shelly009

I used to drink upwards of about 40-50 beer a week so I am thinking thats about 8000 calories... should equal a few pounds coming off providing I dont eat more than usual... food is really tasting good these days though, I must say!

tyler52

Once you quit drinking the pounds will fall off. I gave up beer 6 months ago and dropped 45 lbs w/o any exercise whatsoever.

littlebluedog

8000 calories sure puts things into perspective! I went from quitting drinking during the week about 4/5 months ago(only to binge/blackout every weekend), to quitting completely 24 days ago. All in all, I lost about 20 lbs( I think...I was afraid to weigh myself there at the end...so who knows what I actually weighed). But I paired it with cardio about 5 times a week. So, to answer your question, yes.

I'm with you on the food tasting better! It's nice to enjoy actually enjoy sweets again, instead of gorging on greasy foods in the morning to "cure" the hangover.

linguoman

yea and that was always a good way in justifying to quit drinking. When I would wake up in my bed looking to my desk and seeing 60 or 70 beer cans after a week binge and thinking of all the empty calories that I just consumed. Oh and the eating once you're drunk so even more supplemental greasy salty food calories. Years ago I cut down my drinking and ate healthier for a while and went from 200 to 166 in like a couple of months and wasn't bloated anymore.

Gypsy Feet

I thought I would lose more/quicker. I have maybe dropped 5-10 pounds. I am confident that I am the healthiest I have been in 20 years though.

nolaspiral

You will lose weight, especially if you are a man (sue me for stating a fact). The key thing for alcoholics is B. Take B supplements and EAT SOME REAL BREAD. Your body takes vitamins from food more than the pills.

My boozing was about 1500 calories per day but I never got fat. Like some of you I either didn't eat; puked, or otherwise shoveled enough cjeap calories to keep this lumbering POS rnning for another day.

When you give up hardcore drinkijng, you'll free up at least a 1,000 (worthless) calories

nolaspiral

My keyboard is running low o batteries. Sorry for typos

Thentram

Aside from the number of calories consumed I find that when I am drinking I have no energy. The alcohol messes with what I eat, how I sleep, and what activities I do. Its amazing how much more healthy I live when sober.

Chamabama

For me, the hangover crap food that I ate was probably as bad as all the excess alcohol calories. I think I lost about 8 pounds my first week or so, I assume it was mostly bloat.

I've been sober a little over a month and I've lost about 15 pounds. But I have been working out a lot and consciously making healthy choices in the food department.

TTOSBT

Yup. Since I got sober I joined the gym, started exercising a bit and lost 55 pounds!

flutter

I think it depends. Towards the end of my drinking career, most all of my calories were coming from alcohol, and I wasn't eating much of anything nutritious. I gained about 10 lb after I quit.. oh well, I'm 10x healthier!

coffeenut

I've stayed exactly the same. I drank about 1,000 calories a day....you think I'd have at least lost an ounce!

baggervance

I am 6'4 and weighed 140 or so pounds at my end. When Im drinking or using thats what i do. This last time I was down to 162. I now weigh 190 and like about 20 pounds to be at my normal weight.

Katie09

Well, my experience is a bit different. My weight has gone from a low of 115 to a high of 173. When I was a couple of years sober I had quit smoking at six months and gained 25 lbs. Then I started running and lost 35 lbs. A couple of years ago when drinking I lost about 45 lbs then bounced back up to 171 while drinking (following my dog's death). I find that my weight goes up and down with taking or not taking my psych meds. At any rate, I am back up to 170 and have started working out again, but I can't get a handle on the eating. I'm taking my meds again and not drinking so I can hope I get back down to at least 130.

Overman

I'm 6'4" and weighed 338 on the day I quit.

I've been sober for over 9 months and now weigh 290, and I hardly ever exercise (tho I should). My goal is 240ish.

48 lbs just from alcohol alone. It staggers the mind.

sunrise1

Sadly, I haven't lost a thing although I was probably consuming a couple thousand calories daily in rum... I have a feeling I'm eating a little more by way of "compensation"? Not sure. I am trying to eat well, and hopefully my walks and better diet will kick in.

Overman

I think it depends on what one's dietary habits were when using.

For example, one of my favorite drunken activities was creating huge, full-course gourmet meals. I loved to eat when I was drinking. They just seemed to naturally go together. Add the thousands of calories that alcohol creates, and the blimp was flying.

Otoh, others eat very little to nothing when drinking, so they gain weight after quitting. This seems to be more common among women, from my observations.

Sugah

I lost weight the first time I consciously quit drinking (ultimatum from my live-in boyfriend when I was twenty). I went from about 110lbs to 93lbs. I was big into fancy cocktails, and lots of them.

The last time, though, when I quit drinking, popping pills, doing coke, and smoking pot, I gained. I my weight had fallen into double digits, and when I got out of rehab five weeks later, I was about 135lbs. I couldn't eat for the first two weeks sober, so that's a huge gain. Though I'm average height (5' 4"), that's uncomfortably heavy for me because of my muscular/skeletal issues, so I set about losing it: regular, small meals, lots of water, and no sugar. Within six months, I was a healthy and comfortable 105.

These days, my weight stays between 100-108, depending upon the season. I have mobility issues and I'm not disciplined enough to keep up with the stationary bike, so most of my exercise comes from slow-paced walking and stretching. I eat very well, but no meat and little refined sugar. Dietary choices are conscious these days. It's not exactly the drunk/druggie diet of Mt. Dew and Pringles potato chips that I used to eat.

Peace & Love,
Sugah

Dime

I gained a lot of weight for the first time in my life toward the end of my drinking career. I ate almost no food, drank vodka and sat on my back end all day. I was completely disgusted with myself as my weight had been nearly ideal my entire life. When I got sober I ate 3 meals a day, took lots of vitamins and resumed a normal level of activity. I dropped 30 pounds and was fitting into old jeans that I had around for 20 years. I have since quit smoking and gained a few back but not really that much. I am happy with my weight today.

I don't have any hard data but I believe in general when a person gets sober they resume a healthier life style and body weight tends to move closer to ideal. I have noticed really thin people gaining weight and overweight folks losing.

jamdls

I went from 118 lbs to 147 lbs when I quit drinking; I went from a size 2 to a size 6! When I drank I rarely ate, wine was my substance and when I quit drinking I substituted massive quantities of M&Ms and other chocolate food for the wine. I'm now down to 134 and hope to lose another 6 pounds.