DRY JANUARY 2023! Been overindulging? Drinking crept up? Want to begin a healthy new you? This way please. All welcome!

[HPLikecraft]

It’s that time of year again... the late Christmas present to our livers!
You may be thinking of doing Dry January to:

*detox a little after seasonal overindulgence, or
*help you cut down a bit generally, or
*help you start to get out of a harmful alcohol habit, or
*just be a bit healthier for a month...

It’s good for all of those things!

I find the MN DJ threads excellent for support, encouragement, sharing info, ‘we’re in this together’ camaraderie, suggestions for grown up drinks, aversion techniques and just fun.

This is my sixth year of DJ and I swear it may have saved my life; it was so hard first time, but having succeeded I did dry June and October after that, and do so most years. It has broken my habit, banished much of the craving and reset my relationship with booze. I imagine it's added years to my life.

I won’t be finding DJ too difficult this year, but some will. Hopefully this thread will help.

Throw your hat in the ring, pull up a chair and let's do this together. Everyone welcome 🙂☕️🧃

The DJ2022 Wagon creaks to a start in just 4 days, but always stops for latecomers 🙂

Any ideas of nice AF drinks that aren't fizzy?

@Greatly Eisberg mulled wine

Thanks I'll look for that

I'll join you all if that's ok. Day 2 for me. I've done it a few years running with varying success. Last year however I managed to keep going for a few days into February, so I'm going to try and do the same this year. Right through to the end of March would be amazing, but that could be a bit too ambitious.
My drinking has crept up over time, and for much of last year I've been drinking almost every day, gin and tonic, probably reached 60 to 70 units a week by the end of 2022! Very rarely hungover, but a bit fuzzy headed sometimes the next day, and I hate that feeling of waking up in the morning thinking "shit, I did it again..."
I'm so fed up with always thinking about how much gin's left in the bottle, do I need to buy more, have I got enough tonic, should I make an excuse to nip out, etc etc.
I'm in my mid 50s, my skin looks shit, I'm getting fat on my belly and hips and I'm quite short so any weight gain shows up quickly. There's also an increased risk of breast cancer with excess alcohol isn't there, which is also in the back of my mind, so to be able to cut right down would be so good. Good luck for tomorrow everyone.

Annoyed here as I’ve just finished day 4 but I’ve picked up a bug which had me puking last night and in bed all day today. I’m supposed to be feeling better, not worse!!

Oh well. Makes it easier to not drink I suppose. I’ve barely managed a cup of tea today.

As for AF alternatives, I like Smashed lager or straightforward tonic water, without the gin. If I feel fancy I add berries or garnish or some kind. I never actually miss the gin.

I don’t associate alcohol with happiness, but with stress relief. Once I start drinking I don’t have to worry about anything for the rest of the evening.

I do too, but to me, not feeling stressed is happiness. I like how alcohol offers me a chance to switch off for a few hours - it's a form of escapism, until the next day of course.

My online shop arrived and my fridge is now full of non alcoholic drinks. That in itself is making me feel more positive for the days ahead.

Hoping I sleep better tonight!

I'm gonna join if you don't mind.

I have got into a sneaky habit when I know I'm not driving next day to have 1 or 2.

I can go out without drinking and still have a fab time, and know I'm safe going home.

It's just at home where I want to make it less of a habit to drop into.

I also want to lose some weight too as starting running again so if you don't mind another latecomer, I would like to be a part of this for tips xx

Got plenty of juice & fizzy pop for now, will look at some alternatives for the weekend.

Thanks.

Day 2 is nearly over and I had a healthy eating day again and used my spin bike for the first time in about 3 weeks. I want to shift a few pounds so am sticking to healthy eating too. I need to top up on nice non alcoholic drinks for the weekend. I am working sat so it makes it easier to avoid alcohol and will plan to take the DC's swimming with Dh on Sunday morning as that means driving so I won't drink the night before.

Day 2 complete ( though we used to try and be dry Mon , Tues and Wed ,and then it went a bit pear shaped …. )
Ive been drinking the fever tree rhubarb and raspberry tonic, topped up with sparkling water , it’s actually quite nice
I’m a bit wary of the alcohol free wine .. I’m not sure why really ; is it sort of cheating ?

@Veryfishy I don't think alcohol free wine is cheating, although some people regard 0.5 percent drinks as cheating (not me!) . I am not really a fan of the AF wine though, it's nothing like normal wine, whereas AF beer can taste quite convincing. Some people avoid it for that reason though.

I am in bed having done hot cloth cleanser and properly moisturised (often CBA if I have been drinking), with a lavender spray on my pillow. Hoping to wake up glowing!

Full disclosure I broke yesterday and had 2 glasses of red out of the bottle DH opened (it was staring at me whilst I made dinner 😒), only consolation to myself is its my birthday this week and my original plan was to start after and go into Feb.

