It's day 1! Anyone else?

[Thepeppapigfanclub]

I'm 45. I've been drinking a bottle/bottle and a half a night for as long as I can remember with the odd dry January/ Stoptober along the way - but I always end up back on the wine again.

I'm a parent to a 13 year old and the shame that comes with this is crippling. It's not good and I know I HAVE GOT to stop. I am sick of the self-loathing, the fear, the anxiety and the money down the drain. Most of all, I'm worried about shuffling of this mortal coil leaving my child before I should.

So it's day one (again) for me. I just wondered if anybody else has picked this as their day one too for some support.

Any tips for the first week?

Many thanks - there's some seriously inspirational people on here reading some of the other threads - I'm in awe of all of those who've made it to six months, a year and beyond. It feels beyond my grasp.

Dat 1 done. I slept pretty well. Some odd dreams but I wasn't awake in the early hours.

Not drinking on a Saturday after a blow out on a Friday is normal for us. The test will be this evening as I usually opened a bottle of wine to go with our roast dinner. Not tonight!

@BrassicaBabe So glad you are getting some sleep. I've had another awful night but I've been drinking a lot of green tea and am wondering if I'm having too much caffeine...That being said I'm about to go for a walk and a coffee. 😂

One thing I would recommend to people stating out is take a picture of yourself on day one and then day 14...I've just done mine and difference is quite shocking ... in a good way. The redness is gone, face is slimming down and eyes - though not yet 'sparkly' do not look like piss holes in the snow!

@Thepeppapigfanclub the fact it's taking us all so long to physically recover has sent me down an Internet rabbit hole trying to find out more about the physical recovery. The trouble is so much on the internet is speaking about recovery for people who had bottles of vodka under the bed. I think most/all of us here are a way off that. And I'd suggest that most of m us here would describe our drinking as problematic but more emotionally addicted rather than physically addicted. But despite knowing that, it's taken me nearly 2 weeks to sleep as a normal person. The internet isn't giving me the facts that I'm looking for 🙄

@BrassicaBabe Yes I totally agree with you. I think I've done enough research now to write a six part documentary. 😂

I would like to know why the weight is falling off despite drinking a bottle and half a night. That must be about 900 calories a day! I really hadn't been paying any attention to myself, and I know it sounds vain, but I look like Violet who blew up like a blueberry in Charlie and the Chocolate factory. I've got a wardrobe full of clothes I'm too fat to fit into and nothing to wear in next weeks' heatwave.

Can anybody tell us how long it took to shift the wine belly?

I think there's some healing going on ahead of decent weight loss.

Here's what I've noticed so far...

1. At around days 4-7 my skin was WORSE. I had fluid filled eye bags.
2. Pretty much straight away my weight loss/gain behaved much more as I think it should. It's much less "twitchy". That is, one takeaway didn't lead to long term gain. Before, one pizza would lead to a weight gain of 2-3lb that would take a whole week to go. Last week a pizza led to a 0.5lb gain the following morning which was gone by the next day.

Last week was unusual in that we had THREE TAKEWAYS. But over the 7 days my weight stayed the same. This week without the takeaways I've lost 2.5lb.

1. Pretty sure I'm seeing positives in my running. But I'm holding out on pin pointing what those are just yet.
2. By day 14 I'm not waking up in the middle of the night.
3. My skin still feels pretty rubbish. Who knows...maybe this is just what my skin is now 🤣
4. Maybe, just maybe, I'm less anxious. But I need to be careful about my caffeine.

I suppose I'm expecting a bit much for 2 weeks after decades of alcohol abuse. 😂I need to start running again but thought I better wait for the flank aches and pains to die down first.

I suppose getting back in shape will give me something else to research and focus on because I feel like I've pretty much exhausted the alcohol topic. 😂

Morning all,

Day 2! Soon I’ll hopefully be able to start counting in weeks!!

Well done @Thepeppapigfanclub 14 days is amazing - I hope you’re feeling the benefits? Is it getting easier? The adjustment in the first few weeks is really hard. @BrassicaBabe 13 days is amazing and so pleased you slept through whoop, keep going everyone!

@Whyisitsosohard im right with you - just start again, good luck for the next few days… I also had my kids closeish together and the drinking increased considerably after baby no. 2. Looking back we had a tonne of problems (a different house reno which wasn’t going well, arguments, blah) which contributed to increased consumption. My anxiety levels were through the roof. Fast forward 9 years and I just don’t want to make the same mistakes. It is possible to cut down the drinking but it’s really hard as you have to face what triggers you and change that. I have a switch which says literally, ‘ooohh I’m going to drink tonight, I deserve it, I’ve worked hard with the kids’ etc. but in reality I’m doing harm to myself. The switch needs to start saying something more like - ‘I’ve worked hard today, maybe I need more help with X and I need to change Y.’ I need to ask my husband to help more, I need to set boundaries with people and be kind to myself. But not facing these things and turning to drink is much easier isn’t it. 😫

@Thepeppapigfanclub I think I forgot to answer your q’n about whether husband is supportive - in short, no. He likes a drink and wouldn’t cut it out. He can cut right back but his parents love a drink and in an inherent part of the social side when we see them - ‘it’s after 12, we can all have a vino - yey’. 🤦🏼‍♀️ if I cared to say no it’s like a showstopper. You can feel the silence and eyes on me, like I’ve just declared a fondness for Putin or something! So I just say yes and then nurse the drink for a long time 🫣

Apologies I meant to say, ‘if I dared to say no’.

