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) 😁

Athena I have found it very difficult tonight too and whilst I have stayed off the gin I have just eaten half a box of chocolates I had hidden.

If it was easy then we wouldn't be posting on here. We would all just be smugly not drinking. Can you return anything you have bought online? Think you get a 14 day cooling off period. Try and cancel if you don't need them.

And don't get too down. Give yourself a slap, dust yourself off, STEP AWAY FROM THE GIN, and start again tomorrow.

I have had a shitty day too. Chasing around everywhere this morning to try and get shot done, another hour of bastarding business admin, a 45 minute drive to get dd to orthodontist with 4 year old ds in tow, 45 minute wait for a 5 minute appointment then an hour drive in sleet and snow home.

Then my bloody veneer on my front tooth that has only been on 6 days pinged off. Ffs. So tomorrow I have an urgent appointment but have no childcare for ds so will have to beg nursery to let him stay for his lunch or failing that pick my mum up from 9 miles away so she can watch him then drive her home and the weather is going to be bad here so already stressing about that.

And my house is disgusting and I was supposed to be doing that tomorrow not sat in the dentist for an hour. Fml.

Frouby - thank you. This is the very slim thread that I am clinging on to. I give up, tonight. Dentist for me tomorrow. FML, too.

PS now up to 5.5 units. FML.

Just goes to show that I need this, despite Smuggy McSmugface yesterday...

Do you want a slap Athena? Or I do a good growly roar as ds calls it.

Can stop a norty pony it's tracks from 30 meters away and even terrifies hardened construction workers.

'PUT THE FECKING GIN DOWN WOMAN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. DRINK SONE WATER. GO TO FECKING BED. ALSO STOP BUYING SHITE YA DON'T NEED ON THE INTERWEB'.

Did that help?

Was all set for a dry night but I have just had some amazing news about a big acting part and I really do need to celebrate. I have only had one wine but there may well be another to follow...I mean this news really is cause for celebration...

Enjoy Thespian!

Well I just managed to stay dry but have eaten piles of sweets and biscuits. Such strong sugar cravings. Def Not loosing weight here

Congratulations, Thespian. This kind of good news is why it would be nice to be normal about drinking.

Very miserable this morning due to last night's failure. So I am essentially starting at Day One again. Still, I finished the bottle of gin last night and am not going to buy any more. I woke up in a panic at some point, feeling anxious and unhappy. I have to remember this horrible feeling tonight, when I am tempted to start on whatever is in the cupboard. Also have to remember how bad I feel now. I have felt so good all week, and now this.

Anyway, today is a new day, so I just have to get through it somehow.

You aren't starting at day 1 Athena. Think about the week before and how much you drank and think about this week and how much you drank and I bet it is a lot less. So although yesterday was moist you have had dry days and been dryer overall. So not day 1 at all.

Celebrating sonething nice is a perfect reason to have a couple of drinks. I want alcohol to be in celebration of something and enjoyed rather than the go to when I am stressed or pissed off.

And as much I would like to I can't keep celebrating Wednesday 😂😂

😂😂😂 Frouby #thatWednesdayfeeling

Hi all
Can I join please as I desperately need support to cut down my daily drinking and have been reading your comments all morning. I am drinking at least a bottle of wine every day and want to cut down to either one small glass a day with a meal (very difficult to stop at one) or just a few glasses on Friday and Saturday evenings.

I would love to hear from you !

And as much as I want to I can't keep celebrating Wednesday

🤣🤣🤣

Best quote today!!

marie111 we are all in teh same boat here - not wanting total abstinece but just needing to tighten the reins. It is harder than it sounds but the thread is good because no one is judgy.

Welcome Marie. It's the best place to be I think. We can all support each other and commiserate if we get wet.

Celebrating Wednesday is looking tempting today I can tell you. 2 hours in dentist. Tooth stuck back in so I don't look like some dodgy fortune teller anymore so that's good. Something to celebrate maybe?

Have made stew for tea, blitzed the whole house off, changed all the beds, been bossed around by ds and the dog and have just sat down with a coffee.

I could murder a cold glass of wine though. Or even a lager. #wednesdayftw

And as much I would like to I can't keep celebrating Wednesday 😂😂

Definitely Quote of the Day. Your last post made me laugh, too, Frouby. So thank you for that. And thank you for your kind words. Today's lesson for me is: if a day is already really shitty, drinking will only make it even shittier.

So perhaps best kept for celebrating good news, rather than drowning out crap. We will see. One way I went wrong last night, I think, is that I didn't have any tolerable substitute, which made it that bit easier to think: oh sod it, I'll just have one gin. Which of course means four. I was lulled into a false sense of security on Monday as I didn't have a substitute then - though that was in fact because I didn't have time before Book Club, rather than because I am so reformed that I don't need anything at all.

