Think before you drink!

Cam · 10-01-2010, 02:35 AM

Did a quick search, and cant see this here, so sorry if its a repost!

Over the last few months I have gone on a health kick, drinking heaps less, not smoking and trying to eat healthier, as well as doing about an hour exercise a day..

One of the guys I work with is in the same boat as me, on a health kick, and funnily enough we both enjoy a drink, or 12...

He found an online converter that converts the calories from grog to junk food, the results are pretty scary!

Thought it might be a good tool for anyone trying to cut down on the booze, loose weight or just get fit!

Link here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/alcohol/2008/calories.shtml

Enjoy!

Kamshaaft · 10-01-2010, 03:07 AM

Yep, there's a reason it's called a beer gut.

Kamshaaft · 10-01-2010, 03:19 AM

That is pretty alarming though, once you put in a big night's worth of drinking. Enough food to last several days.

DBourne · 10-01-2010, 07:47 AM

good work mate!

Keep it up and you'll feel a million bucks in no time!

dave289 · 10-01-2010, 10:52 AM

a pommy mate of mine passed away on boxing day while living on the goldcoast.he was 41 and died of liver and kidney failure. he was always a severe drinker from the age of 12 I beleive as his old man owned pubs in england. when he was living in sydney a while back he would have a few schooners before starting work .so the moral of the story is too much drink will eventually kill you. while Im not a huge drinker I will make an effort to cut down from now on.

AUbigfoot · 10-01-2010, 11:04 AM

Geeze that's not good. It helps to put it in perspective for people though. It's a shame that some people enjoy it so much that they will excuse things like that as being due to something else.

Cam · 10-01-2010, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SgtBourne

good work mate!

Keep it up and you'll feel a million bucks in no time!

Thanks mate, it really does make a massive difference, I am not overweight by any stretch of the imagination (67kg and 167cm tall), but as I am learning theres a big difference between being skinny and fit! After about 3 months I really cant belive how good I feel, all of that "eat healthy and exercise more and you will feel great" crap really is true

Thanks to work / family etc I have become VERY slack and done next to no exercise, previously to that I was a skateboarder and surfer, did downhill mountain biking and so on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave289

a pommy mate of mine passed away on boxing day while living on the goldcoast.he was 41 and died of liver and kidney failure. he was always a severe drinker from the age of 12 I beleive as his old man owned pubs in england. when he was living in sydney a while back he would have a few schooners before starting work .so the moral of the story is too much drink will eventually kill you. while Im not a huge drinker I will make an effort to cut down from now on.

Funny you should mention that, all of this started because a family friend died at 51 of a massive heart attack, she was very overweight. The thought of only having another 20 odd years left with my kids scared the crap out of me! Whilst I am not overwieght, it was enough for me to sit back and reassess what was important to me...

I grew up in the hospitality industry, so I can certainly see why your mate may have started drinking at such a young age. After work my mum and her staff would have at least 3 wines or beers after work, so I grew up believing that with every evening meal you'd have a drink, as I started working every day after work I'd arrive home and have at least 6 beers because I really didn't think there was anything wrong with it! Not even liver tests I had 5 years ago were enough to deter me. Now I have 2 kids I want to do it for them, I dont wanna be that fatass dad that doesn't want anything to do with his kids!

Good luck on the cutting down Dave, it really does make you feel better!

Dave_Obsession · 10-01-2010, 11:24 AM

I'm only 25, but one of my best mates is an alcoholic - just got out of rehab (his 2nd time) prior to Xmas - he has already had liver and kidney problems, and myself and many of my friends hold grave fears for him.

After watching him drink himself to misery over the last 7-8 years (basically since year 12 at school onwards), it's enough to put you off a fair bit. I used to be quite a heavy drinker, but after seeing the effect it can have on people, I've realised there are far better things in life.....

