Flashback Friday – The REAL Story Continues…
So last week, Leah asked me why I’d skipped Flashback Friday again. I told her because I’d run out of pictures I was willing to post on the internet for the world to see. Which was true.
But also, many of my old pictures aren’t very “healthy living” appropriate. They look like this:
Or this:
Or this and this this:
And that’s not even all of them.
I used to drink, a lot. That’s not saying I had a “drinking problem” (whatever that’s being defined as these days). But it was just what I did whenever I socialized. I’ve been drinking since the age of 13 (technically, I’ve been drinking for longer than my 31-year-old boyfriend). Back in the days it was whatever we could steal from our parent’s liquor cabinet, or whatever was cheap (ahem, Colt 45s).
I was a “binge drinker” to a tee. In high school, it was a given we’d be getting drunk on Friday and Saturday nights. After I graduated, I got much more responsible about it. But it also got expensive, drinking in bars ain’t cheap!
Yesterday, I posted that I went out and had a beer. I honestly can’t remember the last time I drank a beer before then. Months, for sure.
My relationship with alcohol is pretty strained these days. The very first thing I changed when I started my new “healthy living journey” was giving up beer. And by giving it up, I mean downing four bottles of Corona with Chris on a Wednesday night. I lost 6 lbs in two weeks.
I never told myself that I couldn’t drink. Indeed, there have been many times over the past year when I’ve sipped a draught at the local pub, or celebrated with a few-too-many rye and waters. But at the same time, I’ve become a little bitter that such a large aspect of socializing still revolves around alcohol. I am constantly finding myself in environments where I have to repeatedly explain to the same people that I don’t feel like a drink. It’s not so much a dietary choice anymore, I honestly just don’t desire it anymore.
I also have mixed feelings about alcohol as someone very close to me was an alcoholic. As a teenager, I rebelled by making the same mistakes as that person. But as an adult, I can see it’s not a path I would ever wish upon anyone. And so my relationship with alcohol only becomes more complicated…
Anyways, there is no specific point to this Flashback. Just letting ya know that I was a big ole’ boozer and since giving it up (more or less) I’ve started feeling very confused about the whole drinking stigma to begin with.
Thankfully, I only had one beer last night, so I was in able form to get up at 5 am for a weight lifting workout before work ;)
Warm-up:
15 minutes on elliptical, increasing resistance every 2 minutes
A1 – Deadlift:
3 sets @ 60 lbs x 8
B1 – Cable row:
3 sets @ 55 lbs x 8
B2 – Step-up:
3 sets @ 50 lbs x 10
C1 – Incline dumbbell shoulder press:
3 sets @ 20 lbs (ea) x 8
C2 – Single overhead dumbbell squat:
3 sets @ 20 & 10 lbs x 8
D1 – Cable horizontal woodchop:
2 sets @ 35 lbs x 10
D2 – Plank:
2 sets @ 60 sec (still getting dizzy!! harumph)
HIIT:
15 minutes on the elliptical, 1 minute sprints, 2 minutes recovery
Cool-down:
Stretching :)
Then I rushed back home to another breakfast cookie!
Vanilla almond date:
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
- cinnamon
- 1 tbsp almond butter
- chopped dates
- splash almond milk
NOMMMM… I’ve been making breakfast cookies these past couple mornings because I had to be at work for 8am, and a quick breakfast means more time at the gym :)
Work eats for the day:
The Taste of Nature bar and orange were eaten as my morning snack, tuna & laughing cow bagel and carrot sticks for lunch, apple and cheestrings for my afternoon snack.
The Taste of Nature bar was a new flavour to me: Niagara Apple Country.
Ingredients: Almonds, oats, agave nectar, raisins, apples, brown rice syrup, whole grain brown rice crisps, cinnamon.
Love that ingredient list! But it gets a thumbs down for protein. Tastewise, it was pretty good. I love anything with apples and cinnamon. The texture was a little gooey, but the the crisps add a nice little crunch. Unfortunately, this bar wasn’t filling in the least, even with the orange. I ate it at 10:20 am, and my stomach started growling at 11:40.
I have a bunch of pasta sauce leftover, but I wasn’t feeling more noodles for dinner tonight. I really wanted melted cheese on pita bread. So I added some pasta sauce onto that craving ;)
Just the sauce, on top of pita bread, with marble cheese and baked at 350 F for about 15 minutes. I have no idea what to call this? Sloppy pita? Saucy melt? Regardless, it was cah-raaaazy delicious.
