DRY JANUARY 2025! Join us for a healthier start to the year! All welcome 🥤☕️🧋

[HPLikecraft]

It’s that time of year again!
If you need a detox, to lose weight, to be healthier, to undo some seasonal overindulgence, to sleep better, to look better, to have healthier skin, to save money, boost liver function, improve your memory, or to decrease your likelihood of dying earlier of various nasty illnesses (sorry for the sudden hard ball!) then you’ve come to the right place!

The MN DJ2025 Chat thread is for anyone who wants to reset their relationship with alcohol; whether you’re a weekend tippler or a problem heavier drinker.
This is a friendly, non-judgmental thread where we support and encourage each other, exchange ideas and information, share alcohol-free drinks recommendations etc.

Hopefully we’ll have some fun along the way. Please hop aboard the good ship DJ 2025, everyone welcome!

Anyone else suspicious that not drinking is helping with perimenopause symptoms?

@AlertCat yes - just feel calmer all round really. Bit bored. But with all this time on my hands at weekends at least the house is clean 😂

Yes. Yet another begrudgingly welcome indication that wine might not be as good for me as I secretly want it to be.

Steal away. I've been unwell a lot recently so I'm unlikely to be a good thread host. Anyone who wants to start a Damp February thread is very welcome.

I’m also up for a damp February!
still sticking to DJ & managed a night out at the comedy without succumbing - I actually really enjoyed it & for once wasn’t desperate for a wee half way though!
still hoping to continue on through Feb but am also recognising that there might be a night here & there when I’ll drink. I want it to be for an occasion though, not just mindlessly getting tipsy because I’m not at work the next day.

In bed and ticking off my 20th dry day. Shocked but proud to have made it this far.

With things going the way they are, I can't imagine my February becoming too damp. I'm really enjoying the changes I'm seeing so far - the better skin, the weightloss, the money saved - so I am determined to keep going and make drinking alcohol the rare exception rather than, say weekend routine again.

But I have been a fairly heavy drinker and will have saved £200 by the end of January alone, and on my current trajectory I will have lost more than half a stone by then, too. My skin is far less greasy, so is my hair, and my skin is tauter, making my face look even slimmer. I don't know why I'd go back unless it's a very special occasion.

So in all honesty, I don't know whether I'd join a thread on Damp Feb unless the focus is still mainly on staying AF. IME greater successes are had when peer pressure keeps a lid on habits you want to break. This thread has been nice to follow, though.

@Michiru I'm currently leaning to continuing dry, with no set end date. I don't know how long I will go - but I agree with you that the benefits are compelling.

I hope everyone aiming for a damp Feb gets the balance and moderation that they are looking for.

Yes I am mine have been way better

Morning all!
Who’da thought it, Day 21!

Great to see you still here and posting, everyone.
Can we talk about our lovely livers today?

It may look like a boring, burgundy meaty glob, but the liver is not only the largest internal organ, it’s also a gland as it produces proteins and hormones that other parts of the body need. It does, literally, hundreds of jobs, but principally:

• Cleans toxins out of the blood.
• Gets rid of old red blood cells.
• Makes bile, that helps the body digest food.
• Metabolizes proteins, carbohydrates and fats so your body can use them.
• Produces substances to help blood clot.
• Regulates the amount of blood in the body.
• Stores glycogen (an energy source) and vitamins to be used by the body later.

Alcohol damages the liver, making it fatty, stiffening and scarring it, affecting its function. Binning the alcohol not only allows the liver to repair itself somewhat, but lets it do its HUNDREDS of essential jobs better.
Here is a good article from alcohol change:

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/alcohol-facts/fact-sheets/alcohol-and-the-liver

We all know that the liver is a robust organ, that can heal, regenerate and continue to function when it is compromised - up to a point!! However, we can’t rely on our liver always forgiving us and soldiering on: liver disease, and death from liver disease, is hugely on the increase. Anyone who has drunk alcohol quite heavily for a number of years is likely to have scarring or other damage, not all of which is repairable.

Love your liver 💪💪

And don’t worry, I’m keeping an eye on posts will start a new thread shortly 🙂

And finally, for now, I thought I should point out that on Friday morning, a little before 10, we will reach the 75% mark! That’s our next checkpoint, the silver award. See you then!

Thank you for the interesting health articles @HPLikecraft . They really do help to motivate for DJ, and encourage me to continue to moderate alcohol consumption afterwards.
It good to know that even if we can't see any great changes externally, our bodies should be thanking us for this time to recuperate internally!

