LESS Alcohol ~ APRIL 2023 ~ One Day at A Time

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  • Fursian
    Fursian Posts: 522 Member
    @RockinRobyn672 Thank you for the kind words of encouragement :) Yeah, I will keep focused on the AF days building up. It is really great to read that you're seeing a lot of progress in your own goals, that's brilliant! Experiences like yours and others do give me hope.
  • Womona
    Womona Posts: 1,596 Member
    GaryM_25 wrote: »
    Now just over two weeks into this twelve-week challenge, I think I've gotten the immediate first few weeks' benefit of the reduction of alcohol. So far, I've lost eleven pounds.

    While the program is structured as a twelve-week program, I had almost fourteen weeks between the Monday I decided to start and the day when my wife and I leave on a nice trip. I've got just over eleven weeks to go. If I can lose another fourteen pounds over those eleven weeks, I'd be more than happy. That would be twenty five pounds lost. Right now, I think that's realistic.

    Here's what my plan is:

    1. Alcohol free at least six days a week. The program has a "free day" a week. This week, it'll be Thursday as my wife and I are taking her daughter, my daughter, and my daughter's boyfriend to see a production of Cats at the local dinner theater. So far, I've gone fifteen days alcohol free but I'm not necessarily committed to completely dry.

    2. Six mini-meals a day with calorie counting on MFP. Including the "free days." My base calorie intake is about 1,600 calories a day to which exercise gives me opportunity for more.

    3. Strength training 3x a week. I'm thankful the Y is only three blocks away. The program alternates between upper body and lower body workouts. This, I'm doing with my wife. We're working as partners with the same muscle groups in order and same number of sets usually on the same equipment. My program is pretty intense, as in I can't lift the bar up another time as I make ugly faces. She's just at different weights and reps. She's delighted to be doing this. She's at the year-and-a-half mark after a successful gastric sleeve surgery and is triggered us both to start when we did. She's motivated by quality of life and maintenance. It's me who needs the weight loss.

    4. Cardio interval training 2x a week. The interval training is likewise intense. It's four cycles of intervals. In the final cycle, I hit a perceived exertion level of "10" that gets to max heart rate. If I can keep my plantar fasciitis managed, it'll really help me.

    5. Cardio hour's walk 5x a week. I remote work and have a nice walking treadmill I keep under my office desk. Every workday, I find a least busy hour of the day, such as a meeting that I mostly need to listen to, that I can walk on the treadmill.

    6. Additional 1x a week lifestyle cardio. Such as a hike with family. Last week, for instance, I put in over twenty miles between the running and walking.

    This is really only the second time in my life to do something like this. The prior time was about two decades ago and worked out really well. I ended up staying on such an intense regimen for about two years from which I transitioned to being a "runner," As a runner, I had the speed to place among the top three in my age bracket in local 5K races. This is while the plantar fasciitis is so debilitating for me.

    Thankfully, I am not starting from a dead stop. Over the ski season between walking and skiing, I was able to attain some sort of basic level of fitness. It was alcohol, food choices, and lack of true intensity in the workouts causing me to retain a layer of fat around a moderately in-shape heart, lungs, and core.

    With this experience, I know well that it's a long journey and lifestyle, and that there are really no quick solutions. However, true habit change can result from periods of true focus. That's what I'm hoping to do.

    Each of us have different stories, journeys, and needs for support. I appreciate the support this group provides as reduction of alcohol is centrally key to my hope.

    I really love this. You have such an incredible mindset as well. Your program is not some outrageous fad thing, it’s what “people who exercise” do. Great job!
  • brittgreenlikethecolor88
    brittgreenlikethecolor88 Posts: 1,079 Member
    edited April 2023
    Goal: AF - Sunday-Thursday.
    Max of 3 drinks per day on Friday & Saturday.

    Apr 3 - MON: AF ✅
    Apr 4 - TUES: AF ✅
    Apr 5 - WED: AF ✅
    Apr 6 - THUR: AF ✅ 🎉
    Apr 7 - FRI: 5 Drinks ❌
    Apr 8 - SAT: 3 Drinks ✅
    Apr 9 - SUN: AF ✅
    Apr 10 - MON: AF ✅
    Apr 11 - TUES: AF ✅
    Apr 12 - WED: AF ✅
    Apr 13 - THUR: AF ✅
    Apr 14 - FRI: 1 Drink ✅
    Apr 15 - SAT: 3 Drinks ✅
    Apr 16 - SUN: AF ✅
  • GaryM_25
    GaryM_25 Posts: 98 Member
    dawnbgethealthy wrote: »
    Job interview Monday eve. Now to hit my next mini goal of 10AF days

    Wishing you everything that will make success possible.
  • Michieb125
    Michieb125 Posts: 490 Member
    @GaryM_25 work travel can be very difficult but I think your mindset will propel you toward the success you desire this week. It is interesting to be aware of triggers that are “firsts” for us doing AF or LA. Awareness is half the challenge.

    @RockinRobyn672 your efforts and goals for AF and IF are inspiring!

    @MonkeyMel21 beach vacations are always motivators for getting healthier and bathing suit ready - You are doing great!

    @Sinisterbarbie1 thanks for sharing your AF journey. I think your statement is a good reminder for those who are trying to do LA whatever that means to each of us — “you still have to deal with the random triggers. It is what you choose to do with them that matters. Not whether or not you have them.”
  • MissMay
    MissMay Posts: 3,548 Member
    Week one over after starting my LESS sugar journey.

    For being the first week I think it went pretty good.
    5 LS days
    2 S days

    WOW, once the first sugar item hit my lips that was all it took to keep the train a rolling down that wrong track. UGH

    Got back on the right track for another two days, then derailed once again.

    Did however stay totally AF. YAY!

    Baby steps for beating the two at once.

    @womona thanks for the remark about my swimsuit pic. The big vacation is to Maui for a week. 🌴🌋 as you can imagine the outfits are little material and very flowery and bright.

  • tmbg1
    tmbg1 Posts: 1,274 Member
    4/1 - A
    4/2- AF
    4/3 - AF
    4/4 - AF
    4/5 - AF
    4/6 - 4/7 - 4/8 - A
    4/9 - AF
    4/10 - AF
    4/11 - A
    4/12 - AF
    4/13 - 4/14- 4/15 - A
    4/16- AF
    4/17 - A
  • dawnbgethealthy
    dawnbgethealthy Posts: 7,551 Member
    @MissMay

    I am unsure about what kind of work that you are doing now down in FLA, but your landscaping business back in Maine must have burned a crapload of calories. I get how intensive digging in yards is : - )

    So fabulous that you are going to Maui!!

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