r/stopdrinkingfitness

I’ve been frequenting this sub for awhile and the information you guys give help a lot. I just need a little encouragement. I know that if you’ve been drinking for years it disrupts the pleasure sensors in your brain. My question is, when does life get fun and pleasurable again? I workout everyday and started running and it gives me immense joy. The thing is when I’m not at the gym I’m incredibly bored and don’t feel “awake” if that makes sense. When does this feeling leave?

44 yo male here …. This forum has really inspired me .

I’ve decided I’ve had enough. Been drinking regularly for years . At 1st it was just 1-2 glasses of wine, but as the years progressed it turned into at least 1 bottle of wine sometimes more nightly . Thankfully I’ve never been much of a day drinker . Eventually I got into bourbon and 1-2 nightly cocktails turned into 1/2 a bottle …

I’m tired of waking up hungover, sluggish, exhausted

I exercise 5-6 days a week, meal prep etc

I’ve known for a long while that the alcohol, shitty sleep and recovery are holding me back

To be honest, I’m just tired of feeling sick and tired the mornings after drinking (which are most mornings since I rarely take a night off )

Drinking g is completely counterproductive to everything I’m trying to achieve

I can’t out train or out diet the damage that alcohol is doing to me everyday

So here I am… day 1

Will be posting progress pics in 30 days

Hi everyone,

I first just wanted to thank everyone for sharing their stories, progress and even relapses! I’m so happy to see such a welcoming and positive community for people in the same boat as me.

Background: I am a 23 year old woman, been drinking since I was 17 but started drinking heavily since I was 18. My whole life up until I started drinking nearly everyday I was super skinny. Like 110 lbs was my biggest weight (I’m 5’6). People kept worrying I had an eating disorder but I ate more than all my friends did, and more junk food too.

Then due to bedbugs and declining mental health I made the wonderful decision to move in with my horrible ex boyfriend! I started drinking all the time to deal with my anxiety and depression and to numb myself so that when he got mad at me I felt tipsy and silly instead of scared. This is my first major weight gain. I went from 110 to 135 in a couple months. Come to find out he liked me because I was skinny and childlike… gross. Started treating me even worse and I drank even more. Finally decided to leave one night, called up a friend who had previously offered me a place to stay on his and his girlfriend’s couch. Boom overnight I’m on my own and have to start fresh.

Kept drinking but wasn’t at my worst yet, a month later I moved in with my friend / assistant manager and thats when it became BAD. Drinking every night, peer pressure, got introduced to molly and coke, luckily I was not a fan and did not continue to take those substances. Every night was a repeat, hey yalls and split a bottle of vodka, make horrible choices, get sick, regret, repeat.

Then my assistant manager moved away and me and her cousin found a place to stay. It was so small and I basically just stayed in my room drinking. I told myself I wasn’t drinking alone because I was on call with people, i would drink and drink and drink and because I was playing on the computer I never realized how much I drank until I stood up to pee. Eventually stopping once I got sick. Every day. This has continued and my tolerance built up but now that I am on medication for anxiety and ADHD, my tolerance is wobbly. One night I had like 1 1/2 gin and tonics and I completely blacked out. It was scary and I was so embarrassed my boyfriend had to see me like that, I didn’t even drink much! I went on the scale and omg… 174 lbs??? I flipped out and impulsively went online and ordered Ozempic from one of those online doctor websites and that did nothing except for cost a lot of money.

Finally I decided a couple days ago after looking at my pics where I was stick thin. Just do it. Just stop. I bought a case of sparkling water and when the time of night hit where i would crack/pour a drink, I crack a sparkling water instead. I’ve not really craved alcohol now. I know I’m still early but I also believe being on the correct dosage of my ADHD medication helps because I don’t feel like I need to self medicate. Also fortunately for me, I believe I have more of an addiction to the action of putting something from my hand to my mouth. (Before vaping it was lip balm, before drinking it was lemonade.)

Sorry for rambling.

I realized a few things that made me rethink the way I think.

1. My anxiety wasn’t getting better despite medication. Drinking was what calmed me down… WRONG! Drinking made it easier to fall asleep sure, but gave me day long anxiety and panic attacks.

2. STOP LISTENING TO PEOPLE WITH YOUR HABITS! I mean this in the way where I tell someone I want to quit and they make excuses for me to continue. I told my dad I was sick and tired of being this way and that I had alcohol issues. He told me “Our family are not alcoholics, we are just heavy drinkers.” ???????
   Friends i would tell about my need to stop because I’m not happy with myself mentally or physically would run to the “Let’s work out together! / You’re not fat! / Just drink less!” Or pressure me into drinking because “GIRL YOU BITCH YOU’RE SO BORING!”
   I know they aren’t trying to hurt me, they are in the same place as me and aren’t ready to change their habits.
   But I am. No more giving in. I’m doing one month sober, period. After a month I won’t drink to celebrate, I’ll keep going. I want to be able to have a drink out at a restaurant or have wine with family every once in a while. I kept trying to cut down, I’ll just drink today because I’m not working tomorrow. Oh hey, well I have this leftover alcohol, whatever I’ll just finish it and not buy more. Then I get to the last sips and drunkenly order more and order a bunch of food I don’t even feel hungry for.

No cutting down my amounts. Just stopping.

To be fair, I know for a lot of people they can’t just go cold turkey due to dependence and that can be life threatening. I’m fortunate because I can. I’ll keep going. I don’t eat a lot normally, just drunk midnight binges and i was consuming 1000+ calories in alcohol alone daily.

