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) 😁

Hi all.

I did enjoy it Athena thanks.

But I do need to learn to stop and put the Cork in like Frouby and aintno

Colouring - I fear I will be saying the same as you tomorrow...

I drank the full bottle of wine lol. But just wine which is better for me on a friday. Would usually have 3 or 4 beers before the wine, then the full bottle. So it was an improvement.

Especially after 6 dry days! Literally unheard of here.

I felt fine this morning. Slightly bleary eyed but not as rough as last Saturday by a long shot.

Have just got home after an afternoon at soft play hell with family. Normally I would have walked and started on the gin. Or wine.

Am not sure yet if I am going to drink tonight. Dp isn't drinking and I want to get out of the habit of drinking alone. And as much as I fancy one now, am waiting half an hour to see if the urge passess. I think I will save it for tomorrow and have a drink while I cook dinner. We are going to the allotment tomorrow and have a feeling we will be working up a thirst.

Hope everyone has a good dry or damp saturday.

Athena 4 days is fab. Enjoy your wine tonight and remember you cam switch at anytime to soft drinks. You can even have a couple of glasses of wine, then a soft drink then back to wine if you like.

Hi Frouby - have you tried looking at the blog mummywasasecretdrinker ? It covers the story of a Mum of three who decided to give up - really well written with great tips and funny as well ( she has just brought a book out last week called the Sober Diaries)

Good luck

Julia x

Good to read everyone's posts. I've had a good week on the AF front, with some wine earlier in the week and some last night. AF on the other days, and I'm going out tomorrow so will have a couple of glasses (mediums!) then.

I'm also doing a variation of the tick thing in the diary, suggested by a PP above: I'm using the year planner at the back to note down each day's alcohol units. I want to get them down to 20 a week for the time being (which makes me realise how much higher it was....) and from there down to 14 or below most weeks. I read that 14 is the recommended level for both women and men now, I hadn't realised it had been reduced for men.

ThanksJulia. Have had a quick scan through and it looks good.

I may possibly download the book too when I feel a bit more settled with things. I am trying to switch off thinking about drinking in an evening which is when I read. Apart from this thread and talking to dp am keeping it low key. I don't want people asking about it or telling me Indrink too much and should stop (which I know) or saying a few drinks won't hurt to justify their own habits.

Am currently sipping ginger cordial and feeling very virtuous!

Hi, I'm doing drier January too I could easily have at least one drink every night of the week so have cut down to no mid week drinking and minimal at weekends. I feel better for it already!

Thanks Athena, Frouby

I've just opened a new bottle, but am expecting to share it shortly . It's weird, after the Monday eve I didn't have too much trouble not drinking. But one glass and it's very hard to stop.

But like you say, even if it's one and half bottles a week that is 13-14 units which is the recommended. Less than 2017...

This thread is so helpful, thanks so much.

Any other non-alc suggestions v welcome. Can't go near ginger having had it 24/7 while pregnant twice and v sick!

Glad everyone is making their way through the weekend relatively ok.

Yesterday was my nieces 18th birthday and I allowed myself 1 glass of prosecco (my only alcohol of 2018 so far!), rather than the bottle I would normally have consumed. My sister was surprised I didn't really drink, but I told her was doing dry January and my nieces birthday was a brief exception and she didn't try and get me to have more than a glass. I had a lovely time and feel fine this morning - will be heading out for a hangover free Run once it is light!!

colouring I like the belvoir cordials and fizzy drinks. They do a pink lemonade that is lovely. And a nice elderflower tonic. I also like tonic water with ice and lemon. And the supermarket hi juices are usually nice.

Well done threesocks! I don't know if I could stop at 1 on a night out. But I bet ypu feel better for it this morning.

HI, can I join in? I drink every evening - it all seems very civilised, two glasses of red or white wine but this seems to be creeping up to half a bottle some nights. My skin looks red and uneven and I am tired a lot. I regularly wake an hour before I need to and feel anxious. I think cutting down booze will eventually eradicte this. I've done the odd night off here and there but it is probably only about 4 nights per year! I really want to rein it in a bit and enjoy a drink at weekends or when I go out.

Can I join in please? I rarely have a day without a drink and sometimes it's nearer half a bottle. The wine fear on a morning is getting worse the older I get and it makes me feel awful. My dh isn't a big drinker and I'm feeling like a middle age cliche with my lonely glass/es of wine on an evening. Plus I'm tanking weight on which is crap too. Glad I found you!

Hi all, can I join?
I feel smug when I have 2AF nights a week, but I really need to reverse this and have 5 no alcohol days.
I woke up last night (after a pink gin and prosecco evening) with anxiety and convinced myself that my liver was hurting.
I also enjoy wine to destress after work, but recently found that sharing one bottle with DP isn't enough and we're opening the second.
I feel guilty, I feel bloated and it's giving me health anxiety.
No gin or wine now until Friday or hopefully Saturday even.

Well that's allotment duties done and dusted. About 1/4 ton of well rotted manure shifted with me,dp and ds. Hard work but we definitely didn't feel cold.

Normally we would nip to the pub over the road for a swift one after. Then carry on drinking until about 5pm. Only steadyily but dp would have about 8 cans. Me about 3 cans then a couple of g and ts.