I would be interested in a damp February. Although I have had two blips in January taking a step back and looking at my drinking habits and relationship with alcohol has been hugely positive, so even though I won't be able to say 'I did it' on January 31st I don't think I will go back to my old drinking habits, and that is a huge win for me!

I just changed my app to say day 24 done. I feel blinking awful today (have had the flu thing on the go) and DC2 has an activity tonight. I wouldn't drink anyway as we are not back till 9.

I tend to update my app in the morning 😬 - a bit like setting an intention. If my best laid plans go to the wall I can change it to say I drank after all (haven’t had to do that this January, but I’ve been using the app for a year and it’s caught me out before).

Anyone who has drunk alcohol quite heavily for a number of years is likely to have scarring or other damage, not all of which is repairable.

This is a frightening thought.

Want a glass of wine tonight for no particular reason other than I just want one. I won’t as am so nearly three weeks sober.

@HPLikecraft

Thanks for the info on livers! Makes me even more determined to stop or at least cut down massively.

I had 7 hours unbroken sleep last night - bliss!

Really pleased to have got to this point, and wanting to keep going. Enjoying reading everyone’s updates, it keeps me motivated.

Here’s some positives and negatives I’ve found now we’re three weeks in:

Positives

• No hangovers - I no longer feel sick, dehydrated, fuzzy headed or have loose motions in the mornings.
• I’m far less tired - even when sleep is disrupted I’m still alert and awake throughout the day.
• I still find work stressful for various reasons, but am handling my workload much better due to not being hungover and being more productive.
• I’m less irritable with DH and the DC.
• I get a bit (not loads) more done around the house.
• Weight: I wasn’t losing any at first but have now shed 4lbs.
• Money: I estimate I’ve saved about £300 so far from not drinking a bottle of wine every night, avoiding the pub and not buying stodgy takeaways to help my hangover.
• My insides feel much healthier - I had an occasional slight stomach pain and a mild ache when breathing in very deeply before which have both gone.
• Feel I’m setting a better example to the DC by choosing soft drinks over wine.

Negatives

• Social situations are no longer enjoyable to me whatsoever and I’d rather just stay at home than go anywhere and feel grumpy that I can’t drink.
• Anxiety over social situations is still there - but rather than worrying I was drunk and said something stupid, I worry I was boring without a drink to boost my confidence.

Day 22. Staggered to have got this far, but still a way to go. The end will soon be in sight but not yet.

Thanks for your list, @newme2025

If I'm honest, I wish I could list more positives!

My weight is the same; my sleep had improved but has gone downhill again, so like right now, I feel groggy, unmotivated and headachey! And yes, I'm a bit bored in the evenings. I too will just avoid going out to anything where 'a couple of drinks' might normally be involved. I know I just wouldn't enjoy it.

I tried trip drinks but apart from one Medahuman one that made my arms feel numb, 🤔 I can't say I felt any different! The Guinness zero is the only good one I've found, but I'd normally drink G once a year as I'm a white wine drinker- but AF wines aren't nice, so I'm drinking flavoured tonics.

I'm aware that I must be benefitting my health and am certainly benefitting my bank balance, but I'm hoping to actually feel the tangible benefits soon!

Although I'm not committing yet, I am beginning to formulate a Damp Feb plan, enforced moderation. I think I'd have considered carrying on more if I were feeling it was worth it.

Had a hideous night's sleep which isn't helping in the positivity stakes. Can you tell?

I think that for me, The End will feel in sight on Sunday evening, but we've done well to get to Day 22!

Agree, Sunday night will be the tipping point. Unfortunately I’ve got to get through a friend’s birthday dinner before then. I’m in two minds whether to just give myself one day off. But I also want to maintain my clean sheet.

The clean sheet will feel amazing come the end of the month. The best thing about Dry Jan is that it is a choice and it IS temporary. You can choose to go to parties and decide before you go in you’re going to enjoy it, being really present, asking people about their Christmases and and remembering it all and feeling like you practically have a superpower and then waking up refreshed and having slept pretty well.

No drunken munchies, horrible waking up at 4am feeling guilty, the next morning with a foggy head, anxiety that you just proved you actually can’t get through a whole month without drink, wondering if you said something silly and if you have a genuine problem with alcohol.

Much better just to sail through these last few days and congratulate yourself on how you reset your body for a month and came out the other side having learned you can do it and have a more measured approach going forward.