My sister told me I looked 10 years younger about 6 months after I quit. I also changed my hair colour and style. I felt like a change so instead of wearing jeans and trousers which I have done for nearly 20 years I now wear lots of skirts and dresses. My weight hasn't changed though and to be honest this was a major motivation in stopping drinking but there have been so many unexpected bonuses that the lack of weight loss is ok. Here are things I no longer worry about that when I was drinking were a major issue
1. Burning acid reflux that made me vomit. Made eating anything extremely unpleasant. Magically disappeared when loaded though, making it easy to scarf down burgers and pizza at 3 am
2. Bright red, fat and shiny bloated face
3. Fingers so bloated I couldn't make a fist
4. Grey / black teeth and lips from red wine
5 . Hair loss on one side and overall thinning hair - hair grew back within six months of quitting
6. Vomiting and crying in the shower every morning before work. Having 20 minutes to shower, get dressed and try and eat because I was too hungover to get up earlier
7. Panic attacks and chest pain driving to work. I have vomited out of the car door in front of kids going to school and didn't care.
8. Having to use the bathroom the instant I arrived at work on a daily basis. Highly offensive diarrhoea ( sorry)
9. Coping with daily questions " are you ok" " are you tired, sick, upset? What's that smell ?
10. The misery of finishing work knowing the same thing would be repeated the next morning.
It's worth it . I can't believe I lived like that for so long. I am at home with the flu today but I feel better than being hungover. I wish everyone quitting all the best and hang in there!