High and dry

Someone had asked me when the last time I went through a prolonged time without drinking beer. After giving it some serious thought, I remembered a two week period back in 2014 where I was accused of being a functional alcoholic by an ex-girlfriend and I strung together 14 days without the amber goodness. That was it, so I set off on a journey of sobriety along with Erika. We set off to do a Whole30 diet, which certainly meant no beer at all.

A lot of people set out to do a "Dry January." I had a hard time because from the onset because people are usually hung over from New Year's Eve. In the spirit of the law, if you are still drunk on January 1, it won't be a full month. So, I did a little calculus and agreed that January 7th was the best time to start this voyage. I said goodbye to the great tasting foods of my past. I met up with friends and had a few goodbye pops at Great Notion and pizza at Ex Novo. If you have ever watched Trainspotting, it was the first time Renton was getting clean... he needed one more hit of heroin before he began his path to sobriety.

Most articles I saw in various publications, like Men's Health and the like, described how the author felt throughout the dry times. Without "parallel thinking," I can let you know how I felt. First things first, I liked having a set of rules of what I could and couldn't eat and drink. I spent the first week and a half thinking about what I could and couldn't take in. For this first 30 days, I tried to strictly adhere to the Whole30 rules. No alcohol. no carbs, no dairy and no sugars were the tenets of the diet. It was good. It was easier for me to say no to beers than it was to have one and call it a day.

I started feeling a difference about a week in. There have been days without the drink but a consecutive period of 7 days was remarkable. I was working out a lot more. I was putting in a solid 8-hour day at work, coming in clear and not leaving exhausted. I still had homework to do, so I was able to put in another 2 or 3 hours studying and I was legitimately tired at 10 PM. During a good fitness routine, you feel good after a solid workout wherein you do the full reps. I was getting that feeling.

Going into this experiment, I was concerned about the day-to-day. Months previous, I would put $1 into a beer mug for every beer I had. Since September of 2018, I probably put close to $350 into the kitty. Over the 30 days of not drinking, it's fair to say I've saved over $200 a month on beer. Needless to say, I was saving money. Because I wasn't going out and drinking every night, I was not spending money on Grubhub or Uber Eats. Each clip would cost me $40 and if I was doing that at least twice a week, I was saving beaucoup bucks.

Without the beer and unhealthy food, I was able to drop 15 pounds. Through the good times since getting a car, a good job and a steady relationship, I had put on at least 20 pounds. I breached the 200 pound threshold and it has been very difficult to walk that back. When I stopped sipping suds regularly, I was able to lose a lot of that excess weight that had accumulated over the past 3 years.

The Whole30 lifestyle was not a long term change for me. Don't get me wrong, the energy levels I had and the weight I lost were well worth the experience. However, the last week of the diet, I had to think about an exit strategy. Every Friday night and Saturday, I thought about going to the bar and having a few drinks and watching sports. My week has been sculpted that way over the past 15 years. It was inconceivable thinking that I was going to be a teetotaler from here on out. So, the decision was to eat the cleanest as possible over the week and then have a cheat day once a week.

Balance is something that is needed. Just we all need a couple of days off after working hard, people need a time and a place to unwind with a few beers once in a while. Not to excess though. The first weekend after my 30 days off, I went to a bar and had 6 pints of Guinness. I then had a 6 pack of Rainier and a few other beers along the way. I felt like shit for the next day and got nothing done. I vowed not to let that happen again. Each time I went out on the lash, I felt like shit, so I don't want to do that again.

Balance... that's going to be something to work on.