anyone who has started/stopped drinking, how did it affect you?

[psychojoe]

anyone who has started/stopped drinking (from previously doing the opposite), how did it affect you from a BBing perspective?

We can read avant labs articles etc, but im interested in how someone irl has actually experienced the effects of alcohol on training/body comp/recovery, etc.

Youll have to be fairly clear about how much you drank, remember. And what else, if anything, changed when you changed your drinking habits?

[HEADSH0T]

i can tell you what it does to my friend, its effects are crystal clear:
doesnt drink for 4 weeks, trains hard eats alot: gets full abs, full muscles and looks really good
drinks on friday, sat, sun: hangover until tuesday so he loses around 10lbs during this period and doesnt train until thursday, and repeats the drinking cycle on friday night. two weeks of this and he looks just like he did prior to his 4 week "alcohol free cycle". then he sais "alright no more drinking" - 4 weeks off the alcohol. looks good has abs nice chest quad separation... then does the drinking cycle 2-3 weeks and hes back to where he was in the beginning.
2 years ago the guy was 60lbs heavier than me. now im 20lbs heavier than him (and hes at the same weight). the guy doesnt smoke, always eats healthy, but when he parties he parties

[grapemaster]

i've gone off an on, but i dont binge drink...just a few nights a week, few drinks... always budget it into calories... cant notice any difference. if you are prepping for a show though, screw the alcohol and bust your ass... you will probably see a diff, but for most people, enjoy life and live up while u can

[dbx]

First off, I am an alcoholic. I started lifting over 4yrs ago while drinking, but have been sober for nearly 3 yrs now. How much I drank? When it was beer, I averaged 10-16 cans/bottles per week night and betwen 1-2 cases on a Sat....same for Sun. Wine, 1-3 bottles per night. I quit hard liquor after college because I drank it like beer. The difference is like day and night. I am much more focused. In fact, I found myself again after a 30yr vacation from the world . I decided to get much more serious about working out this year and look better, feel great, and stronger than I've ever been in my life at age 47.

What has changed?: Muscle recovery is much better. Focus is incredible. Positive attitude is present at all times. Surprisingly, I ate pretty healthy (at least....when I ate) for the most part the past 10yrs, but I have sharpened that skill as well. I don't skip w/o days because "I don't feel like it today". I am clear on my limitations when lifting (ie, safety etc...). I don't pull muscles like I used to. My dedication to working out and eating healthy has increased 100 fold. And when I sweat now? Water comes out instead of beer

I don't think there is anything wrong with a dedicated BBer drinking on occasion. If he's focused on his diet he probably knows his boundaries. Unfortunately for me, I cannot do this. I'm sure there's a BIG difference between an alcoholic and the occasional, weekend, and binge drinker. So if you're doing a study it'll be hard to qualify and quantify your information from responses you'll get here. Perhaps you'll see some commonalities as well.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

[landaishan]

i used to drink pretty heavilly.... and now ive stopped completely because i realised it was starting to become a problem.

i would get slightly drunk almost every night. id usually drink at least 2 beers every day. usually 4-6. or a bottle of wine. i found my energy levels were lower and my brain was hazier. it just hurt a hell of alot more in the gym when it came to training really heavy and intense with things like legs. i never felt quite right because of the excessive amounts of alcohol i drank. and i was generally overall alot less motivated, alot more depressed and alot more stupid. so now that ive stopped drinking completely im alot more motivated, my moods are alot better and i feel alot happier, smarter, clearer and more focused in my life. i also train alot harder with alot more intensity more frequently.

i dont know about recovery wise, i dont think alcohol has a great impact on that, but id say it affected my gains in a large variety of ways... mostly for the reasons i stated above.

[matthor]

i was a weekend warrior, and being a uni student, sometimes midweek bandit i was hovering around 83kgs whilst doing this and realised i dont liek being hungover - getting wasted doesnt just ruin 1 night of health, cos the next day i was wrecked and slept in till like 2pm, then went to Oporto at 3pm with my mates and ate a huge 1000cal + meal of chicken burgers, chips, soft drinks while we exchanged stories from the night bfo, then sat around accomplishing nothing and prolyl had some beers and pizza while watchign sunday football - then i couldnt sleep that night and my monday would be ruined aswell.

around january, i cut down drastically on booze - still had the odd big night, but not many, and if im out now, i have only a few drinks - the weight just fell off me, i went from 83 to 73 in no time, then after seeing results got a bit more focused and dropped more fat - now i am very cut and just aiming to polish off my admittedly small love handles bfo aiming to get a tad more bulk then maintain with slow slow growth in size and strength.

not drinking so much has had so many benefits on my life that the slightly decreased social aspect of life is a very small price to pay. still go out and have fun, just dont fuk urself up int he process.

xFIRE UPx