However, I was good today and didn't drink a drop, not even out of the nice bottle of red DH had opened last night, it also was staring at me whilst I made dinner. Instead I made me and the kids hot chocolate whilst DH is at work tonight and I also had a sparkling Belvoir apple juice. Dinner time prep and DH being at work are big triggers for me, so I do feel slightly better that I managed to overcome them today.

Now I'm tucked up in bed with a water. Also downloaded the TryDry App - very useful, thanks to whomever suggested it, a little concerning that I've been drinking roughly 56 units a week, but that's what this is all about, getting it under control, and managing my weight, waistline and wallet better.

I'm starting tomorrow.
Have no more alcohol in the house and am back home from New Year celebrations.
I was excited earlier and feeling quite upbeat about improving my health and wellbeing ( and finances!) But right now I feel quite daunted.
Like previous posters I use alcohol as stress relief in order to switch off for a few hours, ultimately the issues are still there the next day so it's not helpful in the long term.
I'm going to give it my best though.
Thanks for the thread.

Day 2 done. Feeling very tired after a lot of driving. Hoping for a good night sleep as have work tomorrow

Can I please join too? On day 2 and feel fine, it's like a novelty atm not being hung over and imagining how great my future sober self is!

Need to be accountable because it's going to be difficult.

I've been drinking a bottle a night in December and sometimes more. I feel wrung out mentally and physically. There's got to be more to life.

I totally get you all on using alcohol to switch off for a few hours. It slows my mind nicely.

I managed to stay off it tonight but instead of wine I ate half a tube of Pringles

I plan to start my diet when the kids go back in a few days. I think if I tried to deprive myself of too much I'd definitely fail!

Dry book club. That was quite hard in fact, though I did realise what a lot of good alcohol free drinks options there are now. But it's usually a time I drink a fair bit, and it felt difficult not to.

What was interesting was that there ended up being a big political row, with a slight edge to it. We don't often have those, but we have done in the past, and I've certainly been involved! Not this time though. I had absolutely no desire to get stuck in, and I'm glad I didn't. That was nice.

Day 2 done and dusted. It was okay, I had Brew Dog Hazy Jane AF, (first year I felt this was cheating but no longer). It's been okay but I have eaten A LOT.

Well I'm still wide awake. Dh has gone to bed and I'm still on the sofa downstairs watching Happy Valley which I've never seen and dh refuses to watch. I've had a warm drink of almond milk but don't feel at all sleepy.

Day 2 done. I decided to just go with the sugar cravings (and eat half a packof nougat and loads of Turkish Delight . But only passing craving for a glass of wine. And I'm still awake at midnight and did some work around 11pm which is unheard of for me.

Day 3 and today is the big crunch day, what with being back at work. But it's also the day many websites see as the turning point - once 72h are over the cravings are supposed to start subsiding, so I'm looking forward to seeing whether that holds true as I, too, am someone who uses alcohol for instant stress relief.

I did a fair bit of pampering last night, including a lovely cleansing face mask, so my skin looks great today.

Those who have done DJ before, did you lose weight, and when did that start? I know it's silly to expect instant results, but I must be saving 100s of calories having switched from juice-based cocktails containing a copious amount of spirits to just sticking to herbal tea and water. I don't snack and have only one big meal a day, with 2 boiled eggs and miso soup at lunch and a yoghurt for breakfast; I would have expected to see some shift, but instead, my scales don't budge (and were even higher this morning, but I did weigh myself 4h earlier than normal).
Could it be water retention?

I slept a little better last night, after taking ages to actually fall asleep, so there's a positive. Now I've just got to get my routine hours back to normal.

I'm going out tomorrow night. I can do fizzy water, no problem.

But, I've got a problem for Friday through to Sunday - A 2/3 day hotel stay for my school friends 50th, and she's coming to my 50th party in 3 weeks time. All these 50th's. I don't mind doing tonic water instead of a G&T, but I don't want to resent it either, let DH make me not enjoy the whole thing iyswim.

If the hotel bar is up to it, what about having a non-alcoholic cocktail? My go to is a Virgin Mojito, if that's any help.

Meant to post yesterday on Day 2 but had unexpected overnight guests - all good. Enjoyed supper together and no-one was drinking.

Up early for day 3 and looking forward to getting back in to a working routine. Have a successful day everyone.

Good morning 😀

Day 1 here today. Back to work and not looking forward to it, especially as there’ll be no nice glass of wine to reward me at the end of the day. Still, back in the routine and one child out of three back to school so that’s a start.

Have a good day everyone.

Well I stuck to my cut down limit of half a bottle last night, which may still sound a lot to some but far less than I’m used to. Slow and steady will work better for me long term as I want the changes to be permanent. I know so many people in real life who do DJ but then the other 11 months still drink more than they should. Not judging, as I also drink too much, but I need to deal with it now.

Slept no worse than usual and I do actually feel more awake this morning than I usually do. Not looking forward to being back at work, although wfh makes it easier. Planning to have ginger and lemon tea as my post work drink (had one last night). Part of my problem has been drinking from 5pm onwards so I need to break that habit.