The Last Drink

May 2024. I went out to dinner at the beach and ordered a glass of wine. I didn't know it was my last drink — if I had, I'd have picked a good rye whiskey on the rocks.

I committed to 30 days to see what would actually change. I worried about all of it: the edge after work, dinners with friends, the Presidents Club trip, concerts, the pool. The only thing I wasn't worried about was whether I could stop — I'd already quit smoking a pack and a half a day cold.

This is the episode about the part nobody warns you about: being the guy in the room who doesn't drink, and why people start confiding in you like a priest. And why I call myself alcohol-free.

2.5 years in, it gave me clarity, my health and fitness, and a front-row seat to a shift: the alcohol industry has lost $830 billion in market value since June 2021, and consumption is at its lowest since 1939. It gets easier.

Finding My Line

I'm not strict carnivore anymore. But strict carnivore is exactly how this started.

30 days of strict took 30 pounds off. Four more months under 50 grams of carbs took 25 more. Then I spent two years experimenting with where the edges were — and in the end, my shoulders made the final call.

This is the episode about finding my line: carnivore-heavy, under 100 grams of carbs a day, with the flexibility living inside that frame. I didn't fall off and climb back on. I was mapping the edges.

Changing your life is one thing. Keeping the change is a completely different skill.

In this episode: what happened after the weight came off and the drinking stopped. I'm approaching 3 years since October 21st, 2023 - the day the switch flipped - and people still ask me what the secret is. Some say I'm lucky. Some say genetics.

So what happened when I was 60 pounds overweight? Were my genetics on a siesta?

I get into the 21 days to build a habit, 90 days to build a lifestyle rule I've repeated for 3 years, why I leave alcohol for last when someone says "tell me what to do, Mike," and how 30 days turned into 60 and then into almost 3 years. I didn't start with forever - forever is a long time.

I also talk about the holidays - my family's Blackout cookie tradition that goes back to WWII blackout drills when my great-grandmother started making them to keep the kids from being scared during blackouts. I'm eating every last one of them this year. I'm 80/20, not 100%. Living healthier isn't eliminating what you enjoy.

The real work is what you do on the average Tuesday when motivation is gone: showing up to the gym when you don't feel like it, eating for the goal instead of negotiating every meal, protecting sleep, cutting the numbing habits.

Consistency beats intensity 100% of the time. If you don't have 90 minutes, do 40. Don't have 40, go for a 20 minute walk.

If you're in that January 15th cycle where you gave it 2-3 weeks and quit, this one's for you.

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