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Giving up beer for a month


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I had my last beer on July 6th of this year. Until then, I used to average about 5-to-10, 12oz bottles of beer per week. I tend to like easier beers like lagers and porters, and try to stay away from hoppy stuff (gives me headaches). I don't drink any other adult beverage, except perhaps a glass of wine once in a blue moon.

 

I'm 39 and have enjoyed beer for over 20 years now. I've noticed over the last few years that beer makes me extremely lethargic. I get cranky, impatient, down, and generally unwilling to do anything even after two beers. With two little kids, it has made it that much more difficult to enjoy an afternoon beer over the weekends, or a happy hour or a late night beer during the week. So, I decided to see how it would feel to go alcohol free for a month. Here are my observations:

 

- I sleep noticeably better, but not by a huge factor. 

- I definitely feel much less bloated.

- I feel less lethargic and more 'available' to do stuff.

- However, no weight loss, probably because I did not have much of an excess weight. 

- Spending about 20-30% less when eating out. Beer is expensive!

- No change in work productivity, creativity etc. 

 

So I have noticed some changes, but to my slight disappointment, it has not been a new awakening or anything that I would like to continue this indefinitely. I will probably drink here and there, especially with the fall around the corner. Anyway, this is something I wanted to try for a while, and now I did, just thought I would share my honest observations. 

 

Do you also feel lethargic with beer and if so how do you incorporate it into your daily life especially if you have a family and endless chores to run? 

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Hi mate,

 

Firstly, congratulations on having the courage to recognise the impact that alcohol may be having on your body, and then again for exhibiting control. 

This is a wonderful step in your life and one that your children will really appreciate in the years to come. 

I'll shoot you a PM with some more relevant stuff, but I think you'll find an overwhelming amount of support from us.

 

Cheers! (With a ginger beer of course) 

 

 

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It was much easier than I thought it would be. Occasionally, the beer commercials would make me reconsider my commitment but it hasn't been difficult to suppress that urge. Again, I will likely drink here and there, but my biggest issue is the lethargy that quickly sets in after two beers. Never had that until a few years ago. Just age I guess. That's why I have been curious if anyone else has felt the same way and if so what your solution is. 

 

That, and how anti-climactic this whole thing was :) So, unless you're a heavy drinker, don't expect results like this even after a few years:

http://www.boredpanda.com/before-after-sobriety-quit-drinking-user-submissions/

 

On 8/10/2017 at 11:07 AM, thewildscrotum said:

Hi mate,

 

Firstly, congratulations on having the courage to recognise the impact that alcohol may be having on your body, and then again for exhibiting control. 

This is a wonderful step in your life and one that your children will really appreciate in the years to come. 

I'll shoot you a PM with some more relevant stuff, but I think you'll find an overwhelming amount of support from us.

 

Cheers! (With a ginger beer of course) 

 

Thank you and thanks a lot for your PMs too. I will certainly get back to you if I have questions on what you said. 

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25 or so years ago, I did two things - A. quit smoking and B. Quit drinking booze(beer, liquor and wine).  Quit both cold turkey but not at the same time (that would probably have killed me - or drove me crazy!)

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I gave up tobacco, cold turkey, 26 years ago.

After some years of fairly heavy drinking for most of my 20's, I met a girl and we married and settled down. I didn't quit drinking. I just didn't go out very often and didn't really drink ay home. Sometime in the early 2000's I read a newspaper article about the benefits of light alcohol consumption. Something along the lines of one drink/beer about every other day. I started doing that right up to about a year ago. As I'm now in my early 60's and retired, I noticed my blood pressure was going up. I needed to lose some weight, so along with a lighted diet, I cut back on my booze intake. So I have a beer or rum & coke about once every week or two.

 

 

Chris

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I made it for close to four months last year. Had my last beer in the middle of November of 2015 and didn't have another until the first couple days of March 2016. At the time, I was drinking 3 or 4 a night. Since then, I'm averaging about 3 or 4 a week, sometimes even fewer. Believe it or not, one thing I did to force myself to drink less was to buy more expensive and better beer. Innis and Gunn is between $11 and $16 for a pack of FOUR, depending on which one it is and where it is purchased from. Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale is pretty expensive too. However, they are damn good beers! Spending that much for beer pretty much guarantees they're going to last a few days. As far as liquor goes, I have a glass (or two) of whiskey every weekend.

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Quitting is for losers. I love that line. Best of luck to all of you. Never had an alcohol issue but I did smoke for twenty years. I quit cold turkey for a girl.  We didn't last long but I still don't smoke.

Edited by Slartibartfast
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i found this all very interesting.

I like to drink.  Can't do it as much as I used to, but there you are.

I also liked to smoke.  I quit.  I think I quit for health reasons, or because I couldn't stand the smell anymore. Plus, my insurance at work started adding a surcharge of about 60 bucks a paycheck if you smoke.  Bummer that.

Still drink.  Not much beer.  it's bad for Gout from what I hear.  if any of you have gout, you'll know what I mean when I say a few beers isn't worth a gout flare.

That being said, I will have one or two when working on the car or after I mow the grass, etc.  Seems to be the best thing in the world at those times.  Cold, Refreshing, Manly.

and as long as I don't over indulge, I'm okay gout wise.

 

I like Bourbon (Jim Beam, Knob Creek) / Whiskey (Jack Daniels) (Jack is a Tennessee Whiskey, not a Bourbon), and a really good Tequila.

Wine, A good sturdy Red with a man sized steak. Port with dessert, or just Port.

A really nice Tom Collins (that's Gin for those that are interested.) for the modelling bench.

Nice and Cold, Tart with just enough Gin to steady the hand or chill the nerves for some of the more fiddly bits.

Wait, now I sound like a lush...I swear I'm not...I don't have a Problem!

:whistle:

 

Honestly, I think I have between two to four drinks a week.  Including the wine/port.

I guess I could quit if I wanted to, but I don't want to.

I have in the past, for one reason or another, but I don't think I saw a health difference either way.

Perhaps there is a long term difference, but so far at 56, I don't know what it would be.

I have the standard crap that everyone has when you hit 50.

 

I would probably be better off giving up most of the types of food I eat, or just the shear quantity...

 

 

Jester

 

 

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6 hours ago, Slartibartfast said:

Quitting is for losers. I love that line. Best of luck to all of you. Never had an alcohol issue but I did smoke for twenty years. I quit cold turkey for a girl.  We didn't last long but I still don't smoke.

 

I quit cold when we were expecting our first baby. I must say it went much easier than I thought it would.

 

 

Chris

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I gave up beer for a month to see if it affected my weight. I'm about 200lbs and should be maybe 175 at most. I love beer and everyone calls me a beer snob. I'll drink a 12 pack a week easily. 

 

Anyway getting off beer for the month made me gain weight. So back to beer I went. 

 

I have noticed that if I drink too much beer I do get rather cranky. Liquor usually makes me silly. 

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I use to love my beers.  It always had a side effect of making my face and neck flush.  Other than that, no problems. In the past year or so though, it has started causing severe sinus blockage about the time I start my third.  About 3 months ago I gave it up except for the occasional one or maybe two with dinner.  No longer can I sit on the beach all day and enjoy 6-12 beers like I used to do. 

 

Recently wine has been giving me one hell of a headache if I drink beyond 3 glasses.

 

So I'm falling back on my old friend Scotch.  But just this past vacation my future daughter in law introduced gin and tonic to me. hard liquor seems to sit well with me.

 

Three months back I gave up all diet additives and all sodas. Leg and foot pains are now a thing of the past.  Amazing how much better I feel getting those chemicals out of my body.

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hey Scott.

The leg and foot pain thing.  do you think you can attribute a large portion of that to the Soda?  Are we talking Diet Soda?

I have horrible leg and foot pain, like I have muscle cramps all the time but no cramp, or tendonitis all the time without and injury...

Not to high-jack or anything....

Jester

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Yes sir!  I stopped with all diet sodas and the difference was apparent.  I switched to regular sodas, but the sugar was just too strong so I gave them up also.  After about a week I noticed a huge difference.  Just for giggles and grins, I had a couple of sodas and the next day, pain was back with a vengeance.  Haven't touched them since. 

 

Your pains sound a lot like mine were.  I'm talking about limping two blocks walking in to work every morning. Tendons around knees hurting all the time, unexplained foot cramps, like a pop in the top of the foot and hurting like hell for 20-30 minutes.  Aching leg muscles off and on.  I mentioned this to my doc and he suspected Spinal Stenosis due to past back injuries.  Had an MRI and sure enough, I do have Stenosis.  To this day I will get weakness in my legs, but nothing like I was having in the past. I was struggling to walk up and down stairs. Outside temps (hot weather) is hard on me too.  But removing sodas from the diet has made a major improvement in my life.

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I've never drunk diet soda. Can't stand that background flavour. I used to drink a can of Coke Classic at work every day but stopped that about 10 years ago. Now I drink one of those small cans every once in a while, but I usually dilute it down a bit.

 

Cappy

 

 

 

Chris

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:) That reminds me of my late grandpa. When my mom was not around, he would hand me or my cousins cash to 'go get a large bottle of coke for dinner.' Dinner time, we would each have our glasses of coke. Grandpa's always had a lighter, cloudier color, as his would be half vodka from his secret stash in the kitchen :) He somehow thought nobody knew what was going on.  

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Gave up drinking beer, any alcohol for that matter years ago, never looked back, I'd rather have a cold icy coke any day of the week than a beer.

 

One thing about it though that I get fed up with, is having to explain to people why you dont drink at all, people seem to think you cant go out, or to a bbq or something and enjoy yourself without drinking, that mindset really p****s me off!

 

Cheer's,

Jeff.

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I guess I'm the odd duck here. I haven't had a drop of alcohol in my life. It's not because I'm against it, though the POTENTIAL effects are devastating. There are four factors that did it for me. One, there is alcoholism that runs in my extended family, two I drink because I'm thirsty, and I drink a lot, three I don't like being out of control in my decision making, and four I was a firefighter/EMT and saw what effects alcohol caused in accidents. It wasn't pretty! I have a very outgoing personality, so I don't need alcohol to "loosen up". I'm also a very relaxed person, so I don't need alcohol for that either. The smell puts me off, so I can imagine that the taste would too. So, there you have my odd ball story of why I've never drank.

Edited by Darren Roberts
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Nothing odd about that. I often take breaks from the occasional drink and I too get treated like a nut case when I do.  

 

I was on on one of my breaks one time and a friend insisted I drink with him and he ordered me a Scotch on his tab.  It sat there all night untouched. 

 

He got the point. 

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14 hours ago, Gambler said:

 

I haven't got time to read all about [Asimov],  could you explain what he has in common with me?

He didn't drink alcohol.  He also didn't care for ice in his drink. At parties, he had trouble making his hosts believe he really wanted water without ice.

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2 hours ago, Slartibartfast said:

He didn't drink alcohol.  He also didn't care for ice in his drink. At parties, he had trouble making his hosts believe he really wanted water without ice.

 

Right,...thanks for the explanation.

 

Jeff.

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