Day 14
I’m about ½ way through the 30 day challenge of zero alcohol, zero red meat, and working out according to the Les Mills Pump plan. Successful and I feel fantastic. Saying no to alcohol was going to be the toughest for me. We love to drink wine. We appreciate wine. And we don’t drink cheap wine.
Forget the food changes let’s talk about what this is doing for my wallet.
On average we drink 1 to 2 glasses of night per night if you add up all of the glasses and divide by 7. No, we do not drink every day but some days we may drink more than 2 glasses.

2 people, 2 glasses x 7 days = 28 glasses of wine per week. There are about 4 glasses of wine per bottle so that would be 7 bottles of wine per week. On the low end wine is $10 per bottle and on the higher end (for us) it is $25. Those are the ones we drink at home. Sometimes we’d have a glass or two out at dinner so you can assume those are $30 to $50 bottles of wine. In a typical month we might spend $100 a week just on wine. Staggering when you add it up. When I started tracking the cost and calories I realized that is the first thing I needed to cut if I wanted to hit a goal by March.
In the last 2 weeks we’ve only been out to eat a handful of times. 90% of the meals are prepared and cooked at home. Mark hasn’t given up alcohol to the degree I have but he has cut way back.

In 2 weeks I’ve lost all of the holiday weight I gained and lost another 2. My skin feels great and my energy is up. My body is pretty sore from the running and weight training but in a fantastic way. The soreness just means by body is changing.
Tonight, Mark is at a friend’s 40th birthday party. I dropped him off so he could take a taxi home. I’m at home working on this blog and organizing my plan for next week. I feel great about it already. Tomorrow morning I will wake up feeling fresh and ready to go. I need to run at least 6 miles tomorrow so spending the evening drinking wasn’t going to get me to my goals. Sure I could have lined up a baby sitter and gone. However, my will power muscle is not that strong. I didn’t want to put myself in a situation where I’d have that tough of a decision. That was a huge ah-ha moment for me. I actually chose to put my goals and priorities ahead of other things. Probably for the first time in a very long time.
I really don’t know where my body and mind will be on day 30 of this self-imposed challenge. Will I actually have a glass of wine or will I keep it going for another 30 days? Will I allow myself to have red meat or pass again? I’m looking forward to day 30 when I take my measurements and 30 day pictures.
What challenge are you going to take? What are you willing to try? Whatever it is announce it. Share it. Let others cheer you on and help you through your journey. I don’t know that I’d be as successful as I’ve been if it weren’t for you watching and cheering me on. Thank you.