Stopped Drinking Alcohol

Allerigies caused me to stop. I didn’t drink regularly, but did (and do) love a good beer. For a few years tried different types of drink with no luck… In the end, it was easier to stop drinking and remove wheat from my diet. The first thing I noticed was the slight headache I always seemed to have went away (and no, it wasn’t they type of headache that came from a good night out :grin:). Unfortunately, my w/kg isn’t seeing the gains one would expect from this… I still love GF pasta! Once or twice a year I still sneak a Guiness in following a long ride on a hot day.

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What searching I’ve done yielded nothing very conclusive and a lot of “it depends”. IMHO 2 beers a week would just be mixed in with the noise and have close to zero affect on performance. But I do not know. I’ll keep looking just out of curiosity. Anyone?

IMO if the extra calorioes aren’t a concern it’s fine (assuming all 3 aren’t right before the start :grin:)

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If two or three beers would have an impact (not saying they have or don’t, just hypothetical) I don’t think the calories would have the biggest impact on your training.

I would think that the alcohol would have an effect on your liver and brain, which would have a bigger impact on your recovery and training rather than the extra calories

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Thanks. I’d not considered that. I’ll try reading for 20 mins or so with the TV switched off before going to bed.

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At the risk of derailing your non-drinking, Cider doesn’t contain wheat.

@willball12. I have exercise induced anaphylaxsis, staying away from alcohol and nsaids is something I have to do in addition to eliminating the wheat protien.

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I may try a year without drinking. Probably average a beer or two a month.

Do you write contract language by chance? :joy::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Apologies, I assumed coeliac disease from your mention of wheat.

Glad I saw this post. I have decided to also have some time off alcohol. I have gradually put on 5KG from May in 2018 despite training reasonably well during that time. We had our second baby and fell into the habit of a few drinks at night for sanity.

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Second on the way here next month. I fell off the training wagon with #1. TrainerRoad is my answer to that this time. I figure I can probably noodle through low volume this year if needed… something better than nothing, and on topic, I tend to drink a lot less when I have workouts to look toward.

Oh, and the Kickr Core for beer exchange worked… Core arrives on Wednesday.

So far just four drinks this month: two beers and two glasses of wine with wife. All conscious choices of mine instead of habit or urge, which is my goal - break the habit of comfort drinking every night before it becomes more than one a night, and then keep it broken.

I stopped drinking radically about 7 years ago, nowadays, perhaps an odd glass of wine on occasion. But I eat tons of cheese and can’t get out of this addiction! If I had unlimited supply I would live just on it alone… I mean, that can be 200-400g in one evening at times.

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My off the booze was going so well. But Last few days I’ve been hit with a particularly average bought of man flu :sneezing_face: - don’t think it’s fatal - but I tried to do a little trainer ride (I wasn’t daft enough to actually attempt my planned workout) but I couldn’t even manage a gentle warm up with out coughing and wheezeing - so here I sit finishing off the dregs of the Christmas red label feeling thoroughly miserable and peed off with my self. :frowning:. Just hoping this lapse doesn’t derail my weight loss plans completely

Shouldn’t do unless you let it… just don’t use it an excuse to slip back into bad habits is my advice

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17 Days in:

  • Weight: Approximately 4lbs lighter. Belt is one hole tighter. Comfortably.
  • Sleep: Less awake time but, less total time by about 1 hour/night. More deep sleep.
  • GI: Not bloated anymore.
  • Energy: Not much change however, maybe less of a dip in the afternoon siesta time period.
  • Cycling: Meh maybe but, just strange stuff. I set 1 hour power last week for all (2018-19) while doing a Tuesday nighter on the gravel bike. Tires were 38’s at 35psi so I was really pushing hard even on the back. I’ve never actually done a 60 minute solo effort so this doesn’t necessarily mean much. Still interesting. Also, just today I saw the highest MHR I’ve ever seen of 192BPM measured with a Wahoo HR Strap. I used to train with HR for years and years so at my age I’m pleased and see this as a positive.

I feel like I’m doing an experiment on myself! Stick with it!!! :grin:

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This is great…chapeau!

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I got the flu last week, and have such haven’t had a drink (except 2 beers Sunday) in 10 days. The first few days I just didn’t really want a saltine much less a beer, but now I’m going to roll with it, in at least part due to this thread. I could do with dropping 10 pounds, and this certainly can’t hurt.

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Good for you! Don’t know you from a Hill of Beans, but I’m proud of you. In the past drinking, even on a casual basis, just got in the way of what I wanted to accomplish on the bike. It interrupted planned rides, made rides I decided to ride after drinking the night before, much less fun and it made me feel down right ashamed of myself, especially after riding so good in the past. So yeah, I know what you’re dealing with. Be strong and when you feel tempted, get on the bike!

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Thx. All good. Riding and racing early races already. Not really tempted yet so that’s been super cool!