Mum looks unrecognizable after quitting 28-year drinking habit -…

Sarah, an NHS business administrator from Devon, said alcohol was ravaging her look. She said: “I could go the whole week not giving alcohol a thought, but as soon as the weekend hit, I wanted a drink. I used drink to be seen as a loud, fun-time girl. Prosecco was always my go-to – I could drink two bottles a night.

“I might do foolish issues when drunk, like flashing my knickers and strolling into partitions. I even cut up open my nostril on the toilet when I used to be throwing up. It took a toll on my marriage because hangovers would depart me feeling anxious and lazy.

“But after my 40th birthday, I had the worst anxiety and depression. I didn’t want to live my life like that. Ditching the booze made me realize it was aging me – despite my efforts to look youthful through aesthetics. I never want to be that chaotic person again.”

Describing herself as a ‘troublesome youngster’, Sarah found alcohol aged 12, and began drinking MD 20/20 – a whiskey-based fruit drink- before shifting onto rose wine and spirits, and then prosecco. Sarah continued to “binge drink” throughout her 20s – which did not stop when she met her husband Martyn, 45, who works in administration, in 2013, and went on to welcome their daughter, seven, and son, six.

Despite making an attempt 90 days of sobriety in 2023, she slipped back into outdated methods. She said: “I didn’t let motherhood stop me from having a good time. I’d celebrate getting midway through the week with a bottle of prosecco on Wednesday and then the same again on Friday.

“If I youngsters had nowhere to go on a Sunday afternoon, I might down a bottle of prosecco while cooking a roast. But I might really feel terrible on the Monday college run, my youngsters would look put together but I’d appear like a mess. Martyn and my sister sat me down many occasions to inform me to stop drinking because they noticed me at my absolute lowest. I’d inform them ‘I haven’t got a problem- I just like to have a good time’. ” Sarah began getting Botox and lip filler in 2021 to “look [her] best” – costing £300 every four months. She said: “Looking at me, you’d suppose I used to be fairly useless – I’ve Botox and filler. I used to be involved with my look, but not realizing that I used to be ruining my insides with alcohol.”

Marking her 40th birthday on June 6, 2025, with a six-hour-long bar crawl, her hangover plunged her into “the darkest spiral”.

Sarah said: “I could not bathe, stroll the canine, or even eat. I just sat on the couch all day and cried. Something within me modified, and through willpower alone, I’ve been 67 days sober. I do not ever need to go back.

“I used to mope about the house, but now I’m up at 6am and full of life. My husband is so proud of me, and I’m a better mom too. I actually sit down with them to play, and we go on bike rides as a family.

“I’ve changed my booze time with doing up the home and growing my own veg. I look and really feel more youthful. I’ll keep getting Botox and filler top-ups but every six months instead of 4.”

Sarah chronicles her sobriety journey on Instagram and has gathered over 38,000 followers. She said: “Having a following helps keep me going, and people are even going sober with me. I used to be too embarrassed to discuss about the issues I did when drunk, but now I do, and it helps others because they’ll relate.

“I’d like to think I’m helping people, just as much as they help me.”

Sarah’s journey may be discovered @sarahstayssober.