Can a binge drinker ever become a moderate drinker?

My point is its rare to see a pile on on a thread where someone is overweight,
whereas people rush to alcohol threads to quote recommended limits.

I'm not really sure of your point here - it's not like it's a choice between drinking or obesity? Regular drinkers are more likely to be obese anyway, because alcohol itself is pretty calorific.

It's your choice but scientific evidence speaks for itself.

Problem/binge drinkers always claim it won't happen to them

And again, obesity is more dangerous than alcohol for your liver

Yep I'm fully aware of this having had a serious infection which put strain on my Iiver and it performed perfectly and biopsy and blood tests showed it completely undamaged.
Thanks though!

A liver function test won't show fatty liver, fibrosis (damage) or even early stages of cirrhosis.

Your liver function tests will only show a problem when it's too late.

There will be damage to your liver which likely will only become apparent when your liver is put under pressure from something else - cancer, serious infection, natural effect of ageing etc

Oh and yes - your tolerance will reset, but it takes a while. I now feel a pleasant buzz from a glass of wine - when I drank a lot, one glass wouldn't have registered.

In my 20s and early 30s I drank heavily frequently. I would easily drink 1-2 bottles of wine or 6+ pints. I don't think I've drunk more than two drinks in a sitting for several years now. So it's definitely possible- for me it was pregnancy and then parenting that forced a transition, and provided a resit with such a long period of not drinking at all. But I think you can do that too, it just needs more active thought. The half bottle idea is a good one, maybe trying other kinds of drink (maybe with a bit of novelty to it - e.g. those cocktails you get in cans, flavoured ciders) so that you drink less but the difference isn't as stark as still having wine but less.

To answer your question: yes - I was a binge drinker from late teens to mid thirties.

Have cut down with life changes and job/kids. Happened naturally.

This, it's pretty simple really.

Can you stop at a glass? If you can't, if you find it too tempting to go back and finish the bottle because it's there, that's likely to always be the case and it's unlikely you'll ever find it easy to moderate.

It's the same reason I'm 7 years sober. Because I could never stop at one, I know no matter what I put in place I would never stop at 1 for long, it would creep back up and up and up and eventually the cycle would take me back to the dark place.

I think if you can work out what you are getting from alcohol and your reasons for drinking it, that is a start. For me, I was chasing that dopamine hit and kept drinking so the hit would stay. I was also using alcohol to tune off from the weight of responsibility/life issues. I am going to use this reset to get back into appreciating the small things in life.

OP, it sounds like it's a fun way for you and your OH to connect and the amount while technically a binge, isn't a massive amount. I'd like to get back to that level.

from what you have written OP, I don't think you will find it easy to be a moderate drinker.

you sound like a classic all or nothing type.

id suggest you stop completely - at least try - you can always start again if you get bored.

Personally, I can't. I have to stay completely alcohol free. In my brain, there is no such thing has having a couple of drinks and then stopping.

Hats off to any binge drinkers who can genuinely and consistently moderate their drinking.

I think on MN any thread about alcohol will bring out the posters who feel smug about how little they drink. See also posts about diet/weight.

There are plenty of studies showing obesity is worse than drinking yet you wont find such self righteous preaching on those threads.

I used to be a binge drinker. I stopped by giving up wine completely. The only drinks I had after that was fruit cider or cocktails which I didn’t want to binge on in the same way. I didn’t have an off switch with wine no matter what I tried. I have now pretty much given up alcohol completely. I drink at a large party a few times a year (not wine still!). I don’t miss it.

This is debatable. There are plenty of studies that argue for the opposite

www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2009/03/daily-drinking-rather-than-binge-drinking.page

A bottle of wine is too much in one go. It's normalised in the UK so you will get a lot of posters saying it's fine. Buy a couple of mini bottles instead, your body and mind will thank you for it in time.

It’s definitely possible. Check out Adrian Chiles’ book The Good Drinker. Or listen to a couple of podcasts where he talks about it. I think you can reduce your drinking, safeguard your liver and still have a good boogie from time to time. I drink a lot less than I used to. Good luck.

It is. The equivalent of a bottle of wine over the course of a week is very, very different from drinking an entire bottle in a single evening, every week.

A bottle of wine a week isn’t what I call binge drinking

I drink at 1-2 bottles of wine every friday night, have done for 20 years.
My liver function is perfect and I dont see a problem with it at all.

I'm doing an alcohol reset right now, going to give it a miss for 6 to 8 weeks and go from there. I've noticed I am binging more. I think the summer and the good weather has increased my drinking too.

However, lately due to life stresses, I've definitely been using alcohol/wine as a way to tune off from life.

Life is getting better and I need to break the cycle of alcohol. I worry a lot about the genetic component of alcohol, I've two close family members who had issues with addiction.

A binge drink (defined as drinking that will seriously risk your health & damage your liver) is 6 units for a woman.

A bottle of wine (10 units) is a huge binge & not normal or healthy

We used to do that at least twice a week in our twenties and thirties, but not anymore.

Our desire to drink has dipped a lot with age; we still enjoy a drink at the weekend, but nowhere near as much.

Although we do still occasionally get drunk even though we are old enough to know better. I’d like to stop that but it is at least getting rarer.

I wouldn’t class a bottle of wine a week as binge drinking. If you were getting black out drunk once a week that would be worrying. Perhaps swap to low alcohol wine?