Calling Time on Wine - the next 100 days after the first 100 day reset | Thread 3: Continuing to support and navigate together.

[needastrongone]

As promised, a new thread.

As the title states, this is the third thread. It started for those of us who wanted some support and a safe place to navigate a 100 day alcohol reset. Most of us on the thread wanted more time and space than Dry January to fully reset and maybe reflect more on our relationship with alcohol than one month.

What we also found was the most wonderfully supportive and uplifting set of folk, all with the common intention of being AF from January for 100 days. A few blips along the way for some (including me at the beginning) but for those that have, we’ve tried to understand why they happened and most of us have continued to be AF going forward and managed 100 AF days since January.

We are going for another 100 (we all liked the idea of breaking being AF into chunks of time) and I don’t think it matters one bit if new folk want to climb on board and start from here, we can all offer a friendly and non judgmental place here.

Morning all xx gorgeous sunny start to the day, makes you feel so much better doesn't it xx @freshstart2026 you've done fab losing weight and keeping it off , I need to start really thinking about losing some weight, hardly fit into any of my summer clothes 😭 hopefully will start to shift some tho with not having all the extra calories of an evening x
I know what you mean aswell about the escapism with drinking x sometimes we just feel like we are on a treadmill with life, kids, work, house work it's a bit of a slog at times, so drinking can take us out of that, make us feel lighter for a couple of hours. But it soon smacks us in the face when we wake up!
So it's finding something that can replace that time with something else isn't it, I'm actually loving going to bed a bit earlier and taking some snacks with me, doing my skin care and reading a book, it's a little pamper for me

@PeacheyPeach I agree it's good to find replacement 'treats'. I have rewarded myself with a few nice cheap things from Vinted recently, just because I wanted to have a little treat that was non-alcoholic.

I've felt a few little twinge towards the wine recently, that relaxed time of the evening when I cook dinner and used to open the wine to drink while I was cooking. I thought I was over it, but it's surprising how ingrained the habit can be. I didn't open the wine (still have a bottle in the fridge) and just moved on, but it surprised me.

Morning.

I am really sorry I’ve not posted since last week. Nothing sinister, just had a few bits of family stuff to deal with (extended family, have a few skills in the area they were struggling with), and finally sorting the remaining bits of my Dads Estate.

I’m still AF. I seem to have a week where I have lots of cravings and then a week where I don’t, so I totally understand and sympathise with those folks a few months in still feeling the same.

It’s vivid dream city here too @SwiftyFifty - I’m sure it’s to do with the quality of the sleep I’m getting.

Good to hear from you @freshstart2026x

@thisoldcity I love Vinted to, I don't mind that becoming my new habit, scrolling through that if an evening will keep us busy!!
With you saying you liked the relaxing time cooking with a drink in hand, could you perhaps have a drink in a nice glass for when you are cooking, so perhaps a lovely flavored tonic water or an 0.0 wine, so you still have your ritual but without it being alcohol?

@needastrongone sorry that you have to go through your dad's estate, that must be hard for you to have to do, it sounds like your family have got the right person to help them deal with whatever they need sorting xxx good to hear that you are getting a good night's sleep tho, you can do anything when you've had sleep xxx

@MarieTheresevonWerdenberg will look that one up on YouTube. Thanks.

@PeacheyPeachyes I tend to try nice replacements in the evening rather than just water, but have decided that the 0% wine is just annoying. I am currently sipping San Pellegrino limonata 0% sugar which is lovely when watered down 50/50. I don't really miss alcohol too much on the whole, just the occasional twinge!

