Binning the booze

[iateyoubutler]

I`m sure this has been covered before but anybody else seen the light and stopped recently?

I didn`t drink vast amounts (I don`t think....) but did enjoy a beer, or a bottle of wine until I went to the docs and the subject came up - he recommended that it be knocked on the head so I did. Three months in I don`t miss it, have the occasional evening where I fancy a cold one but it soon passes, and I have absolutely no intention of starting it up again

Luckily, I`m not one of those people who can`t sit in a pub and watch other people drink - it doesn`t bother me, I`m quite happy to chat over a pot of tea, everybody else can do what they like.

My dad did the same thing over 10 years ago, and still won`t touch it, now there`s a role model

Now time to work on my diet

Anybody found it affects cycling performance etc?

 

[ColinJ]

I was drinking about 5 pints a night, every night. It meant that I spent most of my life slightly drunk or slightly hungover. I piled weight on.

I knew that I should cut down but I am more of an all or nothing person so for me it was a case of carrying on or giving up. I got very ill in 2012 and was unable to drink for a couple of months, I lost a lot of weight, which was good, and when I started to get better it was pretty obviously a bad idea to start boozing again so I didn't.

It is coming up to 7 years now since I gave up. I am still over 4 stone lighter than I was as a boozer and I have saved peeing away about £15,000!

I live in a very hilly area so carting 4+ stone of extra weight about on the bike was very hard work. I think that my body is now working more efficiently (or maybe I just find it easier to make a big effort when I am not nursing a hangover?).

I only go to the pub about 4 times a year now for 2 hours at a time. That is to catch up with former colleagues. I would prefer to meet them for bike rides or walks, but most of them wouldn't be interested. I just drink a couple of large Cokes.

I don't miss the booze much, but I do occasionally fancy a nice bottle of bitter when I smell some of the beers drunk by a friend when she visits. I can't risk it - I gave up boozing for several years at a time in the past but got back into it after being tempted to 'have just one now and again'. For me it is like having a square of chocolate. Some people can start a bar and just nibble a square or two, but I know that if I start a bar I am going to eat the whole thing!

 

[JhnBssll]

I stopped for medical reasons almost 3 years ago. Don't miss it and wouldn't start again if the docs told me my pancreas had magically regrown Fair play to you, the health benefits are clear as are the financial savings

 

[stoatsngroats]

I stopped 8 years ago, and don’t miss it at all. I did not socialise, and had no desire to sit in pubs being social as an excuse to drink.

It has helped with keeping weight of, and money in my pocket for other things.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

There's about as much chance of me giving up eating food as giving up drinking beer. One of the reasons I try to be active and ride bikes and walk around is so that I can drink beer whenever I feel like it without putting on weight. I tend to drink in relative moderation these days though, unlike in my teens & twenties when I would be out on the lash all the time and still got up for work the next day. I've since calmed down a lot, but I still eat and drink whatever I enjoy irrespective of whether the "experts" say it's healthy or not. I take absolutely no notice of all that nonsense about only having 14 units a week, or all the other do-gooder stuff about not consuming sugar, salt or fat.

 

[JhnBssll]

An expert, by definition, knows more about a subject than the layman. Ignore them by all means, but I certainly wouldn't recommend that approach

 

[jay clock]

My dad was a borderline alky and more importantly a twat when drinking.. I more or less gave up completely when I got into triathlon about 12 years ago and I can take it or leave it.. Unlike cakes and chocolate which I can only take

 

[Milzy]

There’s nothing wrong with an odd quality real ale every now & again. I bet some very fit strong cyclists had a pint after the Fred Whitton today, like ex-British road champion Mr.John Tanner.
On an afterburn it really can’t do much harm.

 

[iateyoubutler]

There’s nothing wrong with an odd quality real ale every now & again. I bet some very fit strong cyclists had a pint after the Fred Whitton today, like ex-British road champion Mr.John Tanner.
On an afterburn it really can’t do much harm.

Haha reminds me of a few years ago when I did a 115 mile charity ride, the finishing point was a pub, after half a pint I was legless because of the exercise

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

There’s nothing wrong with an odd quality real ale every now & again.

There's nothing wrong with three or four of them either, as I'm about to prove in a few minutes time! There are plenty of drinkers who would regard cycling as a waste of good drinking time.
The trick, as with anything, is to achieve a balance which is enjoyable without going OTT. I know when I've overdone the beer, because I feel rough afterwards, so I limit my quantities to below my bad head threshold..

 

[raleighnut]

I used to drink a lot, at one point half a dozen bottles of Vodka/Whisky about the same of Wine and a few pints of Beer a week but got told by the doc to cut down and I managed it much to the surprise of quite a few people.

Nowadays I don't drink anything for 3-4 days a week.

 

[Milzy]

Yeah because alcohol is supposed to give you fatty liver but I doubt it does that much so to a regular cyclist with a balanced diet.

 

[vickster]

Yeah because alcohol is supposed to give you fatty liver but I doubt it does that much so to a regular cyclist with a balanced diet.

You can read the facts about ARLD here (excessive alcohol damages liver cells irrespective of lifestyle)
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/alcohol-related-liver-disease-arld/

https://www.britishlivertrust.org.uk/liver-information/liver-conditions/alcohol/

If you are generally healthy, eat a well-balanced diet and take regular exercise, sensible drinking (as outlined above) shouldn’t lead to problems with the liver.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good morning,

I haven't stopped completely, but I had a wake up call one day a few years ago, I had stopped riding as the commute had sapped the will and went to the pub in the evening instead.

One day I noticed that my sitting in front of the computer heart rate was in the mid-high 80s, sometimes even the the low 90s.

Without beer it is now fairly high for an exercise forum in the mid-high 50s but that is a value that is perfectly within a normal no medical issue zone and doesn't worry me.

Even now a couple of days drinking in the evening will raise it by 20-30 bpm for a few days, by drinking I mean 5-6 pints of 5%-7% beer (Kinver Khyber/Over The Edge, Salopian do a great range with black labels [not Carling Back Label] etc).

One day's drinking has a much smaller effect for a shorter period, but either way it is a warning to go back to when I was younger and it was 4 pints of 4% two or three times a week.

Bye

Ian

 

[ColinJ]

One day's drinking has a much smaller effect for a shorter period, but either way it is a warning to go back to when I was younger and it was 4 pints of 4% two or three times a week.

Blimey, if I had gone back to drinking what I did when I was younger, it would probably have killed me in a month! (A few times I knocked back a full bottle of vodka before going out - 16 doubles! I would then drink a pint or two of beer before finding the nearest alley to collapse in...)