CINCINNATI, OH — Del Hall likes beer. But instead of giving up the hoppy pleasure during Lent, the 46-day period before Easter when Christians worldwide forsake an indulgence to reflect on their faith, Hall, 43, is drinking only beer. And he’s shedding the pounds along with chewable food.
Hall, the sales director at Cincinnati’s Fifty West Brewing, has lost about 25 pounds, according to his latest weigh-in Monday on social media. Though breaking his addiction to carbs and sugar is part of his motivation, it’s not the sole reason.
His fast, which is supplemented by non-caloric liquids, harkens to the 17th Century, when Paulaner monks brewed beer specifically for sustenance during liquid-only Lenten fast.
“Just like the monks used to do it back in the 1600s, I’m going to do the same thing,” Hall said in a Fat Tuesday YouTube video announcing his liquid-only fast. “It’s not necessarily about the weight loss as it as the challenge of replicating what the monks did.”
When he weighed in on Ash Wednesday, he tipped the scales at 292.5 pounds. On Monday, the 20th day of his fast, he had slimmed down to 266.9 pounds.
Hall isn’t the first person to go all-in for beer during Lent. J. Wilson, a country editor in Iowa, tried the same thing in 2011. Wilson wrote on a CNN blog that he knew he could drink four beers over the course of a day and still be able to function, so he gave the fast a try with the blessing of his boss at the Adams County Free Press.
Along the way, Wilson discovered that the “human body is an amazing machine,” he wrote on the CNN blog.
“Aside from cramming it full of junk food, we don’t ask much of it.” he wrote. “We take it for granted. It is capable of much more than many of us give it credit for. It can climb mountains, run marathons and, yes, it can function without food for long periods of time.”
Wilson wrote that was hungry the first couple of days of the fast, but then his body “switched gears” and he replaced hunger with focus.
“I found myself operating in a tunnel of clarity unlike anything I’d ever experienced,” he wrote. “While hunger subsided quickly, my sense of smell provided persistent temptation for more than a week. But the willpower to carry out my objective brought peace to the ‘Oh man that cheeseburger smells good’ thoughts. Soon, I could see, smell or discuss anything food-related without trouble.”
The sense of smell is a powerful trigger, but Wilson said cooking dinner for his sons “became as simple and trouble-free as tying my shoes.”
He lost more than 25 pounds, but said he “gained so much more.”
“The benefits of self-discipline can’t be overstated in today’s world of instant gratification,” he wrote. “The fast provided a long-overdue tune-up and detox, and I’ve never felt so rejuvenated, physically or mentally.”
Hall is drinking about five beers a day, choosing different varieties the way others vary their solid food menus.
The Army veteran was in good shape when he was in the military — he carried 203 pounds on his 6 foot, 2 inch frame, and had only 7 percent body fat. But that changed when he traded the rigors of military life for civilian life.
“When you leave the military, you get in your civilian ways of overindulging,” he told public radio station WVXU.
Hall has tried fasts before, and has dabbled with fad diets like the low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet. But neither kept the weight off, according to an account of his journey in the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“My pendulum doesn’t swing toward moderation,” Hall told the newspaper.
Hall started his journey with a doctor’s appointment for a full blood workup and other tests.
“She said it won’t do me any harm as long as I hydrate well and take a multivitamin,” Hall told WVXU.
When his fast is over, he hopes that when he’s hungry and “bad food” is available, “I opt to not eat anything at all,” Hall told the Enquirer.
When the fast is over, Hall plans to return to a solid-food diet, but with moderation. He told WVXU he’s looking forward to sinking his teeth into “a big rib-eye steak.”
Hall, who is documenting his progress on YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, also hopes to produce a documentary of the “Super Size Me” variety.
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