Dessert was a sucker while catching up on blogs:
I’m a candy fiend!!!
Last but not least, tomorrow (Saturday) is my last day at the radio station!!!! Hopefully the last time I’ll ever have to work at an office at 5am on a Saturday. Bad news is, I work at Starbucks immediately after, until 5pm. So I’ll be pulling a 12 hour Saturday. And what should have been my first Sunday off, I got scheduled to work at the Bux too. And then I’m doing 8.5 hours of First Aid training Mon & Tue. So no actual days off in sight yet, but hey, it’s a start ;)
Question of the Day: Do you drink alcohol often? Have you ever had mixed feelings about it? It’s definitely better now that I’m no longer in university. But my old friends have a hard time accepting I don’t drink much anymore.
Posted on December 4, 2009, in Workouts and tagged alcohol, beer, breakfast cookie, drinking, flashback friday, pita, pita melt, Taste of Nature bar, work. Bookmark the permalink. 26 Comments.
I really don’t drink much. There was year or so in college where I was crazy, but I grew out of it pretty quickly. I just have a low tolerance and hate feeling sick to my stomach, so I never have more than one or two beers or glasses of wine now.
I hate getting hassled about it too, but I find that having a glass of SOMETHING in my hand stops questions. Bartenders are always willing to give me a free club soda with lime or Diet Coke if I mention I’m the DD, and people just assume it’s got vodka in it!
Your friends sound pretty polite about it!! Mine will harass me about what’s in my glass and buy me a beer without my asking :\
I used to drink a *lot* in college, to the tune of 4 to 5 days a week. I even had a fake ID and we went out clubbing underage! When I did my master’s, I just up and pretty much quit drinking because I was serious about my studies and I couldn’t afford it anymore!
Now I have learned to enjoy a good quality crafted beer, and don’t have the need to slug down a lot. I actually quite like beer, but I just don’t like to drink my calories anymore unless they are in latte form (at least that has some nutritional benefit!).
I don’t like to drink my calories anymore either. When I go out, I much rather have a fancier dish or dessert than a couple drinks with dinner. Beer is tasty, but food is tastier ;)
My husband doesn’t drink at all. And while he doesn’t care if I want to have a beer or a drink, I just don’t choose to usually. I’ve kind of mellowed out on the whole alcohol scene since graduation.
What an honest post. It’s so great that you caught yourself before your drinking became a problem. Shame that your friends are still pushing you though. I was thinking that you might have had to ditch your friends- I hear that’s often the way when you adopt a different lifestyle to the one you had before.
More breakfast cookie envy. As well as your sloppy pita melt. yummers.
Wow, and you’re not between jobs, you are in two jobs- yikes. Hopefully you’ll get a break in a week or so!!
Re. Drinking- it was pretty much just weekend drinking in college, then I got into wine tasting a few years back and that increased the amount and frequency. Since I got more serious about the weight loss I’ve cut way back.
Funny you should mention the mixed feeling: I “belong” to a girls group (totally casual) that gets together once a month for dinner at a restaurant. No major boozing. Maybe one glass or wine, or just as likely an iced tea. Yesterday I got an email that we are ushering in a new girl (no idea who she is) and that she “has” to drink any shots that we buy her to see if she can hang in our “club”. Huh?? Did I miss something? We’re not in college any more and it’s not a booze-hound type affair on those gatherings anyway!! I felt like replying something snarky but figured I’d only get slack for it. How stupid is that?!?!? We’re GROWN WOMEN!! HELLO!! So I guess it doesn’t get any easier does it!
I commend you for what you’ve achieved, Susan. Really.
Deb, keeping old friends has definitely been hard! (ie, I haven’t kept a lot) And I’m definitely learning that some social things do not get easier as we get older!! Sometimes I’m baffled that people will force booze on me. They have no idea what my history is, and there may be more “serious” reasons as to why I choose not to drink sometimes. I think it’s one area where people could use a little extra sensitivity.
susannnnn…i loved your thoughts on this post. i have never been a huge drinker, but drinking doesn’t do it for me anymore either. i have two glasses of wine or a couple beers, and i feel like crap the next day. i honestly don’t know how i did it in college!
YAYYYYYY FOR LAST DAY! that is exciting. 12 hour shifts are not, but you will get through it lady.
love ya :)
I maaayyy have gotten a little buzzed off that one lonely beer the other night ;)
I don’t drink alcohol, but I used to eat a lot of chocolate and then feel guilty about it. I think we all have things that we outgrow or change our attitudes about from time to time.
