Day 31, the numbers are in

So I met my month goal of abstaining from alcohol.  I waited at midnight for balloons and confetti to fall from the ceiling, but alas none.  My OH asked if I was waiting up until one minute after midnight to have a glass of wine.  While technically allowed under my rules...no.  In particular as today was stats day at the gym.

On the last Thursday of each month I use their fancy scale and record the results.  I now have a track record going back to December of last year.  September's numbers were brutal as I was only 2 days into the challenge and my numbers were the worst or second to worst since I started running them after a summer of decadent living.

After 30 days of no alcohol (and no Pringles too, in my attempt to knock out junk food at the same time) I was excited to see what had changed.  I'm pleased to say that everything improved.  Here are the actual results (height 5' 5", age 41.5):


Sept weight:  59.6 kilos      Oct weight:  58.6 kilos
bmi:  21.6  vs 21.3
bodyfat:  30  to 27.8
muscle mass:  39.6 to 40.2
bone mass 2.1 to 2.2
metabolic age  33 to 29
visceral fat 4.0 to 3.5

Some thoughts on these numbers:

1. weight - I lost 1 kilo in the first week before the 7 days count was reached and kept it off since.  That bloated squishy-ness was gone by day 5.  I messed around with the diet this month trying to get the right amount of calories to support the increased exercise.  I expect to continue to inch it down another kilo over a few months.

2. bodyfat - pleased this went down.  This puts me squarely in the 'normal' range.  Now to take it down a little further so that I have some abs.

3. muscle mass - a little increase.  I'm more of a cardio person, so we'll take that.

4. metabolic age - the scale puts together a number of factors and comes up with this one.  I've previously been down to 27 so headed in the right direction.

5. visceral fat - that's the layer of fat cushioning the liver etc.  This one was the primary driver of this month's challenge as my earlier numbers were always 3.5.  Just the summer binging had put it up in the 4 range so a good indicator to make a change. 

I feel the lack of alcohol was a positive influence in my situation.  Without it I had more energy to focus on the sports side and to get the food choices right.

I'm planning to have wine this weekend but I'm also planning to do the Saturday morning 5k.  I'd like to try for wine to be a just Saturday or Sunday thing but we'll see.  I may also just do this one month on/one off tempo as I like the routine of not having alcohol, once I get going.