Honestly how many of us drink too much?

[DingBatDay]

Just wondering really how many other people are like us? reading the study in the guardian today and think DH and I probably fall into the worrying group of drinkers. I've sort of ignored it until now but really do need accept we drink too much and cut back. We probably share a bottle of wine 4 or 5 nights a week, sometimes maybe 6 nights a week. Its not like we get drunk ever and it is extremely rare we have more than a couple of small - medium glasses, but really have to accept this is too much! I do wonder though how common this is and potentially how worrying this could be for future health of our nation.

[Lilaclily]

I stopped drinking every night because I was drinking way too much
It was getting to nearly a bottle a night , sometimes with a g and t first

I only drink when I go out now which can be about 3 times a month
The last time I went out I drank 3 pints of cider, half a bottle of rose and 2 glasses of prosecco, that was from 2pm to 10pm and with a meal in the middle but still way too much !

[Lilaclily]

I actually think you're doing well op , I can't stop at half a bottle of wine !

[DingBatDay]

This is the article that got me worrying!

article

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

Same as you OP in general. As are a lot of our friends.

I find our drinking goes up in school holidays (funny that).

I do get to the stage where I want to be totally dry so take a month off now and then.

Annoyingly DH used to barely drink, so kept by consumption down by default. He drinks a lot more than he used to so I find it harder to keep my drinking down.

Alrhough....ive started running a year ago, and that's stopped me drinking the day before a run.

[RedHareWithBlondeHair]

I saw that on the news too and tbh I think I drink far too much. I do think it'll be the death of me if I don't stop or hugely cut back. Thing is - it's my go to for absolutely everything! Happy - drink, Sad - drink, Bored - drink, Stressed - drink. I do think that I am technically a functional alcoholic.

[SweetChickadee]

DH and I drink far too much. We're trying to cut down and to be honest I'm a bit worried how hard it is

[Laiste]

DH and i only drink on a sat night. He has 2 and a half pints of Katy cider and i have a double jack daniels and coke. We're such lightweights these days that's enough to get us pleasantly sqiffy. We're tired anyway with DD4 toddler not sleeping and alcohol just knocks us out.

we might drink more if we went out and weren't driving. But we rarely go out these days. 10 years ago we'd have more, but still never during the week.

I think drinking wine is seen as more acceptable than knocking back vodka or white lightening or whatever. The acceptable face of drinking too much. Well done OP for having a go at cutting back.

[Idliketobeabutterfly]

That is a fair amount tbh. I don't drink much as I am a cheap drunk (1 glass of wine) and I don't like feeling tiddly.

[hazeleye]

I drink very rarely, I have a poor tolerance due to genetics and it makes me feel either sleepy, sick or gives me a headache. I do drink socially but I'll struggle to finish a single glass of wine when eating out. DH drinks more than me, he will have a drink on some evenings but he'd rarely have more than one. It keeps our grocery/eating out bills down!

The Guardian story doesn't surprise me at all. I think people are well aware of the risks of alcohol, it's just that they accept their lifespan might be shorter but it's worth it for them. My SIL is quite a big drinker and had breast cancer 4 years ago but I don't think she would change her behaviour in the light of that research.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Me probably. It's wine that does it, so easy to drink and just so unit laden.

Decided I'd only drink wine when out for dinner etc and noticed a change in my drinking immediately.

If we just pop to the pub or have a drink at home, which isn't that often because cutting back, I'm now having a vodka, lime and soda or two. Fewer calories, fewer units.

Agree with Laiste re wine being the acceptable middle class way of getting shit faced on the regular. I know a few functioning alcoholics who drink two bottles (to themselves) almost nightly. I'm not amongst them and they are something of a cautionary tale in how things can spiral.

[Slowtrain2dawn]

Last night I drank a pint and a half of lager and 2 glasses of wine. Not drinking tonight, will probably have one at a party I'm going to tomorrow. I would usually have more but I'm on call this weekend. On a normal week I reckon I average 15 units, drinking 3 or 4 out of 7 nights. I used to drink a lot more, and still feel I should cut down.

[Vinorosso74]

Yep I drink too much. My username might be a giveaway!
Half a bottle of wine or couple of beers at home 4 nights a week not good really is it? Don't go out much maybe every 6-8 weeks and will drink more then.
Hmm, need to cut down don't I?

[Cutecat78]

Way too much to admit to on here

I did have a week off a few weeks ago and felt great and lost weight.

I aim to not drink Sun- Thurs but rarely succeed

[WhirlwindHugs]

I read that article too, and noticed the advice not to have a stock of alcohol at home.

Think that is very good/true (if a bit awkward if you are prone to impromptu socialising!) as I have drunk a lot more the last couple of weeks, having put a lot of booze in the fridge for a BBQ, lots of it wasn't drunk on the day and DH and I started having a bottle or two mid week which we wouldn't normally do.

