Sober October Challenge

[KK1983]

Good afternoon 😊

As the title suggests, I have decided to give 'Sober October' my all and go alcohol free for 31 days. This challenge might be a walk in the park for some but this is going to be HUGE for me. In the past 12yrs, I can't even remember the last time I have even gone a week sober, let alone a month!

So, I am a daily drinker. I have 1-2 bottles per day, sometimes more over the weekend. I have a successful job and a beautiful life but my drinking is becoming more of an issue that I ever thought it would be. I think about it more than I want, plan days around it and spend far too much money on it. Alcoholism runs in my family so i'm aware of the signs which is why I need to get a grip asap. I want to be able to moderate.

If you saw me in the street you'd look at me and think I have my shit together. I have the house, the kids, the marriage, the job - the lot! Drinking became a friend when I had none and when I was lonely after my daughter was born and my husband worked nights. Now drinking feels part of my personality, people know me as someone who loves a drink, the life and soul and I used to love that but now, I'm bored of myself.

I have tried to go sober several times but I get to day 4 and give in after finding any tiny excuse to reward myself. Night 1 always feels a bit rough. I role around the bed for hours on end and get a little anxious but nothing too bad. Day 2 I feel hungover without the fun the night before. Day 3 I cry a lot and become quite irritated. Day 4 - I quit! Not this time though, I NEED to do this and I WILL do this.

To help me along the way I have started taking the following vitamins:

• Vitamin B Complex high strength
• Live friendly gut bacteria
• Vitamin B1 500mg x2
• Iron
• Biotin & Zinc
• Vitamin D & K2

Can any recommend anything else or have any tips to help me along the way?

Thank you for taking the time to read this,
Kate x

Yeah I will do, I'll keep putting away what I would usually spend on wine and treat myself. It'll probably be a decent amount too which is a sobering thought in itself.

I get the mine from WillPowders and I get the watermelon flavour. The citris is also nice. I'd definetley reccommend them and the collagen powder too.

@AParentofBoys I know that feeling far too well, plus the fear of checking your phone 🙈 You can do this, we're all in it together x

I'm so glad there's lots of us here all wanting the same thing ❤️

My go to is Pinot or Prosecco, I bloody love it! I really wish I was one of those people who could take or leave it or not be bothered by it. I have lots of bottles of shorts in my house that come our at parties etc but when the wine runs out I wont start drinking them, it just seems to be wine I drink a lot of.

The holiday will be hard I'm sure but think how great you'll feel after a month off. You wont know yourself!

I'm joining too 🙂

Been struggling to moderate for ages, I need to stop for good really.

I was reading a few studies about these weight loss pens and the effect they're also having on people with addiction. It's all very interesting how they manage to silence the pleasure receptors in the brain that want us to reward ourselves.

@KK1983 on the Sinclair Method I was taking naltrexone which is the equivalent of GLP 1 for drinkers. It definitely helps and I wish I hadn’t messed it up but I can’t justify the cost again, much cheaper to just not drink.

@Todayisanewday75 Yeah it's expensive isn't it, such a shame it's not more affordable.

Hi everyone, I'd like to join you
I'm on a weight loss pen, but while it's helped me lose quite a lot of weight, unfortunately it hasn't stopped me wanting to drink. Wine is my poison, some days as much as a bottle of white or rose. I can't moderate, I have no off-switch, so I know I need to quit for good.

I'm not very good at quitting, have tried lots of times. My longest time sober is 9 months a few years ago (not pregnancy related). I'm looking forward to doing at least a month this time.

Joining

@SusanSometimes 9 months is amazing, from that you must know that you can do this!

Also congratulations on the weight loss. If you have any more to lose not drinking will definitely help

@SusanSometimes 9 months is amazing! 👏🏻👏🏻

I'm hoping to drop a few pounds from not drinking but knowing my luck I'll get into something else and gain more 🙈

Can I join please? I’ve also joined another long running support thread but focusing on not drinking in October could be a good start for me. I’ve actually got a couple of ‘things’ in October which feel difficult to avoid alcohol for but I’m choosing not to think about that now. Today is day 1 for me.

@nowinetimeforme How was your day 1?

@nowinetimeformethats a good plan, one day at a time. Hope yesterday went well x

Happy sober October Eve 🥳

I’m off for the next two days so we’re out for food and drinks today, one last hurrah before it all
starts 🫣

@Todayisanewday75day 1 was ok - I would typically not drink on a Monday anyway and it was my birthday on the weekend so I had a fair amount of post drinking anxiety and general misery to spur me on. I find I’m ok for 2 or 3 days, then I start feeling better (because I’m not drinking, obviously) so I celebrate by drinking 🙄 you couldn’t make this shit up could you? I’ve been for a run this morning so feeling positive. How are you getting on?

how was the last hurrah @KK1983?

