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?

The majority of people I know drink 2-3 glasses of wine most evenings, people rarely admit it or just won’t comment on this sort of thread. I’ve had a couple of sherries and two large glasses of wine this evening, I drink at home, very rarely go to a pub, never go on a ‘wild night out’ , but enjoy a couple of nice glasses of wine at home most nights. And I will happily open a bottle of wine on my own.

I hardly drink at all at home, so most weeks I drink nothing. But in my circle that’s unusual - I know plenty of people who drink every day, even if just 1 glass of wine.

But even when I was at Uni drinking 7/8 pints a night, I’d have lied to my GP and would have said about 20 units a week!

Potol you get used to it.
Tolerance is a thing.
High functioning alcoholism is a thing.

Lots of people in history and to present day doing all sorts of stuff while consuming eye watering amounts of alcohol.

eg winston churchill is the first one that springs to mind

i drink zero per week

0 units here.

The risk of breast cancer increases with the units.

breastcancernow.org/about-breast-cancer/want-to-know-about-breast-cancer/what-can-cause-breast-cancer/alcohol-and-breast-cancer-risk

And again to those who drink 2 G&Ts on a Friday plus 4 glasses of wine- I am assuming there aren’t small children waking you up like clockwork at 6:30-7? My kids are generally largely easy going but on the weekends want to be outdoors as much as possible. Hanging around in a park or a museum on Saturday with a hangover, week in and week out would be my idea of a nightmare.
Personally, I would rather eat a tub of salted caramel ice cream. I would still feel good without the hangover. Equally bad for your health I guess!

@PotolBabu
You would easily if you got used to it.

I can drink a bottle of wine and feel perfectly fine. Had no effect at all.

Potol I probably have half a bottle most evenings, that’s two large glasses. I like one before dinner (6.30ish) and one with dinner, I tend not to drink after my evening meal. I manage perfectly well with driving, household chores, my job & other commitments. Maybe other people have a much lower tolerance?

1 or 2 a month, on average

PotolBabu - even though I don't often drink much these days, I could still drink a bottle of wine over the course of an evening and function fine the next day. I'd feel a bit jaded (largely because booze makes me sleep really badly, which is partly why I don't drink much any more), but work and chores would be fine.

Some weeks nothing, some weeks I'm acing the top 5% in something

Friday night was up there - no literally. A bottle of wine followed by 3 pints. Nothing to drink in the week before that and I'll not be drinking for the next 2 weeks because of study and driving commitments.

DH left the army and told the GP an honest estimation of his alcohol consumption and got invited to a alcoholics service. Ignored it - he was cutting down anyway. But I can assure you OP that you're a light-weight (even at 40 units per week) compared to the military drinking culture...

I tend to drink a bottle of wine a week, usually 4 glasses throughout the week.

Potol I could get up every morning at 5.30 , manage a full day at work and still enjoy a bottle 5/7 nights a week, my tolerance was very high.

I don’t drive so never had that concern to think about.

I reckon i do 20 units a week. More when my mum is around as she likes a drink

None. This Christmas I had a glass, but it was the first in about 3 years. It will probably be another 3 years or so before I have another one. I don't like the taste.

Exactly so back to the high tolerance thing. If you are drinking 2-3 glasses a night regularly, and more on some nights, what about work/driving/general executive function? I don’t care so much about the nights out or whatever or whether those drinks are consumed at a pub or in the house- I guess I am more interested in how well people think they function the next day and more importantly, how quickly they consume that alcohol if they work FT and have had a full day of work and also have to get up the next week.
For me, quite literally, I don’t have time to drink 2-3 glasses of wine a night!

I am tracking at the moment too OP and average about 25 units. So add me to one of the 5% above you.

I don't think I drink a lot. But then I compare myself to family and friends and I actually do. It's gradually coming down though. And I am more aware of how much I am drinking. Mainly because I have got fat. 🙃

I must know every one of that 5% then as I can count the number of teetotallers I know almost on one hand. Virtually everyone in my circle drinks, varying amounts, some more than others, but we are very social, and at parties/dinner parties/meals out etc everyone drinks - cocktails, wine, beer.

If only 5% of the uk drinks 20+ units I can't imagine how bars, pubs or the (thriving) alcohol industry survives Are you lot really saying when you go to pubs, parties etc everyone around you is drinking soft drinks??

This is an interesting thread. Like op I used to drink 4 times a week, either a couple of gins or a couple of glasses of wine. Never drunk or hungover.

I cut it out totally for a few months when training for a half marathon and it really made me question why I do drink so much. I read some really good books including the sober diaries by Claire pooley and it really made me question why I do drink anything at home at all.

If I fancy a non sweet drink I like non alcoholic drinks, especially like Aldi's zeropointzero prosecco, it's only 30 cals a glass too!

Guardian says 20% of English adults are teetotal.
I probably have 1-4 units/week. Any more & I feel ill.
I fully believe any alcohol causes cancer so my better self would quite completely.
Lots of alkies in my family, very relieved not to be one of them.

OftenHangry the last ONS alcohol survey had a 20.4% rate of teetotallers in the adult population so mumsnet is about right!

I will put my hand up and say I drink 750ml (one bottle) of lower alcoholic wine each evening. I have a very supportive Doctor who keeps an eye on my liver via blood tests etc, we talk about it openly and I can talk about it openly with Hubby now whereas once upon a time it would end up in an argument. While I can 'feel'' I have had a drink, I don't ''feel'' intoxicated and have no desire to drink once we have eaten dinner. I do believe as a very regular drinker you build up a tolerance (for want of a better word) to alcohol compared to someone who rarely drinks who is immediately affected. I have always enjoyed wine but Hubby and I can pinpoint a period of my life where it became an issue. My Cousin inlaw (Hubby's side, so that helps a lot he can talk to her) was getting through 2 bottles of full strength wine each night when she decided to give it up successfully. Our area has only just started having recycling collection too, and I'm the one to put it out, so that is confrontational. Good on you for managing to reduce how much you are consuming. I'm a work in progress and the introduction of lower alcohol options is fantastic.

I haven’t had a hangover for years, and I am up at 6am most mornings, actually I’ve just enjoyed some salted caramel ice cream as well as my alcohol intake this evening .

Ragwort same here, many of my friends (not all) will have a couple of glasses of wine many evenings at home, and more if out, as do I.

A bottle of wine a week(12% or lower) so that's about 9 units I guess?