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.

I'm 20 years sober through a 12-step program. I was more of a binge drinker and drank for a few years nightly.

To cut a long story short, it got to a stage where I knew it had to go.

What I learnt was that it was the first drink that got me drunk. If I didn't have the first drink, it wouldn't set up the craving for another and another, etc.

Alcohol is full of poisonous sugar. So when we shop we crave sweet things. Have them. Have the chocolate bar, sugary drinks, etc. It helps any craving.

H.A.L.T = Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. Check them out and deal if you have one

Do it one day at a time. I can do something for 12 hours that would appal me if I had to keep it up for a lifetime. Each day reaffirm. Have a non alcohol reward each day.

That will get you going

I am climbing the walls today. I am certainly a bit hungry, but mainly I am just bored I think and wondering ' is this it?'.

I need to go to the shops but will almost certainly buy wine so am staying at home and ironing.

Hope everyone else is doing okay.

Right. i am back from the shops. I have bought 3 bunches of flowers; a bottle of fancy tonic which I am drinking and 3 magnums which I have eaten.

But no alcohol.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

Hahaha. That made me laugh. Keep going @NewLifeHappyLife.

I went to the shops too. Hated seeing people in the pubs enjoying themselves. 😂Had to reason that they are probably only having a few, and won't end up shitfaced in a ditch as I would.

I bought some perfume and bottle of AF wine. Take-away later as last nights dinner was a bag of tangfastics. Classy. But no wine. 😂

I’m here. I’m dry. I’m on day 27. I went out with my friends. I was the only one not drinking and it was fine. I think because everyone else was, they weren’t bothered by the fact I wasn’t. It was nice to get home sober. Feeling really tired after my awful sleep last night so will probably have a mug of tea and an early night. Wild times.

Better then getting shitfaced and ending up in a ditch

@MamaGhina 🏋🏅That really is great. You rock! You will feel so great tomorrow!

Enjoy your takeaway @Thepeppapigfanclub

I think that's great news @MamaGhina. Bloody well done. I hope you are rewarded with a decent night's sleep and are feeling very pleased with yourself!

Thank you @NewLifeHappyLife.

That's at least 3 of us not in the ditch.😂

@keffie12 that's really helpful advice.

I'm ashamed to have to admit that I'm back on day one. Went out with a gang that i don't know very well and gave in to the wine. I feel very tired and hungover today, anxiety is horrendous.

I'm not going to flog myself too much. I know why I drank, and i can now manage that better in the future. I feel more committed than ever so maybe i needed to fail a bit to confirm that i am choosing to stop and it is absolutely right and necessary.

Well done everyone else who is still going.

Im not sure I find it helpful to think of days that people have blips as having to rewind to day one. I find it better to think of a pattern of behaviour changing and adapting with some reversion to the original behaviours occurring but maybe becoming less and less.

I know that I am drinking nothing most days and the odd day drinking doesn't negate those. It helps me see that actually I can manage without drinking and days where slip up happens are a reminder that drinking really isn't that great.

Sorry that is a bit waffley and I know that's not how most people think but it works for me not to be punitive but to reflect and move on without thinking I've completely failed and have to start again.

Be kind to yourself @ReadySalty

I agree 100% with @ApolloandDaphne actually. Thinking you are 'back to day 1' must be so demoralising @ReadySalty . If it is thought of 'I have had 13 alcohol-free days in the last 15 days' then that is more empowering and validating. Because those days are all huge achievement. I like also the idea of reflecting and moving on without punishment.

And yes, a reversion to behaviours will occur- alcohol is an addictive drug and we live in a society that is not only addicted but which celebrates addiction in many ways! (All those ads selling us that alcohol is grownup, sophisticated etc). It's not a moral or personal failure to struggle with this.

You take care @ReadySalty

Good morning!

Don't feel bad @ReadySalty - progress not perfection! It doesn't undo what you've already achieved and is perfectly normal. Look at what were dealing with - alcohol is very, very complex. Onwards we go!

I wish I could just drink on a night out. The only reason I can't have one is because if I do, it might take me another 3 years to start trying again and my internal organs just can't take it. I dread to think about what I've done to my liver and kidneys. Blips are normal. Hope you're feeling better today. 💐

Hope you all have a great day.

Morning, can I join you...in the last 6 months we've cut down significantly from drinking every night at home, to only drinking a few nights a week but I want to walk away from it completely now. Drinking less has had the affect that when I do now drink I feel horrendous. But the midweek craving then habit of fri/sat night has just not been something I can seem to break. I'd like to get on the wagon now really so come December I hopefully wont be interested in getting drunk every night. Plus it's so expensive these days, £10 a bottle average so we are probably drinking £150 a month at home. What a waste

Morning all. Also throwing my support behind anyone who has had alcohol and agree the counting of continuous days isn’t always helpful. There’s no right way to do this! Day 1 or 10 out of 8 or more dry days then wet…. Whatever keeps you motivated is the way to do it!

I feel the same as @Thepeppapigfanclub, I think if I go back now I will be drinking again until 1st Jan and my body can’t handle drinking at the way I have been the past 6 months. One of my main deterrents is having to go back through those first couple of weeks. I felt so much shame that I had done that to myself.

Welcome to @PlumsUp! Come join the crazy train 😂 lots of support, ranting, tips.. you name it on this thread. My last drink and cigarette were 4 weeks ago today. Waking up on that Monday morning feeling wrecked again was what made me join this thread. I had had enough of wasting my life to being drunk and hungover and feeling like a shit person.

