Less booze. More AF days. But still a bit damp. Not dry jan, but not a soggy summer. Support thread for reducing alcohol.

[Frouby]

New thread in case the other fills up while I am busy this weekend.

Did I mention I get married tomorrow? 😁

Rubbish at clicky links but sure someone clever will be along to link the last thread.

This is a support thread for those wanting to reduce the amount you drink. There is no judgement on here. We are all struggling along with our own problems and lives and looking to cut down. You might only want a couple of weekends off. Or reduce the amount of days you drink. Or the amount you drink. Or both.

Whatever your starting point and whatever your goal come and join us for friendly chat and support.

How did you get on yesterday, Frouby?

All my good intentions came to nothing. Don't know what's the matter with me at the moment. School holidays??

How is your DD, Woosey??

Not too bad actually. 1.5 cans of lager which is just over a pint.

Off out shortly with the dcs, my sisters and their dcs to a zoo/family farm/splash park.

Will definetly not be moderating tonight.

Frouby - id deffo not be moderating if I was going to a zoo with a heap of kids!!

Dion - don’t beat yourself up. You really have got a lot on. Be kind to yourself. Baby steps hey x

Dd is a lot better thanks. I definitely didn’t moderate last night. Glass at bottom of one bottle, plus half a bottle. So I did leave half a bottle in the fridge I suppose!!
Tonight out with two girlfriends. We all taking a bottle and meeting on the beach with nibbles to munch on too. Looking forward to being a grown up....!!

Hello, I’m new to this site but quietly watching since Monday morning when I decided enough is enough of wine, lager. I’m in my late forties but drinking since I was 15 😱. I’m at the point I think where I have a lot in common with all of you, at least a bottle of wine a night Thursday to
Sunday and then a few beers or even another bottle of wine in the week. I just want to be able to have a few glasses at the weekend and know when to stop rather than getting blotto on the sofa at home 😥 embarrassingly being woken by my teenage son. I’m off for 6 weeks now and going to try and change my lifestyle by drinking less, eating healthier and doing some exercise!!! Just don’t won’t to let my self down again, things have got to change. I thought by joining this group I may be able to support and get some support for myself?? Just to let u know I’ve been AF for 2 days 👍

Dion school holidays not easy - don't be hard on yourself you will stop when you feel it is right. I got so fed up of drinking every night during last year's summer holidays it was one of the reasons I decided to cut down.
Frouby good luck with the water park, I'm sure it will be fun
Woosey glad DD is OK and your apéro on the beach this evening sounds great, the French do that a lot!
My son is occupied at the leisure centre with other kids, I'm busy with my huge garden cutting hedges, running, cycling and catching up with friends. Its hot! Missing Mr Parfait who is still in the South of France but we speak every day and I'm really looking forward to seeing him again in a couple of weeks.

User hi and welcome, I hope you find support here, we are all at different stages of moderating! I drink like you want to I think - just at weekends, no more than a couple of glasses in one evening and no more than 10 units (a bottle of wine) a week. Those are my rules and have been since last August. I feel a lot better, lost a few kgs and don't miss feeling fuzzy in the mornings - I was drinking at least 5 bottles of wine a week before and thought I had a dependency problem if not worse. I do lots of sport, mainly running, which I do most days and it is a lot easier and I run faster and longer than when I'd been drinking the night before.
Good luck, my advice would be to set rules and stick to them - most people say at least a month completely AF to start with but I never bothered just went AF in the week and saved wine as a treat for the weekend.

Thank you for welcoming me. I used to do a bit of running I actually even made a 10k 2 years ago but gradually loss my running/exercise mojo, have downloaded the couch to 5k app so hoping to complete that over the next 6 weeks to keep my focussed. I would love to be able just to be able to have a couple of glasses over a weekend but unfortunately once a bottle is opened I know it’s all gone. Im hoping to ditch the wine at home and just have a g&t which I will buy in cans. I would like to say I will ditch the wine completely but I know when I’m out on my girly nights out it will all be forgotten!!! Wine is really like a drug to me I think 👎👎

Welcome, user. This is a lovely thread. We are all at various stages. I am failing miserably at the moment, but the support here is phenomenal. No judgement at all - just encouragement and understanding. Anglaise is a wonderful example of how I would like to be! Your description of opening a bottle and not being able to stop is certainly one I sympathise with. Unfortunately.

Frouby, I hope you survived the zoo/splash park experience. However foul my DC are, at least we are beyond zoos. DD has just been completely revolting (digging a key into the sofa, then saying she wasn't; saying "So I won, then" in a horrible sarcastic way when it turned out she was right about her father not doing something - as if she and I were having some kind of competition about it . That said, she was laid up with period pain for most of the day, so she is presumably in a hormonal stew).

Woosey, enjoy your adult evening. You deserve it. I'm glad to hear your DD is a bit better today, though I know how quickly this can change.

Here, I have found the solution to all our problems. I was invited to an ancient neighbour's for a cup of tea. Or so I thought. It turned out it was piles of sandwiches, cakes, scones, and about 400 cups of milky tea. I rolled out of her house feeling as if I was going to burst at 6 PM. The very last thing I ever want to do as long as I live is eat or drink anything again. And that includes alcohol.

So there we go: get a neighbour who stuffs you with sweet/bready things between 5 and 6 PM to the point that you feel too sick to raise yourself from the sofa. If only I had realised it was this easy...

Sounds like a good plan Dion. Except I am the feeder on our road so would be drinking to cope with all the visitors.

