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 quit drinking Mon-Thurs as a New Year resolution and feel much better for it. It’s not healthy but I do like wine sometimes so can’t give it up completely. My parents are both teetotalers and have been all their lives and they are both very fit and healthy at 80 years old.

This week was busy as I went out on Thursday night (2 glasses of wine = 4? units) and Saturday for a big event where I had 2 glasses of wine again and a glass of champagne (6-8 units??). That is unusual for me though. Typically I would have a couple of glasses on the weekend and that’s it. Before making the choice to cut down, I was drinking every other night, just a beer or a wine but a bad habit really.

I am amazed too at how much some people can drink. We’ve even been to kids birthday parties where the adults, especially the dads, are just sitting around drinking beer after beer. I don’t know how they do it. Some people don’t seem to get hangovers the way DH and I do. We’re wimps when it comes to alcohol.

Potol - not everyone gets up at 6:00 or goes to bed at 10! Most people have a shower in the morning, not a bath at night. I'd have plenty of time between 6pm and 10.30 or 11 pm to have a few glasses of wine if I wanted to. Besides, eating dinner, doing chores or having a bath can all be done with wine if desired.

I drink way more than 20 units a week. So do most people I know.....

Haven't read the fucking thread but 4-5 bottles of wine a week seems ok to me.

Obviously a great deal to some but my professional family drink this much and have for generations.

Last had a drink on Xmas day.
Have a drink say 4-5 nights out of a two week holiday in the summer and maybe at the odd wedding over the year but honestly very rarely.
I’m happy being designated driver.

Used to love a drink but just grew out of the habit really. Don’t miss it at all.

Large scale surveys asking people how much they drink, finds that people report they drink about 40% of actual alcohol sales.
Also older people drink more often, but under 25s are much more likely to binge drink.

What feels "normal" depends on your social circle.

Congratulations on having cut down to half of your previous drinking level, OP! That is really impressive.

Inion my parents are late 80s & in very good health..... yet would be considered ‘heavy drinkers’ on this thread (2-3 glasses of wine most days) .

One or two double Bacardi and cokes, so I guess that’s 2-4 units?

A whole bottle of wine in an evening would get me quite tipsy, I can’t imagine doing that multiple times a week. I definitely did binge drink when I was at uni though!

Being in the top 5% of drinkers on 20 units a week is probably about right tbh.

Lots of people don't drink, and lots of people hardly drink. The 'average' would be much less than the recommended maximum of 14 units a week.

Reducing your drinking by half is a great achievement regardless. So is making a conscious choice to be more aware of how much you're drinking.

Rather than compare yourself to others, decide where you want to be with alcohol and work towards that.

Probably on average about twenty, sometimes more, sometimes less.

As a pp said, eighty percent of the population drink regularly , but it appears a high percentage of the non drinkers are also mumsnetters oddly enough. So any answer on here will be skewed.

Ragwort my Dad is 75, I just spoke to him, he's a bit pissed. And back from a two-week skiing holiday.

And off climbing next week.

This again sigh
Very few people on MN seem to drink at all and would be blotto after one glass of wine.
Say you drink any more than that and you are met with horror.
I probably average 50-60 units a week. Easily done if you have say 3 glasses over the course of the evening and no days off. I never get hangovers and feel fine. I do want to cut down bit, though I know I’ll never go as low as 14. But only because of long term effects, not because it’s affecting me now.

14 is ridiculous anyway, the rest of the world is higher. It’s well known they made it so low, knowing people would go over but hoping it would curb them a bit. I’d rather hear what’s a realistic total. 20? Ok I could aim for that. But make it a ridiculously low number and it’s a disincentive, to me anyway.

There's nothing wrong with booze.

There's nothing wrong with being pissed.

There's nothing wrong with stuff.

None.

About 20 a week here. Two bottles of wine most weeks. I thought I was at the higher end tbh.

0 for about 45 weeks of the year, but when I do drink I drink quite a lot over a night out and have no idea what that is in terms of units.

I'm in my 60's and am amazed at the amount of people in my peer group/social circle drink, its very much a habit.
Personally I can take or leave alcohol, can't understand the attraction.

I guess I'm about 40 units.

And that's been for 30-odd years.

I think that's ok.

Asta19 does it really matter though? I'm teetotal, wasn't always. Don't like the taste now and I drive so much it wouldn't be practical anyway.

I think that if you (general) feel the need to lie about how many drinks you have or try to validate your choices then maybe it's a problem. Maybe it's not. Livers are different, have different tolerances so only the owners know what's a problem and what isn't.

Lots of people are drinkers, lots of people are teetotallers, as long as neither inflict their choices on others, it's fine, isn't it?

If drink agreed with me more I would drink more, but if I have a couple of drinks a night or a glass of wine a night,it makes me feel bloated and groggy, so I don't bother. Sometimes I wish I could 😂

None in the last 24 years. It almost killed me.

Good on your for cutting back.

On a general month, nothing
But then last night I had a glass of wine and 4 double g&t. If I go out, I will drink a lot, maybe 2 bottles of wine, 6 gins, a few shots and the rest!
But then I go 6 months without anything

Whereareyouspot

The same thing happened to me. I used to drink a lot when I was younger. Still don't like being the designated driver though and I really struggling to be around people who are drunk on a night out and I'm not, people are annoying when they are drunk 😂

Mumsnet might be skewed a bit. I drank a lot pre-children but very little these days as I have a totally different lifestyle now.