How much wine is to much

[beanflicker]

Please help settle a debate with Dh.

I've just put the kids to bed (as always at 8:15) waltzed down the stairs and poured myself a large glass of wine. My Dh has pointed out I go through 4 bottles per week.
Help me out ladies is that to much?

Way too much

Omg do much judgement. Gotta love MN!
As long as you’re comfortable and not reliant, drink whatever you like!
I love a glass or 2 on a night time!
My ex used to drink 20+ cans per day 7 days a week. That’s a problem!!

Idrink really? I find the exact opposite, people seem to drink so much on MN, much more than anyone I know in real life!

Well I sometimes think I was happier when I drank that much . Since I started being healthy and on a good diet I have been sick loads and now have a fucking kidney infection

Giving up the fags was a no brainer / saved money and so many benefits

But not drinking is really hard in this culture

I just read all these beneficial aspects to not drinking and I have to say — not feeling it

I mean how does one de stress ! Ugh 😑

Four bottles a week is a lot.
Do you have some nights off at all? It's not healthy to drink every night.

Pinkball - it's the opposite for me, i'm always struck how puritanical the drinking threads are. I don't know anyone who doesn't drink every day (or at least 6 days a week) and lots of people i know are in their 60s and 70s and drink like that (and have done all their lives) and are fine. In fact the only person i know of who has died from alcohol issues (at 37) was my friends mum who drank a bottle of gin every day since she was 17.

"Yes, four bottles is a lot, but in my extensive experience many people drink more"

Bangs head against a brick wall.

Yes, a lot of people do drink that much, but you are normalising what in stark terms is excessive consumption.

So what if they drink more. It is totally irrelevant. You can't escape from the fact that it is too much.

These are very large glasses if you have 'a glass of wine' and get through half a bottle a night, with extra top ups on Friday and Saturday.

There are several things you could try.

Firstly, have a smaller glass. Measure how much you are having and learn where that imaginary line is in your wine glass. Most of my home glasses are more like 100ml. A large pub measure is 250ml. Half a bottle is 375ml.

Secondly, work up to having two alcohol free days in a row each week. The best advice is that you should only drink on 3/4 days a week. You could represent this as Friday, Saturday, Sunday and then Wednesday. So you have Monday and Tuesday in a row with no alcohol, and also Thursday.

Thirdly, just stop and think and make a cup of tea, or a fancy mocktail instead.

Broadly speaking your husband is right, but it may also make him supportive as you try to reduce things. Some people find it hard to reduce and find it works better for them to give up totally. For a while, maybe, or even forever.

Don't put the wine in charge.

4 bottles of wine a week is approximately 36 units - 22 units a week more than the recommended amount. If you are drinking this much every week then you seriously need to cut down

If you're a Spanish dude though its just fine, their weekly recommended limit is 35 units.

I do drink BTW. I had a large gin and tonic after my run this evening, but only had the one.

I’m not in the majority, I don’t think it’s too bad....

Ffs with the pearl clutchers arsehole comment, give over.

I can easily do that in a week if I chose to and have done. I cut down massively in jan, and have about bottle a week now, sometimes more sometimes less. however it doesn't matter that some others may do it, the answer is factually she is drinking to excess and it's too much. And you know it.

Oh and Telling someone who is downing 4 bottles a week to crack on is irresponsible.

Love all those saying switch to a G&T 😂😂😂

I don’t think that you drink too much .

The Drs who laid down the minimum safe units of alcohol to consume per week have admitted that the numbers were made up.

Nobody knows how alcohol affects different people.

If you can’t or won’t go without a drink every night or you are unable to stop drinking once you’ve started then you may have a problem.

I drink more than you but I’d never ask a bunch of people on the internet for their opinion.

Too easy for them to hide behind a keyboard, be sanctimonious, lie and judge you

There are a billion ways to de-stress.

Alcohol exacerbates, compounds or masks many mental health problems.

Sounds like a lot to me. I'd also watch whether or not it's creeping up. If you're becoming dependent on it, watch that it doesn't become a bottle a night and then go up from there. And if the people around you think you drink too much, it's worth listening to them. It will be easier to cut down now, than to try to give it up completely if you become totally dependent on it.

Of course four bottles a week is reliant!

I think since giving up the my stress has come to the surface more . Nothing to mask or dull it

Normal to me... yes it's too much officially but it's easily done. Wine is delicious and I find it hard to not finish a bottle when opened. I find much easier to have 1 G&T than 1 glass of wine somehow.

LOVE that graph poster ReginaldMolehusband, brilliant!

OP, every answer is influenced by each posters perception. Amongst my (large and long standing) group of friends that would be low to normal. Amongst the school mums at the primary DS2 is at would cause mass pearl clutching because a sniff of sherry at Christmas would take a week to recover from and be considered 'naughty'. Amongst the school mums at DS1's school where we used to live then three of us would get through that in an early evening drink catch up.

Still loving the graph there, have a read of that before weighing in with your judgement people..!

I need to drive to work so can only drink 1 night a week which I guess saves me from drinking too much per week. 4 bottles on your own is it?

Most of my home glasses are more like 100ml.

Do you drink out of a thimble?! A standard pub measure of wine is 175ml, large is 250ml, fizz comes in 125ml flutes and they're pretty small.

It would be interesting to see the data the guidelines are based on, given the j curve posted upthread and the discrepancy between countries.

OP if it’s worrying you target a few alcohol free nights a week

4 bottles may be excessive if only one person is drinking the wine, but if your dp is having the odd glass I'd not be too worried.

I can neck 4 bottles in one weekend if I'm feeling in the mood, or very stressed 😩

It's a lot. I get through one bottle a week (sometimes less or none), usually over about 3 days (I try to make sure I'm not drinking more nights than I am), and some of it tends to end up in food.

LBOC you can get small wine glasses. I have some that I know are 100ml cause I am often on a diet and measure it.