How can I be in the top 5% of drinkers at 20 units a week?!

[Pooshy]

I've been tracking how much alcohol I drink since the start of the year in an effort to cut down

It's working and I think I probably drink about half as much as I used to, around 20 units a week on average. Still over the women's recommended limit of 14, but this is better than I was

However the app I'm using says I'm in the top 5% of drinker so that means only 5 people out of 100 drink more than me

Surely that can't be right... how many unit do you drink a week usually?

I've been using the app since the new year and found it really helpful, it's really made me think about how much I'm drinking. I am totally honest on it (otherwise what's the point?) and averaging around 10 units pw. I intend to reduce this further but I am going through a period of considerable stress in my life atm which has made it a little more difficult.

I have currently set it up so I have a minimum of at least three drink-free days over the week. I also measure out my wine now. It surprised me how "small" a small glass actually is!

I would definitely recommend using the app, it's been a real eye-opener. Even if you don't think you drink much, even a bit here and there soon adds up.

I used to drink about 30 to 40 units a week. I thought it was fine and everyone did it until I stopped and realised how much of a problem I actually had. I only drink socially now. Say what you like but it can be a slippery slope. I drank to calm my anxiety. In reality it just made it worse and meant I never really faced my problems in my own mind. Which meant when I stopped I felt like shit emotionally for quite a while. I'm much better now and my anxiety is gone.

For starters it's 14 units for everyone now. Male or female.

For another thing you're drinking about 50% more than the recommended amount, that's a lot! Is that every week?!

Also as pp said most people are UNDER calculating what they drink, are you measuring accurately?

I very rarely drink as I'm not supposed to with the meds I'm on (not dangerous but feel the effects more and quicker) but I'll very occasionally have 1-2 lagers, not strong ones, or 1-2 rum & coke and i'll measure out the rum (I've a wee "shot glass" measuring thing, easy to do).

Even before I was on these meds, even when I had a social life it'd be max 5 beers or rum & cokes and that'd be a big night out and very rarely more than once in a week. Maybe 2-3 times a month.

I can't imagine drinking that much most weeks.

But - I've a lot of experience of alcoholics and I'm wary of my own consumption levels, I never drink when I'm angry or fed up.

Personally I think 20 units a week is far too much and you maybe need to seriously consider if you're dependant on it.

"and I'm never really drunk or hungover" that's not a good thing, it shows you have a high tolerance.

I don't get hangovers, neither do any of the alcoholics in my family and they've rarely been obviously drunk either. Doesn't mean they weren't drinking too much nor that they were dependent and it causing them huge problems in their lives. Didn't stop them suffering the physical effects of drinking too much later in life either, liver disease is well known but it affects all organs up to and including heart and lungs and even "minor" things like eyesight.

"20 units a week works out about glass (175ml) and a half of wine a day. Doesn't seem that much." Drinking every day is also not advised. Iirc the current advice is no more than 4 days per week, your body needs a rest from it other days.

"If I was drinking 20 units a week there would probably be mornings I wouldn't be safe to drive." Good point. Are you driving the morning after drinking op? I think the answer likely yes. How much are you drinking the night before driving?

Personally I've never driven the day after drinking. Not worth the risk.

"It often makes heavier drinkers uncomfortable and defensive when they hear that most people drink less than them, so they make mocking remarks or claim everyone is lying." Yep

Whether someone has a problem with alcohol isn't just down to the amount though, it's the relationship they have with alcohol that's also a factor.

Labellesauvage really? Even though it's way over the recommended MAXIMUM and likely to cause long term health issues? I'd be very distrustful of a dr with that attitude to be honest.

PotolBabu everyone has different tolerances. Surely you've heard of functioning alcoholics? Drinking a lot but managing to hold down jobs etc (though likely something, somewhere in their lives isn't going well, usually relationships) again, doesn't mean it's healthy or safe.

