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?

downcasteyes not drinking alcohol makes your life boring, fair enough but it doesn't mean it makes everyone else's life boring.
It's not that much of a stretch to imagine different people enjoy different things, is it?

The point is, and there's no need to shout, that you said that life without alcohol is dull and boring. That may be the case for you but that doesn't mean that it's boring for others. And you talked about restaurants as they're something that people can't visit unless they drink when that's blatantly not true.

I love the taste of red wine. I wish there was a non alcoholic version that tasted like a really good red wine. I would be down to about 2 units a week if that existed.

Of course people enjoy different things. There are some people who genuinely don't enjoy a drink.

However, I think there's also a deal of rationalisation on Mumsnet about this. I suspect a certain proportion of people actually aren't making a choice not to drink - they have to do it because of work/childcare, so they deliberately run down the pleasure of it to make themselves feel better.

You can still go to restaurants and enjoy people's company without drinking @downcasteyes

My social life as a non drinker is no different to when I was a drinker, except I feel fresher the next day! If we are talking about one or two glasses of wine here I'm not sure that the type of liquid in your glass is the deciding factor as to whether you are fun or boring. I find the concept really odd.

Also, do none of you have friends who are practicing Muslims? They are generally teetotal and lots of them are a right laugh. I think suggesting that all non-drinkers are dull and boring is very small-minded. Ethanol may be life's greatest pleasure for you but it doesn't follow that that's the case for everyone. Other people manage to be interesting and fun without it.

And you can still go to dinner and not have dessert and have a good time. Is dessert delicious though? Yes. Will dessert make the night better? Yes. Same with wine. Wine, like dessert, is delicious and will make the night, in my opinion, better.

What a weird attitude. I choose not to drink. It holds no appeal whatsoever for me. Just as many of the things that I enjoy hold no appeal to others, but I don't believe that they're deluding and depriving themselves of the joys. I assume that they genuinely wouldn't enjoy X,Y or Z that I love.

However, I think there's also a deal of rationalisation on Mumsnet about this. I suspect a certain proportion of people actually aren't making a choice not to drink - they have to do it because of work/childcare, so they deliberately run down the pleasure of it to make themselves feel better.

I don't think you do understand that people like different things because you can't seem to get your head round people not wanting to drink. When people choose not to drink they are really not secretly wishing they could. The sensible thing to do is to assume actually people aren't lying about this and take them at their word.

I suspect a certain proportion of people actually aren't making a choice not to drink - they have to do it because of work/childcare, so they deliberately run down the pleasure of it to make themselves feel better.

You still seem unable to accept that some people, perhaps quite a substantial amount, don't get any "pleasure" from alcohol.

"Wine, like dessert, is delicious and will make the night, in my opinion, better."

A woman after my own heart . What I object to is the idea that I should somehow be ashamed/apologetic about this pleasure! Of course, not everyone likes dessert or wine. And some people have a dessert or wine problem that means they can't partake of those things. That's totally fine. But it is possible wholeheartedly to enjoy a drink with friends without having an addiction issue or anything to apologise for.

Why on earth would you have to be apologetic? No-one has said that. And yet here you are, declaring that life must be boring if people don't like the same stuff as you. 🤔

I have no problem with the concept that drink and dessert make the experience better for some people. I have trouble with the idea that other people's experiences are inferior or dull if they don't enjoy those things.

0 usually unless my birthday, christmas or other significant holiday and not always then.

Maybe 20 units a year for me OP. And that's only around Christmas and NYE and the odd beer in summer.

Are you from the Bridget Jones/fishbowl wineglass generation perhaps?

"Why on earth would you have to be apologetic? No-one has said that."

Oh come on, there's a definite moralising tone of virtue from those who swear they never touch a drop, only at Christmas, to keep auntie Vi company, and then only a thimble of Harvey's Bristol Cream.

"Are you from the Bridget Jones/fishbowl wineglass generation perhaps?"

See what I mean?

So yeah, I am pushing back and saying: a lifestyle where you can't go out whenever you want because you have afterschool clubs/childcare/PTA meetings sounds boring to me, personally.

Well, a life that requires alcohol to be deemed exciting sounds boring to me, personally.

See how childish that sounds?

Are you conflating not drinking with parenthood? Otherwise I'm not sure where PTA mtgs etc come into the discussion.

"Are you conflating not drinking with parenthood?"

Definitely with a certain model of it - the "I can't possibly have a drink in case my child eats the duvet and needs to be taken to A&E" school.

Well done on cutting back so much so far OP.
I don’t really know anyone who ( admits to) drinking more than a bottle a week so to me that’s the norm. I had a few acquaintances whose fb posts have the impression that drinking wine regularly ( nightly) was the normal way to unwind which I felt was quite a dangerous way to think. I don’t follow their posts now.
What is the norm in your friend group?

No units here. Don’t like it, don’t need it, manage having fun just fine.

"Wine, like dessert, is delicious and will make the night, in my opinion, better."

In your opinion, in mine wine tastes nasty and ruins the taste of anything else...so I’d not be drinking it even if it was a night I’d drink alcohol at.

“So yeah, I am pushing back and saying: a lifestyle where you can't go out whenever you want because you have afterschool clubs/childcare/PTA meetings sounds boring to me, personally.“

Um, I don’t need childcare, I can go out whenever I want, I do... I just don’t drink at all social events, just certain ones.

Zero most weeks but I have very young children. This would probably be closer to 15/20 before they were born and maybe when they're older.

I'm intrigued to know what non-alcoholic pleasures people take that are so interesting by comparison?

Cocaine, heroin, mdma, ketamine and a bit of weed mainly. I find drinkers so boring.

@Litluts 30 units a DAY?! Did you mean week? I hope so!

If it really wasn't a typo, 3 bottles of wine or equivalent per day really isn't normal or healthy and you must be addicted by now? Have you ever tried to stop or cut down? Do you have kids or drive? Im actually quite shocked if this is true.

In the late 70's, 52 units was the considered the safe weekly limit.
I assume this was for men, and so I assume the corresponding amount for a woman would be around 35...
Not totally sure what new evidence has come to light since then?