Damp Feb! For DJ survivors and Feb drink moderation fans!

[Fordian]

Hi Everyone who might be interested, a thread for anyone who wants an accountability check-in for their moderate Feb drinking!

Yes I would like to join please. I didn't do dry January but am desperate to moderate as I am drinking way too much.

Checking in. Could have had a drink out last night but opted for af peroni. Decided that I will only drink on 2 occasions this month on mils birthday and Valentines night.

I went round to friends for dinner last night, and drank a large vodka and fresh orange juice and several glasses of red wine (although quite slowly). It was a lovely, sociable evening, but I do feel quite rough this morning, to be honest. My plan for the month is to restrict my drinking to Friday & Saturday evenings only - and the first test of this will be this evening - pre-DJ I always used to be a Sunday evening drinker, and I really don't want to go back to it.

Hello everyone. Well, I screwed up big time yesterday. I had a social occasion, forgot to take my nosecco with me and ended up drinking lots of small glasses of wine. I estimate I drank a bottle and a third in total. One positive was that when I got home there was only a tiny glass left of a bottle of red in the kitchen, so I had that and went to bed (the old me would have popped to the shop to get another bottle). Feeling hung over and annoyed with myself this morning though. I’m out again today but aiming for more mindful drinking this time. I then won’t drink at least Monday to Thursday next week.

I have to say I’m impressed by the people who have finished DJ and not Fallen off a cliff edge into the Merlot. Well done everyone.

Well this is a novelty. Sunday morning and no Hangover! I slept like a log too.

can I just say I love the honest and open tone of this thread. No judging, no pearl clutching, just people who like a drink, doing their best. I like it. Thank you for having me.

Morning all. I hope everyone is OK and any ill effects from last night wear off soon. Fortunately one glass was more than enough for me after a month off - I am such a lightweight 😳!

I know it's different for everyone, but one thing that helps me is to spread my units across the week. I think if you associate alcohol with special occasions, or going out on a Friday night (for example), there will always be the temptation to binge - or that's what would happen with me. If it's just a nice part of your normal routine, it becomes less of a thing, if you see what I mean. I tend not to drink alcohol on a night out as I would end up overdoing it, either because I'm overwhelmed, or bored, or sometimes both (I'm a massive introvert though).

Tonight will probably be a dry one - I'm aiming to alternate generally, but might switch days around depending on how I feel.

Still not had a drink! Just not felt like it tbh, and worried that if I get back into the habit of drinking at home it'll just creep back up!

Going out for valentines though so will have a glass or two then!

I feel like tonight could easily be a dry one for me, was underwhelmed with my wine last night. And whisky’s not a Sunday night drink. But. There is the just-over-half a bottle of wine in the fridge, and I hate waste. Part of me is whispering, you’ll have to drink it you know. Do you think it will still be ok next Friday?

White? Prosecco? Get a wine keeper - I've kept a part drunk bottle of fizz in the fridge for a week and it's been fine x

@CandyLeBonBon is that one of those vacuum cork things?

@AlertCat , as long as your fridge is cold enough, it will be fine. If not, you could use anything left over for cooking?

Also, I know wine boxes get a bad rap, but they keep for 6 weeks.

Thanks @Neptunium93 i do like a red wine box but our fridge is too small for a box of white!

@WeightLoss2025 Not bringing the thread down at all! It's all about how, when, why and if we decide to drink!

I drank, as planned, an amazing sauv blanc on Friday evening, a bottle over 4+ hours; 2/3 of a bottle, again, planned, last night; and expect to have 2-ish glasses tonight over a nice dinner.

Then I won't drink again til Friday evening. (If I find I can't to that, I know I need to quit alcohol altogether, which is my motivator to behave!).

This is a massive improvement in where I was before DJ!

@Addictforanex How you described your evening (love the term 'dunking' 🤣) is exactly what I would expect to drink on a special occasion, going forward, as you have!

For me, it's all about deciding when I'll drink, and roughly how much, and sticking to it; as opposed to the mindless excessive necking I was doing before DJ.

