Year 6: The Year I Quit Drinking

(New!) Read (or post) about people who have stuck with No-S for 10 or more months, lost 10 or more pounds, or 10 or more percent for their starting weight. Periodic updates strongly encouraged -- you can think of it as "Yearly Check In."

Moderators: Soprano, automatedeating

Post Reply
automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Year 6: The Year I Quit Drinking

Post by automatedeating » Sat Aug 24, 2019 4:19 pm

No S Diet Year 6 - The Year I Quit Drinking

Quick Stats

Female
5’2’’
42 years old
Married, mom to 2 boys (ages 13 and 10)
Year 6 starting weight: 134/BMI 24.5
Year 6 ending weight: 122.8 (this morning’s weight)/BMI 22.5
Body Fat % - roughly 25% (based off calipers and scale)

This year I continued the more healthy eating habits I established in Year 5 - whole foods, eliminating refined carbs and reducing carbs in general (on N Days). Exercise wise I was more consistent and yet relaxed about my daily walk/jogs than I have been in my entire life. They are now a source of joy to me rather than an onerous burden or obligation.
I have lost over 10 pounds this year!
My healthier lifestyle gave me space to see the incongruity of my alcohol intake.

This year I began more seriously working to moderate my alcohol intake. When, despite making elaborate plans (even joining “moderation management” online), I found myself returning to my overdrinking habits in March, I took more firm measures. On April 28th I decided to stop drinking indefinitely. It has been a challenging yet very doable journey - if you are interested, I logged it on my daily check-in. For the first 2 months, I seemed to see parallels between the patterns & temptations that cause over-eating and over-drinking everywhere I looked! These two (bad) habits are essentially underpinned by the same issues: a desire for pleasure, or a numbing escape from pain. NoS wise, it's been tricky. I discovered that alcohol had been satisfying my sweet tooth (even though I only drank dry red wine), and I have had a couple of months of bumpy S Days (and more ice cream "fail" N Days!) in which the “wildness” of the early days returned. I wanted to nip that in the bud, which I did by substituting diet soda for my sugar. But then I really wasn’t feeling good about that substitute, and so now I’m getting by with Sparkling water and coffee w/milk my only beverages. I feel grateful that I didn’t end up gaining quite a bit of weight after quitting.

Quitting alcohol opened up space in my life for more internal work. I started going to therapy, and it has been amazing at helping me learn how to connect more with my kids, husband, and friends.

Health-wise, I feel better than I ever have. More energy, (finally starting to get) fewer headaches, zero heartburn or intestinal issues (which had all been problematic over the past years). My gut finally feels healed from an infection of C.dif that I got in 2014 and have had difficult kicking. My right kidney doesn’t ache like it used to (I have mild kidney disease and I don’t know why it hurt but it did). I sleep through the night. My knees don’t hurt anymore when I run (shock and awe!). I started jogging a little last October and I’m still at it. I’m amazed that I can do it without pain. I think it is primarily from my healthier food choices because my knees hurt when I ran even all the way back in college, when I weighed less than I do now.

One bummer is that my glucose control seems to have actually worsened since quitting alcohol (life is not fair, right?). I tend to think the alcohol was masking my insulin resistance, and without the alcohol to process, my liver is in overdrive these days. Sigh. I’m officially pre-diabetic now. I will continue tweaking and experimenting this upcoming year to hopefully prevent this from worsening.

NoS-wise, this year I find I only have one suggestion that is bubbling up frequently in mind. Plan your meals ahead of time and have one or two meals the same every day. Reduce your food variety if you can handle that without awakening your inner rebel. It makes your habits form more solidly and prevents getting thrown off by an unexpected craving. In my opinion at this point, success with NoS is more about planned and predictable eating than about how many times a day you eat. Just find what is best for you and do it the same. Every day. If you gain a little, remove some food from the plan. If you are dealing with massive hunger, add a little back in.

One final thought - find your rebel and appease it. Don’t fight it. What I mean by that is figure out what lifestyle changes don’t cause inner revolt and then work those to your advantage as you find your NoS groove. The areas that cause massive revolt - avoid those battles (although maybe start the internal work of learning about yourself that will ease away some of those rebels….). Your inner rebel will always eventually win.

Keep on tracking!
My Daily Thread: https://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopi ... start=2400
My 5 - year check - in: https://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopi ... 13&t=11850
My 1 - year check - in: https://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopi ... highlight=
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

Soprano
Posts: 1184
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2018 8:56 pm
Location: UK

Re: Year 6: The Year I Quit Drinking

Post by Soprano » Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:42 am

You've had an amazing year. This and your daily posts are inspiring.

I wish you look on your next year and look forward to following your journey.

Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

jenji
Posts: 661
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 5:00 pm
Location: Cambridge

Re: Year 6: The Year I Quit Drinking

Post by jenji » Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:52 pm

Congratulations to you for this year of personal growth, dear auto. You are amazing.
I'm a 53-year-old mom and non-profit CEO
I am 5' 7.5"
Began No S at 184#, BMI 28.4 - 9/25/2017
Current weight: 181#, BMI 27.9, 12/19/2022

sharon227
Posts: 292
Joined: Fri May 18, 2018 12:13 pm

Re: Year 6: The Year I Quit Drinking

Post by sharon227 » Wed Aug 28, 2019 2:28 am

Wow that's an amazing year. Congratulations on quitting alcohol, which must be incredibly hard. Truly mind-blowing that you were able to do that without gaining weight!

I've found that I have much less frequent stomach issues now that I'm not overstuffing myself and meals or eating a lot of junk. We really do need to "listen to our gut" sometimes.

ladybird30
Posts: 1118
Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 10:41 pm

Re: Year 6: The Year I Quit Drinking

Post by ladybird30 » Wed Sep 04, 2019 4:53 am

Congratulations auto, glad to hear that quitting drinking is going well for you.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

Whosonfirst
Posts: 538
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:32 pm

Re: Year 6: The Year I Quit Drinking

Post by Whosonfirst » Sat Sep 14, 2019 5:14 pm

A Big WOW auto! - I knew you started to cut out alcohol this past year, but didn't realize the level of your success. Congratulations on this major accomplishment. This is very inspirational.
https://twitter.com/SipeEngineering
Current weight(9/2020)-212 lbs.
Goal Weight- 205 lbs.
NoS Goal: >= 80% Success days

User avatar
Sammybunny711
Posts: 194
Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2011 5:08 pm

Re: Year 6: The Year I Quit Drinking

Post by Sammybunny711 » Tue Mar 10, 2020 5:10 pm

This is incredible, Auto! What a massive achievement. Also...SIX YEARS No Sing? That is incredible, too! You are an inspiration.
Height: 5'4"
Highest weight: 210.4
Current Weight: 197.3
Goal Weight: 125-135


*^..^711

Post Reply