No booze November

[Cat in the rack]

Good morning afternoon and evening fellow nerd fitness fitness nerds.

If you're like me, then you have the common problem of being just so darn likeable, and because of this you've acquired a bunch of these things called friends, and as we all know a common symptom of friends is excessive alcohol consumption, particularly on the weekends (or if you go to my uni, weekends and Tuesday's, because wednesday is lecture-free). As a result, perhaps your fitness goals aren't panning out as you wish they would, perhaps like me you want to be able to lift heavier weights and see slightly less fat around the abdomen. Whilst I may drink primarily scotch (I'm just too damn fancy) which has no carbs unlike most beer or cider, it's still empty calories that take precedence over protein and carbs when consumed and it's still dehydration, though so far I haven't had a single drunken kebab at two in the morning.

I know one month entirely sober won't solve all my problems, but it's good to give yourself a demonstration of what you can accomplish every now and then, and the progress made in this month may give me more of an incentive to drink less in future. I chose November because it seemed like the best month for it, October has Halloween (my favourite holiday) on the very last day, so I can finish off my remaining scotch that night and start November with none on my shelf, December has christmas (a time to celebrate the birth of Christ, by getting hammered) and New Years (my second favourite holiday) so the temptation to drink is much higher, and january I'll have booze from christmas up on my shelf, again more temptation.

So I implore you all to join me in my battle against booze, my war on whiskey, my some other third use of alliteration. That's why I've started this thread a week early, to see who will join me, in the month with no good holidays (be honest, staring at a fire on November fifth is the most boring holiday people make plans for) and, if you're a student like me, a metric fuck ton/imperial shit ton of assignments to hand in; no booze November 2014.

I will update this again on October 31st to show my remaining alcohol and plans to drink it, then again on November 1st to start my journey.

30 days, and more importantly, 30 nights (of no hangovers and booze, respectively).

Thanks for reading, -SB

[Cat in the rack]

To keep with the theme of daily battle logs, I shall post daily leading up to November with any thoughts I've had regarding the fast-approaching month. Today, I'll be posting reasons this is a good idea to incentivize myself to keep at it. So here goes...

1: Financial- Not having to buy alcohol and mixers will save me a small fortune, with the emphasis on small, as I estimate it to be £55 by the end of the month. But given my current budget after rent is £40 a week, this is a nice little pile of money, here's a list of some of the things I could put this money towards: 157 Freddos, 18 sirloin steaks, a video game such as Alien Isolation, 6660 sheets of lined A4 paper, 36 pumpkins, or 3 bottles of Johnnie Walker red label.

2: Physical condition- This point can have several interpretations: A, my liver can take a few weeks rest; 2, muscles are believed to recover slower with the presence of alcohol; C/3, I'll get more (or better) sleep without alcohol in my system; and finally as point 4 and/or D, I'll be less likely to injure myself by, hypothetically, trying to roundhouse kick a ball off of the fridge, hypothetically.

3: Fewer missed gym sessions- Not often, but occasionally, I'll miss a workout because of the events in a night out. There's the "injury by roundhouse kick" hypothetical example above, also there's the somewhat common occasion where I pull a muscle in my leg during the walk to/from a bar or club, then there's the nights where I'm out too late and end up sleeping in, and as an early morning gymmer I often fail to go later that day.

4: Psychological- Lately I've been slacking when it comes to meditation, which I used to do every morning. Since coming to uni I've been waking up later after nights out and not making time for it the next day, as a side goal I shall also be aiming to meditate every single morning.

So those are the reasons that spring to mind, if there's a positive that I've missed please feel free to point it out to me, and if you're considering joining me I hope to have persuaded you. Thanks for reading,

-SB

[Cat in the rack]

I've decided to add a secondary point to no booze November. The only reason I ever have diet (because if it has the word diet at the start it must be good for you) coke or lemonade on my shelf is as a mixer for scotch. Whilst it isn't essential for me to avoid these drinks as part of the month, I will not buy any to keep at home, and will avoid them on nights out. I won't consider it a brilliant success if the only difference is that I have 3 diet cokes instead of 3 whiskey and diet cokes at the bar.

Drinks that are permissible in general:

-water (and lots of it)

-milk (though I tend to only have it with protein shakes and hot drinks)

-tea/coffee (never with sugar, never after 5pm unless I need to stay up)

At maximum I will allow myself one glass per week, if I'm participating in a game of ring of fire or really don't want to seem like a cheapskate on a night out. And this is not cumulative, I can't wait until week 4 and then have 4 glasses.

In general I'm not a huge drinker of soft drinks, but I'll end up drinking it if it's on my shelf, so none shall be left on my shelf come November 1st.

Thanks for reading, -SB

[Cat in the rack]

No major thoughts regarding no booze November today, though the last parts for my Halloween costume arrived, and aside from a terrible wig it's coming together nicely. Thought I'd clarify that due to reasons no booze November starts when I return home on November 1st, not midnight on the dot October 31st. Thanks for reading, -SB

[Cat in the rack]

As part of my uni course I have to participate in a certain number of studies for lab tokens, I signed up for one on meditation which means I have to meditate every day for the next 2 weeks. As I aim to meditate every day, this is ideal. Also I realised that Rohatsu (Buddhist holiday) occurs on December 8th, as this is normally a day I set aside for intensive meditation and occurs only a week after November ends, on the first 7 days of December I shall be engaging in a week divided between sesshin and study which means the no alcohol rule will still apply. It's just a shame my town doesn't have a monastery or a zen center I can go to, there is a buddhist group at the university but the religious groups and societies here are all a bit odd (they act way to cultish for my comfort).

Thanks for reading, -SB

[Cat in the rack]

So it would appear i'm down to the last of my scotch, with just enough left for one more night of drinking and dancing and singing Halloween carols and whatnot, also only one bottle of mixer (pepsi max, my top choice) left which will be gone after Friday as well. As the month draws ever closer to its end I look forward to feeling on top game for 38 days (and I might keep it going until the 10th of December to make it an even 40. At this point it has basically become a 6-week challenge, but I already have a more specific one of those planned, and besides, the next challenge starts in 10 days or so rather than straight after Halloween, and it ends aroubd christmas which would mean it'd still be going around end of semester parties.

Anyway, nothing else important to say but I gotta try to post hear daily, toodles, -SB

[Cat in the rack]

I hope everybody's looking forward to Halloween as much as I am, only one more battle log after this before the month starts. I spent this morning's lectures with a hangover (which are rare for me as I tend not to get hangovers without major drinking) so the benefits to this month are becoming very apparent. Here's to the last weekday hangover for a while, -SB

[Cat in the rack]

Happy Halloween everybody, the most wonderful time of the year. I myself will be drinking and dancing and having fun dressed as Billy The Puppet, I hope you all have a great night too. After tonight there will be no more drinking for me for 39 nights.

-SB