Rodp · 10-01-2010, 07:43 PM

Geez.. if having a beer means at the end of the night you'll eat an onion bhaji, I'll give up alcohol for good.

gtfpv · 10-01-2010, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cam

Thanks mate, it really does make a massive difference, I am not overweight by any stretch of the imagination (67kg and 167cm tall), but as I am learning theres a big difference between being skinny and fit! After about 3 months I really cant belive how good I feel, all of that "eat healthy and exercise more and you will feel great" crap really is true

Thanks to work / family etc I have become VERY slack and done next to no exercise, previously to that I was a skateboarder and surfer, did downhill mountain biking and so on.

Funny you should mention that, all of this started because a family friend died at 51 of a massive heart attack, she was very overweight. The thought of only having another 20 odd years left with my kids scared the crap out of me! Whilst I am not overwieght, it was enough for me to sit back and reassess what was important to me...

I grew up in the hospitality industry, so I can certainly see why your mate may have started drinking at such a young age. After work my mum and her staff would have at least 3 wines or beers after work, so I grew up believing that with every evening meal you'd have a drink, as I started working every day after work I'd arrive home and have at least 6 beers because I really didn't think there was anything wrong with it! Not even liver tests I had 5 years ago were enough to deter me. Now I have 2 kids I want to do it for them, I dont wanna be that fatass dad that doesn't want anything to do with his kids!

Good luck on the cutting down Dave, it really does make you feel better!

overall i agree strongly witht the theme of this thread .
however i must concur in some areas.
i've seen people who look sick from drinking ( unhealthily over wieght ) and know that it kills some people .
however my father has drank all his life . beer, when he was my age i never saw him, i thought fathers going to the club every night was normal .he confesses to about 15 schooners per day from 10am till about 7 pm . for atleast 20 years . he is now 70 and is down to about 5 or 6 home brews per day. he has always been just overwieght . but i think the beer has kept him im good health ( dont ask me why) because i think that many would surely kill me real quick . he is the oldest out of his 4 brothers and he looks the fittest and healthiest, and they arent regular drinkers .

Franco Cozzo · 10-01-2010, 09:16 PM

I'm here for a good time, not a long time

Cam · 10-01-2010, 11:11 PM

Obviously you don't have kids that you want to see grow up

Each to their own i spose

Windsor220 · 10-01-2010, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave93761

I'm only 25, but one of my best mates is an alcoholic - just got out of rehab (his 2nd time) prior to Xmas - he has already had liver and kidney problems, and myself and many of my friends hold grave fears for him.

After watching him drink himself to misery over the last 7-8 years (basically since year 12 at school onwards), it's enough to put you off a fair bit. I used to be quite a heavy drinker, but after seeing the effect it can have on people, I've realised there are far better things in life.....

I work with someone like this. Hes a bit younger though. I keep telling him he'll die when he's about 30 if he keeps it up. When you see first hand someone abuse the alcohol it makes you think twice.

BHDOGS · 11-01-2010, 02:59 AM

I agree completely, i work in security so deal with drunks and the stupidity they do daily and i didn't drink much before barely 3 times a month if that and now i don't drink at all as to act like these people for even one night makes me feel sick how people think going out getting drunk getting into fights or passing out so you cant remember what happened is fun is beyond me id go so far to say they should just ban alcohol outright as its a dangerous addictive drug.

Dave_Obsession · 11-01-2010, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Windsor220

I work with someone like this. Hes a bit younger though. I keep telling him he'll die when he's about 30 if he keeps it up. When you see first hand someone abuse the alcohol it makes you think twice.

Yeah, well my mate used to joke about the fact he wouldn't live past 30......this while drinking a couple of stubbies and a couple of bottles of wine EVERY NIGHT....it didn't help he was living by himself, therefore nobody was around to keep him in check......he couldn't help himself.....

It also didn't help that he worked where? You guessed it......a bottleshop! He ended up being sacked from one because he turned up to work stinking of alcohol......so he went to another place, once where all the staff drank on the job! Used to tell me how great it was........then he actually got sick of that, so quit and then went to another one!!!!

