Effects on apperance....
Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Arizona
Posts: 147
I feel completely de-bloated now at 15 days but I felt I looked better after 10 days. I can't recommend you to take anything but what worked for me was a quality multi-vitamin, extra vitamin b complex vitamin and healthy eating. I also improved by watching my sodium intake. Your body will catch up with it's hydration eventually.
Maybe ask your doctor for some blood work, see if you are deficient in anything?
Maybe ask your doctor for some blood work, see if you are deficient in anything?
Keep at it! 
Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: California
Posts: 13,044
Hello,
I will echo the nessages above, I am 8 months sober and I have lost 39.5 pounds (I want to say 40, but I am keeping myself honest!). My face has lost the blotchy red complexion and my eyes look clear each day.
I started Weighr Watchers in conjunction with my sobriety and have just focused on a healthy overhaul of my life. I try to walk daily, and also do other exercises throughout the week to tone.
My physical and mental health are night and day different than they were in January.
Sobriety is definitely worth it!!!
I will echo the nessages above, I am 8 months sober and I have lost 39.5 pounds (I want to say 40, but I am keeping myself honest!). My face has lost the blotchy red complexion and my eyes look clear each day.
I started Weighr Watchers in conjunction with my sobriety and have just focused on a healthy overhaul of my life. I try to walk daily, and also do other exercises throughout the week to tone.
My physical and mental health are night and day different than they were in January.
Sobriety is definitely worth it!!!
Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Ohio
Posts: 420
Thanks for the encouragement! I am disappointed that my eyes arent whiter and sparklier by now (day 17). How long does this take? Or is this as good as theyll get? I would like to lose a few pounds but so far ive been eating more probably to make up for some of the calories i am missing from not drinking. My face overall looks better tho. Noone has told me i look tired in the last couple weeks!
Member
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Northeast WI
Posts: 163
Originally Posted by Julia8 
Thanks for the encouragement! I am disappointed that my eyes arent whiter and sparklier by now (day 17). How long does this take? Or is this as good as theyll get? I would like to lose a few pounds but so far ive been eating more probably to make up for some of the calories i am missing from not drinking. My face overall looks better tho. Noone has told me i look tired in the last couple weeks!
I ate a TON earlier on, my body missed those carbs. For the first few weeks I let myself indulge, whatever my mind and/or body needed. It will level out. How weird it was for me, to get hungry at normal times! (Lunch? What's that?)
I haven't lost much pound-wise, 5-6 maybe, but I LOOK less squishy and my middle is flatter. Around my waist/love handles were the worst part when I was still drinking. To me, it looks like more than a few pounds, but it's just redistributed.
When I was drinking, my skin was red, blotchy, and oily. I tried to blame it on other things, as well as my hair being dried out and not growing. Enter sobriety and bang - my skin looks MUCH better (although I have to kick my water intake back up, and STOP GOING TO BED WITH MAKE UP ON, I'm old enough to know better!) and my hair grew a ton in the first month even. I couldn't believe it.
Focus on how you feel and on not drinking. The rest will come. You may be scrutinizing yourself extra hard, but others will be able to see it - I couldn't believe how many comments I got about how different/better/healthier I look now. Hang in there!
Bunny and Mera....dang, girls! Now that's inspiration!
Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 103
Originally Posted by blink926
Today is day 9 for me. I have had lots of day 9's before. I'm really hoping this is my last one. Can anyone give me some hope that my physical appearance will go back to what it once was. I am so bloated from years of heavy drinking that I feel like a puffer fish. My face even looks swollen. I see myself from a distance in the mirror and I look awful. I have a double chin. My skin is very dry. I have dark circles under my eyes. I am so embarrased to go around anyone that I know that hasn't seen me in a while. I have put on 40 lbs in the past 2 years.
Has anyone had similar symptoms and recovered from them after quitting the poison? I guess that's just what it is, I am poisoning my body and it is starting to show on the outside. Funny how I could get away with it in my 20's. After turning 35 it seems it has all gone downhill. I am about to be 38 and I would like to enjoy the last year's in my 30's and hoping that being sober in my 40's will make that decade much better than this one.
Has anyone had similar symptoms and recovered from them after quitting the poison? I guess that's just what it is, I am poisoning my body and it is starting to show on the outside. Funny how I could get away with it in my 20's. After turning 35 it seems it has all gone downhill. I am about to be 38 and I would like to enjoy the last year's in my 30's and hoping that being sober in my 40's will make that decade much better than this one.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 34
I really appreciate all of your replies, stories, & experiences. While I know the number one reason for me to quit is for my health, it really helps to see the outward improvement as well. Being 40 lbs overweight puts me in a depression and because of the depression, I drink. A cycle that seemed to never end. At least not until 10 days ago.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: California
Posts: 2,693
I looked absolutely terrible when I was drinking.
I was one of those people that any person off the street could have looked at me and said "Oh yeah. That's an alcoholic."