Morning all. End of another month.
Im feeling good, sleeping great, feeling positive, walking more and eating less. Clothes feel more roomy.
I prefer the week to the weekends now though. BH weekend ahead and whilst I have no interest in drinking, you do get that fomo feeling, The last few Fridays I have felt low after work but then of course delighted when I wake up!
Hope we all have a great weekend ahead and welcome MONTH FIVE tomorrow ( and a different anniversary for the newbies but still significant)

I’m struggling. Just checked my app. In the last 18 days I’ve drank twice. Doesn’t sound too bad written down, but it’s not where I want to be.
It’s going to be really hard for me to stay dry this weekend, I have plans tonight in a pub… I really don’t want to cancel, but I also don’t want to drink alcohol 😭

@HeadingforaHundred sorry to hear your struggling, two days is amazing compared to probably what you were drinking before, why don't you think of things to do this weekend that don't surround drinking, I think the weather isn't going to be that good so it's not beer garden weather at least!! What about a trip to the cinema or go out for a nice Sunday lunch?
with regards to tonight, will there anyone else going who won't be drinking so you know it won't just be you? Can you also ring a head or go online and see what their AF options are so you can still have nice drinks and not not just have to stick with water?

For me those are by far and away the hardest situations @HeadingforaHundred. Can you say to yourself that you’ll only drink non-alcoholic beer for the first hour, then have a wine after that if you really need it? Most likely by the time you’re an hour in you realise you don’t need the drink anyway and can stick to the AF/soft drinks. Good luck! x

@SwiftyFifty month 5 is absolutely awesome well done, remembering why you are not drinking is always good isn't it, even if your feeling flat at times, you get to wake up with the knowledge you haven't got a bad head, no beer fear, and you feel great, I know id rather have all of that over a glass of wine any day!!

Morning Day 115, up with the lark as usual now. Feeling really good, I've been adding more probiotic/prebiotic foods to my diet and I'm slowly seeing an improvement to my digestion and energy levels.
Serviced my sewing machine yesterday so I'm going to dig out some patterns and fabrics, when my DC where little I could make a skirt and top in one evening so I plan to get back to doing this.
@HeadingforaHundred think of it as an experiment and see what the evening is like without alcohol. That's how I frame it now, it's quite interesting to experience and evening out without the beer goggles.

Thank you for the encouraging words. I’ve been hiding from the thread because my original target was 100 dry days, but failed that in week 2… I think maybe that was too ambitious.

If I can get that first drink non-alcoholic, I think I will be okay because that kind of sets the tone for the evening and no, I won’t be the only one not drinking alcohol. The problem is, I’ve got myself into this headspace where I feel like it’s a wasted night out (please don’t judge me for saying that). I know how awful that sounds. I think because the chance to go out and “let my hair down” is so rare I feel like I have to make the most of it. And sitting there with a J20 just doesn’t hit the spot. Also, the release that comes from that first glass of wine. It’s almost psychological.

I think my plan is to get that first drink non-alcoholic and just keep reminding myself of all the reasons why I don’t want to be hung over tomorrow. The last couple of times I have drank alcohol the next day I’ve vomited. I didn’t even have that much for me. I think my body just can’t process it anymore. The whole day is spent in pain and feeling regretful. It’s a completely wasted day.

Morning all, had a busy weekend so have been a bit absent on here but have been reading along. Currently on Day 9 and looking forward to going into a fresh month and intending on having it full of yellow teacups on TryDry.

I went out for dinner on Monday and had a sparkling water but asked for it in a wine glass - it did the trick 😅

@HeadingforaHundred on my 2 month AF stint last summer I went to a big drinking event. It started at 2pm and finished at 8pm, all the prizes were shots etc etc. I stuck to myself and didn't drink, even though I 'won' the first game and had a shot give to me within the first half an hour (as well as Prosecco on arrival etc). I had just as much as fun as everyone else, discovered I can enjoy the dance floor just as much sober (probably more actually) and of course I didn't regret not drinking at all. I did have a few questioning looks to start with, as well as a few assumptions that I was pregnant because lo and behold someone just chooses not to drink, but I rode those waves as they came and had a really good time. Do you know what AF drinks are available? I knew the choices would be rubbish at the event so I took my own flavoured sparkling waters 😂 I would have felt like I was missing out on lemonade all afternoon but I didn't feel like I was missing out at all because I had my drink of choice. This may not be possible for you but can you see what drinks are available beforehand? And don't be afraid to ask for it in a wine glass 😅

Also to add - I was very tempted last night, but didn't give in and by 8:30am this morning I'd already gone out for a walk with a friend, hung my washing out and emptied the greenhouse ready to put the tomatoes into for the day. I'm not normally a morning person but there's no way that would have happened if I gave in last night!