I can sympathise with that @nowinetimeforme, I’ve done and do the same. I’ve had 2 non drinking days and briefly have toyed with having a glass tonight because it’s Sober October tomorrow and I should take advantage but actually, if you really think about it, that’s skewed thinking. I feel so great after 2 nights restorative sleep that I’m just going to keep going.

Well done on the run - I’m an early morning exerciser too. It was beautiful out there this morning - just perfect. Hopefully I’ll feel the same way mid January when it’s throwing it down 😊

@Todayisanewday75that’s a lot of us by the sounds of it. Day 4 seems to be day we cave/reward ourselves with alcohol again. I used to reward myself with a huge Chinese after I lost weight at Slimming world. Like wtf?! 🙈

It’s today lovely, off out about lunch time. No doubt I’ll be rough as toast tomorrow morning and Day 1 will be welcomed.

Yeah - so much of our thinking around drinking is madness isn’t it? But maybe that’s not surprising; it’s an addictive substance and even if we are not physically dependant on alcohol we are likely addicted to some extent to the dopamine hit we get when we have that first drink.

Being able to commit to exercise is massively important to my efforts to drink less. I drank very little for years because I was training a lot. Having children (neither of whom slept) well and truly out the kibosh on my exercise regime and the wine replaced it as the only thing in my life that felt like it was ‘mine’ if that makes sense?

Sounds like you are making a strong head start to sober October!

@nowinetimeforme - I buried my head in the sand re my drinking for a long time and self medicated after DH’s stroke. We sound similar re exercise, I’m a long term endurance athlete and I think kidded myself that doing All The Things re diet and exercise (which I do and always have done) somehow ‘allowed’ me to drink far more than is healthy by any measure. I’ve come a long was re drinking less in 2025 but it’s so easy (and I’ve been doing it) to have one drink on one night, then one the next, thinking you’ve changed habits and it’s slipped again. That, and getting blood work done and seeing actual changes re drinking less (only one blood marker was very marginally elevated in truth, but it was enough). I understand re your comment. Hope the kids are sleeping more!

They are sleeping much better thank you, however, the wine has been disrupting my sleep so much I am not feeling the benefit 🙄 that will change soon though. Last night wasn’t a great night but better than the night before and tonight will be better again.

I’ve always been good at eating well and I walk a lot so I’ve never been overweight, even though I’ve probably been drinking about 4000 extra cals a week. It’s been easy to still think of myself as ‘healthy’ even though I know I’m anything but.

How is your DH now, after his stroke, if you don’t mind me asking?

Oh sorry - I got my days mixed up 😂

day 4 is also usually a Thursday which is an extra trigger as it’s always been a big night for drinking in the City after work.

@SusanSometimes - I’m not on the WL pens but I did have weightloss surgery 3 years ago. Am 8 stone down.
We were all warned before surgery about transfer addiction… but I didn’t think it could happen to me!
As it happens, the motion of my hand putting food to my mouth has now been replaced with vapes and wine. Wine now gives me the “high” that food once did… and I was never even a smoker before, but ended up vaping which I do more when I’m drinking with wine.

I am certain that any health benefits I have now from losing weight and being at a healthy BMI are being counteracted by the wine and vapes. Need to get the drinking under control and then focus on the vapes! 🫣

Hello,

A bottle of wine a night 6 nights a week person here, but slow sipping away, just nod off to bed then. I m also menopausal and forgetting things and my teenage sons are judgemental. I guess I better set a better example and I also need to be more energetic.

No wine yesterday. I don't feel addicted, I can go without.

I get a urge to hit the shop between 8 and 9 pm, but it's not something I can't distract myself from. Wine nods me off to sleep, if I don't drink it's harder to fall asleep and I notice feeling anxious at night more.

Also if I go 2 nights in a row with no wine I feel I ve proved a point and can safely have a few glasses, because I ve given myself a break. That usually means I fall back into the nightly bottle of wine.

If I get to day 4 Thurs, I feel like Thurs is the new Friday and flip it, we need to chill and enjoy life. It is an endless cycle, with no great social joy from sitting around drinking wine at home.

Yep same here, exercise religiously, eat healthily yet somehow justify drinking every night. Utter madness