Not dry january. But less booze in general. Anyone else?

[Frouby]

I am posting this thread because I really want to reduce the amount of alcohol I drink.

I was going to do dry January but think that is too much for me. And when I do drink again I will revert back to bad habits.

On a normal week I would have 1 or 2 g and ts mon to thurs. Bottle of wine on a friday. Then either a couple of beers or a couple of g and ts on a Saturday night. Nothing on sunday.

Over Christmas (which started for us mid December as we had a holiday) I have drank every day. Never been drunk drunk but 4 or 5 drinks every day.

I feel fat, bloated and lethargic. I want to cut my drinking down to a couple of nights a week. Friday and Saturday. Or thursday and friday. DP also drinks most days (more than me too) and we both need to address our relationship with alcohol.

I didn't drink last night and won't tonight either. And I feel 100% better already. We get married in May and I want to lose weight and improve my health.

Does anyone else want to join this thread for support? I know there is the dry January thread but I will be drinking (probably) 2 days a week so dont want to post on there and knock any penguins off the ice.

Currently drinking ginger ale with loads of ice and contemplating a shower and a cupp of tea later with the last of the Christmas cake (diet starts tomorrow) 😁

Anglaise, that's exactly the bit I had in mind! Thanks for posting it.

How is everyone tonight?

AF (Day One, again) here. Have found it quite hard...

Athena you are doing brilliantly, it isn't easy, but it will be worth it when you wake up feeling good tomorrow and you won't shout so much at the kids either 😉
I'm wet, well damp, 2 small glasses of red before dinner but that's all I ever have and only at the weekend. If you have Facebook the Club Soda closed groups offer a lot of support, not just for AF but for cutting down too. Support is important because it isn't easy giving up or cutting down on something addictive especially if things are sometimes difficult with your personal life. But you will cope better with everything if you aren't tired and emotionally all the time I promise

Anglaise, thank you for your wise words. You are absolutely right. I was reminded, again, why I need to do this properly when DD came home from school in a very sorry state. It was all to do about friendships (as always) - but it's the continuation of something she told me on Sunday night, and which I can't remember her having told me because I had been drinking. Shameful. I don't want to be in that situation again. She was foul to me as she was upset tonight, but I could at least cope with it reasonably rationally and calmly.

You're right about the importance of support. That is the great thing about this thread. I don't have Facebook (Mumsnet is the nearest I have to a social media presence), but this really is a lifeline for me.

Anglaise - thanks for your knowledge, that’s really interesting. I worry so much about the morning after. It makes me nervous.
Athena - you seem to be really haunting strength, that’s fantastic.
I too don’t do social media..mumsnet is my limit lol
Half a bottle here....

Off celebrating a friends birthday today, all day .
I'm aiming to swap booze for lemonade/soda every other pub cos I don't want to get to that embarrassing stage where I think I'm hilarious and the best singer in the world!

Tomorrow, is a new day. Shiny and untouched. I will fall in love again with tea, milk and water instead of squished grapes.

I will fall in love again with tea, milk and water instead of squished grapes

That made me laugh very much, Oren.

Woosey, I think paranoia has more to do with it than strength. One too many conversations I can't remember, etc, etc...

Athena how do you feel this morning? I always like waking up without my heart racing, without a dry mouth and without worrying about what I said or wrote the night before. And without worrying about driving and being over the limit!
Oren have a good day, you need to give yourself treats when you give up booze, I have fallen in love with tea and a few squares of chocolate in the evenings, sad but it helped. And I still eat a few -packets of- crisps at the weekend.
Understand completely about not doing social media, I use it as part of my business but it isn't for everyone. It can waste a lot of time!

Anglaise, I slept well and feel very glad that I haven't woken up feeling crap. I can remember all the conversations I had last night, too. That doesn't mean I won't find tonight testing, though...

Urgh.

Day 1 here. Again.

Was definetly not drinking last night. However we decided randomly to go out for a meal with the dcs. So obviously I drank. Quite a bit. At least 6 halves of lager. Felt quite drunk.

Enjoyed it though. We walked down to the local that has a play area for ds. Then jumped in a taxi and went to the lovely Indian restaurant just up the road. Had a lovely, silly night. But did wake up at 3am with a raging thirst, headache and anxiety. Sigh.

Feel ok now. Just about to have some poached eggs on toast and then off to the allotment for a couple of hours. Dry today.

