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It’s no secret that alcohol is bad news for our bodies. Along with interfering with our sleep, potentially damaging our livers, impairing brain function and being linked with various cancers, it’s carries significant addiction risks.
If you’re concerned about your body fat percentage, booze is typically very calorific too.
A pint can contain as much as 230 calories, and a large glass of wine contains similar.
If you’ve been considering cutting back on alcohol, or quitting it outright, seeing the effects of abstinence on someone might be the final nudge you need.
Olivia, posting on TikTok as @oliviamancuso__, has posted a video sharing her experience of an eight-week break from booze. She started her abstinence after getting a nose job, and said the break had almost immediately had her feeling and looking healthier.
“If you’re watching this you’re someone like me who likes instant gratification, so you may be wondering what physical changes am I going to experience if I don’t drink for a month, and I am going to tell you,” she says at the beginning of the video.
“I had to take two months off drinking, eight weeks straight when I got my rhinoplasty last year.
“I had already kind of transitioned into the low alcohol life but I had no alcohol from basically the middle of April to the middle of June and, I gotta tell you, the changes were insane.”
For one, she said she was looking slimmer after the first three or four weeks, noting her ‘face started slimming down immensely’.
“I used to like do the lymphatic drainage every day, and I noticed that like I was waking up with a slimmer face.”
She added that her skin became ‘insanely clear’ and she achieved an ‘even flatter stomach’.
“I was waking up with a completely flat stomach and that flat stomach was lasting throughout the day,” she explained.
“Like I had morning stomach all day.
“All of these changes were enough to convince me to stay on the low alcohol path.”
She said she has gone back to drinking a couple of alcoholic drinks each month along with ‘doing alcohol alternatives’ to continue reaping the alcohol-free benefits.
She went as far as to say she felt that she was ‘ageing in reverse’ from the change.
Commenters largely related to her experience or otherwise felt inspired to give it a go.
“Loving Dry Jan - may never go back,” said one.
Another said: “’Morning stomach’ is so relatable. So happy to be doing Dry January.”
Some weren’t convinced, with one saying: “Girl I used to blackout like four days a week for MONTHS and almost a year straight. I have only drank like five times the past two months and I’m still fat.”
If you’re overweight, dropping the booze will certainly help to cut your caloric intake, but it will still be a long and committed process if you want to lose weight. You need a calorie deficit of 3,500 to lose a pound of fat each week.
Featured Image Credit: bymuratdeniz/Getty ImagesTopics: Alcohol, Health, Diet, Social Media, TikTok
Rachael Davis