Even now he's out of rehab, he's still by himself....seems to be saying all the right things, but some of us still wonder if he's just telling us what we want to hear??? Cos he's done that in the past.....

XR6_661 · 11-01-2010, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave93761

Yeah, well my mate used to joke about the fact he wouldn't live past 30......this while drinking a couple of stubbies and a couple of bottles of wine EVERY NIGHT....it didn't help he was living by himself, therefore nobody was around to keep him in check......he couldn't help himself.....

It also didn't help that he worked where? You guessed it......a bottleshop! He ended up being sacked from one because he turned up to work stinking of alcohol......so he went to another place, once where all the staff drank on the job! Used to tell me how great it was........then he actually got sick of that, so quit and then went to another one!!!!

Even now he's out of rehab, he's still by himself....seems to be saying all the right things, but some of us still wonder if he's just telling us what we want to hear??? Cos he's done that in the past.....

Can't help someone if they don't want to be helped.

I used to be a heavy drinker...prob 3 cartons every 7 days plus whatever I would drink in clubs...usually vodka.
Slowed down a lot when mum pulled me aside and told me how she lost her brother to alcohol.

Dave_Obsession · 11-01-2010, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XR6_661

Can't help someone if they don't want to be helped.

Very true, but that doesn't mean that you don't try.....that's what real friends are for.

Well we're hoping that this time he makes a go of it - late in 2009 he spent a little bit of time in hospital for a non-drinking related problem (he tore his oesophagus by swallowing a chicken bone and had to have blood transfusions etc - lost a fair bit of blood apparently), which I think woke him up a little to reality.

To be far to my mate, he went to rehab off his own bat, we were all shocked as we'd suggested it many times in the past, but hadn't said anything about it recently.

Time will tell I guess........I remember at school we had an alcoholic visit us to speak on the dangers of it - he said he hadn't touched a drop in 9 years but still feels tempted every day...

Iggypoppin' · 11-01-2010, 07:23 PM

i have spent the last 9 months cutting down on the booze, only to kind of ruin it over christmas. ohwell, i excersized as much as i could after drinking sessions. i used to be a shocker when it came to the booze, but could never put on so much as a carrot-stick worth of weight.

i only slowed down the drinking because of my project car, i wanted to see it finished, and so money wise priorities took a turn.

i enjoy a beer, and going to the odd club, now and then, but to do it 4 days straight religiously like i used to? no thanks, not anymore. i get sick of the hangovers, empty wallet, lungs feeling like a chimney took a dump down them 'cos i smoked my way through two packets while drunk, and any embarrising things i may have done.

i thank god we aren't like russia however, where they had to raise the minimum price for a litre of vodka to $3/litre. doesnt seem like much? earn $20 p/week, or whatever they earn there, as minimum wage earners under a communist regime, and $3/litre is quite a lot. still, the alcoholism is so rampant there that it is pretty much a persons way of life.

Cam · 11-01-2010, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 76txcoupe

i have spent the last 9 months cutting down on the booze, only to kind of ruin it over christmas. ohwell, i excersized as much as i could after drinking sessions. i used to be a shocker when it came to the booze, but could never put on so much as a carrot-stick worth of weight.

i only slowed down the drinking because of my project car, i wanted to see it finished, and so money wise priorities took a turn.

i enjoy a beer, and going to the odd club, now and then, but to do it 4 days straight religiously like i used to? no thanks, not anymore. i get sick of the hangovers, empty wallet, lungs feeling like a chimney took a dump down them 'cos i smoked my way through two packets while drunk, and any embarrising things i may have done.

Completely agree mate, that story sounds like me in a nutshell! Congrats on cutting down mate, keep it up! It's really amazing how much better you feel, I cant remember when I felt this good! Actually, being a big dope smoker when I was younger, and then stopping that and starting the booze chances are I have never felt this good since i was 15!

grandpa_spec_F6 · 11-01-2010, 07:49 PM

That is just scary! Did a quick looksie and apparently I had the equivalent of two days worth of means in a night last saturday... than god my new years resolution is to get back to the gym :S