DRY JANUARY 2024! 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!

DJ threads are 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 7th year of DJ and I swear it has made all the difference to me. It was so hard first time, but it has definitely 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. 🙂☕🧃

The DJ2024 Wagon creaks to a start in just 5 days! Join us!

I am so proud of myself, I did it!! One AF seedlip and some nozecco, now sm tucked up in bed. Looking forward to no hangover!

Still on it

Jumping in to join in. This will be day 9 as I started dry Jan early as just had enough over Christmas and wanted to kick start early.

I wobbled a bit last night but poured myself sparking tonic water and slice of fruit into a large wine glass to scratch the habit of sipping a drink at the weekend.

I have lots of unopened wine in the house and actually finding it is helping to know I 'could' drink it if I really wanted to but I have a goal of losing weight and if I crack then I will only be miserable when none of my holiday clothes fit later in the year and I have several KGs to lose. Alcohol makes me snack more so double whammy.

I had my lovely cat put to sleep, Mavis 😭
Thankyou Neptunium93 who said that drinking when sad isn’t the best thing to do, you were right and although I was tempted, I am now up to do the parkrun with an unusually clear head.
well done to everyone, we are all doing so well and this group is a huge help 💕

Well done to everyone that survived Friday night!

Haven't checked in for the last couple of days as I've been back at work and that has kept me fully occupied.

Friday night is always takeaway and wine night here so I bought some nice M&S food and AF fizz instead and that seemed to trick my brain.

Going to cook a meal with my DS tonight as DD is out and so I'm hoping that will stop me thinking about wine. I seem ok after I've eaten, it's just getting to that point.

Happy Saturday everyone!

Well done Gp everyone on getting through a Friday night! DH and I are catching up on Mr Bates vs the Post Off e which is sobering enough in itself, but I’m glad I can stay awake and concentrate. And she’d tears, sure, but not be some blubbering emotional wreck.

I totally recognise all the bargaining/ negotiating/ bending the rules that goes on in my head! Just say no, kids.

not loosing the kegs as quickly as I would like, but feeling less bloated, and finding stairs easier, strangely!

Enjoy parkrun morning ( I’m volunteering so am expecting to be freezing!)

Well, that was interesting.

I had two G+T in the pub last night. Well, I say two - I only drank about half of my second, so had around 3 units altogether. Still far less than I'd have had on a normal night in December. Company was excellent, and only wanted one pint, which helped, too, despite us staying until last orders were called.

But I woke up this morning feeling rubbish. Headache and slightly nauseous. I do not get hangovers, so this might be the first time I have experienced one, on far less than I'd normally drink.

No desire to drink again today.

So while the pub night out was interesting, entertaining and certainly worth the blip in Dry January, I believe it's helped cement that I do not want to continue drinking. And the next date will be somewhere we can do something together that does not involve alcohol.

I'm really finding a couple of really cold AF glasses of wine are helping with the post-work cravings. Happily had those and then moved to tea and hot chocolate last night while catching up on The Traitors, which is great by the way!

Looking forward to a child free afternoon today, as DD is going to the football. Plan to take the dog for a walk and do some reading. Bliss.

@baggienat big un MN hugs. We had to do the same to our 17 year old cat about 18 months ago and it broke my heart even though it was the right thing to do. I still miss him but time has helped.

Waking up at 8am on a Saturday morning with a clear head is a revelation! Our heating hasn't even kicked in yet, since we're both usually still comatose until 10!

I'm getting weirdly hooked on my Fitbit data. If you have a Fitbit or similar, it's well worth checking out your resting heart rate stats - mine is now 66bpm (a fall of 12bpm since Jan 1st), showing how hard my heart was having to work to get rid of the alcohol from my system. It's things like this that make me determined to keep this up. I'm curious to know what my resting heart rate really should be, since it normally averages out around 70bpm.

Morning

Got a decent nights sleep - thanks for the magnesium suggestion, it's either worked or it's psychological. However woke up sluggish with a headache again both gone now.

Benefit - I've lost 2and half pounds!

Morning. My sleep was back to Normal For Me - in other words awake for two or three hours in the night. However I went back to sleep at 6am and woke at 8am. So I’ve had enough sleep for me (what I’m used to surviving on) but not as much as I’ve been having the rest of this week.

Which is a disappointment as I’ve been enjoying feeling less tired.

