How much/often do you drink?

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How much/often do you drink?

Post by Beer-lord »

I think we've discussed this somewhat before but I couldn't find it and worth some time wasting to discuss.

As I've gotten older and losing weight has gotten harder, I've tried to do a better job of my beer drinking. :jumpy: I go to the gym 3 times a week and about 8 months of the year, I walk about 2 miles 4-5 mornings a week. My wife makes sure I eat well and the doc says I'm fine but could lose 10-15 lbs. I don't want to give up beer so I try to only drink 3 days a week. Usually Wednesday nights we'll eat a friends house, play some music and share both homebrew and craft brew in moderation. I also usually imbibe on Friday nights and Sunday's usually taking Saturday's off to allow my liver to breathe. Not sure how many beers I have in a week but I'd guess maybe 8.
What about you? For you older folks, have you changed to drinking more or less as you've aged?
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Re: How much/often do you drink?

Post by BlackDuck »

I drink 1 or 2 each night. If I have one with dinner, I usually have one after the kids go to bed. Sometimes I drink water with dinner, but I still have one after the kids go to bed.
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Re: How much/often do you drink?

Post by John Sand »

Cutting back on beer is the most effective way to check weight gain for me. Portion control is another. I drink about two beers a day, unless I'm at a party, bar, game, etc.
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Re: How much/often do you drink?

Post by Banjo-guy »

I have about 5 beers per week. I’m having a physical next month and I tend to have high triglycerides. I’m dreading the moment when the Doctor tells me I have to cut back and on carbs and alcohol.


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Re: How much/often do you drink?

Post by Ricklust »

Usually drink 2 or more a day. A lot more on weekends when friends come over and help make room in my "beer box" that's full of homebrew now. These guys don't realize the time and effort it takes for homebrews.
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Re: How much/often do you drink?

Post by mashani »

I'm > 50, but I'm crazy active endurance athlete, my avatar isn't a joke.

Because of this I'm probably not a great example of "how much you can drink" when you get "old".

But, I drink about 2 pints a day like a Brit. Which is why most of my beer is 1.05 or <.

Exact amount varies depending on if it's stronger or less strong. There is a balance between alcohol intake and caloric needs I have to walk.

If I don't drink about those 2 pints a day or equivalent, I lose weight, and I really don't need to do that since I weight about 136# when wet. It's hard for me to get enough calories without drinking beers.
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Re: How much/often do you drink?

Post by Beer-lord »

mash, I also believe that some people just have a faster metabolism than others and that certainly helps.
Good for you for keeping active.
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Re: How much/often do you drink?

Post by bpgreen »

mashani wrote:I'm > 50, but I'm crazy active endurance athlete, my avatar isn't a joke.

Because of this I'm probably not a great example of "how much you can drink" when you get "old".

But, I drink about 2 pints a day like a Brit. Which is why most of my beer is 1.05 or <.

Exact amount varies depending on if it's stronger or less strong. There is a balance between alcohol intake and caloric needs I have to walk.

If I don't drink about those 2 pints a day or equivalent, I lose weight, and I really don't need to do that since I weight about 136# when wet. It's hard for me to get enough calories without drinking beers.
Out of curiosity, how far do you run/ride/swim each day? I don't like to run, but I walk a couple of miles every day. I also lift weights 3x a week because I read that muscle mass starts to deteriorate after a certain age (and I'm after that age). I swim almost every day (one day a week, they take several lanes out of commission and it's tough to find a lane to share, so I skip that day). I cut back to 2000 yards a day, but recently went back to 3000 most days. I lifted weights today and intended to swim 3000 yards, but when I started my last 500, I could feel my leg muscles bunching up, so I decided to stop before I started to cramp. I started biking last year and got up to 10-20 miles a day, but when it got cold, I stopped (told myself I'd use the indoor exercise bike, but didn't). I haven't really gotten back into biking this year, in part because it went from being too cold to being too hot (although my next door neighbor probably rides 30-40 miles every day, no matter what the weather is).
Beer-lord wrote:mash, I also believe that some people just have a faster metabolism than others and that certainly helps.
Good for you for keeping active.
I used to have a really fast metabolism. I once had a job related physical and they made me track what I ate and also took a blood sample to make sure I didn't have a thyroid or drug problem. When I came back for the followup, they told me that the blood tests came back clean, then looked at my food diary and said "Well, you're certainly not undernourished." I think I was eating 3-4 full meals per day, and also stopping on my way to work and picking up two gondolas. A gondola is a submarine sandwich in Peoria, IL that is probably about 2 ft long. A half gondola is considered a full meal and supposedly has 643 calories, but I always got them with extra meat, extra cheese, and everything they'd put on for free, so those 2 full gondolas were probably closer to 2000-3000 calories (and those were a "snack" on top of 3-4 full meals).

