So I have started the alcohol-free challenge on February 24, 2020. Here are the results of some statistics I have recorded during my alcohol-free endeavour.
The first is blood pressure (BP), which I care the most as I have diagnosed hypertension. So prior to the experiment, my “normal” blood pressure was ~135 SYS and ~90 DIA (with medicine). During experiment start in one week, it went rapidly down to 118/69, which seemed too low, so starting March 3, I have reduced my medicine dose by 50%. Then BP stabilized ~124/74 SYS/DIA, which looked very normal, as my cardiologist recommended maintain it <135/90.
Next, I looked at my resting heart rate, which previously correlated quite well with my lifestyle. Few drinks more or heavy party and it went up. Few sober days and training – it went rapidly down. So I was curious to see, how it will behave during 30 days challenge.
And oh boy it went and went down for whole 12 days until it has reached 48 beets per minute (BPM). Then it stabilised at 49-50 BPM.
And finally, I cared about dropping a few kilograms out of my belly. I didn’t start any heavy diets or sharp changes to what I eat. I just was aware of what I was putting into my mouth: dropped as much as possible sugar and other unhealthy carbs (like white bread) and tried to skip breakfast (but that I was doing already before 30-day challenge). And the results are quite satisfying. In 30 days I have lost 4.7 kilograms (~10 pounds).
And here is before/after pic. Not that big of a difference, but it’s just a start.
And for the end, I have tried to log my healthy habits. Days when I have exercised (YES: at least 30 min of exercise/NO) and my diet (GOOD: didn’t eat any unhealthy food/MEH have eaten candy or two/BAD pizza, burgers all day). So I had roughly 20 good days and 10 lazy days. I would say not that bad: 5 good days and 2-3 day lazy weekends. Next time I would aim for only 1 lazy day, which probably would improve weight loss results.
So in summary, am I satisfied? Hell Yes! Blood pressure has normalised and I even reduced medicine dosage. Resting heart rate is great. And few lost kilos really make a difference looking into a mirror and even got few compliments from the wife.
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