Wait…are you saying 1 drink a night because that’s not a lot, or because it is?
I’m saying it’s not a lot. But for someone who is an abstainer, they can’t stop at one drink a night. THAT’S the challenge for them: enjoy A drink and then be done. They can either enjoy NO drinks or ALL the drinks, and once they start with one, they’re going to drink everything. They’re not able to find joy in moderate doses: it causes anxiety. They have that one drink and just spend the whole night thinking about having another, and eventually just go off and binge.
Exactly. I’ve done nothing wrong - why would I agree to a punishment?
And what’s so funny to me is I totally understand this intellectually but cannot grasp it emotionally. As an abstainer, when I’m told “you can’t have this”, what I hear is “You can have as much as you want of anything that ISN’T this”, and THAT seems like a total reward to me. “Wait, so I can have ALL the fat and protein I want, and all I have to do is not eat carbs? Does anyone ELSE know about this deal?!” Whereas if you tell me “You have to eat all 3 food groups, and when you do, you can only have X amount of fats, Y amount of carbs and Z amounts of protein or else you did it wrong”, I completely and totally self-destruct.
Agreed. This is a common fallacy lately in terms of drinking. People say oh you can’t stop forever, that means you have a problem. Maybe I don’t need to? Haha. Any binge drinking is considered a problem too. It’s a total overreaction.
I’ve known a lot of alcoholics in my life. These are people whose lives are actively being destroyed, hiding drinking from their families, day drinking on weekdays, shaking in the morning etc. It’s insulting to compare casual drink enjoyers to this.
I’m not advocating for drinking, I do it maybe once every month or two. It is poison but you can indulge in poison and not be an addict. Like I told my doctor, I average maybe 10 drinks a month. But on 29 of those days I have 0.
The bottom line is that medical research has indicated that the amount of alcohol that is acceptable and healthy, rounded up to the nearest number, is zero.
Zero!
So drink all you want - it is a toxin and a poison that undermines your gains. You will never max out if you drink at all. It might be buoyant, might be fun, might enhance experiences, but it kills your gains.
Quitting should be easy. But, if you don’t have a problem, well then no need to quit a habit that makes you less than.
In fairness, going 1 mile over the speed limit is also proven to be responsible for horrific fatalities, but many folks still speed.
Slips and falls in the shower kill us by the truckload each year, yet few people have anti-slip mats installed.
And obesity/diabetes/heart disease are taking us all down, but I bet everyone here without a peanut allergy has had at least one peanut butter cup at some point.
Everyone agrees it’s a toxin and unhealthy. Life isn’t about optimizing every single factor. Coming into someone’s log (when you don’t have one) and suggesting they’re an alcoholic is insane.
You’re new to the forum and don’t have a log here. Feel free to post your perfectly optimized day based on medical research.
“We always got huge steins of beer. So we had just beer all around the windows,” said Arnold. “I refused to drink any milk because I hated milk, and so beer was really for me to drink to have while I was working out.” said the bodybuilding icon.
Wow. To be clear, I am in no way promoting abstinence nor drinking. It’s a personal choice that I make based on how it effects me. The same way I avoid bread because it turns me into a giant balloon. I didn’t quit because I wasn’t capable of stopping once I started, I quit because I don’t care for how it makes me feel. I have a husband who moderates his drinking and that works fine for him. I know people who abstain because they can’t control it. I see nothing wrong with drinks in moderation. But I also see nothing wrong with cake in moderation.
I did almost 2 years, between 23 & 25 completely off of anything, after spending several using everything.
Then one day, I decided to have a few beers again. So the spiral begins. That lasted a couple more years of serious daily drinking until I got court ordered to meetings, where I celebrated 30 days with a case of beer (Of Course! ).
Then after two and a half years, a bunch of resentments and a lost cat later, I got a couple 6 packs of 16 oz’ers. Went right through them, then back to the bar for more.
That was my last episode, Oct. 2, 2002.
Im pretty sure I could have just one. As an act of will and determination. It wouldn’t be great or fun.
Whats worse is that it would feed the illusion of control that acoholics dream about having. Somewhere in my old lizard brain it would sit until that one bad day, or really good day, and it would be off to the races. Thats where drunks go to die.
Arnold was quite the stoner, as well. He must have been a ton of fun back in the day.
Oh, I do train like Arnold, mostly. Although I will drink milk, which is a clear distinction between the two of us.
Don’t worry, you don’t give the impression that you’re pushing anything! I’m interested to hear about your experiences, because you sound like my kind of drinker (formerly).
Exactly. What, we’re never going to eat candy again because we want to look and feel good? This is not my job and I’m not training to compete. I’m doing it because I like it - I like the challenge of it and the way it feels to do it and the benefits to both my vanity and health. But I’m not a prisoner.
The magical thinking that there’s a loophole you can exploit if you can just find it. I’m so glad you wound up where you are!
Louie and I had a 30 minute walk this morning. It’s a recovery day for him - he’s spent a couple of days helping Mr. Q “do firewood,” and was really beat last night. He’s back in bed now - no interest in breakfast. Apparently doing firewood is hard on furry people.
Weight is still up, like 148 this morning.
@s.gentz I did 1.5mg this morning, thinking I’d add .5 maybe Sunday? I wasn’t sure how to proceed, but thought 1mg would leave me hungry. Too, maybe 1.5 is enough.
CG Max day 31/50 - arnold press, static lunge, alternating chest press, bridge, rotational row - with 15 min/1 mile warmup. Good day today! Probably head out for some hiking later, weather depending.
@BethB, yes, counseling. I talk for a living, haha.
. Therein lies the rub! 
.
. Life is good. Definitely beats the alternative. 
Just one?