I LOVE IT! Wheeeeeeeeee! Haha…
I am quite similar to you. I was a bit of a binge drinker during high school and college. Now, I hardly drink. If anything, it’s a glass of wine with dinner, and quite a bit smaller of a glass than I used to consider a glass.
Never heard of the Niagara Apple Country but it has nice stats and looks good!
Alcohol. Let’s just say that I used to be able to run up a $100 bar tab in about 10 mins. Double shots every 10 mins! Since getting pregnant, nursing a child, and taking care of a toddler…I have not drank in 4+ yrs. Nothing. Now that I am pretty uber clean n healthy with high raw/all vegan, it seems kinda “wrong” to get lit. But I have to say, after taking care of toddler some days that’s what i want to do! haha
However i am almost scared to drink, it’s been so long, i dont wanna get sick. Once upon a time I could drink a couple bottles of wine alone…now I am scared to have a glass. Motherhood = the great truth teller. And life changer :)
I definitely psych myself out with the drinking thing sometimes too. I go such long periods without it now, it just feels so weird when I do drink. Not to mention, alcohol used to be a way for me to abuse my body. So my perception of it is perhaps a little more warped than other people. Your little girl is lucky she has suck a smart mom! :D
When I met my fiance four years ago, I was drinking A LOT . I would drink 4 nights a week. Weeknights were 4-5 drink nights but the weekends were a free for all! I became a big fan of the winery near our home and proceeded to go through 1/2 botlle of wine some evenings. When I became pregnant, I quit cold turkey. After I had stopped breastfeeding my daughter, my alcohol tolerance was very low and I found out the hard way that I could not drink the way I used to! I still had wine once in while until I realized it was a cause of my migraines :( So, now I don’t really have a desire to drink very often…. In fact, I have not had alcohol since last Valentines Day! I bought some organic wine since it is less likely to cause migraines. But, it has been setting in the fridge for almost 6 months now.
that dinner looks SOOOO good!
Whoo hooo for your last dayyyyyy!!!! I will be dancing for you all day long! Love that pita thingy, whatever you decide to call it–it looks delicious!
I don’t drink at all, but I used to be one crazy, crazy chick! I am glad that I’ve filled my life with other things, ya know? Loves ya! xoxo
I actually think those pictures are very healthy living appropriate, because they show how far you’ve come.
I have very mixed feelings about alcohol. I’ve never been a huge drinker, but in a way that has always made drinking, who is drinking/who is not drinking so much more of an issue. I have said before I think life would be a lot less complicated if there were no such thing as alcohol. I do like it sometimes though.
I’ve actually never drank! Unless you count a couple sips that I’ve tried, it’s just never been appealing to me.. I’m afraid I’d embarass myself!
I love the looks of your lunch! Random combos make the best meals.. hey I think i have some pasta sauce in my refrigerator.. hmmm :D
i used to drink, in college and in my early 20′s – not a lot, but it did reach the point where i was getting sick every time (i’m a lightweight). i don’t drink anymore; i don’t think i like feeling “out of control” anymore.
every time I see one of those breakfast cookies my mouth waters! I gotta give them a go! x x
You say you didn’t have a “drinking problem” , but that you were a “binge drinker to a tee”. Don’t send the wrong message here – you DID have a drinking problem. Congrats on dropping it.
Hahahha as serious as this is- Susan, I admire your strength and bravery to post these pics! They made me laugh a little, but only because they’re all the same! Now, I think you should do a before/after with you and a picture of yourself drinking a GM in an Amazing Grass shakerrr. Total 360.
I’m also gonna miss your break cookies- they make me drool every morning. And thats saying a lot coming from a total oatmeal picture taking whore.
Have a fabbb week. :)
hooray! FBF. and if i started posting all the boozed up photos i had we woul dbe here ALL DAY haha. it is crazy how much weight comes off just by stopping the binge drinking. that is what i would do, i have a feeling our drinking habits were similar and now they are probably still similar! i try not to drink a lot now because i would rather eat my calories and remember them ;)
I used to drink a lot too. I had some social anxieties and drinking “helped” me be more social. I finally realized that it wasn’t the healthiest way to be and that I could be myself without alcohol.
Pingback: holiday hypnosis. « meals & moves
Pingback: Fatty February Update! « The Great Balancing Act