The Homebrewer's Dilemma

Admittedly, I have a bit of writer's block today, partially because I don't have a lot of time to write, and most of the ideas that I have to write about seem trite.

But one idea stuck out as not-as-mundane (thanks to my wife for the suggestion): one of my New Years resolutions.  As a homebrewer and part-time wine collector, I often have many beers & wines at my disposal -- before the new year, it was not uncommon for me to drink several a night.  Call it rationalization that made me think "I deserved it after a hard day" or "two glasses of wine are fine for you", but two drinks often gave way to three or more.

This eventually caught up with me: I was about five pounds heavier than I wanted to be, and I was not progressing in Crossfit as much as I would like.  I'm sure part of it was because of my (still less than ideal) diet and my overindulgence in the sauce.  Having to work out at 7 AM while being semi-dehydrated is also not ideal.  Consuming 500+ calories at night probably doesn't help.

This drove a tough choice for me:  I enjoyed my hobby, but it was slowing me down in my workouts and damaging my health.  I made a compromise: with a new year's resolution to not drink during the week and limit it only to the weekends/holidays.  A sacrilege for a homebrewer, but certainly better than letting it slowly kill me.

It's been a challenge so far, since it's always accessible and there are some days that I think, man, it would be nice.  But I've been able to keep to it, luckily.  In the first workout after I stopped, I already saw the difference:  when running, I was able to push faster than I could before, and I surprised myself with how much further I could go with less lactic acid building up in my veins.  The difference even after ~eight weeks is noticeable, with faster workout times and less weight (I've dropped the 5 already)

I still like booze, I don't think that will change, but I was able to improve my health even a little.  But as Abraham Lincoln said,  "It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues."