This might be an unpopular post, but here's an honest look from the prospective of a brewer at what it's like to quit beer (for a month).
The Brewer Who Quit Drinking Beer
The Brewer Who Quit Drinking Beer
The Brewer Who Quit Drinking Beer
- Thread starter DanBrewer
- Start date
Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:
I've been thinking of going cold turkey on booze for a while in an attempt to shed some weight. I already have a no-weekday policy I've been following for quite a while, on weekends I could have between 4-6 beers, that's it, unless I go out (which isn't very often). I really do feel I drink very little compared to most but the kilos keep on coming even though I eat well and moderately exercise.
I was hoping to do this without losing dear, sweet beer.
I was hoping to do this without losing dear, sweet beer.
I was going 4 times a week (before I injured my back), made no difference, infact I was getting bigger and that was with all the other precautions taken! I would run for 30 minutes and then do a bootcamp class immediately after, 4 times a week.. no slouch either!
I don't eat much bread, pasta etc., but I hear ya, I could have less! I actually think there is something wrong with my metabolism.. eg. last week I had around 1600 cals each day, exercised daily, put on half a kilo. /sigh
Working in IT doesn't do me any favours though!
I don't want to derail this to a diet thread, but if you're at a whits end you should seriously try intermittent fasting. You can find all the info you need about the benefits etc. online, but basically just shift ALL your calories to an eating window of about 8 hours per day. Easiest way is to skip breakfast. Give it a go. It works and is sustainable.
altone
Well-Known Member
Hmm that giving up bread/carbs doesn't seem to work, because you'll get hungry and eat something else to fill you up.
Do you eat a good breakfast? Something like oats and fruit is good.
Having just 1 big meal is not good.
Try not to snack or if you must, carrot and celery sticks.
If you don't have your 3 meals a day, the body can go into survival mode and store fat when it can [according to some "experts"]
It certainly can slow your metabolism down. [personal experience]
Try to eat a bit less meat if you can.
I'm an old bugger and manage to control my weight ok with regular meals with lots of veg and 10mins a day exercise ( fixing stuff and gardening etc. not included)
And that's with drinking beer almost every day.
Hope you find a balance that includes beer
Nullnvoid
Well-Known Member
I do this and find it very easy to do and very beneficial.
Tricky Dicky
Well-Known Member
I went dry for 6 weeks a year ago and the physical benefits were great, sleep improved massively, lost a bit of weight but I'm within bmi anyway , felt overall more optimistic so my mood improved, saved money and generally felt much more energetic. But having said all that I felt that I had denied myself too much enjoyment and felt bored. So I guess like most things balance is the key. Going dry for a while certainly helped me reduce my intake and maintain it, (most of the time
)
Nullnvoid
Well-Known Member
I went dry for 6 weeks a year ago and the physical benefits were great, sleep improved massively, lost a bit of weight but I'm within bmi anyway , felt overall more optimistic so my mood improved, saved money and generally felt much more energetic. But having said all that I felt that I had denied myself too much enjoyment and felt bored. So I guess like most things balance is the key. Going dry for a while certainly helped me reduce my intake and maintain it, (most of the time
Sorry I meant that I do the intermittent fasting of fasting for 16 hours and eating for 8. It's really done me wonders and now I have been doing it for about 6 months it's easy to do.
However I have tried to give up alcohol for months at a time but I found it made no impact on my weight. Because I only really have a couple of beers Friday, Saturday and Sunday it was negible. But I still do it once a year for at least a month to show myself I can do it
I agree. I stopped eating bread and reduced sugar as much as I could. Still drank beer in the weekends. I lost weight much quicker.
Cheers
I found straight weights works better for my 44 year old metabolism than cardio stuff for whatever reason
Thanks mate, already doing that, I eat between 3.30pm and 8pm typically (mon - fri), on weekends I'll typically have a late breakfast and regular dinner - I do relax a little more on the weekends and that's probably a failing, although in context of people I know I'm very well behaved!
