Happy for you!! Sounds like your body and mind are so much happier. It’s probably a bit of everything- alcohol makes a lot of people look puffy and you probably have more muscle and look overall healthier.

*just my understanding, through my own research

It took me nearly a year of not drinking to really see a difference in bloat. I'm not sure how healthy or unhealthy your liver is, but it needs time to heal. Once healed, it will operate more efficiently and you will process fluids better.

- Caveat, I'm not a health professional, just through my own research

Anonymous wrote:If you've been exercising, you might have gained muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat. A good thing. And many congratulations on reducing the drinking!!! Keep it up.

Muscle weights the same as fat; however, it is leaner, And alcohol inhibits muscle gain. Mystery solved.

Keep up the good work! The scale doesn't tell the entire story--you probably have more muscle mass now, plus you probably aren't as puffy and bloated, and your weight distribution has probably changed to be less around your middle.

Anonymous wrote:If you want to lose weight, cut out all alcohol for a month and see what happens.

Nothing happened to me, lost 1 lb. But I wasn't a heavy drinker.

OP here. I'm in my late twenties and have about 10 pounds to go until I'm my old maintenance weight, which was considered healthy and attractive. I previously craved sweets quite a bit as I was cutting back which may have prevented weight loss, but my dietary habits are currently much better and closer to what they were before I took up the heavy drinking, which went on for about a year. I'm getting a bit more rigorous with exercising and to some extent, calorie cutting. The situation that caused me to drink so excessively in the first place has been resolved and although I may always need to *watch myself* a bit with drinking it's largely under control. I still just find it amazing how I can look dramatically healthier while still being practically the same weight.