So, it’s October, and I’m delighted to announce I successfully completed my Dryathlon. I had a few challenges, but overall it was fairly straightforward, and I had a few wobbles.
I surprised many people, but mainly I surprised myself. Last year’s dryathlon I managed about 15-20 days. Whilst I raised a decent sum for charity, I did notice a few things at my end. Here are some things I noticed during my Dryathlon.
I’m £300 Better Off
It is so scary how little money I spent this past month. I wouldn’t say I drank a huge amount recently, but this month the £20 on drinks, £15 on food, and an Uber home sure adds up, and they were gone this month. Instead of going out, I stayed in – and that saved me a small fortune (I worked out it was about £300). Hopefully in the months that follow I won’t go out as much as I did beforehand.
I Wouldn’t Say I’ve More Energy
One thing when people say they give up alcohol is “You’ll have more energy going forward!”. That I can say is bullshit, at least in my case.
Sure I’m waking up a lot easier and it’s nice not to feel like crap, but I don’t have quite as much energy as I thought I would.
That being said, it’s been so long since a hangover, I cannot remember what one feels like.
I Don’t Think I’ve Lost Weight
“You’ll lose weight!” they also say. I’m not convinced I have. I think because in the past month I’ve eaten a fair bit of crap (I’ve been so busy, and my diet has suffered), so whilst I’ve been exercising okay, I’ve been eating a lot of rubbish. So I’m not saying this doesn’t happen, I just think it didn’t happen to me.
It’s something I’m keen on fixing though, I’m going to buy a slow cooker for the winter so I can prepare lovely stews and warm hearty meals for the winter (I love warmer meals in the winter).
My Belly Is Smaller
With that said, I feel my belly is a bit smaller now than it was at the beginning of the month. My guess is that I’m not as bloated as usually am.
Friday’s Are The Worst
Saturdays and the week were incredibly easy to keep, after about half way through the month. The worst has been Fridays, as the post work drinks have become not much fun. Being the butt of jokes for not drinking gets tiresome, and also often being limited to coke, after a hard week in work isn’t great either. Furthermore this month I have been to a lot of free bars.
Never Drink San Miguel 0.0%, but Nanny State is Lovely
Of course, after the first weekend of Diet Coke, I decided to embrace the wide world of alcohol free beers. I drank 6 different non-alcoholic beers in total, and notes on what they tasted like:-
- Nanny State – Literally way ahead of the rest in terms of quality. Incredibly drinkable, tastes exactly like beer, and I can see myself drinking this when I return to drinking.
- Schneider Weisse Alcohol Free – Again, a really nice beer. Doesn’t have the sharp “yeah I’m not drinking beer” taste as the others.
- Erdinger Alkoholfrei – Was nearly 2nd, the aftertaste and the fact that it kept me wired made me not enjoy this as much. But tastes quite nice.
- Tesco Bavaria Non-Alcoholic Beer – A bit of a gap between 3rd and 4th. This was served to me in a couple of pubs in London. Drinkable, but a little less beer-tasting put it down the list.
- Becks Blue – Again, a huge gap from this to Tesco. This tasted bland with a slight lemony taste. Again, not unpleasant, but definitely not beer. May as well drink water.
- San Miguel 0.0% – Urgh. Utter dreadful. Served in a can that you get premixed drinks in. This tasted premixed. Long bitter lemon taste made this horribly unpleasant to drink. Avoid.
I (secretly) Want To Continue
Here is the scary thing, after about day 22 of the Dryathlon I wasn’t missing alcohol. It was nice waking up without a hangover, and the social requirement of drinking beer disappeared. I’m curious to know how long I could go. Admittedly I’m probably will be drinking soon, probably by the time you read this, but as somebody who feels like I’ve never achieved anything, this has been a nice thing to achieve.
You can donate to my Dryathlon here.