At some point, I got older and my metabolism changed, but my eating habits didn't (at least not enough; I'm reasonably certain I wasn't eating 5+ full meals a day). I got overweight. I don't think I got to the point where I was obese, but I was definitely overweight. I changed my approach to eating and started exercising. I lost almost 50 pounds, but I've found that I have to exercise an hour or more a day and keep watching what I eat or I start gaining it back again.

The problem with calories from beer is that they're kind of empty calories. They're mostly carbohydrates, but if you're exercising enough, you probably need the carbs for the energy. But carbs aren't really very filling, so if you're not exercising enough, you're not burning them off. And the human body is VERY efficient at converting unused carbohydrates to fat.
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Re: How much/often do you drink?

Post by mashani »

Out of curiosity, how far do you run/ride/swim each day?
Well... you asked...

It varies, but last week I cycled a total of about 250 miles, about 100 of that (over a couple of days) was at high intensity riding with some 50+ masters and Cat 2-3 road racers at LT and/or pushing at/above my FTP much of the way. I don't know how much you know about power/cycling, but my FTP is about 4.2 watts/kg, my 5 minute power is about 5.4 watts/kg, my 30 second power is about 9.2 watts/kg, my 5 second power is around 18.3 watts/kg... basically I can keep up with Cat 2 road racers and 50+ master types if I want to. I tend to do one slow zone 2 recovery ride a week (noodling), and when I'm not riding with the fast people the rest of the time, I'll mix it up by doing 40/20 intervals or fartlek (unstructured intervals, IE sprint to something in the distance, noodle to something else, sprint to the next thing, etc.), all sorts of things like that.

I think I burned more then 12,000 calories just cycling last week even at my skinny weight.

Some weeks I might "only" do 100-150 miles, but if so those miles are often very intense rides, and I do more of something else.

In the fall switch to cyclocross and some single track riding for fun and do less road riding. Cyclocross is like the fartlek I do on the road, your either doing nothing for a few seconds to recover or going all out (and often still going slow even though your going all out because mud/dirt/grass/jumping off your bike and hurdling things, etc.).

Swimming, it depends on if I am doing other things. Today I didn't cycle, so I swam 3k. I can swim 5k non-stop easily if I want to, but more then 3k starts to wear on my shoulders so I avoid it. If I am doing something else the same day, IE cycling or a track workout, I might swim anywhere from 1k to 2k. I usually swim 3 or 4 days a week. I cycle 5 or 6 days a week. I can't swim more then about 4 times a week without getting shoulder problems regardless of distance, my shoulders need rest days. I will take a break from swimming if my shoulder starts to feel wrong. I have started to swim IMs in blocks of 25/50/100 or 200, I don't stick with a single stroke right now. This has helped me not develop the shoulder issues. I might actually be able to swim more then 3 or 4 days a week now actually as long as I stick to IMs, but I don't feel the "need" to and I'd rather be safe. I don't have rotator cuff/joint problems as such, but basically the "hole in the bone" that the tendons in my shoulder go through is narrow, so I can develop tendon problems if I do to much repetition. There is a name for this condition that I don't remember, but whatever it is, I got it.

I also water jog, and water box usually for about 30 minutes every day I swim. Water jogging has replaced some of my running. Old people problems. LOL.

Most of my actual running these days is HIIT track intervals, IE I will do supersets of 8x 20sec flat out, 10sec walk or jog, and I'll do 8 or 12 sets of those supersets. I will usually do 2 track workouts a week, sometimes 3.

I don't do a lot of long runs right now, just a few a month. I can go out and run for pretty much forever at a moderate pace if I can keep hydrated and have access to food/calories and my old knees and ankles don't get pissed at me, but isn't as friendly to my joints as doing HIIT track workouts, so I avoid it. If I do go for a long training run, IE something like a 12 miler, it is always on dirt trails or grass, not pavement.

About once a week I will do the equivalent of an Olympic distance triathlon as a workout.

I could do a half ironman on a whim anytime I felt like it and complete it without any specific training for it. I won't win it, but I'd finish it and do ok in my age group.

I would have to train for a full ironman however, mostly to get used to pacing and food/caloric intake while doing it. And I'd probably walk half the run because I don't think my knees and ankles would want to do the full marathon, even without having cycled > 100 miles first. I pretty much top out my long runs at 12-13 miles these days to avoid injury. Cycling and swimming don't bother my joints anywhere near as much.

I don't lift much this time of year, sometimes only once a week, but I lift 4 or 5 times a week in the winter though. But I do some body weight core stuff still a few times a week even though I'm not lifting. I have to be careful lifting, as it can agitate my hand condition.

