PODCAST - I Drank for the First Time in 14 Months — Here’s Exactly What Happened
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Athlete with Asthma Show. I'm your host Johnny Ha, an ultra runner endurance athlete, and yes, a guy who's had an inhaler prescribed since birth. Despite doctors telling me I could never play soccer nor run a marathon, let alone a hundred K ultra. I prove them all wrong. This show is where I share everything I've learned from breathing techniques to mindset shifts to help you become the athlete and the person you truly want to be.
So if you're ready to achieve your goals, despite limitations, let's get started.
I enjoyed drinking in college as much as the next person, but I'll tell you this, the 14 months ~that ~I took off [00:01:00] from drinking completely changed my life. ~And today I'm gonna share with you. And today I'm gonna share with you, and today I'm gonna share with you how I drank for the first time in 14 months.~
And today I'm gonna share ~with you ~how I drank for the first time in 14 months and exactly what happened.
Now, Johnny, why did you decide to take 14 months off from drinking? Well, there's really three reasons. The first one probably won't surprise you. It is for performance. For those of you that don't know, I am an elite athlete with asthma, and specifically I'm an ~elite ~ultra runner who competes in hundred K ~ultra ~races.
~And ~during my 14 months of not drinking, ~I not only completed, ~I won a hundred K Ultra and I'm relatively new to the sport. I got into the sport in the past three to five years. So number one is performance, and I highly recommend that if you want to be elite and achieve your goals, to look at taking an extended break from drinking at least during your training [00:02:00] cycle, three to four months.
Before your race, ~and ~if ~you do decide that ~you want to work with me directly, ~this is something that I have all of my one-on-one coaching clients that I coach. One, ~I ~have all my one-on-one coaching clients. This is one thing that ~have all my one-on-one coaching clients make a commitment to themselves to do because the performance jumps that you will see by cutting alcohol out of your life, out of your training cycle. Are exponential. ~And ~this is why some of the greatest athletes in the world don't drink during the season, during training, during the time of the year that they need to be at their prime. ~And this is another reason why you'll see that some of the best athletes in the world that do drink.~
And this is another reason why you'll see some of the best athletes in the world that ~do ~drink have short careers because they are putting ~all this ~unnecessary pressure on their body that could be easily avoided by ~just ~not drinking The second reason. Is for health. I have another video and podcast episode ~that ~I highly recommend you check out called I Didn't Drink for 12 months.
Here's what happened, and the health [00:03:00] results. ~Our, ~not only ~just ~my opinion of how I feel on a day-to-day basis, I did a blood test before my year of not drinking and a blood test after, ~and all of my numbers were, ~and all of my numbers were at least five to 10% better, ~all the way ~up to 50 to 60%, even 70% better.
So health was the second reason. Number three. ~Because I can't,~
~now ~I know that there are people out there who have an alcohol addiction. I, I know that. I care about you. I'm here for you. I'm here with you. It is a serious problem, and I feel for you, those of us. That don't have an addiction. Doing what I'm talking about today is a no brainer. Those of you out there that do have an addiction, you should also ~probably~ not be drinking, period.
I ~do ~believe ~that ~we all have it in us [00:04:00] to do this, and the benefits ~that we see ~in our life. Are amazing. Now, I'm not a healthcare professional, so ~I highly recommend that you ~consult with your healthcare professional. ~Maybe that's a doctor, whoever you go to for your healthcare consult with them. I have a disclaimer in the, I have a disclaimer in the, ~I have a disclaimer in the description below this video and in the show notes if you're listening to this as a podcast ~and if you need help.~
~And if you have an alcohol problem, I, ~and if you have an alcohol addiction, I highly recommend you seek help and look into an AA group and going through a 12 step program, as of recording this video, it has been more than a month since my last drink, and really what I'm talking about today are three instances that I drank after my 14 months of not drinking, and ~really ~how the amount I drank ~in each of these instances ~affected my body from an experiential perspective.
I haven't actually done any blood tests right after drinking ~or any of these things. ~I did my blood test checking. How my numbers improved after 12 months [00:05:00] of not drinking, not after my 14 months. So everything I talk about today is just how I ~have ~felt in my body and ~in my ~mind after taking 14 months off of drinking
Hey, friend, I wanted to take a moment to ask you a quick question. Are you struggling to lose weight due to your asthma? If so, I get it. I used to run marathons and still kept gaining weight. It wasn't until I learned about the three pillars of healthy living that everything changed,
so I put together a healthy living guide that you can access absolutely free by clicking the link in the description. This guide shares these [00:06:00] amazing three pillars of healthy living that you can easily integrate into your life. To start losing weight and live healthier today. Click the link in the description or go to athlete with asthma.com/healthy-living-guide to grab your free copy.
Now let's get back to the rest of the show.
step one was half a drink, ~then ~step two was one to three drinks, and step three was three or more drinks. And each time I found that my first few sips tasted like pure alcohol and my first few sips was not hard liquor. It was [00:07:00] wine. Wine and beer. And it wasn't like these were high alcohol versions of these.
It was ~like ~a really light rose. ~This was ~white wine and ~this was a ~lager. My first sip was actually pretty disgusting . It tastes like cough syrup. It was so potent that I realized that I actually liked the taste of NA beer ~so much ~better than beer. Beer because you actually get the flavor ~of the beer and ~not the alcohol. ~So ~that was the first thing I ~really ~noticed ~each of these times. But ~I had different results depending on how many beverages I had. So let's start with having half a glass of wine.
