livingnow

Im curious to hear from you who have quit how much weight if any you have lost , and how long it took.
I believe this would be encouragement to myself and all here!

courage2

I lost about 20 pounds in 2 years. I haven't tried -- I'm just more active and not putting all those booze calories in my body. I have a fast metabolism & not much of a sweet tooth, so it feels like the extra pounds were just another bad byproduct of drinking and when I quit my body went to its natural size.

razor15

Sadly, not much. :-) Unlike about 6 years ago when I stopped for a few months, when the weight dropped off me quickly, I haven't really lost much this time around. I'm not an overweight guy, but trimming the belly a bit would be nice.
I think now that I'm 43, the metabolism has changed a bit I guess.
Not to be a downer though, as I think I'm a bit of an anomaly. Last time I probably dropped about 20 lbs. (I'm a very tall guy, so most of it was from around the belly...the bane of male drinkers everywhere!!!)
Maybe it'll start for me this week....good diet, exercise, no drinking, and I'm still hovering around 220. That just doesn't seem fair. :-)
I feel stellar though!

Wastinglife

I first got sober 3 years ago. Went to rehab and besides 3 relapses of around a week each, I have been sober since and lost about 30 pounds. I gained a lot of weight when I became a daily drinker. 12 beers a day minimum and then no exercise cuz I drunk or hungover all the time.

Soberwolf

Stay sober weight drops off !!

i also eat a well balanced diet plenty of nutrients

i also take vitimins

phoebe64

First quit, I also changed my lifestyle a great deal and lost about 50 pounds in 6 months.

Another time, after a relapse, I lost 10 pounds over a month of sobriety.

Each time, I also eat better. Drinking makes me make poor eating choices and I have more snacks. Add that to the calories in the drink, and it is maybe an extra 1000 calories a day!!

My weight and health is now a big motivator for me to try to stay stopped this time.

paloverde

Yes 30lbs over 4 months after quitting. I'm stuck at my current weight cause I like to splurge on food on the weekend instead of getting drunk.

Broncosys

You may lose weight if you stop using alcohol, but there are so many other causes of and factors contributing to weight - mainly diet related. If you stop drinking and stop eating other processed sugars and carbs, there is no doubt you will lose weight if you have some to lose.

ScottFromWI

I lost about 15 lbs that permanently stayed off after about 3-4 months sober. I attribute it to not drinking all the empty calories ( I drank beer exclusively ) and also eating better. When I was drinking i'd skip meals and eat late at night, and the food I ate was not good food either.

Gilmer

Have I lost weight?

NO!

N3p3nth3

My years of drinking had accumulated into a lovely muffin top. I'm not sure, but I'd estimate I lost about 15 pounds over the first 3 months just due to cutting out those extra calories. And that's despite the fact that I was eating more.

mcfearless

10 kg's (25 pounds ?) in 3 months. I was not over weight to start with.

jaynie04

LOL, the dreaded drinking muffin top! Yes, I had always been fairly thin but in the last few years of drinking I had packed on around 30 pounds. When I first got sober I decided that was the priority, staying sober come hell or high water. Ben and Jerry moved in, Godiva set up shop, and I would roll around on the floor with Twizzlers and sour patch kids daily.

Meanwhile I kept reading about everyone here who was so healthy and exercising and juicing. I was sitting on the couch binge watching Dexter and Breaking Bad and the landscape littered with Red Bulls and Hershey's Kiss wrappers wasn't pretty.

Surprisingly about 10 pounds came off anyway. Last summer I joined the fitbit group here, I had been avoiding exercise for the most part. My husband said "that'll last a week". This July was a year and this month I am in the top 20 of everyone born in my year (1965) around the world, about 700 people. I average about 10 miles a day. The weight fell off, yay! I walk in my driveway at night after everyone goes to bed, (ok, I know a little weird). It is so quiet and I have watched the moon wax and wane and had encounters with raccoons, and deer and last week a skunk (I went in and got a handheld vacuum to scare him away. I realized the next day crazy lady standing in the driveway at 11 pm running the vacuum…might surprise anyone that I was sober!!!).

So from couch surfing to regaining my athletic prowess and I can 100% attribute it to the fact that I quit drinking.

FreeOwl

I've actually GAINED weight....

But part of that is because of being in a relationship - whereas before I spent a LOT of time running and working out. I still run and work out, but I also eat more and hang out more and don't work out as ridiculously and intensely.

It may be that I'm finally at an age where I'm just not going to be ripped anymore. I've been watching my calories and realizing that I've been eating too much - even though I do run and work out.

Also - the first year of sobriety I tended to offset some of the missing sugar of alcohol and stave off cravings and sublimate emotions through sweets and food. That added up, and that combined with less rigorous workouts and mood issues during early recovery packed on some weight.

Overall - I'm much healthier in sobriety, and working on attaining my ideal weight range but focused more on what I'm capable of DOING than on what I weigh.

I figure 10-15 extra pounds isn't really a big deal if I can still run ultramarathons, surf, ski and do all the stuff I love.

FarToGo

Yes I've dropped a dress size and thankfully a bra size! About 10lbs in 4 and half months. I wanted to though, not just ditching the booze, I've cut out some of the rubbish food too.

Gilmer

I was a little flippant when I posted before. The fact is, I ate less when I was actively drinking--because my time was spent drinking rather than eating!

I find that the only way I can take weight off is if I'm so engrossed in an activity that I forget to eat. I am a boredom eater. For reasons unrelated to sobriety, my mind has been extra-restless the past two years--thus, I eat.

Even so, I've only gained 25 pounds and am holding steady.

DitzyDandelion

I lost a bit due to stress when I first left the ex and I guess I was drinking a LOT less living at my brothers. It picked back up once I got my own place. Old drinking me always wanted my own place so I could finally drink in peace and now I am settled in no drinking . Anyway back to weight (sorry got slight flu and brain is wandering) I wouldn't want to loose weight am already rather tiny 4"11 and only about 87 lbs. Still manage a few healthy curves and absolutely don't want to drop any more. Wouldn't mind toning up my muscles a bit.

MelindaFlowers

I gained 70 lbs in five years directly from drinking 2000 calories a night.

I have lost 40 lbs in one year of sobriety without any effort. Why? I am no longer drinking 2000 calories a night from alcohol.

Oddly enough, all the weight loss was only after six months or so. No weight loss first six months. Lots second six months.

Hypernova

When I quit I actually started to gain a bit of weight and I was quite shocked, after all I wasn't putting all those empty calories into my body anymore, I was expecting immediate results like ok I quit drinking the pounds will just drop off. That didn't happen so I made other changes to my lifestyle, I watch what I eat and when I eat (no more midnight food binges) no more soft drinks. I joined a gym and in the last week I have dropped 5 Lbs so hopefully I am on the right track.

newhope01

I always drop tons of weight when I stop drinking but I suffer from an eating disorder.

If I'm not numbing myself with alcohol, I'm starving myself.

But I will say when I am sober, I become more athletic. I compete in runs and while sober, successfully trained and completed a marathon. That felt pretty good.