How much do you drink? Honestly!

Similar to you OP. Only drink Monday to Thursday if I’m going out (but go out on one of those days at least twice a month) then Friday to Sunday drink 2 bottles in total rather than your 3, so on average probably about the same as you.

Is it too much? Yes probably. Do I give a shit? No.

I find friends judge me though whereas they don’t judge DH. Double standards much.

I don’t drink or not drink on certain nights of the week, if I fancy a glass of wine, I’ll have one. But perimenopause means that I can’t really have more than 1 glass as I really really feel it the next day if I do and it’s just not worth it. Such a shame as I used to love a couple of glasses of wine of an evening.

I drink too much, certainly after my dad died last year. Trying to cut down now and have at least 3 days a week alcohol free.

I have never had a hangover either.

Mumsnet does seem to have a higher than normal amount of people who don’t drink at all. I only know one person in real life who doesn’t drink but here there are loads

I agree. The heavy drinkers I do know through work tend not to be particularly fit at all.

It fluctuates. I try not to from Mon-Thurs but sometimes DH will open a bottle of wine or pour me a gin. On Fridays and Saturdays we will usually share a bottle and he'll have a beer or two.

On a rare occasion I'll go on a girl's night out, roll in at 4am and nurse a hangover all day Sunday but I'm too old for that now and it leaves me exhausted all week. It used to be every weekend.

I'm not voting as I think each to their own.
I don't think drinking every night is a good idea for anyone but my DH does it often and usually has more energy than I do.
I just think it's a depressant and your body has to try to counteract the affects of it on a daily basis then so you're just giving yourself an uphill battle on a daily basis.
Anyway I used to drink a lot, since having kids I don't.
As I had more kids I simply couldn't have more than one or two on a given night. So now, with my oldest at 17 and youngest at 12, for the last number of years I have one beer a week, usually on a Friday night. I really look forward to it but as I drink so little now I can "feel" that one beer the next day. With work and my kids and my age, I don't have the extra energy to spare trying to recover from alcohol so it's a beer a week for me and that's it. If I have to do something on the Saturday then I skip it for that week most likely or I might have the beer on the Saturday if I'm not too tired.

If I go out with friends for a meal I will drink wine at the meal but will not drink any alcohol in a pub before or after the meal. All my friends do though so I am clearly in a minority. It doesn't bother me in the least, I'm very happy to have friends to go out with as I'm only here 10 yrs and am delighted to be welcomed into a lovely new group of ladies.

There are times when I definitely crave a drink. I grew up drinking from 13 and it's a big part of the culture of any friendship group I've even been in. Just since having kids my priorities have changed and they are additional needs too so it's full on with them and I need to be my best self most of the time if you know what I mean, there's not much let up.

I don’t get your YABU. I like a drink. I’m known for liking a drink. But I don’t drink weekly, it’s just not something I like to do at home with children in the house.

So I drink at home maybe once a month, say if someone bought me a bottle - often I will take a week to drink it!!

When I am out, say once a month if I’m lucky, I may drink a whole bottle over an evening. Maybe more if I really feel like it! But at home it’ll be one glass occasionally. I think 3 bottles per week is very excessive.

Couple of glasses of Prosecco every other month. A few glasses of Pimms at BBQs back in the summer. A G&T with a Sunday lunch maybe 5 times a year.

I barely drink and if I do it’s sporadic. I could easily go 6 weeks without a drink. Never drink at home.

I haven’t been actually pissed for about 11 years.

I drink very little. I don't really enjoy it. Might have a glass of wine at home every 2 or 3 months. Food on the other hand ...

I’m pretty much the same as you op.
also in my 40’s.
I have a group of friends that I drink more than and also a group of friends that drink more than me.
I know it’s too many units.

I don’t, at all, anymore. I have a very complicated relationship with alcohol, I’m not an alcoholic but it’s unhealthy for me. I have little in the way of an off switch and become very self destructive when drunk, so I stopped. I’ve been sober for about two years now. I guess I truly belong on mumsnet now 😂

@crackofdoom

Am I the only menopausal woman who isn't affected by reasonable amounts of alcohol?! Half a bottle of wine the night before doesn't affect my mental performance (it's uniformly awful nowadays, alcohol or no) or stop me going for a run.^

I think it's very individual. I think HRT affects your ability to process booze as well: I have a friend who's medically unable to take HRT whose alcohol consumption hasn't changed at all, she still drinks fairly heavily.

I don't drink much at all, possibly two or three times a year. It doesn't do anything for me.

I used to have a bottle of Prosecco on Friday/Saturday. Since starting Mounjaro in March, I no longer bother with alcohol. I just don’t fancy it at all anymore.

Why didn't you just ask about alcohol! It says how much do you drink, I was going to say a cup of decaf tea in the morning, then water.

I drink alcohol only at social events, and not always then.

Maybe eight to ten times a year. It’s expensive and makes me feel like shit the next day.

Alcohol is such a tricky one, because it’s loaded with judgement as well as whatever health issues or effects on mood. Likewise food, although obviously humans need to eat.

