Alcohol is a tricky one. While we all might enjoy the one (or ten) vodkas on a Friday night, it can be easy to take it too far. According to government statistics, more than 1.4 million people in the UK are dependent on this substance, and I have no doubt that many of you reading this have been affected by alcohol dependency in some way.

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One guy who knows this struggle all too well is Redditor ‘Klamsykrawl’. After realising his alcoholism was destroying his life, he decided to give up the booze for good. Since making this decision, he has lost 53 pounds and says he is “1,000 times happier”. Here are just some of the benefits that he has discovered to giving up drinking:

I’m more present for my children and family, I get up early, I don’t fake like I’m not hungover and go throw up in the shower. My kids don’t ask me if I need a brewskie anymore. They actually have asked why I don’t drink anymore and I’m completely honest with them. They’re very young. Work is easier, I’m more confident. I can stay up later and get up earlier without wanting to die. I don’t plan on what and when I should eat just so I can drink more without getting a hangover. I don’t wake up choking on regurgitated red wine in the middle of the night in my nose. No more heart burn. I always drive, my wife doesn’t have to drive me home whenever we go out. My hair doesn’t fall out. I can do pull ups, sometimes I have abs, I can outrun my dog if he gets out. I don’t have white tongue or a bar tan. I don’t stink like a sweet and sour bar mat. Pretty much LIFE IS PRETTY FUCKING GOOD RIGHT NOW. Because I don’t drink.

Wow – the benefits almost seem endless. But of course, the proof is in the pudding, which is why Klamsykrawl decided to recreate a former bloated picture of himself one year after being alcohol free. The photos speak for themselves:

He looks like a different man. Obviously he has been exercising, but of course alcohol diminishes any extra energy you might have, so working out is the last thing on your mind when you’re heavily into a wine-fuelled session. If you think you might have an alcohol problem then maybe take inspiration from Klamsykrawl and start by doing a booze-free week, then try a month and so on. You never know – it might change your life like it did for him.

For more of the same, check out this woman’s radical transformation after being clean from meth for four years.