'Quitting Alcohol Helped Me Lose 9 Kilograms and Deadlift 135 Kg'
Exercise has always been an important part of my life, and in my 20s and early 30s I was always under the impression that I was able to maintain my healthy routine of strength training and training for marathons while still going out on weekends with friends. Or, so I thought.
I believed my relationship with alcohol to be pretty healthy. But, in reality, it caused a cycle of bad habits that fed into one another: Monday through Friday, I ate, exercised, and slept well, and didn’t drink. Then, I’d go out on Friday night and be hungover and lay on the couch all day on Saturday. This pattern would continue for the rest of the weekend, and then I’d restart my healthy routine on Mondays.
Throughout all this, I always felt like I needed to lose weight – despite never being overweight. Growing up, I had a lot of self-confidence issues and I was always comparing how I looked to other women. Amidst this cycle, I was never satisfied with how my body looked. My weight stayed the same and I didn’t understand at the time that eating well and exercising during the week could be counteracted by my habits on weekends.
When I turned 30, hangovers suddenly felt so much worse. And after one really bad one, I realised I simply didn’t want to feel like that anymore. I knew I had the potential to feel better in my body, but not if I continued my yo-yo lifestyle.
The day after that bad hangover, I quit drinking cold turkey (which was hard) and reached out to a therapist. After some reflection, I realised a lot of my drinking stemmed from social anxiety, so the first year I was sober, I didn’t go out much at all to prevent myself from feeling anxious. I didn't want to put myself in a position where I felt pressured to drink either. For the most part, I snuggled on the couch with my dogs and husband watching Netflix.
When I decided to cut out alcohol, I knew I needed a new hobby to distract me from going out, so I got into powerlifting, which is a competitive strength-focused sport where you try to lift your one-rep max for a variety of exercises. I knew it would also give me something to work toward: powerlifting meets. I did powerlifting for two years, and each week I was able to lift more and more weight. I worked my way up to deadlifting 135 kilograms (300 pounds), and that felt really good. As I progressed, lifting made me feel like I could do anything I wanted, as long as I was positive and stuck to a plan.
After I deadlifted 135 kg, I backed off from heavy lifting because I’d accomplished a lot. Plus, I had a hamstring injury that hurt when I deadlifted but not when I ran, so I decided to focus on running. This time, my mindset around running was completely different: I was no longer using it as a way to burn calories, and instead, I focused on how good I felt after runs. Runs gave me a dopamine hit that replaced the rush I got from drinking.
Within the first year of quitting drinking, I lost 10 pounds. It wasn’t necessarily from consuming fewer calories; it was more because becoming sober caused a domino effect with the rest of my habits.
I began using my free time to work out more, home-cook meals and prioritise protein, and dial in my sleep habits. I also work with a woman who leads sound bowl and Reiki sessions, and I meditate, which makes me feel great inside and out. I also taking anti-anxiety medication for my anxiety, which has helped a lot.
It’s been two years since I cut out alcohol entirely, and I’ve lost 9 kilograms (20 pounds). But my focus has been on so much more than weight loss: I feel so much healthier mentally, and I’m confident, happy, and proud to go out with my friends sober. Best of all, my body feels a lot less stressed, which has been my biggest transformation.
My body has never felt better and I feel so healthy and clear-headed. I love waking up not hungover on a weekend morning and having a great workout. My sessions feel great, my recovery and sleep are amazing, and my circadian rhythm is just right.
Right now, I’m training for a half marathon in March, and my goal time is one hour and 45 minutes. I run four days a week and lift two days a week. On my lifting days, I’ll use heavy weights and do functional movements for the full body to maintain muscle mass and stay injury-free, like chin-ups, dumbbell presses and rows, squats, and lunges. My rest day is usually a couch potato day, so I usually only get about 4,000 steps and walk my golden retrievers.
On the weekends, my husband (and dogs) and I also hike on nearby trails in Maryland, where we live.
My 3 biggest revelations from improving my fitness by going sober
1. I was finally able to make consistency a priority
When I still drank, it was easy to give myself an out from working out due to not feeling my best or being hungover. Having energy and feeling well and rested allows me to show up consistently. What’s more, I’m motivated to work out and go after my fitness goals given that I am not losing time to hangovers on weekends.
I also now crave that sensation of feeling amazing inside and out after a workout, which keeps me going. Sometimes I struggle with motivation to run or lift, so after I finish my workouts, I literally tell myself to remember how good I feel. Then, the next time I feel unmotivated, I remember that feeling and try to replicate it, and that really helps.
2. Slow progress is sustainable progress
It can be tough to wait to you see major changes to your physical and mental health, but when it takes longer, it’s more sustainable. After becoming sober, I surprisingly never felt tempted to drink, but breaking a bad habit was still hard. To get through it, I saw my therapist every week for a year and meditated for six months straight. It took me two years of being sober and consciously tweaking my habits to become a healthier, happier version of me – and that gradual transformation was so worth it to really create these permanent results.
3. It amazed me what tweaking seemingly small daily habits could do for my overall wellbeing
Quitting drinking allowed me to improve my other daily habits, like home-cooking meals and sleeping more. Even small adjustments, like taking a midday walk or getting in bed an hour earlier at night, compounded over time and made enormous differences in my energy and overall happiness.
I also found it much easier to change one little thing every day as opposed to trying to make a ton of huge changes at once (plus, not drinking was already one huge change happening for me!).
From: Women's Health US
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