No benefits when stopping alcohol

[Gem2J]

Hi Everyone
I hope you are all well.
For 5 years now i have drunk 4 pints of beer a night. I really don't want to do this and would prefer to stop drinking all together.
I am not as addicted as I thought I was, because my new years resolution was to slowly cut down. I have my four pints once every other day:) and I find it easy.
But now I have decided to go back to my 4 pints a night, because for me the benefits of drinking alcohol every night far outweigh the negatives.
And please don't read this if you are suffering from alcohol dependence, cause i do not want to encourage anyone, because alcohol is bad.
I am just writing this cause just want to make sense of it all, and get your thoughts?
I am very weight conscious. and work hard for my slim figure, and i am not willing to put on weight, no matter what the cost to my health. I have been overweight before and it ruined my life and self esteem.
So anyway you might think that if i cut down alcohol i will lose weight, but i have gained weight! And i am not eating pizzas and chocolate, on my days of not drinking alcohol i eat chicken, lots of veg and for desert I have an orange. But I eat until I am satisfied.
On my beer days i have 4 pints and a potato.
So really i can't cope with the weight gain and have decided to go back on the beer.
Also to buy all this healthy meals like chicken, veg and fruit it costs me double! and i am already on the verge of food bank and so it is cheaper to buy 4 pints of beer and a potato from Morrisons, and i would rather have that extra money to feed my kids.
I am never violent when I drink and it does not affect my day to day life, I work full time. But now after being made redundant I have found a new job that requires me to be awake at 5am for a 6am start. I suffer from insomnia and if i wasn't on the booze I don't go to sleep till 8am. And even if i take sleeping pills and drink no alcohol I still feel rough the next day.
Also i am a very LAZY person by nature. not working but at home. I have always been like this and on the days when I didn't drink alcohol well the house would be trash, alcohol enables me to keep on top of housework and pursue my online business dreams. If I stopped then i would be in bed 24/7 and a fat lazy slob
But I don't know how this is right, surely i should stop alcohol for my health? but I honestly don't see any benefits

Do you eat said potato like an apple?

4 pints and a potato
Good name for a band if they have a portly lead singer

This breaks my heart. You are not pathetic, sad or stupid. You didn’t get the supportive childhood you deserved and you are struggling with life as a consequence.
Please ask the GP for some counselling as well as help for your eating disorder and alcohol issues. You deserve some support now xx

The reason you are unable to sleep on the nights you don't drink is because your body is dependant on alcohol. You don't need to be in the extreme having seizures etc without it for it to be dependancy. It's affecting your health, physical and mental and you will only reap the benefits once you abstain for a longer period. But it sounds like you don't want to. It's only a matter of time until you are unable to stop and will increase how much you drink. You think it's not negatively affecting your children but believe me it is, they see everything.

OP, Stephen King is an alcoholic and has been sober for a long time. You may want to read his book “Dr.. Sleep” which deals with addiction. It contains the following quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald: “First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink and then the drink takes you.”
I hope you get the help you need and will stay in your new job.

Please don't say or think that way about yourself. Having read your posts you are very clearly not stupid. You are not pathetic or sad either. You are struggling and there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone struggles at some point with something. There is also nothing wrong with being a cleaner. Most cleaners I have ever met are hard working and professional.

That is great, well done for taking the first step! Let us know how you get on x

@Gem2J the response you get on Mumsnet depends on the tone of your original post - if you come admitting you are struggling and asking for support it can be wonderful. There are some great threads for dry January or women struggling with alcohol here. There are also a lot of troll or AI posts (on the site in general) and if you post a fairly extreme situation and want to say it’s all fine you stir up the nest of vipers. If you can get to a place where you want to make a lasting change then you’ll find a lot of support. Good luck!

You’re definitely not stupid or pathetic. Nothing wrong with being a cleaner - it’s a proper job, it’s hard and essential (if it was a typically male job, it would be far better respected)

You’ve had serious challenges but you haven’t given up, you found strategies to tackle them while loving and raising your children. It sounds like you’ve broken some toxic cycles for them, that’s something to be admired.

And now you know that some of those strategies don’t serve you any more and that your drinking and eating needs to change - you identified that yourself or you wouldn’t have posted here.

Let’s be honest, while this forum is full of compassion and support from the vast majority of posters, there’s the odd one who’s just nasty for the sake of it.

You've probably not put on 2lbs, you always weigh less after drinking because it dehydrates you. It's water weight. You need a decent sober period to really be able to assess any changes relating to things like sleep and weight loss

Why is this thread allowed to stand in an alcohol support sub forum?

So much to unravel

First of all giving your 2 dc your £20k wasn't 'good parenting'. Good parenting includes teaching financial intelligence. Giving away your money so you are at food bank levels of poverty is not financially intelligent

Why did you go alternate nights. Couldn't you drop to 3 pints a night then 2 pints a night?

You may be thin but I guarantee you will look not so great. This is terrible for your health your skin
and a terrible example for your dc.

You appear to have several things going on.

Disordered eating
Body image problems
Difficulty managing finances
Poor sleep

Surely you realise that EVERYTHING starts with good health

How did you get on today OP?

Sorry but this is an absolutely pointless post!
You don't want advice, you want to hear people saying you're making the right choices. Well if this post is genuine, which I doubt, then no, you're not! Eat healthily, you're already walking to and from work, so that's exercise, stop drinking, use that money for healthy food and give the kids a mother they can actually look up to! I have no respect for your lifestyle at all! There are genuine people out there who need support with alcohol and you're posting this dross? Unbelievable!

Rtft you numpty before commenting, you clearly haven't read the last couple posts by OP. 🙄

@IcedChristmasTrees
For your information, I have rtft! And I stand by my post. I don't think there was any need for your input or your insult, but if it makes you feel better, good for you.

I’d recommend reading Alcohol Explained by William Porter, or accessing some of the resources his website of the same name.