My alcohol intake has changed massively over the years, because it really does have an effect on the body and our behaviour that has to change with time, imo.
As a student I drank like a fish, every Wednesday after a sports club, every Friday and Saturday, to the point of being dangerously blackout drunk. Hangover cures were more drink.

In my 20s, it moved to just the weekends as I worked long hours Monday to Friday. Dh and I would spend the entire time drinking, socialising, probably drinking more than as students but over a longer time period and not getting stupid on it.

When pregnant and with young kids in my 30s, I stopped completely and it was fine. Drink was the last thing I wanted. By the time the kids were school age I guess I was drinking a couple of bottles a week, spread out.

During the lockdowns I was driving a lot less, not needing to be up early, drink became a habit and a pleasure when I was finding very little pleasure anywhere else. It crept up and up. A bottle every night was not unusual. I felt like hell and was taking painkillers daily for the hangovers. I knew it was too much. I doubt anyone else would have known though, because I didn’t see anyone.

As life got back to normal I knew it was too much, so I made silly rules for myself. No wine before nine! I never drank if I was driving, but I was working from home and didn’t need to very often. I would easily drink half a bottle of wine every night. I didn’t need it, but I wanted it. I enjoyed it, looked forward to it. I was fooling myself that it wasn’t as much alcohol as before. All my friends were doing the same! Except, I don’t think they were. But behind closed doors with the kids, who knows?

Now, almost 50, I have a medical condition that wasn’t caused by alcohol, but in my case is definitely made worse by it. So since January I’ve stopped drinking. I had a few drinks while away in the summer and felt like hell, so I’ve now stopped completely. The flares it causes me are so painful and go on for weeks, one night of drinking isn’t worth it. I suspect if it weren’t for that, I would still be having half a bottle every night and feeling rotten about it. I still miss it sometimes.

All those people were me. What is normal for today doesn’t have to be for tomorrow. Don’t feel guilty, bad or lesser. You are human. Alcohol is a thing, remove the judgement. It is addictive, it tastes great, it removes inhibitions and helps relaxation. Humans are tricky creatures! Every culture needs to get out of their heads, in whatever way they can. But if you start to feel unhappy, ill or anxious, you have a choice. It absolutely does not make you a bad person if you choose to drink.

Personally- a couple of glasses maximum per week. You're drinking 30 units per week which is way too much. You're not getting drunk as your body is used to it. I don't think it's wise to trivialise this. Alcohol excess is terrible for your health causes heart disease, high BP, cancer, depression, anxiety to name just a few.

I was like you and many friends are like that as well, so I don't think it's unusual level of alcohol consumption. But then went on weight loss jabs and didn't fancy alhohol any more. Will have a small glass on social occasions.

I drink out with one group of friends, probably once every couple of months. Another group of friends I'm almost always driving so none. We don't usually have alcohol in the house, but usually have wine with a meal when staying with family. So on average about once a month?

I think in my case it is social/cultural - first group of friends are much heavier drinkers, so I'm much more likely to drink more with them, second group in addition to me often driving, one of the girls was raised Muslim so rarely eve drinks so we enjoy getting virgin cocktails and swapping.

I used to drink a lot 20s/early 30s, definitely binge drinking at university. But I have a raft of health conditions and the whole misrepresentation of the health benefits of red wine annoyed me, then I listened to a podcast that said the studies really showed that the only healthy amount of alcohol is none, and it made me think, this is something I could really reduce for the health benefits and not miss too much.

I am definitely not a model of perfection though, I'm a stone overweight and far too fond of sugary foods, which I find way harder to cut back on than alcohol

None. I have outgrown alcohol, it just doesn't interest me anymore and I have found much better ways to spend my time.

But not voting because what you do is your choice, I'm not going to judge you for it.

For me, nothing Monday-Thursday. Some Fri,Sat nights nothing but then others I'll have a few which sometimes may turn into a few more depending on what we are doing.

Now the summer is over, probably nothing on a Sunday as for us it's more of a BBQ in the garden drinking on a Sunday, even if it's just the 2 of us.

On AI holiday - almost daily, but never to falling down drunk condition and always plenty of water and soft drinks intermingled with the cocktails.

Always do dry January, which I quite often continue until Easter weekend

I think it's good nowadays that you're not thought if as some kind of freak because you don't drink alcohol.

Growing up in the 80s I was ridiculed and told I was boring and that you couldn't have a good time if you didn't drink.

Nothing Monday to Thursday. Weekends will share a bottle of wine on two of the nights with my husband. This puts me within limits and that's what I tell the Drs etc but it doesn't include the additional wine or beer or cocktail here and there..if out for a meal at the theatre, round at a friend's etc. I guess then it creeps up but I don't like being drunk anymore so it's never a binge situation.

I haven't had a drink in about 16 years. I stopped due to trying to lose a lot of weight then I started a medication that you really shouldn't be having alcohol with. I don't miss it at all - not the hangovers nor the memories of being a dick when drunk. It helps that my partner isn't one to drink, either. I do love a freezing cold zero alcohol beer (or 10) in the summer, though.