My face was a deep shade of red. My eyes were swollen slits. They were so puffy and glassy/watery, it gave the appearance I had just stopped crying. I sweated almost all the time. I always had a sheen of cold sweat on my forehead. My eyes were bloodshot every day. I wondered if the whites of my eyes would ever be white again.
This all went away with sobriety. I stopped relatively young at 32. My skin is normal tone. I don't sweat anymore. My eyes look like anybody else. Whites of my eyes are white.
My Costco card picture was taken five years ago while I was massively hungover. I look like a different person. I'm 26 months sober now.
I was one of those people that any person off the street could have looked at me and said "Oh yeah. That's an alcoholic."
My face was a deep shade of red. My eyes were swollen slits. They were so puffy and glassy/watery, it gave the appearance I had just stopped crying. I sweated almost all the time. I always had a sheen of cold sweat on my forehead. My eyes were bloodshot every day. I wondered if the whites of my eyes would ever be white again.
This all went away with sobriety. I stopped relatively young at 32. My skin is normal tone. I don't sweat anymore. My eyes look like anybody else. Whites of my eyes are white.
My Costco card picture was taken five years ago while I was massively hungover. I look like a different person. I'm 26 months sober now.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 34
Originally Posted by Petecrab
I would be happy to share a before and after if that helps with your motivation. I didn't start losing weight until a month sober then it started to drop off
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 34
Originally Posted by MelindaFlowers
I looked absolutely terrible when I was drinking.
I was one of those people that any person off the street could have looked at me and said "Oh yeah. That's an alcoholic."
My face was a deep shade of red. My eyes were swollen slits. They were so puffy and glassy/watery, it gave the appearance I had just stopped crying. I sweated almost all the time. I always had a sheen of cold sweat on my forehead. My eyes were bloodshot every day. I wondered if the whites of my eyes would ever be white again.
This all went away with sobriety. I stopped relatively young at 32. My skin is normal tone. I don't sweat anymore. My eyes look like anybody else. Whites of my eyes are white.
My Costco card picture was taken five years ago while I was massively hungover. I look like a different person. I'm 26 months sober now.
I was one of those people that any person off the street could have looked at me and said "Oh yeah. That's an alcoholic."
My face was a deep shade of red. My eyes were swollen slits. They were so puffy and glassy/watery, it gave the appearance I had just stopped crying. I sweated almost all the time. I always had a sheen of cold sweat on my forehead. My eyes were bloodshot every day. I wondered if the whites of my eyes would ever be white again.
This all went away with sobriety. I stopped relatively young at 32. My skin is normal tone. I don't sweat anymore. My eyes look like anybody else. Whites of my eyes are white.
My Costco card picture was taken five years ago while I was massively hungover. I look like a different person. I'm 26 months sober now.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: South west uk
Posts: 960
Originally Posted by blink926
Yes! That would definitely help. That's reassuring about you not starting to lose weight until a month later. I'm way too impatient. Lol.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: here, now.
Posts: 1,236
This post inspired me to track what I look like as one of many things to remind myself with. So I broke down and weighed myself this morning. Not sharing the number but it is 5 lbs down from late July. Also took selfies of my face and when you line them up to that horrendous pic taken in late July and consider that it's only been 20 days that's pretty impressive. It's all those one days at a time added together.
This is NOT why I quit drinking but it's a really good nudge for when the AV kicks in because literally the only thing I have changed is booze. The other things (not eating fatty food as much, exercising more, sleeping better, drinking non-dehydrating fluids like herbal tea and water) ALL come from that one change.
"Only" 35 lb overweight now. Better than 40 and rising!!!
This is NOT why I quit drinking but it's a really good nudge for when the AV kicks in because literally the only thing I have changed is booze. The other things (not eating fatty food as much, exercising more, sleeping better, drinking non-dehydrating fluids like herbal tea and water) ALL come from that one change.
"Only" 35 lb overweight now. Better than 40 and rising!!!
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 34
Originally Posted by bexxed
This post inspired me to track what I look like as one of many things to remind myself with. So I broke down and weighed myself this morning. Not sharing the number but it is 5 lbs down from late July. Also took selfies of my face and when you line them up to that horrendous pic taken in late July and consider that it's only been 20 days that's pretty impressive. It's all those one days at a time added together.
This is NOT why I quit drinking but it's a really good nudge for when the AV kicks in because literally the only thing I have changed is booze. The other things (not eating fatty food as much, exercising more, sleeping better, drinking non-dehydrating fluids like herbal tea and water) ALL come from that one change.
"Only" 35 lb overweight now. Better than 40 and rising!!!
This is NOT why I quit drinking but it's a really good nudge for when the AV kicks in because literally the only thing I have changed is booze. The other things (not eating fatty food as much, exercising more, sleeping better, drinking non-dehydrating fluids like herbal tea and water) ALL come from that one change.
"Only" 35 lb overweight now. Better than 40 and rising!!!
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