I definitely saw the difference when I looked in the mirror yesterday. Skin a glowing etc.

The annoying thing (please don’t hate me, I am regurgitating things wot I have read) is that I don’t think alcohol calories behave in exactly the same way as food or other drink calories. I don’t think they get stored as fat but the body does use them for energy instead of burning off actual fat. I am not entirely sure what that means in the real world though other than it doesn’t translate directly to “I am in a 900 calorie per day deficit”

Another reason to hate alcohol @TimesaChangeling 😂! Diet and exercise it is then. Glad you are seeing the difference too.

@Cloudsclouds6 Yes - I am relieved to have got to 2 weeks. It's definitely had it's hard moments but I think it's getting easier. I've stopped pining for it, look better (despite the fat), feel more alert and calmer, feel more in control. There's still a very, very long way to go though. I'm back at work tomorrow and used to pouring a drink when I get through the door so that's the next challenge.

It's harder if you haven't got the support around you and we all know how easy it is to just say 'sod it' and crack so you are doing great. You'll be at 2 weeks before you know it.

I think you are right @TimesaChangeling the bit I remember.... we burn most of our calories each day doing nothing, just living. When we drink alcohol all of that calorie burning stops while the body deals with processing the alcohol. So not only are you taking on more calories in the way is alcohol but you aren't burning the others either.

That will explain why I have got so fat then.

For people who have stopped before can you please share your timeline and when you started feeling better?

Also one more question sorry did you all take time off work? If so how long?

Checking in on day 14. Haven’t caught up on the thread yet but wanted to quickly update before I get distracted.

Welcome new joiners!

I haven’t noticed any major changes. I do feel like my sleep is a better quality but it’s still hit and miss how much I’m getting. My face looks the same I think but my stomach is definitely less bloated. Strangely though my clothes aren’t fitting better yet. I’m optimistic though it won’t be long. I feel a bit leaner.

Glad you're doing well @MamaGhina . Two week tomorrow! Wow.

Anyone else drinking a lot of water/squash/fizzy drinks?! I must have been PERPETUALLY dehydrated!

@Thepeppapigfanclub well done on making it to two weeks. It's been ten days for me and i feel emotionally more positive. I have not lost weight yet (but i have been eating chocolate) and my sleep has gone a bit weird. I fall asleep fine but wake up feeling anxious about half an hour later and i can't go back to sleep. This used to happens to me around 3am. I was hoping it would stop. Seems not.

I haven't lost weight yet. But my eyes are looking clearer. My sugar cravings are crazy though!

@NewLifeHappyLife
It's ok to have some sweets around to deal with the sugar craving! I used to buy those big bags of assorted mints and keep them in my desk at work 😂
Colleagues were free to help themselves and they took full advantage!

Well done to everyone who's doing this - it is entirely possible and you will feel much much better for it.

🌸🌺🌸🌺🌸🌺🌸🌺🌸🌺🌸🌺

You may want to look into taking some extra B vitamins for a while too.

Hello all
Today needs to be my day 1.
I'm 48 and I need to stop
I drink every day. Once I start I can't stop
I drink anything and I've now got to the hiding it over the house stage.
I make excuses to go to the shops and buy cans of drink and swig them on the way back.
I can drink a small bottle of vodka in a day, neat, necking it out of the bottle.
I'm in a 3.5 year relationship with the sweetest guy and I will lose him if he finds all this out.
I drank a bottle of vodka last night and don't remember going to bed or sleep..
I HAVE to stop. It's affecting my looks, I'm putting on weight and my face is sagging and aging..
Eurgh..
I am sick of waking up in the morning and feeling anxious and bewildered, of feeling sick and bloated.
I'm scared I can't stop.
I dont even feel good after the first drink anymore.
So...I'm going to stop.
Please help

Morning All,

Welcome to all the new joiners - you will be massively supported here on your journey - these lovely ladies are the best!!

Hope you are all doing ok!

Had family round this weekend which is a very heavy drinking session (don't see each other often) and I am proud to say that although I did have a few drinks I had a fraction of what I would normally have - I didn't wake up once with a hangover or feeling I had overdone it (the measure I bought to make sure I was just sticking to the pub measure was a godsend) - in fact I think I drank a fraction of what I would normally have when we meet up (there is still plenty of drink left in the cupboard which normally I would have to go out and buy more) - its still not AF but its cutting down and I must admit seeing them all drunk and me being absolutely fine was a massive eye opener - I actually went to bed early 1 night as I couldn't deal with the slurring and repeating of the same thing and I actually realised in bed listening to them - that was me literally 2 weeks ago! I had told my OH that I was cutting down and he even said it was the worst time with us having visitors but I stuck with it and then seeing everyone feeling so bad the next day has actually got me wanting this AF life more
I'm going to follow the advice still of the nurse and cut down slowly but this has given me the extra confidence I need that I can do this but more importantly I WANT to do this!

Here's to the new start of a new week (and the bonus my hot chocolate arrives today so cant wait to cozy tonight with that!!!)

Oh yes great point. I actually have recurring pernicious anaemia and have to take mega doses of Vitamin b12 on occasion. I need to get an updating blood test anyway so will book that in.