I started taking more interest in fitness this year, and track performance/recovery stats (HRV status, etc) with a Garmin watch. Since January I've avoided alcohol, but had a few drinks over my DH's birthday weekend recently and it's astonishing how much this reflected in the data... for the next 10 days!!! That feeling of operating at 50% is not just imaginary.

@Beachtastic that’s so interesting. What is HRV? What was flagged up as being affected? I’m interested in getting a Fitness watch and one that monitors my sleep

Morning.

@Beachtastic - I moderated last year and have tracked my health stats for a long time as I run quite seriously. It’s pretty frightening isn’t it, when you visibly see what alcohol is doing. It’s one way I keep AF, I look at the data for the physical reminder. Fully agree.

@paintcolourchart that’s super productive and you can use that feeling of productivity if temptation calls. I used to feel pretty ashamed of myself when I couldn’t get out of bed and knew it was because I’d drunk too much and wasted another day.

@HeadingforaHundred if it helps, I moderated last year and took that time to read and listen to a lot of info about abstinence/AF etc. That time was beneficial and it allowed me to commit to going AF. In the end I felt negotiating with myself all the time about when I could drink and how much etc was exhausting and mentally draining, but I am glad I had that preliminary step. You’ve learnt lots in the last 18 days. I can go out and not drink, but I do find I’ve less tolerance for social chit chat with increasingly tipsy people and a couple of hours is enough. By then, no one notices anyway if you aren’t drinking or if you leave early. No judgement here - jeez I have enough shameful things re my drinking (no necessarily behaviour, more how many bottles went into the bottle bank, stopping by the local shop to buy wine on the way home as there was only one bottle in the house etc.. I’m ashamed when I look back).

Thank you @PeacheyPeach - you look like you are doing so well. Please don’t worry re weight. A lot of us have found it’s better to tackle just one thing at a time, it’s overwhelming otherwise. The booze habit is plenty in of itself!

I seem to be having a no craving week. There will be plenty of the opposite without question for sure so I’ll take an easy few days happily.

@SwiftyFifty - HRV is effectively a tool to measure recovery, fitness and your ability to handle stress. Your heart doesn’t beat like a metronome, it has tiny variations in between beats linked to the ‘health’ of your nervous system. Generally, the fitter you are, the higher your HRV but it’s a lot more complicated than that. Stress, fatigue, illness all affect HRV, and certainly drinking does!! So, when I went on my training camp for example, as the week went on and I got more and more miles in the legs and fatigue was accumulating, my HRV dropped. Totally normal - and as my fitness adapted to the load when I got back, HRV marginally improved. That’s a positive adaptation. More negative are stress, lack of sleep, lack of aerobic fitness etc. Definitely alcohol in a big way. My resting heart rate goes up if I drink too (noted when I was moderating).

There are better explanations out there!! 🤣

I'd never heard of HRV either, now I'm really nerdy about it 🤓

It's heart rate variability. A high score indicates good recovery. Mine was consistently great until the boozy weekend, and then dropped to about half what it normally was, and has only just started to climb back. This has been reflected in how I felt, i.e. flat and unmotivated - among other things, I put off cleaning the bathroom for a week!!!

I didn't even drink that much booze over the course of that weekend - there have been times in my life where I could easily have done all that in one night!!! 🫣

@needastrongone Yes, really fascinating to see how alcohol changes things pretty much instantly. Stress measures (e.g. heart rate) go up, and remain high overnight.

