I’ve drank like a b%$tard for a lot of 2018, going to do my first complete dry January as of tomorrow. Join me?

[Exisonfire]

As it says in the title.

2018 hasn’t been kind to me, and the drink has been relied upon far too much.

I’m fed up of moping, and want to kick start a better year with my first ever complete dry January tomorrow.

Who’s in?

We have a very small house, they curl up small. All on orthopaedic dog beds apart from the oldest (old bones gets the sofa with me).

Our whippet thinks he's human - takes the best spot on the sofa and in our bed - we all adore him - he puts up with us!

Did anyone read this in the Guardian? www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jan/27/hangxiety-why-alcohol-gives-you-a-hangover-and-anxiety

Sobering reading for me as alcohol does make me anxious the next day. Can't help but think if someone could invent a glutamate-stabilising pill for the next day, we'd all be laughing!

Really interesting read colouring, thank you, that does explain a lot!

I'm confident that I'll finish the week off, so I donated £150 (approximately what I've saved based on £5 a day on a bottle of wine) to the retired greyhound trust this morning.

Has everyone had a good weekend?

I had the same thoughts Colouring - but I note they are trying to develop a drink that doesn't affect the gaba and the glutamate.
I get the dread at 3am - usually because I worry about drinking too much - if i meet my alcohol free day goals I'm hoping I won't have this concern in my sub conscious.

Stlll on the wagon and feeling pretty happy about the last month 😎 well done everyone - brilliant idea Screamqueenz

Good going Vixen, just winding down to Friday now.

Dance class tonight, WW tomorrow, networking Wednesday, Thursday with the family, Friday out to dinner with DH.

So Friday will be a good day to break the dry spell, we're walking to the bistro, but I'm hoping we'll keep it to one bottle whilst we're out.

Saturday is a big night out with my best friend, staying over in an Airbnb, I've got a bottle of champagne for us to share, and I'm planning on really enjoying it, we don't spend enough time together, so when we do we have a blast, but that doesn't have to mean getting hammered.

It's been a good dry jan - one of the easiest - definitely the AF beers have helped enormously. Sleep didn't improve much. I never got hangovers before but did suffer from the occasional headache - still do with no wine - go figure, I always blamed it on wine now I'm sure it's hormonal - I can say that with a straight face.
I have a friend's birthday night out on Friday, these nights out are usually quite boozy - I really don't want to get caught up in the moment and over do it - I feel (surprisingly) a bit worried about this...I want to drink, I just really don't want to get drunk- who ever does?
My tolerance will be unusually low and my enthusiasm will be high which historically is a bad combination.I have an important appt on Sat, which I have to drive to and I'm trying to focus on that - just to note - we have a really good breathalyser, so we never drink and drive the morning after.

I want to drink, I just really don't want to get drunk- who ever does?

Interesting Leave. I was thinking about this last night - the bit of drinking I enjoy most is when I'm at that "two glasses tipsy" stage - where you've had a couple of drinks, feel lovely and relaxed and don't need any more. In fact, if you do have a third (fourth and fifth) glass then you just tip over into feeling horribly drunk and then ill the next day.

So why do we keep reaching for the alcohol - why can't we have two or three glasses max and just leave it at that?

So maybe it's a good time to talk about mechanisms for reducing our alcohol intake in the months to come.

I'm not keen on the idea of never having a drink again, (which is ridiculous quite frankly as I'm sleeping better, thinking better, skin looks better and as of this morning I've dropped 9.5lbs and I'm back at my goal weight), so I have to work out how to moderate.

I loved the rules that were set earlier (not drinking alone, not drinking to lift mood, avoiding work nights, only having one glass per hour), I'm also going to make sure I have a glass of non alcoholic drink to every glass of alcohol.

Any more ideas I can steal?

Sorry cross posted with name, I agree on the two or three drinks, the problem is by that point my inhibitions are down and I assume the next ones are going to keep me feeling buzzed.

By the time I've had 4 it's a downhill slope.......

Yes - it’s the same old story and we struggle to change the ending. I find doing one drink an hour easy enough at home but when I’m out - I’m chatting and my hand naturally glides to the glass without thinking and although I always have a glass of water on the table too - I rarely stray away from the wine glass.
I’m going to try having some serious words with myself before going out - I’m going to have an alcohol free beer before rather than my usual wine, I want to avoid the pub before hand too but I worry about that being rude - it’s a birthday and I’m usually the one who encourages everyone else to do pre-drinks!

the problem is by that point my inhibitions are down and I assume the next ones are going to keep me feeling buzzed.

I think that’s what happens to me as well. Like Leave said, I need to start having a serious word with myself before drinking. I really want to get into some good habits. “Mindful drinking”, which Adrian Chiles talked about in his programme, is definitely something to look into!

One thing I have been managing to do is to have the odd Diet Coke here and there when I’m in the pub - but once I do hit the wine I find it so hard to stop.

