MrBen

So when I was drinking/smoking it's fair to say I'd looked better. I was really overweight, my teeth were stained yellow (years of fizzy pop and smoking had not been kind) and I basically looked knackered.

And I pretty much felt how I looked.

One of the nicest things about recovery is that I look like the old me again. Hey, I know I'm not getting any modelling jobs any time soon, but its my face and my body again. Not the ravaged one alcohol left me with.

I've just heard a few people ask if your appearance improves after quitting so I thought I'd share my experiences. Truthfully I never thought I'd look like "me" again.

PurpleKnight

Yeap, it's one of the positives of Sobriety, the body gets a chance to heal from years of dealing with a poison!! it takes time but the benefits shine through eventually!!

Notmyrealname

Yeah it's neat, huh? One more of the "new lease on life" aspects of sobering up.

You do any working out? I do a lot of running / weight training in sobriety, helps me fill all those hours I used to spend drinking and gives me a long term project to invest myself in, plus I have a lot of hard living to make up for

MrBen

I've gotten really into fitness since I quit. I honestly think it's the best thing you can do in aide of your sobriety- gets out the stress I used to drowned in drink.

MandalayVA

It's only been a short time since I quit, but the bloat and a lot of the redness is gone from my face, I've lost weight and I'm going to the gym. Life is good.

tomsteve

when I got sober, people thought I was about 40 ( I was 36).
9 years later I have people thinkin im in my mid 30's.
I think theyre nuts.

LBrain

A few weeks ago a couple people at a meeting told me I lost weight. I didn't think so. But a look at my drivers license photo revealed a round face I no longer have.

It's amazing how we change - little by little.

Glad to hear you are doing so well MrBen.

KAD

Yep, it's good to see my face again, without the bags and dark circles. Even the corners of my mouth seemed to droop when I was drinking. And I had this vein on the side of my forehead that would protrude due to high blood pressure when drinking. That's gone now, too. Alcohol tears you up inside and out!

Nowsthetime

Totally. I actually posted how great my skin looks. To be honest, now that is an incentive. I was a binge drinker, weekends and sometimes during the week so weight wasn't such a big deal, but I have noticed that I have lost a little too. It is amazing!!! I am so happy about this and it has fulled my battle.

Good deal. Keep us posted.

L

Cathryn2001

During my drinking career, I couldn't stand to look at pictures of myself (puffy face, dull eyes). I'm much better about being photographed, now, because I'm actively taking care of myself and making effort to live a healthy life. I stopped drinking 11 months ago, and there have been many positive changes in my appearance.

Congratulations, MrBen, on getting your looks back!

Chilledice

28 days sober and dark circles going away, colour is coming back to my face and less bloated and my eyes are getting white again :-)

ex D-Boy

Isn't it nice to see the variety of changes that take place when we maintain sobriety? When I was using, people used to say to me that if I turned sideways, I would disappear!

Congratulations Mr.Ben! Keep on doing the right things

Chilledice

Im considering posting before and after pics when I have 2 months sober :-)

lovesymphony

Hopefully if I remain sober in six months my hair will be thick like it used to be and I won't ever again hear someone mention to someone else how thin it is, when they dont know I can hear them .

GracieLou

Awww

It does get better. We learn to love ourselves just the way we are. I like myself now more than I ever did when I was 20 or 30. You can be knock out beautiful but that does not mean much when you are laying on the bar floor drunk as a skunk..lol

This last month I have had 6 people at work tell me I look great and just before I left work I ran into two gals that I used to work with all the time but they moved to one of our other buildings and I have not seen them in a while.

They were all smiles and telling me how wonderful I look. I know I feel better and I am sure I smell better...lol

But it does feel good to have other people tell me. I think I may have to push my ego back in a tad!

It does take some time for people to notice and even if they don't, feeling better sure does make a big difference in attitude.

Serotonin

I guess I'm lucky in this regard. I dropped a ton of weight a few years ago when I had 4 1/2 months sober. I did gain half of it back since. I'm only 5 days in this time and my face is less puffy already. One of the many gratuities of being sober. I'm 34 and people think I'm in my mid 20's. Lucky I guess.

jaynie04

Last year I dreaded going anywhere. I had put on weight and refused to buy new clothes. Let's just say I had to get pretty creative with my wardrobe choices. There weren't actually ropes and pulleys involved, but it wasn't pretty.

People must have thought I belonged to the anti-gym, because I was always in black yoga pants but kept getting bigger. I didn't really try anything drastic but the weight slowly wicked away, still a bit more to go but at least I am going the right way.

ex D-Boy

Not sure where you are from but here in the USA there is a gym that actually serves pizza and soda nightly to members lol. When you said "anti-gym" it made me instantly think of this place. They also do not have any serious weights or allow super fit or muscular people to join.

Not really sure what the point of the gym actually is now that I think more about it.....