Oh, Frouby, that sounds so good. Fail here. Day of horrible, horrible things, culminating in an effing £70 parking fine. I stopped for six effing minutes this lunchtime, in a car that is so catastrophically crap that it wouldn't start for two minutes. The warden must have been counting the minutes. FFS. Then DC1 told me he is coming home for three months in June. WTAF? Then XH surpassed himself. FML several times over. Gin is not the answer, but it is the only one that makes tonight even vaguely tolerable.

Evening all you lovely ladies..... life is so bust for us all . Sorry rubbish with personals. Been a really busy week with the house renovation and I could happily drink myself into oblivion. This thread has really helped me reduce my alcohol greatly. I had a lot on bank holiday Monday and felt awful Tuesday. The guilt. I have been having some af days and this week i have had 1 or 2 bottles of beer and stopping. Which is unheard of. I am absolutely sick of feeling like crap the next day and for the last week or so found my 'off' button.
You ladies are fab thanks for sharing your stories. It's inspiring stuff xx

Mamma, so glad we can help. Awful evening here. Sobbing my way through it now.

Athena , sending you hugs.

I've had a good day and night. Going to bed sober-ish at a respectable 1am.

Healthier week next week.

Athena I'm so sorry for your crap day yesterday. I hope thngs are better today for you
Oren sounds like you had a great day and won't wake up with a hangover this morning, well done!
Mamma great that you have found your 'off' switch.
2 small glasses of red here, usual weekend treat. Nothing today, need to watch what I eat and drink because of my ultra marathon race next Sunday I won't be running or cycling much this week.

Athena - have just popped on and saw your messages. I’m so so sorry about your day yesterday. Sound utterly crap. The parking warden sounded hideous. And I can utterly empathise with the dc1 coming home situation..mine comes home for 3 months too!! I love him dearly....but not when he’s living back home!!!!

Oren - I too want to fall in love with tea in the evenings. Good plan!!

Anglais - an ultra marathon!!!!!!!!!!!!

We went out with friends last night. I drink 3 single g&t’s and a whole bottle of wine!! Feel utterly embarrassed writing that!! It’s a hideous amount!! We’ve got a family thing this eve that will involve alcohol but I’ve promised myself that tomorrow will be AF and as far into the week as I can!! I’d love 4 days!! I just need help to do this!! I can’t carry on doing this to my body. I love life and I’m just wrecking my health through my drinking!! :(

Thanks, all. I did try to plead with the warden, to no avail.

Last night could have been worse, I suppose, drink wise. I had 4 x 35 ml, which was what was left in the bottle. Then I had to stop as I couldn't face going out in the rain to buy any more. So now I have no alcohol in the house, which is probably a good thing. Needless to say, I woke up at 3 am with pounding heart, panic, paranoia, etc, etc, etc.

Otherwise, it was a horrible, horrible evening. Hoping for better today.

Woosey, family events involving alcohol are very difficult. If you don't manage to stay AF, don't beat yourself up. Monday can sometimes be a better day to start. Though obviously it would be brilliant if you do manage it tonight!

Anglaise, I really appreciate all your posts. They give me hope (though I won't be running any marathons in a hurry!!)

Oren, thank you for the hugs. I need them!

Grrrrr. Am so cross with myself. Was definetly going to be AF yesterday. Had 4 hours on the plot, did a Tesco shop and walked in and opened a little bottle of Perino. Then had another. Then opened a bottle of fizzy plonk. Not sure how much of it I drank. Not a full bottle but probably over half.

So today is day 1. Again. Aim aiming (again) for AF until friday. Feel bloated and fat and puffy eyed. Not sleeping properly and eating crap. I need to really try this week to have a good, dry week.

However. Saturday I will be soaking wet all day!

Athena sounds a shitty horrible day. 140ml gin not so bad though. I think ypu were regularly drinking that much when we started this thread so think how far you have come.

Off to the plot this morning then up to my mams this afternoon. Salad, rice and chicken for tea and am having an early night. Big housework day tomorrow, final dress fitting tuesday, working Wednesday and Thursday then sorting stuff out for wedding on friday and having an early night ready for saturday.

I am debating whether to use the bridal suite on friday night. Me and dd could go and have a girls night in but feel a bit mean leaving dp and ds at home. And I will sleep better in my own bed.

But it would be nice to not see dp until the service. Decisions, decisions. Ds will be ultra clingy though if I do stay out. He was terrible after my hen so might be better for me to stay home.

Frouby good luck for your dry week - you have a great objective o Saturday so go for it! Are you able to get rid of all bottles of booze in the house? That can help. If it isn't there, it can't be drunk.
Athena sport really helps me, running has sort of turned into an addiction which isn't helpful but it keeps me occupied and there is less incentive to poison myself with wine all the time (although a few of my men friends who run really well drink A LOT )
Woosey you used to be an athlete, there is no desire to come back to the sport? Most of the people I run with who did athletics when they were younger are really good, even if they had a 20 year break from the sport.

