Thanks for promoting the challenge. Made it, and the few opportunities where drinking might have been a problem I just stated that I don't drink and the servers made sure I had plenty of other options. I combined this with no dairy and no sodas that began in December. So, plenty of learning about food/drink choices and the challenges of going to a restaurant and carefully selecting menu options.

The one time in December when I had a diet Coke it went through my system like a hurricane. I'm a bit worried that the first drink or beer might have the same effect. It is amazing how my system, once cleaned up, gets pretty upset when throwing bad food at it.

My last drink was December 27th. I had an event, fundraising auction, on January 27th. I thought about calling it good but continued with the challenge. Being sober at that event easily saved me a couple of hundred bucks. While the challenge ends for me tomorrow, I'm going to work the next 72 hours and can't drink at work. So Super Bowl Sunday will be my day.

Congrats to all that had the courage to start and to all that finished too. I know I learned a lot.

I made it and will continue for now. Superbowl starts 7:00am here, so no beers for me!

---

My race site: https://racesandplaces.wixsite.com/racesandplaces

Made it through January without a single drop to drink. As I stated before, I will hold out until Sunday and the beer will flow for the Super Bowl.

---

Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Mission accomplished. Pleased that I was able to get through the month without alcohol notwithstanding many temptations (parties, tri club socials, etc.).

Woot made it! In addition I tried to cut out crap food. I dropped from 150 to 142 without losing any power and noticed a huge increase in recovery ability. Put in a lot of hours the whole month and physically they felt much easier than they should've, recovery wise.

I will drink a nice pint or two today but am going to keep it next to nil until IMTX. Thank you for pushing this challenge, I learned a lot about how beer affects my training and potential.

Proud to say I was able to make it. I haven't had a drop since Christmas night. The first couple weeks of abstaining was due to willpower, the latter half of this challenge was helped by the fact that I started on some meds that i'm not supposed to mix with alcohol. So, for the near future, this challenge will go on a little longer. One thing I learned from this is how truly awful Bitburger NA beer is...wanted to find an NA with absolute 0% alcohol and that's what I stumbled upon.

Thanks for promoting this and challenging us!

Bitburger is strangely sweet and floral. Not my favourite either. Top marks go to Becks Blue, which is crisp and very tasty. It is fine as long as you don’t compare it to a real beer (e.g. switching to Blue after you have had a pint of the real stuff).

My real favourite is low, rather than no alcohol. 0.5% abc, Piston Head’s Flat Tyre. Really good stuff.

me - successful. thanks for the original post. keep it going or at least again next year.
also, for me, one down, 3 other non alcohol December - March challenges to go.

Congrats on your success and the overall success of the group! What astonishes me is, rather than the amount of alcohol not consumed were the lessons so many learned about themselves. If such a high percentage of these athletes have improved recovery, sleep, or possibly weight loss, "maybe it will work for me also" thinking is not far behind. "I might finally get that podium finish in the local tri or 5K."

Being on the podium for an age group finish is fleeting. A few seconds, a bashful smile, glance at your spouse or teammate, at most. But if the not terribly expensive medal is hung around the bathroom light where you brush your teeth am and pm, it's a small daily reminder of a series of choices that YOU made in January 2018 that helped you. Probably in more ways than you consider while brushing.

I'm really proud of this group, many of whom did not know if they could actually last a whole month or nearly so! I got a message from one athlete that says, "You know, it's February 3rd, and I thought I'd restock the Jim Beam bourbon at the stroke of midnight on the 31st. But now 3 days in, I remain bourbon-less (is that a word?) and doubt I'll get any this weekend. Who knew?"

Super job gang!

John

---

John H. Post, III, MD
Orthopedic Surgeon
Charlottesville, VA

Yeah, the sweetness that hits you about 2-3 seconds after is what I really disliked about it. Thanks for the heads-up on the other options...i'll try those in a pinch.

Well I made it through, though it was really difficult at times.
I was really strict on the diet too and ended up 8lbs down so pretty successful for me.
The challenge is to keep some good habits going forward.

Geez, this is quite a remarkable thread for a first post ever...
(first time poster, long time lurker)

I have done Soberuary or some derivation thereof for several years, but the mindfulness that you provided with this thread brought a few things to light for me:

1. January sucks. Things I coped with sober- In-law visit, parental unit visit, monster block of marathon training, anniversary of mother's death.

2. Things I turned to instead of the Bottle- SUGAR, SUGAR, and MORE SUGAR. Good lord my sweet tooth was in overdrive this month. The times that the Taller Half and I went out to a restaurant or pub, I ended up having a "mocktail", which meant a bunch of unfermented sugar in lieu of fermented sugar. Also, craved dessert more nights than not.

3. Overall mental observation- Alcohol tends to "round the edges", like a decent router. Coping with daily and weekly BS took more mental energy, but the focus that this month brought to difficult moments and making me go through them without any sort of "crutch" brought clarity to certain feelings or overall impressions of situations.

4. Like most people posted- better sleep (until I got the DeathCold(tm)) and a few pounds off on the scale.

I broke January's fast in epic fashion, at my favorite microbrewery with their newest release beer, and good lord was it delicious. I'll continue to go through my general motions of "no alcohol on a run's Eve" but this month definitely brought some perspective that I'd lacked in recent months. Thank you for that!

