Old habits DRY hard! It's DRY JANUARY thread #2... newcomers always welcome!

[HPLikecraft]

Here we are, a shiny new thread to help us stay dry.

Thread one has been great and supportive; and thread two will take us through further challenges and milestones. Hop aboard; you're all doing brilliantly!

Sorry, wrong thread

Are you sure @Stickywhitelovepiss ? Having zero social life is a pretty good idea for dry January! 😃

I’m doing fine, largely because I’ve got a bad cough that won’t shift. Had it since early Dec but it’s been really bad past week. Pulled muscles 😳teaching does not help!

so, no booze and I don’t want any.

am rethinking the whole year thing though 🤣maybe 6 months? The thought of a sober summer holiday, birthday and Xmas makes me sad!

Ha ha!

Yes, I meant to post it on the Dry Jan thread! 😁

Wait, I'm on the Dry January thread... Ignore me... 😳

On a completely unrelated note, I just tried Sentia (as in within the last 10 minutes) - and am pleasantly surprised!

Definitely got that 'first sip hit' and felt those sharp edges melt away to a nice mellow state. Now feeling pretty chill.

Am definitely buying some more - but by Christ it's expensive!

I'm definitely an at home drinker..I rarely go out tbh. I'm bored of DJ but resolutely plodding on. Still struggle to fall asleep but once asleep I sleep well.
I do feel better and trying to hold on to that but wavering

I found this article quite thought provoking. Glad to read it while dry...

99% sober movement

@PermanentTemporary I've just been reading that too, interesting that after dry January the participants had the same reduction in blood pressure as if they had take blood pressure medication!

Yep I'm exactly the same. I haven't been to a pub in years and if we go out to eat we have the kids and I'm usually driving anyway. It's a lazy old habit - bottle of wine in front of the TV.

I may take a break for 3 weeks on Feb (still moderating) and then back to AF for lent.

Today is the first day I've been tempted. I left home at 8.30am to travel and see DS, and am still not home yet. The idea of a lovely cool beer is extremely tempting, but I will not be swayed. Somehow the idea of an AF beer just doesn't cut it though ☹️

Argh, just lost a big long post due to mumsnet acting up and randomly reloading pages when it feels like it.

anyway, keep it up everyone, we’re all doing really well, it seems a lot of us are doing better than we thought we would too.

I'm still here but have to admit to getting a bit bored now. And still two weekends to go. I've got a work event on the 1st, so will try and hold off until the 2nd. Also hoping to stick to nothing Monday to Thursday longer term.
I've lost no weight at all, I'm hoovering up chocolate and my diet is atrocious. So that's the next thing to tackle, but feels too hard to try and do all that at the same times
Having said all of that, is am sleeping better, have more energy and feel more optimistic about life, so that is keeping me focused.

@Stickywhitelovepiss I had a look at Sentia but was put off. Firstly by the cost, but also because I worry I’d want more and more or that after a couple I’d want the real thing.

@cashmerecardigans my weight isn’t shifting at all either. I seem to be replacing alcohol with chocolate and crisps!

It’s getting tough now.

I sailed through the first couple of weeks (I was proabablu still half pissed from Christmas!). Not drinking is easy when you don’t actually want to drink.

But now that I am craving a drink it’s so much harder. Anyway, another sober day under my belt!

Thanks for the article @PermanentTemporary - that really is a sobering read. Two bits that stood out to me were this:

“Twenty percent of the population don’t drink at all; 60% drink under 14 units a week and often way under. So you probably find that the majority of the population is drinking close to two drinks a week, or less. If you go into most British homes, most adults won’t be having a drink most evenings.”

And this:

“Pattern of drinking does matter,” says Mehta. “It has an impact on the gut. We think the gut is very important in many chronic diseases and underlies inflammation. You induce what we call ‘gut leakiness’, which essentially means there’s more inflammation from proteins that should stay within the gut, but don’t. When you get beyond the threshold, on a relatively regular basis, we think you’ll have long-term consequences.” The definition of a “binge” is probably lower than you think. “It’s about six units for women – that’s only two large glasses of wine – and eight units for men.”

I always kidded myself that yes I was a big drinker, but so are a lot of people. That first paragraph above suggests otherwise.

The second paragraph is really quite scary - if two large glasses of wine is a binge then I’ve been bingeing almost every single night for years. It does make me genuinely worry for my health.

It struck me too freshstart.

I do think the small but convincing amount of evidence about the speed of improvement in health was encouraging though.