Marie111 - I am glad you found us. No judgy pants here. We all want to reduce our consumption, and it definitely helps to have other people to turn to. Dry January wouldn't work for me (even if I could manage it), because I'd just go back to old ways on 1st Feb. What I want is to be normal about alcohol, and I think that's what all of us here is aiming for - not evangelical sobriety. Though there's no doubt that I did feel better last week, once I'd got over the horror of not being able to have a drink at 6 PM...

Please can I join too? I am doing dryer January, so am limiting myself to a bottle(ish) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but none mon - Thursday. I know this is still too much but is better than my bottle a day habit which may have been slightly more over Christmas!

PissedOff: glad to have you here. Limiting is the aim. The idea is that there's nothing prescriptive about what any of us "should" be drinking; we just all want to cut back to a level that we regard as within the bounds of normal and healthy for us individually. I think we've all suffered from "mission creep", and the main thing is that we've realised we want to rein it in again.

Hello new people this is a v nice supportive thread. I'm also trying to cut back so only drinking Fri and Sat nights. I work Mon-Wed so have a bit of a Friday feeling this eve which I'm trying to resist!

Thanks for the welcome! I have previously done dry January but return to normal in feb . Hope this will be better and then maybe I can try to cut out another night...

Frouby - I will steal your And as much I would like to I can't keep celebrating Wednesday if you don't mind - that is fantastic.

I would love to join too if I may - my drinking has got to stupid levels and hardly a day goes by without opening a bottle of wine. I have no desire to stop drinking but would just like to drink for enjoyment rather than habit.

I've just read the last couple of pages and see some of you are struggling, but if it weren't hard, this thread wouldn't exist!

To even be tackling your drinking, sometimes, is such a massive thing!

This week I've been good - loads of wine on Sat with girlfriends and a gin on Sunday and nothing since. I've had to eat the minute I get in and then have a bath straight after that to minimise the temptation of being in the kitchen etc.

Also for the first time ever I've tempted DH to cut down his drinking too - massive incentive to stay off it if he's sipping a glass of water, as normally he's the boozy one!

We've got a night out on Friday so I'm def going to drink then, and think next week might be boozy as there's quite a lot of work stuff going on which will involve booze.

Keep going everyone - one bad day is not a bad week, and remember how brilliant you feel when you wake up after an alcohol-free night (generally - I felt crap this morning!)

Steal away FiveShelties. Are shelties a dog? Like corgi shaped lassie dogs? And do you have 5?

Stone cold sober here. Not a drop of alcohol was consumed. Was very tempted but DS looking a bit peaky so thought I better not.

Today's non alcoholic beverage was tonic water, lots of ice and a dash of lime cordial. Nice enough I suppose. Do you know I was a bit reluctant to use a can of tonic as a soft drink because it was wasteful without the gin? But would happliy have had it with the gin in if I had been drinking alcohol.

Anyway. It was another dry night so that's good.

Tomorrow I might possibly have a couple of drinks. Dd needs a lift home saturday evening so won't be drinking saturday. And I didn't enjoy my 2 drinks sunday. Dp finds Saturday and sunday easier to not drink on so might drink tomorrow and friday rather than 2 days at the weekend.

Will have to see. I like doing my ticks and seeing them in neat rows though and thursday would spoil it 😁

Well done!

I am still dry tonight, but only just, seriously craving a nightcap

Frouby - yes Shelties are a miniature Lassie Collie and no, I do not have five! I have had 5 over the years though - I would probably drink more if I had five, although perhaps would not be able to afford wine with all the vet bills.

Well done on a dry Wednesday Frouby, Growing and colouring

Hope you don't mind me butting in, I am obsessively reading all threads to do with alcohol as I have known for a while I've been self medicating with alcohol since my divorce 4 years ago and decided that I was going to try really hard to do a dry January having only managed 18 days last year.
I read Jason Vale's book how to kick the drink easily for some inspiration and am now on day 21 AF since reading it (I was even AF for new year!) I got a bit panicky at first when I realised he advocates abstinence rather than moderation as he says it's too difficult nigh on impossible for a lot of people. Since then I've also read books by Clare Pooley and Catherine Grey both of which are excellent.
The last 2 nights I have really struggled, that voice (the wine witch) telling me I'm not that bad and could have a drink and no one would ever know was hard to shut up. I went on to the Soberistas website and there was a quote on there about the decision to have one drink is a decision to have hundreds which helped to remind me that it wouldn't be just one drink and why I am doing this in the first place.
A life without alcohol seems hard to contemplate given how alcohol centric our society is but I think for me for now it's easier than dealing with that constant inner battle and I also had the horrible 3AM lying awake consumed with anxiety.
I've yet to have the great sleep I've been hearing about, or lose any weight or look all glowing and ten years younger but I've told myself that I will at least do the 100 day challenge and if I'm feeling better I'll carry on. I'm not on any threads here as again they are all about moderation which is not what I'm trying to do, at least for the time being but a lot of what you are dealing with chimed with me and so I thought I would share my experience and say good luck as I know how hard it is to do this and for me reading as much as I can is what's kept me going.