to ask how much alcohol is 'normal'?

Don’t drink during the week as I go to the gym early every morning.

Come Saturday night, all bets are off! Bloody love mixing a cocktail or a G&T whilst cooking and then enjoying a decent red with supper. Will often have a nightcap too.

Lovely stuff!

I don't drink alone really, unless it's a glass of wine before a first date I'm particularly nervous about.

I drink when I go out, so that's 1-3 nights a week, and usually have 2 drinks.

So that's... 4 or 5 drinks a week on average.

No idea if that's normal!

My drinking (according to my GP) doesn't even register...I'm classed as teetotal.

My husband has a glass of wine or beer each evening at home, sometimes a couple.

From observation of many drinking friends over the years, I'd say it's healthiest to keep to one unit per day max, with more once a week.

Whatever anyone thinks - it's about the health risks, isn't it? There's no other reason to worry about alcohol intake.

We are Muslim so we don't drink at all.

Me and DH are both in our 50s. We split a bottle of wine 3 times a week. I try to have 4 alcohol free days each week so if I go out with friends then I would reduce the weekly home wine consumption. I can drink a lot when I’m out with certain friends.

None at all.

Grew up with alcoholics. Neither me or my partner like the taste of alcohol at all. Life's hard enough without all the issues alcohol can cause. I'd rather use the calories on tasty food 😋

If there were non-alcoholic equivalents that genuinely tasted the same, I'd be all over them.

Oh yes @moonshinepoursthroughmywindow whoever really cracks the AF wine market is onto an absolute goldmine. I've tried several. IMHO, fizz better than still, most are too sweet for me, but I do like (1) Kylie's AF sparkling rose https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/312560061?srsltid=AfmBOoojqNFJ_sz0coDY0TKytqmZKvD1q6Td4VG4PTzGidx4C9ois0tv and (2) Freixenet https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/295188435?srsltid=AfmBOooQrkehL0QkyDmf_b7GNXra7P0jaQD66VJP0k3kVVJPNc7fr422

normal for us changes all the time.

Growing up, my parents started sharing a bottle of wine every night, then having a couple of nightcaps. It was a lot and my sister and I were a bit concerned. But like a lot of people their age it was normal for them. Now my dad doesn’t drink at all, and my mum just wine.

DHs parents never drank other than a couple of beers and a sherry at Christmas.

we levelled out somewhere between them - sharing a bottle of wine most nights but no spirits except at the weekend / special occasions.

We stuck at this level for years. ATM DH is not drinking due to medication and wanting to lose weight. I’m still having a couple of glasses most nights, but nothing more. So that’s normal for us.

I probably drink about 2 or 3 times a week on average and I can drink 2 glasses of wine or about 1½ pints of beer (depending on the beer) at most. I'm not proud of this, I'm not trying to be holier-than-though, I just feel very sleepy and unsociable if I drink any more, and I don't enjoy being constantly asked if I'm OK because I start to tune out whatever's going on socially around me. If anything, I would like to be able to drink a bit more without becoming withdrawn.

I suppose I think it's "normal" for other people to be able to drink up to about 4 glasses of wine or 4 pints, although I have known people who drank more (they did get visibly drunk though).

I do love the taste of certain wines and a couple of cocktails that I drink maybe twice a year. If there were non-alcoholic equivalents that genuinely tasted the same, I'd be all over them.

Health aside, alcohol is a money sink assuming posters who say they split a bottle a day with their husband are buying the cheapest bottle of about 5 pound then that's 35 a week or 140 a month. Obviously could easily be more than twice that if you're buying more expensive wine.

Not to sound like a fun sucking Scrooge but you save a lot of money not drinking

I'd go with this but 2 bottles not 4 (no judgement). Mid 60s too.

Thanks for your support, appreciate it

Yes, the apps are great for tracking progress, and the accountability works for me. And, I like the yellow fireworks when record that I haven't drunk alcohol today. So yes, I hear you on the "childish need for a pat on the head"!

Sounds like you’re doing really well @NeedToChangeName. I used to drink quite a lot too much when I was younger and started using the Drinkaware app to record what I was drinking. It was an eye opener to see the units racking up. Apps won’t work for everyone I guess but I found it motivating to log into it, put my data in and get a green for good! Appealed to my childish need for a pat on the head I guess 😂

I think it's awesome so many on this thread are light drinkers. Well done

For me, never spirits or beer, just wine

Previously up to 3 bottles per week. Cut down to 25 units per week. Aiming to cut down further. Try Dry app is helpful, to track your drinking. And it's worth checking alcohol content of wine. Can range from 10.5% to 13%. I never used to check that, but do now

Healthy weight, plenty exercise, good diet. Wine is my only vice. Mid 50s

Well, I usually have 1 or 2 drinks once a week. Occasionally twice a week.

DH will have about 4 beers, 3 times a week.

I can’t remember the last time either of us was drunk or anything beyond slightly tipsy, and even that’s rare.

I'm quite sensitive to heavy drinking as my dad is a (recovering) alcoholic. It feels too much to me to drink daily, or regularly being drunk.

