On his 600th day of sobriety, this man shared his remarkable before and after pictures
Quitting drinking changed John DeCaux’s life, both mentally and physically. So when his 600th day of sobriety rolled around, he wanted to share his journey with others.
On Dec. 7, the 27-year-old Adelaide, Australia, native posted “before” and “after” photos of himself to the Reddit Pics subreddit titled “600 days ago I quit drinking and life has never been better!” that quickly picked up steam in the community — both for the noticeable weight loss in his face and for what he gained in happiness.
“My final-straw moment for me was when my wife approached me and showed me how much alcohol I was consuming and said enough was enough,” he tells Yahoo Lifestyle.
He explained that he started using alcohol to cope with the loss of his brother, but as a 6-foot-4 man, he built up a tolerance and needed more and more over time. When his wife approached him about his habit, he knew it was time: He officially stopped drinking on April 16, 2016.
In his post, he told the Reddit community that it hasn’t been easy, but having his wife of three years support him and stop drinking with him has made a huge difference. Together, he and Lydia took all the alcohol out of their home, plus the glasses he used to drink alcohol. In the 600 days since, his life has changed for the better.
“Since I have stopped drinking I have regained time and energy that I have put toward working on a passion project, an online cooking show, Free to Cook, [and a] documentary series with my dad, The Bush Bee Man, [as] I found the cooking and filming process therapeutic and gave me the focus,” he wrote. “My wife and I have also bought a house. I have lost about 17kg [38 pounds] so far, and I’m now going to the gym at least 3 days a week.”
He marked off the days for the first few months, then slowly forgot, which he considers a big win.
“It highlighted that alcohol was no longer controlling my life; I was now back in charge of my own decisions,” he says.
He shared his photo and story in hopes that others will learn it’s not impossible to make a change.
“One thing I occasionally remind myself is If I don’t drink tonight, I won’t feel s*** tomorrow,” he says. “I’m really enjoying where I am in life at the moment and have no desire to ever return to drinking.”
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