It was a bit tough to resist the wine last night as I had a very stressful day at work, but I managed. If I stay AF for the next two days, by Friday morning (1st Feb) I’ll have done 20 days AF in January and 11 days drinking. A major achievement, considering I probably didn’t have 20 days off during the whole of last year (or the year before that!)

All you people who’ve done AF for the whole month have done even better though - big congrats to you all!

namechange2117 in many ways I think your challenge was harder, and you have done amazingly well - I couldn't stop myself drinking before Christmas - I just couldn't take myself seriously - it was the 3am guilts that were driving my desire to control my drinking - and they rarely talk sense! It's been an interesting journey - I have read quite a lot of quit lit, which has had an impact - some of it just left me angry at the author for talking shite, voicing opinion rather than fact and conveniently forgetting that this is a personal journey - we are all affected differently.
Moderating is the challenge - but everyone has a different view of what moderating looks like. There are no rules and no one is checking your homework.
To me it's probably going to look like under 30 units a week - how far under who knows but I want this to be a workable solution to my excess drinking - I'm not looking for perfect or risk free - just better and lower risk. There's a lot of hysteria that seems to come from the anti-alcohol lobby - risks are often exaggerated in an attempt fight the power of the big drinks companies and their massive advertising budgets and to scare the shit out of us, to keep us away from the demon booze - certainly drinking excessively isn't good and if alcohol is causing a problem in your life for whatever reason that problem should be dealt with - whatever it is and how you solve that problem is very much down to the individual.

Leave what books did you find useful? I love to read and find self help books quite useful sometimes.

I have to admit I found girl on a train hard reading simply because of her drinking habits, all a bit too close to home.

Two days to go, but trying to plan a sensible Friday, hit my goal weight today and don't want to go back. Also my cheekbones have reappeared (and they don't usually even at goal weight), so I must have lost that puffy look.

Well done everyone, we've all reduced our drinking which was the point. I can't have gone 30 days without a drinking since my mid teens, and I'm mid 40s now. (No children so no reason to stop for 9 months).

I want this to be a workable solution to my excess drinking - I'm not looking for perfect or risk free - just better and lower risk.

Same here Leave - if I could get down to 20 units per week I'd be very happy. A lot of people would say that's still a lot to be drinking, but considering I was on 70 units p/w before, I'd be extremely pleased with that! At the moment I find 35 very doable if I'm drinking three days a week, but I'm struggling to reduce from there. I'm determined to find a way though!

Do you have a set number of nights you're hoping to have AF every week from February onwards, or is it more just sticking to a certain number of units?

Well done everyone, we've all reduced our drinking which was the point. I can't have gone 30 days without a drinking since my mid teens, and I'm mid 40s now. (No children so no reason to stop for 9 months).

Congrats Scream - that's an amazing achievement! How do you feel?

Even though only a happy few of us seem to still be here, it’s a fantastic achievement - congrats to all

I had one slip earlier in the week when I had 2 glasses of wine but otherwise all good - and I was surprised that I had no desire to have any more wine either that night or the rest of the week, which was a massive relief. Maybe the cravings are really gone?

Haven’t done as well as you Scream as haven’t lost any weight but that wasn’t really my main aim. I think I will lose a bit of the sugar cravings are on the way out! Well done everyone!

Namechange, I am going to try to stick with the same plan as for this month - no wine at home, occasional glass or two if out for dinner (which is rare) and see how I feel at the end of Feb. One month at a time

Scream I'm reading How to Change Your Drinking: a Harm Reduction Guide to Alcohol (2nd ed.) I like it because it's a very liberal, empowering approach (the total opposite to AA) - focusing on you figuring out what you want and trying to help you achieve it. It definitely is a different perspective to the other books I've read - it suits me better, it's not telling me what I am - it's encouraging me to decide my own limits.
I get it's not the sort of quit lit everyone would go for but I like it because it isn't written by a recovered problem drinker - I've discovered that recovered problem drinkers can be just as bloody annoying as evangelical ex-smokers....
I do think the quit lit helps you explore your relationship with alcohol - I thought I need an off switch but it seems to have been symbolic more than anything as an alcohol free beer has the same ability to melt away my stress and help me change gear, as a normal beer did.

Honestly name I feel amazing, skin is brighter, thoughts are clearer, I'm sleeping better.

And I still want to go back to drinking!

Leave that book sounds perfect for me, I'm going to get it and have a read, hopefully it'll help me manage my drinking better.

Very proud of myself tonight, went to a networking event where wine was flowing and still stuck to soda water. I can do it when I put my mind to it, but this month have been a challenge to myself, when it's not a competition I'm worried I'll just go back.....

One day left

So good looking at the Dry Jan app and seeing it's just one more night.
Well done everyone!

Anyone else toy in.g with the idea of staying up until midnight?

A drink just after midnight.. is that cheating for Dry Jan or not? Asking for a friend..