Elfycat my alcoholic father was army so yea I'd agree you're right about the military as a whole having a problem drinking culture. Just cos it happens doesn't make it safe or right. By the age of 50 he was bedridden as a result of the alcohol. My ex was heading that way before we married but I made it clear I wouldn't be marrying a burgeoning alcoholic and wouldn't stay married to one. He cut right back, got the piss ripped out of him but as it happened around that time he needed some tests for something else and dr said to him he was lucky he had as he was starting to have effects on his organs. That gave him a bit of a wake up call and he cut back even more. However, since our split he upped it again and he now in his late 40's does not look at all well to me, recently retired from army, looks bloated, slightly jaundiced to me and various other signs that suggest to me there's possible alcohol related health issues there. Worries me in terms of the potential of me having to tell dd something awful, aside from that nothing I can do.

"Are you lot really saying when you go to pubs, parties etc everyone around you is drinking soft drinks??" Not everyone but certainly about half. The ones that are drinking alcohol I'd say about half of those alternate, or have a self imposed limit then switch to soft drinks later that night and very few drink alcohol only every night out.

"All the research shows that moderate alcohol drinkers live longer than teetotallers." Iirc there's no research that takes into account that many teetotallers are teetotal BECAUSE they have other chronic, even life limiting conditions that contraindicate drinking eg diabetes and many congenital heart conditions so that may well skew the results. They also may well be recovering alcoholics or had past addictions to other substances (and don't drink to avoid cross addiction) so that addiction could have already caused damage to their bodies.

Between 10 and 15 units on a quiet week I'd guess, 20-25 if I'm going out on a big night. I drink most nights (maybe 5 out of 7), but usually only one drink of 1-2 units.

I definitely feel better if I don't drink so I would like to limit it to a few days a week in an ideal world.

Pre kids I'd put away 50-60 units easily.

There is no reason why you would still have alcohol in your body in the morning at that level of drinking. It takes roughly one hour to process one unit of alcohol.

Also nearly every country has different alcohol levels for women and men. And that is because womens livers do not process alcohol as effectively as men.
And different countries have a higher level of alcohol to describe a unit of alcohol.

I have recently started doing 2 bottles of red per week, due to stress but I mainly just like a glass with my dinner and then if I feel like a 2nd or 3rd glass then I do, I hate leaving a tiny bit in a bottle so then I just finish it off 😂. I don't do this every week though, it really depends if I buy it that week so I go 3-5 days without drinking anything and then I'll go out, buy a bottle of Merlot and then possibly drink it by myself in one night or over 2 nights.

I do think it's ok to drink a lot.

Last had alcohol in the Christmas holidays. Don't drink much at all. Alcoholic father, and used to work as a nurse with alcoholic liver disease patients. ALD is a horrible way to go. It amazes me how normalised moderate to heavy drinking is. Even as a student I barely drank and was tee total for a couple of years.

I often wonder if all the "oh I couldn't possibly eat more than 1400 calories a day because I'd gain weight" posters include their alcohol calories in that as lots of you must be consuming hundreds-thousands of calories a day from alcohol.

None. I have about 2 glasses of wine and a couple of cocktails per month.

Yes of course I have heard of high functioning alcoholism but by that definition 85% of the drinkers on this thread are high functioning alcoholics. And everyone has absurdly high levels of tolerance. And hardly anyone drinking 25-30 units on this thread or possibly in real life would even consider they had a problem. So if as a starter we do accept there is a problem then how do we go about addressing it IF a certain form of drinking (2-3 glasses of wine regularly per night and several bottles over the weekend) is very much the norm. How do you open the conversation with those who consider their drinking to be within the ‘norm’ per se? Or actually should these approaches be more tailored? As someone said up thread how many of the ‘not drinkers’ are pregnant-breastfeeding-TTC- have small toddlers. But may well up their drinking once past this stage.
If so many people drink quite a bit above the recommended limit and don’t consider it to be a problem then I am not sure dismissing them as high functioning alcoholics will serve any purpose in the long run? (Assuming there’s a public health argument to want to reduce overall drinking yadda yadda).

I think some people think they're a bit special or civilized for drinking wine most nights (I've definitely come across people like this irl..).

