What Happened When These Bodybuilders Quit Drinking Alcohol for 30 Days
YouTube's Buff Dudes, a.k.a. bodybuilding brothers Brandon and Hudson White, have taken on all kinds of diet and nutrition challenges on their channel, including going vegan and keto, intermittent fasting, and cutting out sugar. For their latest video, they document their experiences of giving up alcohol for a 30-day period, and the effects it has on their bodies.
At the end of the first week, Hudson is already feeling changes. "One thing I'm already very happy with is the unnecessary eating," says Hudson. "I have a really big problem that as soon as I drink, I get really, really hungry... Not only am I having thousands of extra calories, a lot of it is being stored as energy and going right to my gut."
As the challenge progresses, he also finds that he is sleeping better, and feeling much more rested and recovered in general. "When I began to abstain from alcohol on Friday night, Saturday morning I was ready to go," he says. "I was well rested, my muscles were refreshed as opposed to feeling very slow and sluggish, and I got a really good night's sleep... No more 100 bathroom trips, I'm getting a much better night's sleep, and I'm feeling good to go... I do miss the snacking a little bit in addition to the beers, but I love the feeling of feeling rested and recovered."
Brandon experiences similar improvements in his sleep, and is also better able to pursue his results in the gym. "You have to remind yourself why you're doing it in the first place. For me, it's the physical and mental aspect of what it can do to you. Of course the physical being how it makes you feel, how it impairs your performance, but also the extra calories you can be having... It can be extremely detrimental to your physique, but also to your mental health too."
"This is a big reminder to me how important moderation is," he adds. ""Willpower is like a muscle. If you don't practice it, if you don't do it that much, it's going to be hard to contract... That was an amazing teaching tool."
While Hudson has taken up drinking again since the end of the challenge, he notes that his relationship with alcohol has changed in the light of how he felt without it. "Even though I'm a moderate drinker, I might reduce my alcohol a bit more," he says. "Some of the benefits were absolutely amazing."
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