Out of sight and I would only drink a few glasses at the weekend, and not every weekend.

[DontBuyANewMumCashmere]

I used to work shifts and on an Early or rest day I would easily drink a bottle of wine to myself, a Late I might not drink anything or just have one or two beers or wine, Nights I would never drink.

Then I got with now DH and noticed how much I was drinking. Cut down a bit purely out of embarrassment

Later when I got pregnant and was gutted I had to stop! But had one small glass of wine a week to keep me happy. When I was BFing at the beginning I kept just having one a week but slowly crept up and now I've stopped I have been drinking every day unless I consciously think 'Oh I better not tonight'. It's probably only one bottle of lager or a glass of wine, I wasn't often having more than one. Ok I often would have two. But rarely more than two.

I knew about liver cancer and oesophageal cancer but had no idea about the other sites and they even mentioned skin cancer! Shocking.

When I was pg I quite enjoyed the non alcohol beers like Becks blue, so have recently bought another crate which I often have and feel like I'm drinking without a hangover or feelings of guilt.

If I beat myself up about it I just think at least I'm not having a bottle to myself every night, which some of my friends are still doing.

[KP86]

Way too much here too, but I've been off alcohol most of this year for weight loss.

Had a week 'off' about a month ago, and I went through almost a whole 1L bottle of gin in a week. It's kind of scary how easy it is to drink too much.

Seems it's all or nothing for me.

[Thefitfatty]

You aren't going to get honest answers on here. This thread, like all threads about drinking will attract teetotalers. I also suspect you're lowering how much you drink in a night. People don't like to admit how much they drink because of the social stigma.

If you aren't comfortable with how much you drink and it's causing problems, change it. That applies to people who have 1 drink a month or 6 drinks a night.

[crje]

We are drinking way too much.
I'm going to address it now.
My weight is creeping up my skin is tired looking & I'm starting to worry about the damage its doing to my liver.
I didn't see it happening but the last few year I've had alcohol on more days than not !

[CharleyDavidson]

Not a household of big drinkers here.

DH didn't touch alcohol until he was about 40. The legacy of being brought up by an increasingly alcoholic father. If he drinks nowadays it will be half a single bottle of cider. And he'll put the lid back on and leave the other half for another night.

I was brought up in a family that drank plenty, but only on special occasions. I'll have the odd drink in the week, but not every week. And it's just a glass of baileys, or a pernod blackcurrant and lemonade or cider if I really fancy one. If I go out I drink cider (pernod's too expensive!) but I alternate it with soft drinks so I don't have too much to drink and I avoid a hangover. If I'm feeling like I've had too much for me then I'll happily sit there with a glass of water or nothing while my friends drink. It's not being evangelical I just don't like being drunk or even tipsy. My friends know me well and joke with me that they can guess what I'mhaving next - a coffee if we are at home or a lemonade if we are in a pub/restaurant. A big night for me is 3 or 4 drinks and that happens very rarely.

If I liked drinking wine/prosecco etc then I might find it easier to have more to drink in the week, but I just can't stand the stuff. Or gin. Or vodka.

[Acopyofacopy]

I am scared by and very aware of how commonplace drinking is around me. Dh usually share one bottle of wine every Friday and Saturday night, that's it.

[OutToGetYou]

I think people are unrealistic about units. A glass of wine can be one to three units. Glasses are far bigger now.

I drink more with dp and friends. But on my own I never drink. Dp been away this week, so not had a drink since Sunday (when we had friends round, so had two G&T and one glass of wine).

Most weeks I have a drink maybe three nights. Usually only one if it's just the two of us at home but with friends I'd more likely have two or three.

[MedSchoolRat]

What the most recent research says is that any alcohol at all raises the risk. If you want to avoid increase cancer risk, you need to teetotal. All this talk about reducing & "too much" is missing the point.

Teetotal sounds rubbish to me. I read the BMJ. Every week they interview some leading UK medical person: who always says that they drink but modestly. The BMJ is skeptical about any research that fails to find a cancer link, even when it's very thorough big studies.... which reminds me of the BMJ feud with (some leading American journal) about whether statins are miracle drugs or fake pills. Suddenly I'm not so convinced about the story that alcohol always gives you cancer.

Cheers.

[RuggerHug]

I absolutely drink too much and I know it. Same as RedHare above I think I'm a functional alcoholic. Can easily get through a bottle of wine a night and it has no effect on me really. When I do cut down I cut down drastically.

[mum2Bomg]

Used to drink waaaay too much, especially when I lived in London as no excuse not to! Bad habit and nearly got out of hand.

Pregnancy has put a stop to that!

[Racheyg]

I spent my teens and twenties drinking far too much. Now 2 children and in early thirties I hardly drink at all.

It's not that I don't enjoy it.......I do I love a nice beer or cocktail but I would rather spend the next day feeling fine rather than foggy.