Cheers to the rest of you for your input, just a few more comments I'll make;
- As above I already do intermittent fasting (mon-fri)
- I rarely eat meat as my wife is vegetarian, she is also low FODMAP so we have to avoid fructose and most fermentable foods
- I have very little sugar, I have done keto before and the flow on from that has been a heavily reduced intake of sugar
- I don't snack or eat supersized meals
- I only drink 2-3 instant coffees (no sugar) in the morning and soda water at night (oh, and only a few beers over the weekend)
- I do suffer from sleep apnoea so my sleep patterns are disrupted but mainly because of back pain which I am currently addressing - I'm kinda used to sleeping with a nasal mask on my face /sigh
- Exercise-wise, I have been making sure I'm walking 10k-15k steps everyday, I can't do high-impact or compression exercises at the moment because of my back (fractured vertebra and thoracic wedging) but it's getting stronger
- I seem to carry all my weight mostly in my mid-section and my moobs, which is really annoying!
- Currently I'm at 105kg (6ft tall), I've been this weight before (slightly heavier actually) and gotten down to 85kg (which was the best year of my life), I know what it takes to get there but this second time round I'm finding it really hard - the first time it just fell off with very little effort!
Typically I agree, although the science can be more complicated than that - different foods for different people invoke different glucose responses which affects insulin production etc., There is no one-size-fits-all approach and there are other factors such as thyroid disfunction etc., that can play a role. Yep, I'm getting my bloods tested as well, basically doing as much as I can to get on top of it.
Apologies for derailing this thread with my body issues but I appreciate all the advice and your own stories are of particular interest!
Maybe you're not getting enough protein? Highly possible if you're not eating much meat. Protein ratio needs to be higher on restricted calories (you mentioned 1600). Hard to do that of your meat is low and you're not supplementing (Maybe you are?). People, and blokes especially, eat way less protein then they should these days.
Also is your fast period TOTALLY calorie-free? I.e. you're drinking black coffees? This is a key factor but you probably already know that [emoji106]
You mentioned moobs... Is it possible your testosterone is too low? Probably a long stretch with that one, but certainly a reality for some people.
Stubburn weight is so annoying. I feel your frustration!
Damn... I derailed the thread lol
Probably not having enough protein and I don't supplement it, I'll check back over the macros in MyFitnessPal logs. Fasting wise, I have a splash of milk in my coffee, is that not good? Dunno about my hormone levels, hopefully my blood tests show something! Thanks for your help!
No worries [emoji106]
Milk definitely buggers up the fast, even a little bit.
Hope the test results are helpful [emoji123]
Rocker1986
Well-Known Member
I reckon in a general sense we eat our meals backwards. A lot of people seem to eat **** all for brekky, whatever for lunch, then have a huge dinner and sit around doing practically nothing for the rest of the night. And then they wonder why they put weight on. Be better off having a big brekky and a small dinner.
I put a bit of weight on when I was working late shifts because most of my eating was done from the late arvo onwards, dinner was at some stupid hour like 9:30pm. Then I'd go home and have a beer or two and snack on some chips while watching TV until 2 or 3am. Once I got back on normal hours and stopped doing that, it dropped off again.
I put a bit of weight on when I was working late shifts because most of my eating was done from the late arvo onwards, dinner was at some stupid hour like 9:30pm. Then I'd go home and have a beer or two and snack on some chips while watching TV until 2 or 3am. Once I got back on normal hours and stopped doing that, it dropped off again.
My thinking, based on a lot reading and discussion, is this:
Historically, humans have adapted/evolved over a long period of time to survive as hunter/gatherers. 3 meals a day is a very recent concept, especially the big breakfast idea. Biologically I doubt humans as a whole have the ability to readapt so quickly. The intermittent method works really well for a lot people in a similar position to our buddy.
Similar threads
