank you all for starting this thread. It is an inspiration and something that I need to probably consider doing. I find that my sleep suffers the most from drinking. My weight is under control but that is only I am runner. I like to say I run so that I can drink.

How have you felt the days without beer have helped your sleep?

 

[Rhumbline]

...

How have you felt the days without beer have helped your sleep?

I can tell you that it had a dramatic effect on my quality of sleep and energy level. If you ever wake up feeling foggy or just dragging, you may like the change.

The best advice I could give is to try it for a week or two. For me the change was noticeable immediately. You don't have to jump in for the one month challenge right away.

I also cleaned up my eating habits at the same time so I can't truthfully say if it is all attributable to cutting back on alcohol but I suspect most of it is.

 

[Scriv]

How have you felt the days without beer have helped your sleep?

I eat "clean", exercise regularly, and have been alcohol free for 21 days now. I can't say I sleep any better, that being said I've always had sleep issues (more so when I drink) and I have an infant in the mix now, so this may be as good as it gets for me.

 

[P_Bio]

I eat "clean", exercise regularly, and have been alcohol free for 21 days now. I can't say I sleep any better, that being said I've always had sleep issues (more so when I drink) and I have an infant in the mix now, so this may be as good as it gets for me.

Very true! You can't judge sleep patterns with an infant! Good luck!

 

[jaydlaw]

i am currently losing while drinking beer. After going to my dr, he explained to me that losing weight is nothing more than a numbers game. since then i downloaded a calorie counter app for my phone and i don't go over 1450 calories (unless its friday, thats my free day). so far i lost 3 inches from my waist,and everyone is noticing. I should mention that my job doesn't require physical activity so 1450 calories may not work for everyone. when i find my phone, ill edit with the name of the app.

My Fitness Pal is the app.

 

[Scriv]

Day 21: nothing exciting today, just a peaceful Sunday.

9 to go.

 

[Scriv]

i am currently losing while drinking beer. After going to my dr, he explained to me that losing weight is nothing more than a numbers game. since then i downloaded a calorie counter app for my phone and i don't go over 1450 calories (unless its friday, thats my free day). so far i lost 3 inches from my waist,and everyone is noticing. I should mention that my job doesn't require physical activity so 1450 calories may not work for everyone. when i find my phone, ill edit with the name of the app.

My Fitness Pal is the app.

Agreed, it's just calories in versus calories out. Are you male? 1450 seems low.

 

[fsr_racer]

Day 29: Just today and tomorrow left. I made my goal summer vacation weight over the weekend, so I'm happy about that. I have 2 homebrews that haven't been tried yet chilling in the fridge. I plan to enjoy them Wed night while watching re-runs of The Flash.

 

[beersk]

Agreed, it's just calories in versus calories out. Are you male? 1450 seems low.

Yeah, 1450 is really low. I do MyFitnessPal as well. I've been doing a 16:8 intermittent fast eating schedule and finding it to be pretty easy. Just don't eat breakfast and eat a normal lunch and dinner. Works out great.

 

[jaydlaw]

Yeah I'm make. I'm making it work. I usually go over on Fridays but not by too much. It's working very well and I have a good amount to lose. That being said I lost a good amount

 

[Scriv]

Day 23: my buddy is upset that I won't be drinking at his 4th of July gathering. It is only 5 days early, but I'm going to stay on track and do all 30. We can drink anytime.

7 to go!

 

[jaydlaw]

Day 23: my buddy is upset that I won't be drinking at his 4th of July gathering. It is only 5 days early, but I'm going to stay on track and do all 30. We can drink anytime.

7 to go!

Good commitment, Stick to it!