How much is too much

Hi.. I drink 2-3 liters of beer every weekends.. Is that too much? But on week days I don’t drink at all

Is it effecting your life in a negative way? If not, I would say no. I wouldn’t say you’re an alcoholic, because you don’t drink during the week. My girlfriend and I drink pretty consistently on the weekends, and occasionally during the week, but I don’t ever have a “crave” for it. We just have a lot of fun trying new beers, shots, wines during the weekend, and always end up buzzing and having a good time.

It doesn’t really matter if it’s only on the weekends and not during the week.

The key is to identify when the consumption and your resulting behavior becomes “unmanageable;” meaning you can neither control your intake nor resulting behavior.

You’re probably fine, just keep an eye on things. Problems can start faster than a forest fire.

Why do you ask, Vincent?

If you have reason to wonder whether you are drinking too much, the answer may be yes.

And just because you don’t drink during the week doesn’t mean that you’re not an alcoholic, BigDanny (although I’m not saying that you are).

as an adult man, you can drink MAXIMALLY 21 units/week. That’s 1 pint of beer/day (565 ml of 4% lager). However, not all in one go… The maximum amount of drink/day is 3 units only (=1 pint).

The way you consume alcohol is not contributing to your health. 3 liters in 2 days is too much. That’s about 16 units, i.e. 8 units on Friday and 8 units on Saturday.

It’s still under the 21 weekly units… so no need to overreact. But better spread it out over the week.

I was just assuming his consumption isn’t out of control and addictive, since he is aware of how much he’s drinking, but good point LW! I should probably re-evaluate my situation!

3 liters is less than 6 UK pints. In my part of the UK that’s not an unusual amount to drink in one evening, especially at the weekend. Is it healthy to do that. No.

Everyone has different tolerances to alcohol. And the strength of the alcohol has to be taken into consideration too.

When I lived in SE Asia, most people had a low tolerance to alcohol, whereas up in the NE of England, most people have a high tolerance - drinking is part of the culture, along with more unhealthy food consumption than is normal in the South of England. That’s why we don’t live as long on average!

20+ years ago I was probably averaging over 70 units a week and functioning OK on it. If I tried that now, it would probably kill me!

Very weird. I drink every day. I don’t question it. I just have fun.

I drank every day for 16 years. In fact I got drunk almost every day for 16 years. When I started to notice health problems I realized I had made myself an alcoholic. Not such a big deal really, I was honest with myself and made strides to regain my former level of health. Focused a lot on the thyroid to achieve this. Stopped drinking for about a year and now I drink 2-4 times a month and sometimes even get very drunk.

I like it. And the key for me (as mentioned above) is if it is manageable in my life. And yes. It’s always been manageable, even when I would drink daily. Not sure what to make of all of it but I am glad to have an easy time stopping the excess when I need too.

Same goes for my drug use. Or past drug use now.

Part of what makes this a difficult thing to define is the question, "What is an alcoholic?" To me, an alcoholic is someone who uses alcohol to the point that it adversely affects their life and their health, but cannot or will not choose to drink less or cut it out entirely.

I think a lot of people have an idea of an alcoholic as being one of those sloppy, disheveled people stumbling around and reeking of booze, and that’s not an accurate picture. There are alcoholics who hold down regular jobs and who are quite presentable - and who are despite all appearances drinking to the point of damage and beyond. One of the insidious things about alcohol is that your body does a good job for a very long time compensating for the damage that is being done. By the time the physical symptoms show up, a lot of damage has been done.

Here’s a scary little read for you, about alcoholic encephalopathy:

http://www.asso ciatedcontent.c … eal.html?cat=70

Lead paragraph:

Alcoholic encephalopathy is a serious complication of alcoholic liver disease usually caused by years of excessive drinking. Alcoholic liver disease does not affect all heavy drinkers, and women may be more susceptible than men. Drunkenness is not essential for the development of the disease.

Thanks for reply.. Sorry I didn’t made the question clear.. Is my drinking consumption too much for the effects of my PE gains?

Unlikely to make any difference at all.

I’m going to hypothesize that it may hinder PE gains, at least slightly.

First, heavy drinking seems to tip the endocrine balance more toward estrogen rather than testosterone, if that is a factor in PE. I’m not seeing a definitive citation on this, but it may be that alcohol promotes estrogen retention or decreases estrogen breakdown in the body.

Second, if you’re drinking beer, hops may have an estrogenic effect.

http://healthli brary.epnet.com … &chunkiid=21755

A byproduct of ethanol liver metabolism is a chemical by the name of: “acetaldehyde” a potent toxin, and a potentiator of cellular damage/mutation. Is there a level of alcohol consumption where acetaldehyde is not produced? Negative, so is all alcohol consumption detrimental? You bet ya. For those who believe that alcohol is “good” for them via its antioxidant properties (resveratrol in wine) I would recommend buying the extracted powders and giving alcohol a miss all together.

Can anything be done to lessen the impact of alcohol upon the liver and brain? Yes to that too. I would recommend a 500mg dose of Acetyl-L-Cysteine before any/all drinking; I would also recommend a 2-3g dosage of L-Taurine and perhaps even explore the consumption of specific B-vitamins before/after drinking.

From wikipedia:

“Cysteine has been proposed as a preventative or antidote for some of the negative effects of alcohol, including liver damage and hangover. It counteracts the poisonous effects of acetaldehyde, which is the major by-product of alcohol metabolism and is responsible for most of the negative aftereffects and long-term damage associated with alcohol use (but not the immediate effects of drunkenness)”

I hope this helps, don’t underestimate the value of pre-alcohol cysteine dosing people, your liver/brain deserve it.

How much % of alchool beer has there?