Year 6: The Year I Quit Drinking
Posted: 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=
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=