Dry Another Day - Dry January and Beyond!

[wellitywellness]

We are officially at thread #3!

Well that's Lent finished for this year. How is everyone doing?

A busy couple of family days over the weekend but chose to stay dry which made hosting all the easier.

Thinking about 'what next' and decided to carry on to 100 days AF and then stop thinking about alcohol or not. Would be a good reset for me.

I fell off the wagon badly in March.

Which reminded me why I did dry Jan in the first place.

I’ve now restarted and I’m on day 4.

I’ve decided I’m doing Alcohol Free April.

I did Lent, found it much easier than last year, stopped Saturday. Straight back to excessive drinking.

I think I might just have to do a strict no alcohol for a couple of weeks and have very specific reasons to drink. I don't want to never drink but I love drinking too much. So I'll have to make sure my alcohol free days are many more than my drinking ones.

Well done @pollyannaperspective . Not sure I could host people sober - I would get too irritated!

Good luck with AF April @DJ24 , that sounds like a good plan. I'm sure you will get back on track, and at least you know the risks of slipping back into a previous routine.

I went over the 14 units for the first time last week 😮! It was only by 1.2 units, but I was disappointed in myself, especially as it meant logging an unplanned drinking day on the Try Dry app - oh the shame! I seem to have no problem limiting myself to 2-3 units per session, but only had one AF day, so need to find a way to stick to at least 2. I think I need to amend my goal to have fixed AF days - the flexibility of a simple unit cap worked against me last week. It was Easter of course, but I wasn't doing anything special so that's no excuse.

Anyway last night was dry. I experimented with beer and a dash of Sentia, which I know sounds so wrong, but it tasted pretty good 😊.

I have re-started my journey after I fell off the wagon in Jan. I was a very heavy drinker and I am now determined to continue my AF journey until at least June, when I start my new job.

As of today, I have gone 1 week and 1 day AF. I did cook my Easter dinner in red wine sauce (185ml over 5 portions), but I hope 7 hours in the slow cooker, plus the actual portion sizes should have ensured that there is more alcohol in the fruit I eat than in the dinner I have had last night.

I've really gone off water, but herbal/ white tea, Pepsi max and energy drinks are getting me through it. The cravings are mostly gone, though I will now be on my own for a week, so I will now see whether I crave it more with less to occupy my mind.

Hope those having an April re-set find it goes smoothly. Happy to keep you company as I amble towards my target.

@Neptunium93 well most of my irritation in hosting is the result of DH who, after over 30 years of marriage, is now wanting to get involved in all aspects of planning and cooking meals which makes it so much more complicated because he has poor mobility so everything needs bringing to him etc. There have been moments of greatest irritation when the thought of a drink has flashed up but I've let it go. Helped by an observation from DC that when DH is doing his cooking represents his 'enrichment activity'. Still makes me smile.

I'm interested in the accountability that the Try Dry app provides. I imagine it only works as well as the data provided. This also seems to be the case with the Zoe project. DB is doing it and started recording every element of the first meal (recipes studied and so on) but by the end of the weekend was down to 'edited highlights'.

Glad you're all still here!
I managed a damp February, but my Parched March was a total failure.
I'm going to make up for it now though by having an Arid April

I'm also on a diet and fitness drive. It was sunny today which somehow makes such resolutions much more easy to make and keep. Three months of dull, foggy, rainy weather were so miserable I needed a nice Pinot to cheer me up!

Well done to all of you who've managed to keep up the level of alcohol restriction you wanted to.

Hi everyone! I have definitely been more deliberate in my choices, but I'm overall not 100% happy. I'm off for Easter now, so looking forward to a bit of a reset!

Ooh, I like “Arid April”!

'Arid April' is brilliant @HPLikecraft 😀. You're so right about the weather. I'm convinced dry days will be more appealing as the temperature climbs and (hopefully) there are fewer rainy days - there's nothing like a chilled AF beer when in need of guilt-free refreshment!

