A recent Athlete conversation (question) inspired this post, which is also shared on my IGTV if you want to visually obtain this post. But it’s all the same here or there.
I had permission from my Athlete to share the gist of our conversation because it was such a great challenge that so many people experience, including myself in the past as well.
PREFACE: I choose not to drink alcohol for personal reasons, but most of my Athletes do fit it into their lifestyle. My job as a Coach is toprovide them with the science-backed research on how it can impact their lifestyle and goals, and then how they choose to consume and track it is up to them. I release any judgement on their choices.
My Athlete messaged me about an upcoming weekend where she was looking for my feedback. She had one of her girl friends coming over to stay for the weekend and this Athlete was feeling the social pressure to drink alcohol over the weekend. She doesn’t really care for it that much to begin with, and as we are new to our journey and guidance together, she was feeling a little unsure about how to approach the situation with some supportive feedback. She was hesitant that even though she could choose to drink alcohol and fit a few glasses into her target macros for the day, that it could turn into a ‘fck-it’ mentality and an unhappy and unsuccessful outcome in her mindset.
She told her friend that she was focused on her health and nutrition and that she was going to prepare some snacks and meals that align with her goals. Her friend was happy and support of this. I would honestly expect that ‘not drinking alcohol’ falls under this category too, but maybe that’s not the case.
These were the supportive comments and ‘tips’ that I provided her:
1. You need to be clear on what you want, both with yourself and with your friends. If you tell yourself that you do not want to drink, then own that choice. Clear communication is vital for any relationship, but that also goes with goals and actions too.
Send the friend a text and say something like, “oh, and I forgot to mention, I’m not going to be drinking any alcohol this weekend. I just don’t want to.” A friend will absolutely respect your choices, especially if they are health-related.
You can kindly suggest that if your friend wants to drink then they are welcome to bring a serving for themself, but you won’t have any available to serve.
But really though, at the end of the day, your friend really isn’t going to care if you drink or not.
A lot of these thoughts of what ‘she’s going to say or think’ is all in your head. We need to let go of making up these situations in our mind because they really serve us no purpose.
2. Make a list of the reasons why you don’t want to drink. Whether that’s for good or just for a certain social event, writing out why/how it doesn’t align with your lifestyle can help to bring some more awareness to the changes you are trying to make in your journey. Writing things down is a great tool to help you visually get clear on your goals and build sustainable habits.
3. Come up with a few fun activities that you can do that takes the focus off alcohol. Dig into some gossip, socialize, laugh, play board games!
4. Make your own fun drink! Get some mineral water and mix with Crystal Light or water enhancers. Put it in a champagne glass to feel extra fancy. Make some ice slushees in the blender with BCAAs and frozen fruit. Add anything into water (like make a punch bowl for you two!) with cucumber, green apple slices, lime, ginger, kiwi... there are so many options!
Because this Athlete was hosting her friend for multiple nights, I suggested to choose to absolutely NOT drink the first night and see how it goes. She can then give herself the option for the following night, but base that off her experience from the first night.
No matter what you choose to do with alcohol, be smart and safe with your intake. And if you’re faced with a similar challenge to this Athlete as I just shared, be confident about whatever choice you decide.
If you're unsure how to track alcohol to fit into your macros, watch my YouTube video called "Wedding Macros: Staying on Track at Social Events" (click the title for the direct link). If you want to skip through to just the alcohol information, you can fast-forward to about 9:35 in the video.
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