---

Level II USAT Coach | Level 3 USAC Coach | NASM-CPT
Team Zoot | Tailwind Trailblazer
I can tell you why you're sick, I just can't write you an Rx

I made it...actually still haven’t had a drink since NYE, but that’ll end tonight for the Super Bowl. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, especially once I figured out a go-to drink order at restaurants (I travel for work every week so I eat at restaurants A LOT). I definitely see myself reducing my consumption from here on, as I’ve definitely noticed better sleep, lost some weight, etc. Overall, this was a great challenge and I’ll be back for4.0 next year.

I just finished my month (Jan. 8 to Feb. 8) with good and bad news. In December I had my annual physical and 3 of my liver enzymes were above normal range. Not terribly high but enough to raise my doc's eyebrows. He did an additional test for hepatitis which was negative and then ultrasound for a physical cause (also negative). He told me to come back in 6 months for a retest and watch my alcohol consumption. I had planned to do the No-Alchohol month mainly because it seemed like I was starting to enjoy my cocktails a little too much and was probably drinking a few more a week than I should. A week into the no-alcohol month, I realized it would be a good opportunity to retest the liver enzymes when I finished. My doc agreed and I set up the test for the first day of the new month.

The good news - two of the three enzymes (AST and AP) dropped to half their previous levels and are right in the middle of normal range. The third, ALT, dropped 44 points. And while still a bit high, it dropped significantly from where it was.

The bad news - my doc said I should probably try to eliminate alcohol completely.

I didn't get a chance to discuss this with him. I suspect a few beers a week would be fine as opposed to the 2 or 3 cocktails I was having every other day or so. But it is a slippery slope and I'm not sure its a good idea for me to take a step onto this slope.

The strong desire for a drink seemed to go away a week or two into the month. I didn't drink on the first day of the new month like I thought I would. I slept better the entire month and in general felt better. I felt more-even keeled. There was a sudden death in the family and an unexpected death of a friend. Other than thinking I should have a drink to toast their lives because that it is what one does, I didn't need to drink and it wasn't hard to abstain.

I was less tolerant of the hard drinkers I was around and surprised at the actual hostility from one of my friends when he found out I wouldn't drink with him for a month.

It's a lot to take in. I'm not sure what I will do. But certainly glad that I did it.

Well I should post a final recap. I failed on Jan 1 and then I failed again on the last weekend of January when I took my kids camping on Saturday and bought a beer from the camp store . Had four on super bowl Sunday also. Best thing was my weight loss and I have lost a good 12 pounds and I am at 198 currently. Most of the weight loss is from better eating and consistent training which was 35 out 43 days where I did a workout and 4 of those days off were due to illness. I will do my first triathlon a sprint one next Saturday.

Hey all—thanks for the awesome idea and support. I’m still going strong at day 40 of abstinence. I like how it feels. I think I’ll keep it up for a bit.

All the best—
Nate

Being tolerant of drunk people when your sober is the worst!! I wonder how my wife puts up with me when I’m drunk lol social gatherings/parties sure do get boring when sober when everyone else is drinking also imho-is prefer to just go out for dinner.

Quick question-seems a lot of u are referring to cocktails? Is this like the drink you would expect with bright colours and a little umbrella or is this an American term just for a mixed drink?

Mixed drink. edit: Usually fancier than than a rum&coke or vodka&redbull. But ordering scotch at a cocktail hour wouldn't be out of place either.

Reviewed my calendar and confirmed that post-Jan. 1 (2am or thereabouts), I didn't have a drink. Certainly not a big drinker anyways, but I definitely appreciated the lower HR and some nominal weight loss (too many confounding factors to attribute much credit).

I made it as well. However, I thought I'd notice a more significant effect than I did. I might have lost a pound, and no, I didn't change my diet much if any. I'm beginning to wonder if the dreaded "set point" weight theory is fully in charge of my inability to budge from what is probably 10 pounds too much. I am exercising less than in years past, but I thought I'd see a little more loss. I'll probably be in for next year though, just for the discipline.

      First: great influence on the journey here John Post. Second: dave Campbell sorry you find no "value" but just a suggestion: looks as though you are from Cali. Maybe go do some volunteer even if once, on say ..... Skid row . Probably find some value ( hopefully) and being an example and giving hope to those suffering that sobriety can be had (If you have it to give)
And if it such a deed does not do it for you, well so be it. But for all the people (yes athletes too) suffering from the diseases of alcoholism and addiction it's no picnic not always a choice. A goal here of such instigated by obviously a well meaning, compassionate and empathetic gentleman such as Dr. Post is a rare, very rare occurrence this day and age.
Hope you can come around to see it differently. All the best, we are both in California. Maybe dice it up on a course together sometime.
I myself, post race, no beer line. A personal decision that I and quite honestly all others around…............benefit from. And I am not ashamed to share. If it can remotely be of good example or hope for another whom like myself was getting their ass kicked. And progressively getting worse. 25 years if I make to January 31, 2019, " if" because it's just one day at a time. If I can do it. Anybody can. And yep blessed in that respect and also to be in old man
age group such as yours.......... and still like to go fast

---

dr

Dave will thankfully not be able to respond to your post.

I'm in. Thanks for the motivation.

My swim group is on board as well.

NYr's eve, the final swim of the year is always goofy. We only swam 2019 yards, but the last 19 were on our backs, feet pointed toward the backstroke flags, sculling. (Hands over your head pushing stroke.) Directional control is terrible, many mid-lane collisions, and much laughing!

Love this sport.

Happy New Year to all.

John

---

John H. Post, III, MD
Orthopedic Surgeon
Charlottesville, VA