January 1st marked four years since I’ve had a drink, and I have to tell you–at this point, I never even think about it anymore. I’ve written about this a few times over the last several years, but if you’re new here, I decided that I was going to take a year off to detox after the COVID years of drinking. I had never drunk at home before, but when everything was closed, we started including a cocktail in the evening, which grew into cocktails.
At some point, I realized that drinking was starting to occupy too much of my mental bandwidth–there I was, a healthcare professional who had written two books on fitness/weight loss, both of which have chapters on how bad alcohol is for one trying to focus on those particular topics.
And I had done it before–in 2017, I took a whole year off from drinking and got in great shape. I also felt more present with patients in the room and saw my daily productivity increase. And, more importantly, I saw that having fun and drinking don’t have to be a part of the same equation.
So, I decided on another “reset year” that has officially become quitting. I have too much inertia now, and to have a drink this far in would rock the boat way more than just staying on the horse I’m on.
The health benefits have been huge, too. I maintain my bodyweight without having to try all that hard. I sleep way better. And I’ve been maintaining my strength, too–last year I set a personal best on bench press, and right now I’m the strongest I’ve ever been on that lift at this particular bodyweight.
I suggest taking a full year off to anyone who is sober curious. Once you do it for a year, you’ll have gone through every one of the events you didn’t know how you could navigate without drinking. Every holiday, birthday, and celebration you muddle through with a Topo Chico in hand will teach you that it’s easier than you ever thought it would be, and the health benefits will add up quite a bit over a year.
Next — last year I hit my 500th Peloton ride, which was a letdown because the previous two years I hit 200 per year. I fell off last year because of changing office locations, and a whole lot of other personal life events that I let get in the way.
Here’s what I observed on the fitness front with the dip in consistency: Peloton keeps a record of your past performance on any ride you ever take, so when I was in the thick of last year and compared my performance with the same ride a year before, I saw that my output was lower and my heartrate was higher than “past me.”
But even riding just twice a week on overage, instead of my usual four days, I still maintained a baseline far superior to what it was when I started this journey into cardio. In fact, last night I did a quick 15-minute easy ride, and my output was roughly twice what it was on my very first ride when I went as hard as I could and got off the bike red-faced and sweaty.
And in December, I got back on the horse big time, and have seen my output scores go back up fairly quickly while my resting heart rate has dropped back into the 50s. The moral of the story is that fitness is perishable, but even a little consistency can maintain a decent baseline.
I’m writing a new book on the subject of health span right now, and one of the areas I’m focusing on is how much work (exercise, both strength training and cardio) gives us the biggest bang for the time spent. What I’m seeing in the literature is that once you reach a certain amount of exercise time, going beyond that only yields moderate improvements in health metrics. My goals are to hit the max benefit zone and then live my life. I’ve gotta find the time to play guitar, too, right?