For the people who have three glasses of wine a night, most nights, "but that's okay because I have it with a meal and share it with my husband", I wonder how you'd view someone who has five pints of lager down the pub most nights of the week. Because it's the same amount of units (well, 9 units vs 10 units).

I would say that I have had 20 units in the last year in total, most over Christmas.

Me and OH are not big drinkers. I dont never really drink at home, he has a beer or two every once in a while but not every week. Would buy wine if we had guests over for dinner but that doesn't happen often.

However, I dont think 20 is that high, but I would imagine it to be slightly more than average.

None generally I drink twice a year roughly and even then maybe 6/7 units.

I’m with ahead of you then, OP. I can easily drink 2 / 3 / 4 bottles of wine a week depending my work situation.

I often take clients out / go to conferences / travel with colleagues I’m very friendly with. We have lots to drink there.

I don’t like the calories in wine which is its predominant problem for me. I do really, really like it too much to be inclined to give up.

None. I’m usually drinking couple of ciders during barbecue, occasionally have a bottle of beer on a hot day and maybe once or twice a year I get drunk with my best friend. Which would come to 10 units maximum, because I can’t tolerate more.

Potol I think drinking half a bottle of wine every night is too much. That is 35 units. But if you want people to cut alcohol consumption then you need to be honest. So no they are not functioning alcoholics, so dont say they are, instead talk about health benefits of drinking less.
It is the lesson the anti drugs public health campaigners have learned.

There must be a lot of MNers surveyed then (remember this is the realm where posters have a thimble full of wine every other Christmas).

DH and I don't actually drink - I don't like the taste and he has horrendous hangovers from just one beer so we don't bother anymore. But we are literally the only people in our peer group (late 30's) who don't drink. In fact most of our friends will drink most nights and then more on weekends. I'd say 20 units a week for them is a tame week, it's only 2 bottles of wine over 7 days! I think people just tell massive porkies about their alcohol intake TBH. And I don't think 20 units is even close to excessive.

The competitive non-drinking posts on here are absolutely pathetic BTW. No one cares that you had 2 swigs of Prosecco at a wedding in 2014, you won't get a medal, and smarmy comments like "7 bottles a week? Is this a joke" just make you sound like a sanctimonious prick TBH. People are drinking wine FFS not injecting crack into their eyeballs

I go through one bottle of Baileys and one bottle of Tia Maria every year.

I'm easy to buy for at Christmas.

So a bottle of wine contains 10 units. Me and DH drink 3 bottles per week : so I reckon I'm on about 15 units a week. That's all I have though, he has beers too.

Which sounds more than a bottle and a half a week.

wonder how you'd view someone who has five pints of lager down the pub most nights of the week. Because it's the same amount of units (well, 9 units vs 10 units).

Behaviour wise, aggressive drunk or sleepy drunk?

Health wise, no different.

I drink 4-6 units a week - DH and I split a 500ml bottle of beer between us about 3 times a week. That's pretty much it. On rare occasions I might have up to half a bottle of wine but that would be less than once every two months or so.

gunpowdergelatine I just wonder what they do with their time if they only drink once a year haha

Someone actually said they wouldn't have time in the evening to have a glass of wine because they had "family admin" to do once the dc were in bed.. what am I doing wrong? I don't have any admin to do every evening!

3 units a week on average

There must be a lot of MNers surveyed then (remember this is the realm where posters have a thimble full of wine every other Christmas).

DH and I don't actually drink - I don't like the taste and he has horrendous hangovers from just one beer so we don't bother anymore. But we are literally the only people in our peer group (late 30's) who don't drink

I think it's probably a U-shaped graph; a lot of heavy drinkers at one end and a lot of abstainers (or very occasional drinkers) at the other but not many in the middle. We're quite an 'all or nothing' nation when it comes to alcohol.

When you're in one group, the other group is less visible, for obvious reasons. I used to drink about 20 units a week, now I barely touch the stuff and that does impact who you socialise with and how often because drinkers are determined to press drinks on the teatotallers.