Welcome! My plan is to decide beforehand when I will drink and how much, and sticking to it.

The amount I'm likely to drink would exceed 'government guidelines' 🤭, but it's a sight better than the swilling I was doing before!

Hell- May I join?

DH and I did DJ and I am immensely proud that I stuck to it as January has been hugely stressful with seriously ill elderly relatives. We went out for dinner last night and very much enjoyed sharing a bottle of wine with an excellent meal. I then did not have another glass when we got home as I might usually have done.

Now planning to keep a close eye on my units in Feb. Not planning on drinking during the week at all ( often liked a G&T while cooking the dinner and this had crept up.) Also plan to use a smaller glass for wine at the weekends and sip more slowly- usually had around a half a bottle each night through the weekend which definitely put my units over the recommended amount so plan to cut that down moving forward.

Good luck to you all doing either dry or damp February!

Thank you @Neptunium93 , yes this is the trouble with AF drinks, isn’t it? Often far too sweet. We had family round for lunch today and we had a bottle of the Kylie Minogue 0% Rosé. My daughter liked it, but she has a sweet tooth. Personally I thought it was revolting! I like both the Oddbird and Noughty AF wines, but man are they expensive! 🙄

Anyone recommend an app for tracking alcohol? Ideally one which doesn’t ask for exact measurements if that’s even possible (I’m very lazy and won’t be getting the medicine syringe out to see how much whisky 🤣)?

@Fordian Thank you for this thread. I found the DJ one really helpful. I haven't quite worked out how I am going to navigate my Damp Feb yet. I just know that I don't want my drinking to creep back up to 2024 levels. I was driving DD to her night shift last night so drinking wasn't an option and we never drink on Sundays because we eat our big meal at lunchtime. I do know that my biggest challenge is not going back to routine midweek drinking at home.

Yes

The Try Dry app will calculate it for you. (I use a spreadsheet, but got some grief for that on the other thread!). I have a set of wine measures so I always know how much I'm drinking without having to think too hard about it. You can't really track consumption without knowing the quantity IMO.

If you want some flexibility, get a small glass measure with ml marked on the side. So, for example, if you've poured out 125ml in a wine measure but then want a top up, you can see exactly how much extra you've had.

If you want to track it yourself, the basic formula for calculating units is ABV (%) multiplied by volume (ml), divided by 1000.

I did all 31 days of dry Jan and broke it last night with a night out for my DP’s birthday as I said in a post upthread.

Been reflecting a bit today. Less mindful me would have had (on top of what I drank) another glass of wine at dinner. The bottle of wine ran out just before the food and the waiter asked if we would like more - and pointed out that the wine we had had a bottle of between us also came by the glass. Less mindful me would have said yes and the been persuaded by the “large glass or small?”, “go on… large” exchange that seems to be typical. Instead I said no and finished the water. Then I would have also come in from the show and had a “nightcap” usually a glass of red and the conversation would have flowed nicely and one would have become 2. Instead I had a glass of iced water. So I think I saved myself 3 drinks and had an earlier night.

I have felt fine today but did have a 2 hour nap on the sofa this afternoon. That’s not normal for me, I’m sure I would have had more energy today if I’d been AF last night.

No drinking today but I don’t drink on Sundays normally. Mondays are bad enough without adding in low key hangovers, so gave Sunday drinking up years ago.

I've been feeling a bit miserable and low energy all day, which is a real shame as the weather has been lovely and there's loads to do in the garden. Can't help thinking that last night's alcohol is the cause, and is yet another reason for not drinking too much (if at all).

I got a bottle of wine to share with a friend over dinner last night. Not had a drink since Christmas. I had a raging headache after half a glass. Might have to stop drinking wine

@SandrenaIsMyBloodType

I'm planning on telling myself that in the same way alcohol was off the table for DJ, it's off the table for my dry days! So no weekday drinking UNLESS for a get together, usually 8 or so, tops, a year.