Giving up beer for a year - Munich

well, here's the thing:

In the four years since I have been in Munich I have pigged away at German food, excercised very little and drunk gallons upon gallons of bier. The consequence is that I have put on an enormous amount of blubber to the point where something just had to be done . . .

so I am now on a major excercise regime and I'm adjusting my diet to make it more balanced and healthy with the help of a fitness coach. Already I am starting to see results, which is really really pleasing. I am hoping to keep this up for a year (at least) until our civil partnersjhip in August 2010 when I need to fit into a kilt.

All well and good, but I was chatting to my coach this morning about what happens when I stop the detox part of the diet and the big shock of the morning was that I have to give up bier for a year . . .

So the question is: has anyone in Munich managed to do this? How do you cope with biergartens, the Wiesn, BIG GAY Stammtisches and the like without bier?

This is a serious question by the way (though lighthearted replies are welcome) as I run the Stammtisch in a biergarten every month and we have heaps of guests coming in September to go to the tents.

Good Luck, BTC!

I've gone 4 months without beer but only 2 without any alcohol at all. Is it just beer you can't have or alcohol at all?

Did your trainer specifically say beer, or just plain any alcohol? I know it's hard, but stick to water with a Schorle or so in between (tons of calories in them as well, by the way).

@ OG - Snap!

EDIT: Calories per drink

well done!
not sure how life in Germany is without beer? do you like Apfelschörle?

as long as you keep up with the exercise you can probably splurge a little on beer still.
or cycle/walk to the beergarden, there and back? you can also take a football or frisbee in the beergarden to play before or after your visit, burn a few beer-induced calories that way?

Good Luck Bell! I always wanted to give up coffee for a year, just to see if it makes any difference. Are you allowed to drink Malzbier?

I gave up beer/alcohol for 8 yrs. beginning when my son was about 12 just to set a good example. I lost about 8 kilos within the first few months even though I started eating/appreciating sweets more than ever along with my regular German food diet. The weight loss was a real bonus.

a friend has lost 10kg in 6 months on the Guiness diet. he switched from Helles Bier to Guiness!
not much help in the Biergarten but if you're out in a pub maybe a good idea?

Although I doubt I ever could get used to the taste, alcohol-free beer is probably a decent compromise. It's far less in calories and would let you feel like you're still part of the action. Nothing worse than when everyone around you has a Mass glass and you are Prosting them with a 0.2L bubbly water.

after the 21 day detox I can have alcohol as a "treat" but should stick to only one glass of wine or vodka with a mixer if I do.


Thing is, not sure I could manage a day in the Bräurösl drinking Spezi right through

Good luck dude!


Sound advice . My current fave beergartden is a 5K hike from here so to earn it that is how I go. Now for some reason on the way back it becomes a 10 K hike. Yet I have found a way to counter this freak of nature by taking the DB back home which happens to be 1 K down from the beergarden. Gotta love the germans....

ok, that was the same for me, (although i didn't exactly stick to one glass as a treat). It is tough but once you get into the swing of things it becomes easier. It helps to have a partner doing it with you, so you can encourage each other.

surprisingly, though, it doesn't have less calories than "leichtes" beer. I think alcohol free has a lot more carbohydrates in it. I occasionally drink leichtes and alkoholfreies Weissbier because, to me, they taste ok, whereas the equivalent Helles or Pils tastes disgusting.

That must have almost as many calories as beer, surely?

Living in Germany, and giving up the one sole thing that is good about Germany? Jeez, that's like moving to Iraq, and giving up getting on planes to leave Iraq. Madness. Utter madness.
As to getting a "fitness coach", well dude, that is just gay; and I don't mean civil partnership, Abba CDs, CSD gay, I mean Nintendo Wii gay. Frightful. What's worse, you're probably paying this person, and what's ever more worser, he's a clearly a complete tit. What kind of normal human would tell you to give up beer? That means he thinks beer is bad. Bet you 50 yoyos he does not like football either. Wierdo.

All this bullshit with people paying to go to gyms, oops, sorry, "fitness studio", to sit on a stationary bike, or paying somebody to give you stupid advice like "give up beer" just drives me nuts. Give up fatty food & get a part-time job as a labourer. You'll lose weight AND get paid to do it. So fucking simple.


If a qualified doctor told me to give up beer, I'd get a second opinion. If I actively sought out, and then paid some lycra clad "fitness" fucktard, whose actual career is to be a lycra clad fucktard rather than getting a real job, and he told me to give up beer, then I hope my close friends would realise that I'd clearly gone completely loopy, and put me out of my misery by repeatedly stabbing me in the brain with a long metal spike.

Good luck BTC!

Can you change your vows to "for better or girth" ?

I was recently reading an article about how after marriage couples have a tendency to gain a significant amount of weight. I would be just as concerned about health and fitness after marriage as before if I were you.