Currently at home drinking coffee! Then going to have a bath and do some housework, make a sunday lunch and chill a bit.

I might have a couple of drinks later if I feel like it. Am not sure yet. I want to really fancy a drink before I do not do it out of habit.

This all feels much easier than the dry jan I did last year. Because I know if I really want a drink I can have one.

Tomorrow teatime will be difficult as mondays are mad busy anyway. And dp will be drinking tomorrow.

Hello all.

Frouby - congratulations on breaking the post-allotment habit. So much of excessive drinking is IME to do with habit as much as anything else. Things like: I'm cooking, therefore I have a glass of wine. Or as a PP has said, watching telly goes hand in hand with half a bottle. Etc.

oren - at the moment, I'd feel that 2/7 AF days per week was an improvement, but 5/7 AF would be brilliant.

Awks and Thespian - I know the Wine Fear / Gin Fear / Morning-After Anxiety all too well. However hard it has been not to drink for four nights, I have not missed this particular shitty side effect. Nor have I missed the "oh my God, what did I sound like on the phone last night?" thing.

Went out with DP last night. We had an aperitif and shared a bottle of wine. Quite a lot by normal standards, but just gave me the nice fuzzy feeling. We then went back to his flat, but didn't have a nightcap (he didn't offer). I would in the past have helped myself anyway while he was in the bathroom, but I didn't. Hardly a triumph given the amount I had already consumed, but an improvement.

Herbigchance and colouring: the reminder about units is timely. I have always had my head very firmly in the sand about this, and think that my gin measures are only very small and therefore only consist of a couple of units. So by my reckoning a third of a bottle of gin is only two units. I think I will try calculating properly on the nights I do drink. Might at least make me think twice.

Julia: thanks for the reminder about that blog. I had come across it ages ago, but it will be something for me to read this evening when I have to start on Day One AF again. Ugh.

Have any of you considered giving up completely? Some of you sound as though that might be a sensible idea.

Blemnblep. I have considered it, but would prefer to have a 'normal' relationship with alcohol. I have generally obsessive tendencies (stopped eating for a long period when younger; at another point, stopped eating anything that contained even a trace of sugar for two years; had a serious addiction to running which wrecked my joints, etc), and I don't want to go down that particular route as it is always bad news for me psychologically. I would rather work on the less desirable aspects of my personality and have a normal relationship with food and drink (though realise that I can't work on the personality while I'm drinking heavily, as it's exacerbating my tendency to be anxious and neurotic. Which is a major reason I am cutting back so drastically...).

Blemp I also just want a normal relationship with alcohol. I want to be at a point where I can enjoy alcohol moderately. Once or twice a week. Not absolutely bladdered. Just merry. Atm knowing I can have a drink is keeping me happy with my choices. If I tell myself I can't have a drink it will make it difficult.

I have had 7 out of 8 days AF. Today might be AF too. Am not sure yet. But I want to be able to have a drink if I want one and enjoy it. But not do it out of habit.

Well done for last night Athena. It has to be better than what you would have done last Saturday. As well as not starting drinking I want to be able to stop drinking when I have had enough.

A normal relationship with alcohol can include not drinking at all. I gave up a few years ago and feel very happy and normal. Giivng up drinking is not like giving up food. It's like giving up smoking . It's nice to be free of the worry.

I wish you all the best.

Well I fell asleep on the sofa last night after a half bottle and am soooo tired today. At parents with kids. Still have a half bottle in the fridge, not quite sure what to do with it!

Blemnblep: of course a completely AF life can be normal too. But I don't think the comparison with smoking is entirely valid: not only does smoking have no benefits at all, but has only dis-benefits. It's perfectly possible to enjoy a glass of wine - or even half a bottle, every now and then - without it actually doing any physical harm. The harm arises when someone feels that their need for alcohol is controlling them. At this point, some people find it better and more effective to go completely AF. For others, though, it's better to try to moderate rather than to give up completely. If moderation proves impossible for me, I'd think of trying to give up altogether, because it's clear that I have been drinking way too much and that I need to do something about it. However, I'd like at least to see if I can get it back to a "healthy" level (i.e. within current government guidelines). Thanks for posting, though - not least because it's good to examine my own motives for doing this.

Colouring. Argh. If any consolation, I still have half a bottle of Sauternes in the fridge, which has been there for several days. Every time I look at it, I think: "100 million calories", which helps (probably in fact swapping one obsessive thing for another, but anyway ).

Frouby: thank you . Yes, last Saturday will have been far, far worse. I can't remember it, but I do know it was the night before DC1 went back to university, and I must have had a fair bit because I ordered a Deliveroo for all of us, which I know when sober that I can't afford to do! Making a(nother) cup of tea now. Sigh.

So I’m going dry tonight and have ginger ale and bitter lemon bottled in the fridge! I’m out with a friend tomorrow so I know I’ll have a couple then but will be dry then until Fri when my significant other comes over for dinner. I feel positive. Drinking booze will feel associated with an occasion instead of a nightly chore type thing.

Good luck, Thespian. That's what I'm hoping to achieve, too. Just had another cup of tea...

We’ll all be weeing life The Walton’s at this rate 😂