Just my experience on energy levels, mental state, and weight fluctuations over the first 10 months of sobriety. I always exercised while drinking, but stopping actually created a bit of a fitness hiccup for me:
- Month 1: tired and lazy and hungry, easily injured (muscle cramps, etc), mostly walking, pushups, pull-ups. Feeling rather soft and weak. Changed routine from morning to night b/c of laziness factor.
- Months 2-4: feeling better, jogging but still not very ambitious, losing weight
- Months 4-6: feeling good, mixing up the exercise, getting stronger, muscles making a comeback and probably burning more calories because of it
- Months 7-9: getting ambitious and doing much more challenging workouts, dropping a lot of weight and building muscle. Feeling good, although a bit stiff.
- Month 10: injury (hamstring strain). Nothing serious, but a reminder that we need to focus on flexibility in addition to strength. Otherwise, still feeling pretty good.
Re: diet, I think it helps to keep things really simple if you are trying to lose weight and stay nourished. Think beans and rice, tuna, light salads. If you can stop drinking, getting into a healthy food routine should be comparatively easy, sort of like staying away from your party friends.