Also, to be clear. I’m not aiming to be my 17 year old weight. I’m aiming to cut out this horrible habit which has resulted in so much weight gain. Go on walks, eat healthy and balanced and live my life. My goal right now is just to see where I fall without the added calories from drinking and binging and make a new goal once I’ve got an idea of where I stand. Not aiming to be skinny, aiming to be healthy!

Blah blah sorry for yapping, I just was wanting to share!

Lots of love and wishing everyone all the best,

ChinaCheesecake

I finally signed up for a 10K road race in December, in 16 weeks. And I spent yesterday afternoon making a specific training schedule for this race.

I'm (63M) going to try for a time of sub 50 mins. But my main goal is really to bring some structure and routine into my life. For the last year or so, I've been running 'regularly' a few times a week, but just whenever, and doing whatever distance/time I felt like at the time!

Now I've planned exactly 3 days of running (Speed on Tuesdays, Tempo on Thursdays and Long on Sundays). Plus two strength workouts in my living room (Mondays and Fridays). And total rest on Saturdays.

I'm feeling good already, just thinking about weekly and daily structure and routine :)

First 15 came naturally within first year, but wasn't until the last couple months of going to the gym 6 days a week and calorie counting that I've steadily lost just over 1.5lbs per week. Grateful to my very helpful and supportive friends... getting 45 - 60 minutes activity in daily + watching my protein/fat/carbs/calories, drinking lots of water + solid sleep + eating within an 8 hour window really does help as a new routine. Will see how it carries through the rest of the year. So far, it is actually enjoyable.

Hello everyone,

Hope you are doing well

27M, looking for feedback on my current training split.

Number of reps and sets

I usually do 3 sets per exercise at around 1 RIR. I try to add 1 rep each week at each set, then increase the weight at the beginning of each month.

Day 1 + Day 4 - Anterior Day

• Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
• Chest Press Machine
• Lateral Raises
• Shoulder Press
• Triceps Pushdown
• Leg Extension
• Leg Press

Day 2 + Day 5 - Posterior Day

• Low Seated Row (close or wide grip)
• Lat Pulldown
• Reverse Butterfly machine
• Back Extension
• Biceps Rotation Curls
• Leg Curl
• Calf Raises
• Adductor Machine

Day 3 - Mix

• Leg Press
• Leg Curl
• Leg Extension
• Calf Raises
• Lateral Raises
• Shoulder Press
• Biceps Rotation Curls
• Triceps Pushdown

 

I prefer this setup over a traditional PPL UL . I sometimes train after work, and if I’m exhausted for a Pull session, for example, I don’t want that to affect whether I get my second Push session of the week.

Does this look balanced in terms of weekly volume, frequency and recovery? What small adjustments would you make without completely changing the structure of the routine?

Thank you all in advance for your feedback

Hi!

42 year old female here from the UK,
Recently been on a diet and health kick, however noticed I just can’t shed the weight. I’ve calculated I’ve having about 5500 to 6000 cals a week of alcohol(lager) so undoing all my hard work! I have a very stressful job and also adhd and find that I have a few cans every night to basically reset and quiet my head after work, am I too far gone at my age? I’ve always drank but used to be more of a binge drinker.

I'm 48-year-old male in UK. I've never been alcohol dependent, but am periodic binge drinker. I've drunk fairly heavily on and off throughout my life, but my usage over past decade is a 'session' twice a month, 25-30 units over a night. I regularly (at least 4X a year ) complete a 30 day AF challenge, no sweat. Over the past 18 months, I lost 4 stone fairly easily and quit (heavy) smoking/toking 11 years ago after protracted quits/relapses. My testosterone and thyroid are sluggish but within normal parameters last time I was tested, not that I can afford to get private tests done every few months. Certainly, I wouldn't qualify for NHS treatment for either. I do feel middle-aged tho' in terms of mood, libido, diminishment of faculties (eyesight, hairloss), despite keeping up a moderate-to-intense fitness regime the past decade and making the changes listed above. I've always suffered from low mood, but over past few years there's an insidious and constant depression over my lost youth, I must admit. I was hoping cutting back on alcohol might help attenuate this.

So I've decided to up my AF game and see if 90 days is this transformative threshold in terms of health, hormones and mood, as so many AF influencers evangelise it is online. So far I'm not feeling it : subtle improvements regards my fitness, yes; skin improved,yes. But nothing that stands out from a fortnight or 30 days clean. And tho' I'm determined to see out the 90 days, I imagine I'll have a drink afterwards if I don't feel I've got much more to lose than from a 30-day challenge. Can anyone tell me what's realistic to expect from 90 days over 30, especially if you're not daily drinker? Cheers, would really appreciate some feedback.

Well, I made it to 3 days. Better than nothing. I want to make it a lot further. I have before I’m just frustrated. One of the days I ran for 5 minutes, did about a 250 open water swim, and a 15 minute bike ride all in the same day and I felt proud. I drank beer yesterday, it wasn’t magical but I definitely wanted to. I had one today too because I was feeling frustrated, it didn’t help it just made me more annoyed. Of course I know the facts and I know how alcohol works. I guess I’m just writing to say it “out loud.” At least I did another 5 min run and got more distance than last time. I really like the Nike run app, it’s been encouraging me to at least run a little. Getting ready for another day 1 soon, not sure when

10th day sober and getting ready for bed. I usually have a sweet treat before showering, but today I took a sip and poured it down the drain.

I need to make healthier choices and that starts now. I'm tired of constantly feeling bloated and fatigued.

Day 0 of getting my life back. Posting for accountability.

32F 5'6 257lbs on august 8, 2026. See ya in a couple months!

Edit to add that I will use my gym membership more consistently.