Normal for me is nothing through the week. Weekends too - I don’t usually bother when we’re home. It’s not unusual for me to go a month or more without anything. I might have one or two though if I fancy it.

Teaching put paid to drinking in the week really - I just found I couldn’t do it and perform the next day. Then ttc, fertility treatment and eventually pregnancy meant I reduced it even more (stopped altogether in pregnancy obviously!)

I really dislike drinking around my DD. I grew up with an alcoholic parent and I find it massively triggering. I’ve found that I can tell when DH has had even one drink these days and it makes it really hard for me to relax if he has a drink at home whilst DD is still up/ awake. I absolutely hate it and have to work really hard not to get really controlling about it. He never has more than one or two if she’s around, might have a couple more after she’s gone to bed - and he’s never anything other than perfectly pleasant and just getting on with life, still making dinner or doing bedtime or whatever - so I have to keep a lid on it because he’s doing nothing wrong. But yeah, I still hate it!

If we go out separately or together without DD around I do still enjoy a drink and could drink my weekly units in a night which I realise is not good either! It’s rare though, and the hangovers I get these days are just not worth it. Even after 2 glasses of wine and 1 g+t the other week - I felt perfectly fine going to bed (at 11, not even late!) and considered it a fairly tame night - the next day was hideous and I still had to deal with a 3 year old all day.

Wouldn't you rather have a night of blissful sleep?!

Our two are eight and six and even now when they stay at the in-laws (maybe three times a year), I want nothing more than a long peaceful sleep without being woken up in the morning! Alcohol would just ruin it.

This is what saved me from alcohol tbh - I was increasing my running and training for half-marathons and it just wasn't compatible. I found the buzz from running a bigger high than drinking.

Parents were alcoholics (obviously they denied it 🙄) - the amount they drank steadily increased, from perhaps a shared bottle of wine on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays to near enough two bottles each Wednesday-Sunday.

I used to have an alcohol problem (but because it was less than what my parents drank, it was okay!). Steadily decreased the amount I drank and for the past 10/11 years drink maybe 1-3 glasses on average once or twice a year (some years none at all).

I just can't really be bothered by it now tbh and am so relieved that I just don't think about it any more. (I think a telltale sign you have a problem is when you're consciously thinking about when you're next going to have an alcoholic drink).

I wouldn’t drink every day. That would make it a habit that may be hard to break. Drinking on Fridays/weekends is what I would think of as “normal”.

I think it also depends on age. In my experience people in their late teens/early 20s may drink more often but thats social drinking usually, rather then stress management, which is what drinking in the evening on a week day tends to be.

I’ve been tracking units all year after doing dry Jan. I average 20-25 units a week, over 3-4 days a week. That’s with me being quite conscious of it. If I drank when I fancied it, it would be over 30. Too much I know. When I drink 1 bottle of wine or even a bottle and a half I am fine the next day. 2 or more and I am good for nothing next day so try not to go there. Trying to be more mindful, but I love wine!

I do like a drink but I drink vodka or beer. Stopped drinking beer so much as it really bloats me and aggravates my stomach. Also like cocktails.
a typical week for me will be maybe 3 after work drinks on a Friday night and that’s about it as a routine but often not at all and sometimes 2 nights over the weekend.
Last weekend I went totally over board and had 4 margaritas and 6 cans of those seltzer things and then a beer - my god I was a mess the following day which is why I hardly ever go ott anymore.
Dh is different to me, he meets people
after work on Thursday for a football and then a few pints then Friday and Saturday he’ll drink maybe 6 bottles of beer. His is pretty routine for him whereas I sort of flex it!

I'm in my 50s. A lot of my social circle is made up professionals, mostly couples, mostly mid 40s to mid 50s.

Drinking is our way of socialising. Wine bars, dinner parties, bbqs, curries.

Wine wine wine and beer beer beer. Not much by way of spirits.

I'd say almost all of us drink at home as well as out. Me and my husband will have 1or 2 bottles at home, at least 3 days a week, then outside of the house at least 1 other.

It's way too much.

We are too old to be this alcohol focussed. We think we are fit because we exercise and look reasonable, but I imagine the alcohol is taking its toll.

It's not as much fun as it was.

I could fairly put it away in my twenties but now if I have more than 2 glasses of wine I’m knackered the next day.
Definitely drank more and more often during the covid lockdowns but realised I’d put on a bit of weight so knocked it on the head and lost all the weight, plus a bit more because I’d more energy for the gym!

Enthusiastically agree, though it's VERY difficult to identify when it's become a problem. I didn't - and then, by the time I did, I couldn't easily stop by myself.

I'm now technically in recovery and will be for ever. I love drinking, though! Some people hate the 'loss of control' - I don't, and have never done anything particularly awful under the influence. As I have to watch it, I often go without alcohol from one week to the next (even months) but will have a couple of drinks when I want. Two or three times a year, I let myself get drunk because I enjoy the feeling.

I think I'm probably "normal" now, though normal can vary wildly from one household to another. It really is important to ask yourself if you're relying on it, though. And if the answer's "maybe" ... stick to water or colas for a month or two!