Morning at @PlumsUp. Welcome! You will be in good company here. As you will see, some of us are still finding the weekend a bit of a struggle too. Now might be great time to give up. 'Go Sober' next month cold be good for social excuses and think how much money you'll save before Christmas?

We might moan about missing it etc some evenings but you never hear a word of grumbling in the mornings. 😂Sober mornings are the best.

It's day 28 for me. The benefits are - I'm much more organised. I've spent more money on me. I look better - a LOT better (clearer skin/eyes/less bloating/ bags reduced). More self-respect. Better relationship with child. More in control. Generally a more even mood. I don't worry about stinking of booze at work.

The downsides are I haven't lost any weight because I'm consuming too much crap. I do still miss it sometimes. It took a while for the sleep to sort itself out - in fact it's only starting to do that now. I'm not sure if my social life will ever recover. I'm going to have to face why I was drinking so much in the first place.

It's a no brainer really. My aim is to get to a least 100 days and then see what things look like.

Let us know how you are getting on.

Morning all, I too did not land in a ditch! But yesterday was hard again and I felt very flat and sad but I wonder also if that would have happened anyway, so I’d have felt rubbish, drank and then felt even more rubbish. I spent the evening reminding myself why I was doing it and the endless hangovers, going to work feeling awful and worrying if others could see it too and planning the week and god, it was exhausting just thinking about it, never mind doing it.

So less about the positives at the moment and still dodging the negatives but good enough for now.

Hi all. No ditch for me this weekend! But agree for those that dod indulge, please don’t start again at Day 1. I think the TryDry app counts your days and your streak so you can measure both.

Welcome @PlumsUp - hope you find this thread useful. I certainly have.

Well done @MamaGhina - bet you felt a bit smug this morning?

I am on Day 14 and won’t be succumbing today. Combined with my fasting and low carbing, I am feeling decidedly better than I did 2 weeks ago!

So sorry to hear about your tough weekends but glad you are through them.

Just as a heads up, I'm on about day 66?. I stopped wanting it and started being a bit "meh" about it from about day 45 I think.

Just for encouragement, my eczema and dandruff have cleared up completely and this is a bit ugh but I have painted my toenails for about the last 10 years because one of them turned yellow. I thought it was damage/fungal. I removed the polish last night and that nail is now pink like all the others. Might be no booze, equally might be less sugar and wheat. Who knows. It's an odd coincidence though.

I'm really glad it's going well @BoilingHotand50something. I'm impressed at your multi-tasking. I really need to shift this weight. That's the next job. I honestly thought if I just gave up the wine I'd be like a twig by now. 😂

Thank you so so much for giving us an update @SpringNotSprung. It's great to hear from you again and appreciate the encouragement. Glad to hear that this might start getting easier soon - I think a lot of us really struggled last week. The vice like grip seems to have loosened here today so I hope it's going to be a less challenging week.

Also - great news about your toe - however it happened!

What is everyone eating in the evenings?
I need to sort my snacking out. That’s my focus for the next 4 weeks. Can’t keep mindlessly stuffing shit once the kids are in bed. Will weigh in tomorrow morning having avoided the scales for most of this month. I don’t need to lose that much (don’t hate me) I just need to stop using no alcohol as an excuse to eat the contents of my kitchen every evening.

@MamaGhina at the beginning when I was freaking about my liver I tried to east lots of liver friendly things: blueberries, other fruit, almonds, walnuts, oily fish (salmon, mackerel), coffee, lots of dark leafy veg, avocados, beans (haricot, kidney, pinto, cannelini) etc. Now it's just a mildly fatty liver with rampant cholesterol, no saturated fats or sugar and no refined carbs.

Without the wine, I'm definitely snacking less and I think cutting the wheat helps hugely. The hunger spikes have gone.

For me there was the ritual of getting home, pouring wine, cooking dinner. I'm as happy with slimline tonic or fizzy water in a wine glass, with ice, lemon and a few frozen berries.

Good luck.

Love the sound of adding frozen berries to an evening AF drink, will definitely add this to my list, thanks @SpringNotSprung.

Will replenish my mixed nut supplies too. I started the month full of promise but as my AF resolve got weaker my evening eating got out of control.

Unsalted ones MamaGhina.

Got on the scales this morning and I’ve lost weight! 2lbs. Totally don’t deserve that but I’ll take it!

Woken feeling focused on my diet and exercise. Looking forward to seeing what I can achieve before the end of September.

That's great news @MamaGhina !

Afternoon everyone, week 2 done (or 16 days to be exact) this thread is keeping me going. Thank you for all the post and insights into what you’re going through.

I was desperate to post on Friday night but had so many distractions, kids, major work on house etc that I literally fell into bed (without a drink thank god). Was dreading Saturday night as it was a meal out celebrating great aunts bday and they are all major boozers! Luckily there were two pregnant ladies there so yey, I just ordered a mocktail with them. My MIL clocked me doing it though and without sounding paranoid, she was watching me so I said yes to a glass of white when it was DH round at the bar. I nursed it all evening and my DH gladly swapped his glass for mine when his was empty! So I didn’t drink it. I didn’t even want to. This is incredibly sad but the only time I put it to my lips is when the MIL looked at me just so she’d think I was sipping it! Otherwise she would make it out to be a total sin to not drink (she’s a big drinker, mainly whisky and wine at dinner!). Also if I say I’m not drinking, she gets twitchy about drinking herself. I honestly couldn’t care less what she does, I’m just not judgmental like that.

Anyway, another day nearly done. I’m really with you on the not going out thing @Thepeppapigfanclub as I just find it so hard in front of people who expect me to drink 🫣