Hi all I'm still here too but starting to wobble badly for the first time, after finding the first couple of weeks quite easy. This is now the longest I've gone without alcohol in at least 18 years, probably more. I've been guzzling trip and decided it's had no effect at all other than placebo. Followed your recommendations and extended the mortgage to order some of that sentia, it's hopefully on it's way, they've had a rush on it seems.

I'm going out tomorrow night and I'm worried about being tempted to have just one glass of wine. If I cave though, I know I will be SO disappointed in myself. Just feeling flat about starting to find dry January harder not easier, and I have no idea what to do come Feb 1st.

Crap day at work today and my usual evening strategy would be a glass of wine to relax with. However my adult son and his girlfriend saved me by popping round for tea so that was a nice distraction instead. We did have ice cream after though which was without doubt comfort eating for me.....I don't even like ice cream much and the comfort didn't last long
In reality, I definitely wasn't going to have a drink because I'm determined to do this, and I'm glad I will be waking up tomorrow at least with a clear head to deal with whatever crap the working day brings.
I do wish though that I could find ways of dealing with stress that are not alcohol or food. I know all the theory, and even put it into practice a lot of the time, but on occasions like this ......well, I revert to bad habits......but not wine tonight.
Have started thinking about how to make this Saturday night enjoyable as me and DP were bored and tetchy last weekend. What's everyone else up to?

I've been googling the benefits of DJ to keep myself motivated. From a BBC Good Food article:

“Our work has shown that a month off alcohol, in healthy individuals drinking at moderate to high levels, does lead to tangible health benefits by the end of the month. Our study saw a weight loss of around 2kg, a decrease in blood pressure of around 5%, and improvement in diabetes risk of almost 30%. We also noted large decreases in blood growth factors that are linked to certain cancers. However, we don’t know how long these benefits last, or whether they translate to long-term improvements in health.”
But does it lead to longer term changes in drinking behaviours? Dr Mehta’s research suggests that it could. “At six to eight months after Dry January, the proportion of participants drinking at harmful levels decreased by about 50%. It may be that participating in Dry January allows individuals to ‘reset’ their relationship with alcohol.”

This is what I need @MeinKraft thank you

And from alcoholchange.org.uk:

'If you’ve got high blood pressure, there’s a good chance it’ll start to come down by the end of your challenge. Research has found that just four weeks without a drink can be enough to start lowering both blood pressure and heart rate [2]. And your risk of type 2 diabetes has already started to reduce (in one study insulin resistance came down by an average of 28 per cent), and your cholesterol levels should be starting to lower. 

Giving your liver a little holiday means that it can focus on its other jobs. One research study found that just four weeks without a drink can substantially reduce liver ‘stiffness’ [3]. Brilliant! Who wants a stiff liver?! (This stiffness is an early sign of liver disease, in case you were wondering.) '

Oh dear copy and pasted something else there but it must have triggered mumsnet filters. I'll try again, it's from the alcohol change website:

If you’ve got high blood pressure, there’s a good chance it’ll start to come down by the end of your challenge. Research has found that just four weeks without a drink can be enough to start lowering both blood pressure and heart rate [2]. And your risk of type 2 diabetes has already started to reduce (in one study insulin resistance came down by an average of 28 per cent), and your cholesterol levels should be starting to lower. 

Giving your liver a little holiday means that it can focus on its other jobs. One research study found that just four weeks without a drink can substantially reduce liver ‘stiffness’ [3]. Brilliant! Who wants a stiff liver?! (This stiffness is an early sign of liver disease, in case you were wondering.)

Another person getting bored with it too but holding on to the fact that I've done it before so can do it again. @WaxingGibbon - I know what you mean about it getting harder not easier - I think the initial enthusiasm has worn off and pesky "just one won't hurt" thoughts start creeping in.

The year I did 300 days I really decided that it was going to be hard but that I was going to plough on anyway and I did get to a point, maybe about 3months in where I stopped finding it so hard and didn't keep thinking about the elusive "just one".

@TheZeppo - am laughing at your second thoughts about a whole year but i think you stayed on the DJ graduates thread for ages in the year I'm talking about so I lay down my gauntlet - maybe we could aim for the 100 days.

@WTF99 - if nothing else materialises for Saturday night I would be up for a DJ thread talent night. We did this in previous DJs - DJ themed poetry, songs, jokes, cocktails or anything really (no talent required) and post it here to cheer up your fellow DJers. I might even show you my knitting 😀