Frouby, I feel your pain re Day One Yet Again. I hope you are surviving. Beck's Blue here.

Loving hearing all about the wedding preparations. Any decision yet about where you're staying the night before? It's all very vicariously exciting.

I am really glad you pointed out to me that 140ml of gin was what I was having every single night. You are absolutely right, and I'd lost track of it. I think that's partly because I'm now drinking far more on wet nights. But that amount of gin every single night has to be a bad thing. What's weird yesterday night is that I didn't even like the taste much, and struggled a bit to swallow it. Probably because I felt so ill last Sunday following my horrible gin-athon. Let's try to keep one another on the straight and narrow this week.

Anglaise, I think some people are just more inclined to become addicted to things than others. I am addicted to exercise (just can't run due to hypermobile and decaying joints). I could also easily become addicted, again, to not eating. You're right about it being a good idea to rid the house of booze. I now have none at all. Trying to think of all the money I am saving!

Not decided yet re the night before Athena. I will probably stay at home. Feel a bit sorry for DP. I have a huge family. Am the eldest out of 6, 5 girls and 1 boy and we are all pretty close. And I have my mam, my lovely auntie and my cousin I am close to. So have had lots of people fussing around me and helping me get organised.

Dps mam died 10 years ago and his dad is a pita. He had a stroke a few years ago and isn't in the best of health. But doesn't particularly have a lot to do with us (which is absolutely fine!). Dp is NC with his only sibling so my family is his family. Am hoping his best man makes a fuss but he has his own family too and hasn't mentioned anything about spending the morning with dp. And dp is responsible for ds on the morning of the wedding so don't really want to leave them all night too.

My brother has said he will pick them up and bring them to the venue in the morning so thats one thing sorted anyway.

Dry here and easily. We have tea early on a sunday so it's always easier. Hoping tomorrow will be a no brainer too as have to take my dress in for ironing and they have said they will do a fitting too and any little alterations so want to pee a couple of lbs off 😂😂.

I really need to get back into the habit of not drinking rather than drinking most nights. I was doing so well at one point and need to remember I can do it and how much better I felt doing it. But also as you say not going mad in wet nights. I can moderate prettt well if I know I can have another drink tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that.

Am hoping that once the wedding is out of the way that we can get back to normal. We had a big holiday booked last year i August. Then it was my 40th and dps 50th in october and December and we had another holiday booked just before Christmas. Then a countdown to the wedding. It seems like we have been waiting for events for months and months! Nothing booked in at all after the wedding so hoping to knuckle down, save some money, get the allotment and ponies properly organised and have a nice, quiet summer.

Sounds like a plan Op! How exciting!
I didn't suffer at all this morning because my last two drinks were lemonade and during evening meal I had water and lots of it!
We had brunch in a pub this morning and I had orange juice and then some coke.
I went to the supermarket on my way and have stocked ip on posh cordials and fizzy water which I will have in a gin glass. Feeling positive.
Hopefully, I won't have a stressful day tomorrow!

Athena - 140ml is mega progress!!
Frouby - sounds a tricky call re what to do fri eve..but I think so what causes you the least stress overall. And if it means ds is calmer for your wedding day, then maybe stay home :(
Anglais - I got back into running last year and really began to get addicted again. I wasn’t running far..about 3x6miles a week. Absolutely loved it. Then one day while running I tore a ligament in my knee. Don’t know how..it just snapped!! Still in pain when I do anything more than a fast walk. I do kettle bells, and Pilates now as my knee isn’t used. But I really really miss running. And also the desire to cleanse that it gave me.
I’ve had a weeny gin and one glass of wine this eve with family then made myself cups of tea. Tomorrow is day one (again!) but I really want to do 3 or 4 days hopefully this week.

Let’s do this together......

Witching hour here. Just about to do a tonic and lime. Really want gin tho.

However I really want to be a few lbs lighter for saturday. If I don't get through today I will write the rest of the week off.

#thinnerfroubyforherfrock #tonicftw #staystrongbiglass #tightbasquenofun

Fml. Poured a tonic with lime. Then she started harping on, then he decided it was a nice evening so he’d go out for a bike ride!! So now can’t have dinner til 9pm when he decides to return!! So I’m stuck home all day. Dd sent home lunchtime Cos poorly again..so it’s ME who wants to get OUT!!!!!!!!!! But no, he pops in, and then decides to go as he fancies it!!
Soooooooooo.....some gin slipped into my tonic.......