Can a binge drinker ever become a moderate drinker?

Well, the question is can you? Drinking one bottle of wine at the weekend doesn’t mean you have a drinking problem. I say this as a recovering alcoholic. I would consider that pretty typical drinking for all the people I know who aren’t alcoholics like me. But the question is, can you?

There is absolutely no physiological reason why you can’t just have a cup of tea or a kombucha on a Saturday night instead. Save your few glasses of wine for once or twice a month when you go out for dinner. Or why you have to be stuck at home drinking anything. You could go out and go to the beach for a swim or take a pottery class or go for an evening hike. But if you aren’t going to bother changing your habits and doing something different, nobody is going to do it for you. Yes, to answer your question though, for someone without a drinking problem, it’s absolutely possible.

Yes it’s possible, I did it. What you describe doesn’t really match my own definition of binge drinking, but I guess it qualifies as it’s having lots of units in one night and then none the rest of the week.

Like PP, I was a binge drinker when younger (late teens through to mid 30s in my case). I often ended up puking at the end of a night or couldn’t remember things the next day. I got sick of it and cut out alcohol completely for a period of a few months. Since then, I now drink infrequently- if I’m on holiday abroad, I’ll have a beer most days of the holiday, and I’ll also have a pint if I go to a gig (provided I’m not working the next day) but otherwise I just don’t bother.

Yes. Stick to white wine and add a decent sized ice cube.

Another thing I’ve started doing if I drink wine op is mix with ice or soda water or sparkling water and the drink lasts way longer then 🤷‍♀️

I used to be a binge drinker and I just decided one day that I’d always stop at 2 glasses of wine, so that’s what I do now. Much better not waking up with a hangover.

I probably have similar once a week as does dh. Never considered it binge drinking! I think binge drinking of when I went round town and had 10 Malibu n cokes and a few after shocks!!

i get what your saying it probably would be better to have it over two nights but because you’re giving your body 6 days break it’s probably fine.

a friend who was trying to reduce alcohol was given the advice to tip the first glass down the sink.

would you be worried if once a week you went out and drank a bottle of wine over a meal with friends?

I also buy half bottles or a couple of little cans. That is a good way to moderate.

This is interesting. I wonder if it’s because your liver has time to repair with all the alcohol free days in the week.

I know binge drinking isn’t recommended- do we know where the 6 unit definition comes from? Is the same for men and women and what do other counties say? I just wonder about arbitrary numbers and want proper scientific reasoning. The 14 units a week is also an arbitrary number and varies by country. Some way more, some way less.

I am aware there is risk with all levels of alcohol consumption. However, life is short and having a few glasses of wine with friends and loved ones is one of life’s pleasure for me. I would rarely drink a bottle in one go!

I’d just like more science rather than ‘all alcohol is bad’

OP - I wouldn’t sleep after a bottle. That helps me cut down! I also set a deadline to stop drinking - usually around 9pm and then I switch to a Trip drink to relax me. I also focus on what I want to do the next day (which for me would be ruined by a bottle of wine) so I plan an early swim or exercise. These things help me moderate.

That’s rubbish. There is not just one but several liver tests, and damage would flag, then it’s a case of working out what it is and what it is due to.

I like alcohol, not all though, I’m selective. I drink more than usual as I love the taste. If I was forced to have stuff I don’t like the taste of I would turn teetotaller in a millisecond. I use prescription and non prescription gastro protectors if I’m going to have more than a few drinks, a mega Vit B with my first sip of any alcohol and include full liver panel testing every 3 to 4 months to flag if any issues are arising. So far so good, so I continue as I am😁. DH’s liver tests flagged some issues at one point so he scaled back, no issues since.

I mean all you need to do to prevent it being a binge is keep it under 6 units. A bottle of wine is usually 10. So just have 2 glasses instead of 3. Pour the remainder down the drain to stop you finishing the bottle.

If you really only have one bottle of wine a week you’re hardly going crazy and I say that as a teetotaler. Your mum shouldn’t drink everyday. Even only a bit she needs alcohol free days.

I agree. My family thought I was on my way to alcoholism because they were all non drinkers and my social life utterly confounded them.

I had hobbies and work socials and zero responsibilities and my whole friendship group were the same.

We’re all now teachers, accountants, data analysts etc with kids, in the midst of menopause and drink very differently.

How many units is it?

My XH had a compulsion to finish whatever alcohol was in the house. It took me a while to twig as to why I always started a new bottle of wine when I had a drink. I stopped drinking at all. In the end he started to go out late for alcohol when he'd drunk what he'd got in as there was nothing of mine to pinch.
That's one of the reasons he's an XH.

I dont think you can while living with someone who also binges once a week.

You could change if you had to get up for something the next day or went out somewhere not alcohlly that night instead. Change the environment, change the behaviour and all that.

I binged exclusively in my teens and twenties because I wanted to get drunk.
Now that I drink exclusively for taste, I haven't been drunk in 10 years. I really , really don't like the buzz anymore, which is why I moderate.

we no longer keep alcohol in the house op

it we went a drink on weekend we go and get literally 2 cans of beer each or I grab a cocktail in a can and have that

then when it’s gone that’s it 🤷‍♀️ if there was more there I’d probably drink it

PP’s suggestion of buying half bottles is a good idea. There is a website called something like half bottles.com which has a really good range (supermarkets don’t stock very much in this size).

If you find you can’t resist opening a second one, that’s a sign that you ought to take a proper break and reset.

Yes, I think this describes half the population. Silly teenagers become sensible middle aged people.

I think this is a consequence of the, understandable, efforts to try and get us to reframe how we drink. A bottle is technically a binge, but it's not really in the same league as sinking half a bottle of whisky. So a bunch of not ideal, but really not terrible behaviour gets bundled in with properly dysfunctional stuff.

Buy 1/2 bottles.

Having concerns about medication isn't the same as going on to a thread about weight and preaching 2000 calories to every overweight person

Yeah, I'd think nothing of drinking 2 bottles of wine on a Thursday, going to work on Friday and going back out again on Friday and Saturday. Had a very sociable job too so would be out multiple times a week.

Now I've got two children who are physically incapable of sleeping in past 7am and frankly the idea of drinking more than half a bottle of wine and then getting up with them at 6.30am is horrific. I generally have two glasses on Friday and Saturday night and that's it. If we're going out for a meal I'm happy to have a glass of wine or a beer without feeling the need to keep on drinking. The last time I was actually drunk, I went up to bed to hear the sound of DC2 throwing up everywhere and that was the worse night of my life. 🤢

I think if you think it's rare to see a pile on for someone for being overweight and lots of dire warnings about their health then you haven't read any of the many, many threads about weight loss injections!

If it’s once a week you’re not dependent.
Your liver will have to put in a bit of a weekly shift but that’s all
Its regular heavy that buggers it
It gives you pleasure and as long as you are safely at home I wouldn’t give it a second thought

That's fine by me as I don't have a problem 😁

I think a bottle of wine in one sitting does count as binge drinking, but I think plenty of people do it.

Dh and I went out last month for drinks and I had 3 glasses of wine (got over-excited as we never get out just the two of us) and realised they were larges glasses and I had drunk a whole bottle of wine. Easily done!

I don't think it is good for your health to do that but I see no reason why it would mean you are unable to moderate. Do you feel as if once you start you cannot stop even if you wanted to? I think that would be a problem even if it was only once a month or year even

Thanks for this.

I think often the pro daily 'moderate' drinking types are often consuming much more than they make out, a 'glass' can be pretty big and people often top up without thinking.

OP you could just make it a fortnightly rather than a weekly event? It's not a massive bender. Alternate with the cinema or something the other week?