The first thing I noticed was brain fog, ~and I noticed this ~across all three experiences ~and uh, this was pretty crazy. ~Now I took 14 months off. So this really threw me off. I had brain fog, ~which means I just wasn't clear in my head ~for three to five days, [00:08:00] and this was consistent with all ~of these ~experiences.
It was ~about ~three to five days if I drank half a glass ~all the way up ~to 3, 4, 5 beers, brain fog. The second thing. It was decrease in overall motivation. That means get up in the morning, just really wasn't motivated to do anything. And this was also ~a ~three to five days, ~and this was ~across all three instances, even half.
A glass of wine. This is why I am sharing this with you 'cause it didn't matter how much I drank, half a glass of wine. This is what happened. Then we look at decrease in productivity. So pretty obvious, if not motivated, gonna be less [00:09:00] productive. I found myself getting way less done per day ~and ~same thing three to five days.
~Across all three. ~Now, here's where it really changed, depending on how much I had. ~ We look at I,~
let's go with sleep disruption. ~Okay. ~For the half a glass, it was just one night ~or one day. ~For the one to three, it was two to three days, and for the three or more, it was also two or three days, so this was pretty consistent, but even ~with ~half a glass of wine messed up my sleep that one day My mood dipped ~and this happens ~because of blood sugar dipping, 'cause of that 'cause of the sugar and alcohol. My mood dipped for about 24 to 48 hours, even with half a glass of wine. For ~my two to, for my ~[00:10:00] one to three drinks. My mood dipped for about three days, 72 hours, and four, my three plus. It also dipped for about 72 hours, three days of poor mood. Poor mood equals poor energy. Poor energy means showing up. Not at my best for three days, not to mention brain fog for three to five days.
Lack of motivation, lack of productivity, and messing up my sleep.
Last metric ~I have here ~is unhealthy diet, or really just my diet wasn't necessarily unhealthy. I just started craving carbs and sugar, so I was eating unhealthy ~and really this lasted ~for one to three days. After ~just having ~half a glass, it lasted ~for ~three to five days [00:11:00] so what was the ~biggest ~difference between having one to three and three or more drinks? I had the spins before bed. It was very uncomfortable. I had to sleep sitting up for a while, and yes, I had the spins with only having four to five beers. Yes, I'm a lightweight, and ~yes, ~this is the effect it had on my body.
After not drinking in 14 months, I had the spins. I also had a really painful headache. For like 24 hours basically until ~late ~the following evening, ~and I had zero desire to drink a thing. Like ~I, ~after this experience, ~had zero desire to drink again. But then two days later was the actual wedding. ~So ~I did drink again. I ~just ~stayed ~a little bit ~closer ~over ~here 'cause I wanted to avoid these things and I did. And then ultimately I haven't drank since that [00:12:00] wedding. So what is my recommendation to you? Well, moderate drinking still hurts you. Moderate drinking
is bad. Why? Well, modern drinking in the US is defined as one drink at night. ~If you're having one, ~if you're having one drink at night, you're gonna be in constant brain fog. ~You're gonna ~have constantly less motivation, and you're gonna be constantly less productive. You're also gonna be constantly messing up your sleep.
You're also gonna be constantly wanting to eat more and eat unhealthy even if you drank once per week. Based on what my experience has been with taking 14 months off and then drinking again three to five days, I had a lot of these challenges. That means what? At best, one to two days a week, you're going to feel at your best.
It's like a hundred days a [00:13:00] year, over 200 days a year, you're not gonna be at your best if you drink once a week. So if you are going to drink, I highly recommend that you do it no more than once per. Month and then keep it below the three plus. Have zero to three drinks once per month, so you can at least avoid that splitting hangover. If you have a similar reaction to me, they're gonna have these other issues for three to five days, but at least the rest of the month, you're gonna be at your best on these different things. If you can take a year off and drink once per year, even better. If you can just never drink again, ~then ~even better. ~Now. What am I doing right now? Well, in the past 15 months, I have drank. Now ~in the past 15 months, I ~have ~drank four times ~and it was all ~within a two to four week range. ~And ~now I'm a month ~back ~into not drinking and I'm ~like, I'm not drinking anytime soon. 'cause I am ~so productive, ~so ~motivated. My mood is great and I feel ~overall ~amazing
~and ~I want this for you too. [00:14:00] And if you want to take your health and wellness to the next level, I invite you to check out my three pillars of Healthy Living Guide. It is linked in the description below this video on YouTube, and ~it is also linked ~in the show notes. ~If you're watching, if you're, if you're, listen, if you're listening to this video.~
If you're listening to this as a podcast, you can also go to www.athletewithasthma.com/healthy-living-guide to grab your copy today and I'll see you in the next episode.
Thanks for tuning in to the Athlete with Asthma Show. I hope today's episode inspired you to overcome any perceived limitations you may have. Remember, your health and wellness journey isn't about perfection. It is about progress. So I invite you to take a small step right now towards your goals, and if you found something helpful here, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and [00:15:00] share the podcast with others on a similar path.
Until next time, keep challenging yourself and redefining what's possible.