@SwiftyFifty I got a Garmin Vivoactive 5, because Garmin have an online dashboard (Garmin Connect) where you can log in to view all the data in detail. (I hate doing things on a phone app, which is what most tracker watches use.) Images attached of the Home page (you can choose what to feature on this), and one of the many screens with detailed info on a particular activity - zoomed out for privacy! 🫣, but I hope it gives you an idea... I feed the stats into AI now and then to get even more detailed feedback, and that's great because it analyses patterns and points to little incremental improvements from one week to the next (e.g. cadence and stride length, with running) that I wouldn't otherwise have noticed.

I think getting all nerdy about health stats is a great way of changing the focus! It becomes a very absorbing hobby, that you don't want to derail.

www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-v%C3%ADvoactive-Smartwatch-Monitoring-Personalised/dp/B0CG6LMQHH/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3T8MS9QIJ58YL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Uubm4PIlzrJHLqeRraNeNBnPvJYrGd3cgcti3KN57K0zXdru2BpZRjcg1Z7JiHoXWc-k5TO9_DT2UbZu-mRrZKQ07v6JpxMc34rrpMGhica508q-yDR3MnYz9y_D-EdNDUq3R8zsnyOG7g9do9NeHp7mYTz1utYIiTYxJ1mKAMOPjq5KHf9VsF7jQhGkuZcVl_tOmulhr6TlE9oh80eV0gZjvDFcX9mIWiZJH87ksDw.dkCgC10OrIbszBaXKXADt6zb0MtJb5Mmve8mYVoaB3U&dib_tag=se&keywords=Garmin%2BVivoactive%2B5&qid=1777542653&sprefix=garmin%2Bvivoactive%2B5%2Caps%2C116&sr=8-5&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.d7e5a2de-8759-4da3-993c-d11b6e3d217f&th=1

Oooohhhh, well doen - that's a great explanation 🤩🤩🤩

Morning all checking in today 21 days for me, this will be my third weekend ( not counting the first weekend as I was so rough 🤢!!) alcohol free and I'm feeling good about it.
It's so scary seeing how alcohol can affect your heart rate, its an eye opener for me as I didn't realize it affected that, I'm getting to an age now were I really need to take this seriously , so that's another factor to take into consideration being Alcohol Free,
Hope everyone is ok and looking forward to a long weekend,

Morning.

Same @PeacheyPeach- I’m mid fifties, these things matter. I’m that idiot that thought because I’m so on point with fitness and nutrition that this negated drinking so much. Shock - it doesn’t! Hope you have a lovely AF weekend too.

It’s going to be a hot weekend! This isn’t one of my triggers and never has been, so I feel safe. Completely understand others might find it harder. We have friends over tonight, but I’ve done that trigger many times now, so that’s okay.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Hi all, I’m only on day 7 but I avoided wine at the theatre interval on Tuesday, wine after work with DH on Thursday and cancelled a dinner with friends tomorrow night as we’ve all been ill and we’re knackered. So been pretty easy to be alcohol free so far, feeling very smug and upbeat but I am very sure this won’t last 😆

hope everyone has a lovely weekend

DS was out last night rolled in at 2.30 but I spent a couple of hours prior to this pacing, texting, worrying etc.
So today I feel exhausted, ratty, hungry, low energy, craving sugar and just longing for bed. I still managed to work, walk dog, clean whole ( small house) and deep clean the fridge.
My point is ( in case anyone is thinking “ what thread does she think she’s posting on!?’) I felt like this multiplied by ten ( at least) when I was hungover and I wouldn’t have done any housework and would have had all the usual hangover symptoms to go along with the above. My son’s friend had to be carried home, list his phone, got locked out etc and just reinforced to me that I do not want to feel hungover again.
Not sure if I’m making sense really but having one “ down” day today after so so many good ones, I’m really appreciating how good they feel