Drinking alcohol is a huge part of certain cultures, with most Britons enjoying their favourite tipple on the weekends.
However, like many vices it is something that should be consumed in moderation due to the potential health implications.
Weight is one such implication with some alcohol known to cause the pounds to pile on.
This was the case for one man who revealed he lost an impressive six kilograms (or 13 pounds) in just 30 days after quitting his daily drinking habit.
Founder of Alcohol Free Lifestyle, James Swanwick, said he stopped drinking alcohol in March 2010 and was “shocked by the results”.
The now 48-year-old from Australia explained how the drinking culture in his country meant consuming a few glasses of wine with dinner in the week and multiple beers at the weekend was “socially acceptable”.
But, as reported in The Mirror, he said he started to feel “sluggish and irritable” by his mid-30s.
James recalled having a puffy face and struggling to sleep as a result of his drinking habits.
In a bid to tackle the problem he attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, but as he wasn’t an alcoholic it didn’t help.
While nursing a hangover in the US one day he said looking at pictures of greasy food on the menu at a pancake restaurant made him feel sick.
It was then that he resolved to quit alcohol for 30 days as a test of self-discipline.
In an Instagram post the entrepreneur and wellness coach said he found the first two weeks really tough.
“The first two weeks were hard,” he said. “When I went out with friends and ordered water, they gave me a hard time.
“’You’re un-Australian!’ they’d say. But I survived those two weeks. I felt better, slept better, and had more mental clarity.
“After 30 days, I’d lost an incredible 13lbs (5.9kg) of fat around my stomach just from stopping drinking.
”I had more money in the bank. My skin looked considerably better, and I enjoyed getting out of bed for early morning exercise.”
The benefits were so dramatic that he decided to stick with it.
In just one year after giving up booze James lost 11.3 kilos (25 pounds) and said he had “attracted higher calibre friends and romantic relationships”.
To celebrate the anniversary James ordered a beer at a festival but had second thoughts and decided to remain completely sober.
James has gone on to coach thousands of people on how to adopt an alcohol-free lifestyle, and is the author of The 30-Day No-Alcohol Challenge, the host of the Alcohol-Free Lifestyle Podcast, and co-founder of the health brand Swanwick sleep.
The NHS advises that men and women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol a week.
