Summary

Quitting alcohol can have significant health and creative benefits, as evidenced by Jessica Simpson's transformation and the misconception that she used weight-loss drugs.

Abstract

The article discusses the profound impact of alcohol abstinence on physical health and creativity, using Jessica Simpson's experience as a case study. Simpson, who quit drinking in 2017, faced body shaming and accusations of using the weight-loss drug Ozempic due to her significant weight loss post-sobriety. The article emphasizes the caloric impact of alcohol, with examples showing how it can contribute to weight gain and hinder fitness goals. Beyond physical changes, sobriety has allowed Simpson to reclaim her creativity and confidence, which had been stifled by drinking. The author, who has also experienced the benefits of quitting alcohol, points out that alcohol consumption can impede energy levels, recovery, and mental clarity, all of which are essential for a healthy and creative life. The narrative challenges the societal perception that alcohol enhances life, suggesting that a sober life can lead to a more fulfilling and productive existence.

Opinions

Alcohol consumption, even in moderate amounts, is detrimental to fitness and health goals.
The societal pressure to drink can lead to negative consequences, including body shaming and unfounded accusations.
Sobriety can lead to significant improvements in physical appearance, which may be so dramatic that others mistakenly attribute the change to medication.
Alcohol can suppress creativity and mental acuity, while quitting can restore these faculties.
The author and other public figures, like musicians Jack Harlow and Eminem, have found that sobriety enhances their professional and personal lives.
The narrative suggests that the alcohol industry promotes misleading ideas about the benefits of drinking, which are contradicted by the positive outcomes of a sober lifestyle.

Quitting alcohol so effective that sober star was accused of taking Ozempic

I’ve been writing a lot lately about just how detrimental even moderate alcohol consumption can be for your fitness.

This is a new one, though: quitting alcohol was so effective for one sober, fit celebrity that people started accusing her of taking the weight-loss drug Ozempic.

Just how damaging is alcohol to your efforts in the gym?

Take me for example.

At the height of my drinking, I was downing probably, on average, 5–6 tallboy cans of beer per night.

Each of those cans would have been worth about 193 calories. Add ‘em up and that’s the equivalent of adding one fatty restaurant meal to my diet every single day.

If wine is your poison, a bottle and a half is good for around 1,000 calories before you even touch a morsel of food.

You can see how quickly that could add up.

In fact, the difference between a drinking body and a sober one can be so stark it gets you accused of taking weight-loss medication.

Weight loss becomes virtually impossible when heavy drinking is involved. (Digital art credit: James Julian/DallE 2)

Sober star, super fit

The Ozempic incident comes from an interview I came across this week with 43-year-old pop star Jessica Simpson, who quit booze in 2017.

She’s been an open book (in fact, she wrote a bestseller called Open Book about her journey — affiliate link here if you’re interested) about her struggles with alcohol in the past, and this new interview with Bustle is no exception.

Unfortunately, over the years, few people have faced as much body shaming as Simpson, who put on weight due to medication and alcohol addiction after her early days as a pop star.

She lost it again following her decision to quit alcohol and re-focus on her health and career, which has prompted the bizarre accusation of late that she’s taking the buzzy new weight-loss drug Ozempic.

She told Bustle:

“I’m like, do people want me to be drinking again? Because that’s when I was heavier. Or they want me to be having another baby? My body can’t do it.”

As awful as it is that faceless internet trolls would stoop to throwing around those kinds of accusations, it does speak to the power of quitting alcohol for your physical health.

If people thinking you’re on weight-loss medication isn’t a great sales pitch for dumping booze from a fitness perspective, I don’t know what is.

Jessica Simpson. (Credit: John VanderHaagen from Grand Rapids, MI, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Creativity returns, too

More importantly, removing alcohol allowed her to recapture her creativity and confidence.

“It dumbed down my creativity,” she told Bustle. “It made me more insecure. When people say it gives you liquid courage, it absolutely does not. It just makes me hold back instead of letting go.”

She pointed to one episode where she was asked to make a vision board for a songwriting session and just … couldn’t:

“I stopped drinking because I was like, I can’t even make a dream board.

“For me to see it, I have to un-numb and go through therapy and unlock the light because it’s not there right now.

“Open Book opened me up to my child self, and I went back to all those journals and I’m reading my dream boards and everything started unfolding beautifully to where alcohol was just — I never thought about it again.”

Turning things around

I love to hear that.

Certainly, in my own life, I’ve noticed a huge difference in how I look and feel since quitting alcohol.

In terms of physical fitness, alcohol is just so detrimental to energy, recovery, and injury prevention.

If you’re too hurt or tired all the time to work out, you simply won’t do it.

And mentally and creatively, you’re in a cage as long as you’re drinking.

I’ve seen other musical artists talk about this recently as well.

As I wrote here, rapper Jack Harlow quit booze so he could enter his “well-oiled machine era”.

And after another rapper — the veteran Eminem — beat his addictions, he said he could feel his brain “turning back on.”

For me as a writer, alcohol killed my motivation for anything other than drinking more alcohol.

I think you get my point.

Big Alcohol and pop culture want you to believe your life is better with booze in it.

But as the Jessica Simpson story and many others illustrate, the truth is anything but.

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