Hello, I have only just found this thread, having contributed to our previous ones. So far this year I’ve had a drink on six days - two in Feb and four in March. I don’t want my drinking to to creep up any higher than this, I really hope I can keep going. No alcohol over the bank holiday so that’s something!

Now going to go and RTT 😊

Love 'Arid April' @HPLikecraft . If only the weather was a bit more arid. I'm sure those on school holidays would like a few rain free days.

Hello all 👋
I'd like to join in if that's OK xx I go on holiday in just under 8 weeks and I really need to lose a bit of weight and reset my body as I've slipped back into mid week drinking again . So I think just going AF is what I need to do.
Finished off my fave drink last night so there's no temptation in the house and I think I should be good to go from today 🙂

Also aiming for an Arid, if not totally dry, April. 66.2 units in March, up from 45 in February. A few more nights out plus the odd casual drink at home and it all adds up.

Those of you who have managed dry Jan and/ or cut down massively since, did you actually lose any weight?

1 week and 2 days in and while I have lost what appears to be 1kg since I started, this may well just be period water I always put on when I'm due on as it only came off in the last 2 days.

Or does it just take a while?

I sleep better now, deeper, but still don't feel like I've caught up properly yet and wonder whether, once I go back to work, subsisting on the 5h I get a night will actually just undo it all again?

I need to add, calories from drinks should have been in the region of 2000kcal/ week. Of course, I'd now lose those (having replaced alcohol with sugar-free tea and sugar-free pop) but they'd amount to 1/2kg every 2 weeks or so, right?

That means I should lose 1kg of fat every month, assuming all other intake stays the same.

@Michiru , I didn't lose any weight apart from the first week, when it dipped by a couple of pounds and then normalised (which may have been due to other factors). In fact I've never noticed an impact on my weight from drinking / not drinking. There's an argument that calories are a poor way to measure the impact of alcohol as it's based on how much / quickly it burns, which is obviously quite fast if you put a match to it! I think the key thing is not to replace alcohol with chocolate / cakes etc. A friend of mine who gave up completely put on weight from extra snacking in the first year.

@Michiru yes, I've lost a similar amount but over a longer period. I ascribe that to not only the calories in alcohol but that I don't have the accompanying bag of crisps and I'm more likely to get to my exercise classes or go for a walk if I'm not in the pub or nursing a hangover.

Depending on how much you have to lose don't be disappointed if your initial weight loss doesn't continue at the same rate.

I'm still dry since Jan and have definitely lost weight, although it wasn't the aim. Not sure how much as I don't really weigh myself but I assume a bit as I can really feel it in my clothes now. I wasn't particularly overweight but was starting to get a bit of a belly for the first time..!

I noticed less puffiness initially (I really think alcohol inflames the body) but really noticed it from month 2 which was when I felt able to cut down (though not eliminate 😏) some of the sugar I was having (cokes and chocolate). Still eating chocolate, but much less - just generally able to make better decisions without booze.

Hi I'd like to join if ok I did mostly dry January couple of slips determined to complete April need to shift some weight too so have to cut back on sugar

Is it still only the 2nd? 😐 😁

I've unexpectedly had the opportunity to go away for a few days, so DH and I will be having a long weekend break from 18th to 22nd. This will be challenging! However, we'll be hillwalking, so I'll be active anyway... I'm sure I'll manage dry, too.

@DJer24

Sorry, @DJer24 , didn't mean to tag you!

I agree with DJer24 about the puffiness.

When I fell off the wagon in March I really noticed the puffiness around my eyes, and also itching.

Day 94.

Only 6 days to the big 100, and it's my birthday next week so will be a make or break I reckon!

1 week 5 days and I don't crave the stuff anymore. Back to work soon, though, so that might change! Work has been a fairly consistent trigger for after-work drinks. I may have to condition myself to make that one a hot chocolate instead.

For now, even the sugar cravings seem to subside a bit. It helps that I have my hands full of other things to obsess about, to the point I forget to eat. Good thing I need to lose a bit!