Survived the day out. It was a lovely day actually, apart from DS falling in a pond. Because he was messing around and not listening to me. Sigh. He was spitting out duck weed and had to chuck him in the splash park to get clean while I rinsed his normal clothes in the loo and dried them on a fence.

That child will be the death of me.

Only had 1 gin though which is an unexpected result. Thought I would get pissed and send dh to the chippy for tea. Made us burger and fries and we have all eaten so I won't be drinking again tonight.

Am bloody knackered, was out at 9am and not back until nearly 6pm and walking around in the sun with the dcs is tiring.

Welcome User. We all know the pain of being unable to stop so you are in good company.

Woosey enjoy your evening, we are due out on 11th august and I can't bloody wait.

Frouby - wow what a day!!! I would have been def opening the wine now!!
Dionysay thank you.
I’m trying to keep my days stress free so don’t have to reach for the bottle although I have a 6 hour drive tomorrow so I know it’s going to be a tricky evening but been to Tesco and bought loads of healthy sparkling drinks - fingers crossed🤞
Anglaise your relationship with alcohol sounds great to me, I’m hoping for this soon.

BTW I’m only just finding my way around the site slowly. You will also see that I have changed my name from “user numbers” to FloFlo11 - I think I have anyway 😂😂

Flo, I have had more name change fails than you can imagine.

Day One is over. The first Day One I have had since being severely hung over about 10 days ago...

AF Day Two. Urgh. FML. Counting the seconds minutes until it is over and I can go to bed. I have to do this, just to prove to myself that I can. FML again.

BTW, I have eaten about 10 packets of crisps instead. At least they won't rot my liver.

Day 4 and really twitchy😏. 6 hour turned into 7 hour journey, desperately wanting wine!!! Sparkling water is not quite the same😂😂

Dion when you go AF make sure you treat yourself to other things. I hope you enjoyed the crisps and well done on Day 2
Flo day 4 brilliant! It's so hot alcohols doesn't appeal at all to me.

FloFlo, Day 4?? I aspire to this. And no, sparkling water isn't the same. I had two bottles of it last night, and did not sleep well as a result due to excessive loo trips.

Thank you, Anglaise. I have noticed that I've largely stopped eating as I've been drinking more (have not had breakfast or lunch for as long as I can remember, and then only a salad in the evenings). It feels odd to have eaten three actual meals today (plus the crisps...). The fear of becoming fat as a result is another thing that's putting me off having alcohol and its calories...

Dion TBH, really struggling tonight, just had coffee and biscuits as feeling the need for something!!! I think I’d better have an early night too otherwise I will be up the shop for a bottle of vino!!!
Anglaise, when it’s hot and sunny all I want to do is pour a glass of wine and chill in the garden 😂

Anglaise, I've just watched the C4 documentary you mentioned, instead of having a drink. I'd be very interested to know (as I think Actually said) how people fared if they learnt to moderate in the way you have. Surely this has to be better for you than persistent heavy drinking? Surely total abstinence isn't the only solution? I hope not, as I'm still aiming for your kind of moderation...

PS Needless to say, I'm not directing these questions at you - more rhetorical!! Thanks for alerting me to the programme...

Can you remind me of the programme??

Dion well done on day 2. I’m no where near day 1 yet fml

Flo - you’re doing great!

Anglais - how’s contact with me perfect

Woosey, it's called something like Live Well Longer. I found it on 4 On Demand, I think. I can't believe I've survived Day 2. It helps that DS is away this week!!!

Bottle of Sauvignon down the hatch!!

Dion I'm sure that moderation (if possible) is better than than persistent heavy drinking and if you can stick to the government guidelines then there shouldn't be any problem healthwise. BUT the problem is that a lot of people are all or nothing and so moderation isn't an option for them. I also think that as well as sticking to the 14 units (or 10 in France) a stretch of at least 2 consecutive AF days are better for you as it gives your liver a good rest. It also breaks the habit of daily drinking.
Cutting out eating in favour of drinking isn't a great idea - alcohol has no nutritional benefits and it goes straight onto your middle which is why you see serious alcoholics with really skinny legs and arms and a pot belly.
Woosey the programme is Live Well For Longer it was the 1st programme which featured the women's alcohol test.
Mr Perfect is still on holiday, speaking to him regularly and looking forward to seeing him in around 10 days.
Had lunch with girlfriends at St Malo yesterday, apéro (sparkling water) lunch (still water) and we still had a great time

Sounds fab Angalise. Bizarrely I can quite happily socialise and not drink. It's at home I struggle.

Slight fail last night with 3 x 440ml lager. Tonight hasn't been a disaster though. Started on the wine about 5pm which usually means a bottle. Had half and switched to lager, had 2 cans and then went onto lager.

It's not ideal but better. Currently drinking a cup.of tea which would have been unheard of on a friday night.

Am pleased overall with this week considering school holidays. No AF but 2 nights with just 1 or units. No binges. No hangovers. Especially considering the weather.

Dion are you on night 3? Good luck if you are. woosey hope your dd is ok. Xx

Well done frouby on moderation. Deffo a strength given it’s school holidays.

Anglais I’m so inspired by you having still water with lunch!!

Well I’m mega chuffed. I went to dinner with dh and the kids. Got cab so we could both drink. We went to a bar first. I had a medium Pinot instead of a large. Dh got a second drink but I made mine last. Then had one large wine in the restaurant instead of a bottle. Amazed and proud!!