I cross country ski in the winter instead of run. I will ski 3x a week at least when the snow is good, I will ski either 5k, 10k, or 20k depending on conditions and how I feel. I ski both classic and skate. Cross country skiing doesn't bother my joints (unless I wreck), so I can go as long as I want. Cross country skiing can be the most intense thing I do, even more intense then cycling when I go all out. Sometimes I do some "paintball biathlon" on ski's.

I also put my bike on a trainer and ride on Zwift or the like in the winter. I put about 1500 miles on Zwift over 3 months last winter. Zwift makes it a lot more fun then just riding on a trainer without being able to interact with others.

I don't swim as much in the winter. I'd rather be skiing instead if the weather cooperates. Maybe I go once a week.

I also randomly go to the dojo and practice Akido in the winter.

I also walk the dogs anywhere from 2-4 miles a day depending on the weather, what else I've done that day, how much time I have, etc. Or if I'm taking a "rest" day I might take them for a 6-12 mile hike somewhere.

It doesn't sound like it but I listen to my body and taper down things if anything starts to feel wrong. The good thing about being involved in lots of types of activity is that you can always find something else to do that doesn't agitate whatever is agitated.

That said, I tend to get really sore and feel like crap if I do nothing. So I avoid doing nothing. IE even on a rest day I will walk long distances with the dogs.

My resting HR can go as low as 42 if I avoid over training. If it goes above 50, I'm overtrained and need to chill out a bit. If I'm not over trained, my HR will often drop below 45 easily, just sitting down in a chair for a bit.

The last time my Dr. put me on a stress test, they just got annoyed trying to get my HR where they wanted it and turned it off LOL.

Because of the exercise and being a vegetarian my cholesterol is so low that doctors who don't know me think I have cancer or something else that is hideous. My low HR doesn't help, it freaks them out and they want to hospitalize me. Then when I explain they think I'm crazy.

Like I said, I'm not a good example of how much beer you can drink and stay trim LOL. And you don't even want to know how much food I eat LOL.
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Re: How much/often do you drink?

Post by RandyG »

Dang Crewmates, So much exersize,watching what you eat, etc. FWIW, I drink almost every day.The one exception is the night before a Dr. appt. I like to brew beer and I like to drink beer. I also like cocktails etc.Usually whiskey and soda. I usually don't keep a tally of how many I have,BUT, I know when I've had enough,when it runs out my nose.....cheers :lol:
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Re: How much/often do you drink?

Post by RickBeer »

50 was almost a decade ago...

During Michigan football season I drink 4-6 beers a week, rarely more than. 2 per day.

During the summer I drink 6-8 per week.

Rest of the year I drink 2 - 4 per week.

I am brewing less since youngest son moved, because in total we don't drink more than 18 - 24 per month, and I like to have choices.

My metabolism is fast AND sensitive. We ate out last night, had two beers, half pound burger with cheese, and homemade chips. Should have had third pound burger and less chips...
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Re: How much/often do you drink?

Post by John Sand »

Some of you guys are working (out) too hard. I'm going to have a beer and a nap on your behalf. Each.
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Re: How much/often do you drink?

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John Sand wrote:Some of you guys are working (out) too hard. I'm going to have a beer and a nap on your behalf. Each.
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Re: How much/often do you drink?

Post by swenocha »

For the most part, for health reasons (not anything dictated by a doctor... just a desire to drop some weight), I generally drink only on weekends unless I meet friends for an occasional happy hour (for example, last night). Maybe 3-4 over the weekend on a normal week. Lost about 25 lbs this year sticking to that as well as severely limiting grains/potato/rice/sugars. Cut bread, rice, potato out entirely. I still eat corn tortillas occasionally, but no other corn products. Lots of meats/veggies/fruit. Severely limiting sodas (both sugared and diet, though I have reverted back to a couple Coke Zero cans a week). Actually took to it a lot more than I thought I would. I usually back off on this when situations arise (like last night... I couldn't pass up the hot chicken pizza when at the pizzeria pub that LouieMacgoo and I met at) so I'm not militant, but I generally only take the cheats once every few weeks (unless travelling and/or on vacation, where I let it slide a bit more).
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Re: How much/often do you drink?

Post by bpgreen »

Wow, mashani! I thought I was doing pretty well, but I got worn out just reading about your exercise routine.

According to my smart watch, it looks like I burn about 1000 calories a day on average. And that includes all the exercise I get.

With your regimen, I'm kind of surprised your resting heart rate isn't even lower than it is. I don't work out nearly as hard as you do, and my RHR is in the 30s most day. Some days it actually hits 30. My smart watch doesn't register a rate below 30. I think it assumes it's not on the wrist below 30.

I think there have been a few days when it may have dipped below that, because one time I looked at it and saw --- instead of a number, which is the same thing it shows when it's off my wrist. I watched it for a little while and after a few seconds, it showed 30, so I deduced that it just stops at 30.
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