@baggienat - sorry to hear about your cat, mine was PTS almost 2 years ago - makes me feel emotional now thinking about her as I do miss her but, as someone said above, time is a great healer.

It's day 6 (woo hoo!). For those who are having "cravings" I read somewhere it's better to call them thoughts - gives them less power. Also to write it down in a distancing language helps i.e "I am noticing I'm having thoughts of drinking x, y,z however I'm not drinking tonight"

“It's day 6 (woo hoo!). For those who are having "cravings" I read somewhere it's better to call them thoughts - gives them less power. Also to write it down in a distancing language helps i.e "I am noticing I'm having thoughts of drinking x, y,z however I'm not drinking tonight"

That’s a really helpful suggestion, thanks.

Took me ages to get to sleep last night,but once asleep I slept well. A cold,clear,frosty day outside and a blessed relief from the rain.
Day 6..bring it on.

@DJ24 I read something about the Victorian's (I think) who used to have two sleeps and a break in the middle- they'd get up eat/do something etc, then go back to bed. Bizarrely it helped me, because I think of it as sleep one and sleep two 🤣. I was awake 2 hours last night and it used to irritate me. Now I get up, feed the cat and sometimes have a warm drink and then just go back to bed and enjoy the bed.

Ps. Sending all the love to the posters who have poorly cats and have had to have them PTS 💐

Morning all, well done for getting through Friday night. If you didn't, never mind.. try again today!

Doing OK myself but snacking like anything. No DJ weight loss here! Also not quite been able to do Veganuary due to having too much nice food and cake in the house, and DH buying some posh eggs! Will try to be more diety today.

However much of DJ you do it is a great benefit to you, even if it doesn't feel like it straight away. Keep on keeping on, everyone!

@baggienat I'm sorry to hear about Mavis 😿

Oh I'm so sorry about your cat @baggienat
Sending you lots of hugs !

Really crappy nights sleep here but. Pre to do with DS.
I think he had a bad dream and before I knew it had clambered into our bed. So my night was spent being kicked by little feet as he seemingly slept soundly.
Around 6am I felt like I had a proper hangover (even though I've been totally AF)!

But the sun is shining and I've had a coffee in bed with a puzzle and about to take the dog for a walk.

I'm tracking my weight during DJ - currently about 2lbs down but I'm not sure yet how much of that is natural weight fluctuations.

DJ has definitely curbed my overall snacking, which is great!

I’ve been quietly following the thread since 1 Jan. This is my second attempt at dry Jan. I think I made it to about day 9 last time. The problem is that every time I cut out alcohol I get to day4/5 and migraines kick in. I’m now on day 2 of a horrendous migraine. Anyone any idea why this happens? I usually get to about day 4 of headaches and give in and have a glass of wine to make them go away, so I’ve never made it out the other side to see how long it lasts. I have to work tomorrow and have an important meeting on Monday so I can’t spend the next two days laid up in bed.
Any ideas for what’s causing it? Painkillers, tiger balm, sumatriptan all not working like they usually would.

Sorry about your cat @baggienat , so sad.

Well done to everyone on this train! It’s great to read everyone’s experiences. I actually woke feeling tired this morning but I realised for the first time since I can remember I didn’t wake in the night so feeling reasonably fresh.

I seem to be quite dehydrated though, was really thirsty last night despite having quite a lot of soda water. For those with headaches it’s worth keeping an eye on.

I was wondering if being thirsty is a normal sign of detox, several websites seem to suggest it is.. a bit worried about what it means for how much I was drinking??

Checking in... sorry, but I need to do this daily, to make myself accountable!
I can't believe I got through a friday night with no wine ..5 nights dry!
I did feel bored and resentful but did it! It's years since I had 5 nights without wine!
Sleep is taking longer but hopefully that will improve, and at least no fuzzy head!

Another still on the wagon (just about). Good points are more energy during day - I’m having a right clear out. Lost 2lb, which is great. Bad points are not sleeping well, no massive improvement in skin yet, moods are all over the place. I keep telling myself this time will pass. I just need to stick with the plan.

@baggienat I'm so sorry to hear that. Mine is curled up next to me - I'll be monitoring closely over the weekend, but looking like a PTS decision is pending early next week.

In the meantime, here is day #6's offering. If you're anything like me, you may shit your pants on reading this - but (like me) this could also save your life. Just look back on day#4's post if you need a more optimistic antidote to the below!

https://wellitywellness.com/2024/01/06/dry-january-6-harms-of-alcohol/