Has anyone given up alcohol for a month?

[Bluedeblue]

I drink wine every night. I am overweight because of it. My blood pressure is too high as well. I am going to try and be dry for one whole month. It's going to be hard. Has anyone done this, and if so, what were the benefits? Did you lose lots of weight? Clearer skin? Brighter eyes? Would love to hear some success stories. We have a beach holiday booked for November, and there's no way I can go looking like this.

I drink a fair bit and do dry January every year. I dont really notice any difference tbh, just makes more feel very virtuous and after Xmas and New Year I'm ready for a rest from it all. Don't lose any weight normally. Its unlikely you are overweight just from the wine, alcohol is metabolised differently to food. Unless you eat more crap when you are drunk/hungover? If I was going on a beach holidays I'd be upping my exercise and cutting back on carbs.

I gave up alcohol 2.5 years ago and simply replaced it with sugar because I have no willpower. Felt so much better in so many ways. Would highly recommend it. It has spurred me on to do other virtuous things. Still stuck on sugar though...

I gave up alcohol years ago. There are some lovely non-alcoholic drinks around now - and no more expensive than alcohol. Try those: J20, Appletise etc. as well as non-alcoholic wine/beer substitutes.

High blood pressure really damages your heart muscle. There’s an autopsy on iplayer showing a heart after bp problems.

I gave up drinking at home years ago. So the closure of pubs and restaurants, cinemas and theatres during the pandemic meant I went over a month without alcohol.

I noticed clearer skin.

I'm drinking about 1200 calories a day, so I think it must be contributing to me being overweight.

I did dry January. I did feel better because I'm a bit of a binge drinker. Not everyday but quite a lot when I do, so it was good not I have the hangovers.

I did loose weight, but I also cut out snacking and ran everyday in January.

I have up for a month 6 years ago. Never touched the stuff again.

I’m actually doing a dry June/July and my skin is already clearer. I had put it down to a lovely new skin care routine though.

What do you drink that brings in such high calories? That’s more than your average bottle of wine.
I’ve given up for 100 days before, my sleep really improved and I felt mentally sharp! It tended to make better food choices and late night snacking disappeared. You are left with a sugar so you may need to be aware and try to avoid sweet stuff!
Good luck, there’s a thread somewhere on here that supports lowering and stopping alcohol.

I have just done 1 month with no alcohol after a long time of drinking wine almost every night. Before I did this I had not really realised how lethargic and groggy drinking was making me feel. After a couple of days alcohol free I felt I had more energy and just generally 'brighter' in the mornings. I am also eating less in the evenings, but sadly not losing much weight as I have been drinking too many sugary drinks (don't like diet drinks and wanted something 'interesting' to drink to replace the wine).

I set myself the target of no alcohol for one month and expected it to be really tough but I found that after the first week I didn't really want it. I am now drinking one or 2 glasses of wine over the weekend but that's all. If you had told me before I started that I'd be happy to drink so little (and able to stop myself finishing the bottle) I would have laughed. I think for me opening the wine in the evenings had become more of a habit than something I actually enjoyed.

I set myself the target of no alcohol for one month and expected it to be really tough but I found that after the first week I didn't really want it

I'm really hoping that I find this!

I did Dry January this year, and just haven't bothered going back to drinking at all.

My alcohol consumption crept up a lot last year, and combined with already having some unrelated liver issues, my GP recommended I stop. So I did. First week or two were a bit rough with cravings. After that I was surprised by how easy it was, and how little I've thought about drinking. Especially since after the initial month, DH went back to having drinks on weekends. I just buy myself some fancy kombucha instead and feel slightly smug feeling fresh in the mornings.

Honestly though, I've not had any magical observable benefits. No changes in my skin, no better sleep or mood (both were bad and still are), no extra energy, no improvement in my resting heartrate or medical conditions. Even my weight as stayed exactly what it was - although especially to start with I really didn't worry about snacking, anyway. I assume there's an invisible benefit of at least reduced ongoing damage to my liver, if nothing else!

Isn't 1200 calories about 2 bottles of wine? Every day?!!

I gave up drinking two years ago and feel so much better for it. My skin is clearer, I don't get those awful hangovers (headaches and craving carbs) and I have stopped feeling anxious. I do get sugar cravings which I manage by limiting the days when I can eat chocolate. People tell me that I look much healthier.

Is that 2 bottles of wine a day OP? At that level it might actually be dangerous to suddenly go cold turkey, someone please come along and correct me on that though.

Sorry so meant to add, i think you should speak with your gp asap before any big changes

I would speak to your doctor about the amount of alcohol you're consuming on a daily basis, if it is two bottles of wine every day then that's way too much. You might run into problems if you quit cold turkey.

I stopped drinking last year, as I was on so many pills I was worried about the combination with alcohol.

I use to drink on a Saturday night and really looked forward to it. But after a few weeks I forgot about drinking.

I had two glasses of wine on my birthday last year. Don't know if I am bothered about it this year.

I didn't give up but I cut down a lot. I kept it to occasions, or if there weren't any, a couple of nights a week. I lost 7lb(I wasn't overweight but had extra around my middle!) And felt much better for it. It was also much easier than I thought it would be. I'd been drinking a couple at least every night for decades! Good luck!

Yup. I feel your pain. I used to drink every night, and put on a lot of weight because of it. Then shifted to just drinking at weekends, but actually drank quite a lot at the weekend (enough to be defined as "binge drinking") - so still no weight loss. Over the last few years, I've done some hard dieting and stopped drinking at the same time for periods of up to a month, and lost several stone. BUT then a combination of life and lockdown meant I fell back into bad habits most of it came back on again. So, I'm now back to hard dieting and little/no drink. And the weight is coming off - I lost a stone in the first 5 weeks. So, the short answer is that yes it is possible to give up for a month, and you will feel better/lose weight/sleep better etc etc BUT you need to find a way of changing your habits or otherwise it won't last. I've done some self-hypnosis in the past, and will be looking at that again in order to transition to a better drinking habit once I've lost the weight.

Yes I gave it up for three months before, nowadays I forget to drink to be honest. Not hugely into drinking, once you stop it just becomes less of a habit.

@sunnysidegold

I gave up alcohol 2.5 years ago and simply replaced it with sugar because I have no willpower. Felt so much better in so many ways. Would highly recommend it. It has spurred me on to do other virtuous things. Still stuck on sugar though...

This.

I gave up almost exactly a year ago. After the first couple of weeks, it was fine and I really don't miss it at all now. However, the sugar cravings that are common when you first give up have not yet left me, and probably never will.

So whilst my skin is better, not having hangovers is lovely and I kid myself that I look just generally 'better', I can't say I've lost any weight and really I've just replaced one addiction with another.

It's worth giving it a try though, because on balance giving up alcohol is probably one of the best things you can do for your general health.

Hi if your drinking 2 bottles of wine per night you may be physically dependent on the alcohol. This means it can be dangerous to suddenly stop putting you at risk of alcohol withdrawal symptoms including risk of seizures. You need to reduce gradually and seek support from your GP. Good luck OP.

I have had nights where I just don't drink - admittedly not many - and there are no ill effects, apart from my sleep at night. I lay awake for ages, and then after falling asleep, I tend to wake every hour or so. I do feel fine the next day though - not overly tired or anything. I have tried cutting down, but it doesn't really work for me. Once I've finished one bottle of wine, any caution is thrown to the wind!