Cutting out wine completely after a heavy summer

[homefiresburning]

Is this possible?
It's been one crazy summer.. continuous bbqs, parties, celebrations and good weather.
I've been drinking far too much wine and have the belly to prove it!
Some weeks I went through five bottles of wine, somethings less, sometimes more.
It's my go to for celebrations and relaxation but I'm afraid it will become a nasty habit . Is it reasonable to think I can just stop immediately?
It's not so much a crutch hut certainly has become a habit this summer and I want to cut it out totally for health and weight reasons too.
Anyone else achieved this?
I'm worried about my body's reaction to complete avoidance in the initial weeks which coincide with my return to work after my summer holiday.
Also when drinking socially, what have you swopped wine with ? Alcoholic or non alcoholic drink suggestions welcome.
Thanks

I had the same summer and switched to beer to ease myself off. I hate the taste and can easily stop after just two. It’s been three weeks and I’m now looking to stop the beer by mid-week. Also took a vitamin B1 to boost neurological health.

Great idea about vitamins, thanks.
Hate beer but I get what you're saying. I could just about sip a lemon beer if it was really cold .
That's certainly an idea thanks!

You may find you crave the sugar hit as well as missing the booze! But you can definitely go 'cold turkey' at that sociable drinking level and will feel the benefits quickly I think (no hangovers one of the best ones)

Try elderflower cordial with sparkling water, slimline tonic with a slice of wine, apple juice and sparkling water, iced tea...

A slice of LIME not wine!!!!!

I had thought of the sugar thing.
I must not replace the wine with chocolate and that's very easily done !!!
I can't get over the belly though!!!
I'm late forties too though which hasn't helped I guess

If it's only been a summer habit, I don't see any physical reason why you wouldn't just stop. Why drink beer if you don't like it? Just switch to something nice and non-alcoholic.

I did this last summer. I had two weekends on the trot where we were hosting friends for BBQs and for various reasons I ended up being the only female drinking (others pregnant, driving etc) ended up slightly too drunk for what should have been civilised BBQs with friends, spent both the following Sundays miserable, anxious and tired and decided there and then to just stop drinking because drinking wasn't worth wasting a weekend feeling rubbish! I realised I associated having a drink with having a nice time.

I bought a soda stream and had lots of nice cordials in wine glasses and haven't really drunk since. Occasionally now I buy alcohol free Prosecco and the Waitrose 0% Riesling is very nice.
Good luck! If nothing else it saves a lot of money!

Slice of wine 🤣🤣! Love that. If only there were such a thing!!!
I am thinking of doing exactly the same. I was examining how I felt last night. Lovely sunny evening, etc. The time I always want a glass is early evening while cooking and chatting. I purposefully didn’t have one (would have had to open a bottle too so slightly easier to resist) and realised that once that time had passed and we were eating and chatting I was fine. I just had to get past that time. Maybe different for you. And . . . Ask me in a week!!
Also - someone gave me a bottle of pink non-alcoholic Prosecco and that was lovely. And had that sort of ‘occasion’ about it/looked lovely in the glass.

I’m doing this after the summer! But I’m giving up alcohol completely. I’ve been sober curious for a while and I want some change! It will hopefully lead to me losing weight, saving money and getting more out of life than slurping wine! I’m going to replace it with non alcoholic botanical drinks and also think of a new hobby I can do in its place!

I'm 2 years tee total soon
The best thing I ever did, and I LOVED my wine!
There's some lovely cordials out there, loads of carbonated drinks and the AF free Gins etc are supposed to be lovely, the market is expanding giving people more choice
My go to is a spiced ginger beer with lots of ice

Cut it out and not only will you save loads of money, but you will also feel better and your health is wealth.

If I was younger, I'd pack up drinking ASAP. Thinking back spent tens of thousands on drinks for myself and family/mates etc and it's not done my health a service and the times I've been p/s in the past did no one any favours.

GIVE IT UP

NB: I've cut back a lot but had a few drinks last weekend within drink/drive limit and none this wekk

Knock it off till Christmas??

Sparkling water, or those sparkling waters you get which have a bit of flavour in them (I mean cucumber and mint or whatever, not a shit ton of sugar)

Think of something to distract you (not food) for the first week or two, like baths with a book or go to the gym or clear out cupboards.

I love the term sober curious. Never heard it.

If
You found wine to be a relaxant or at times an escape from stress, what did you do at those times that you usually have a glass in the evening ?

I’ve starting drinking those CBD Trip drinks, they feel ‘adult’ enough to be a decent replacement.

No advice OP but i could have written your post so hopeful to sneak some advice!
Wine is my absolute 'relaxer' each evening. I know what it is ACTUALLY doing is the opposite, but i kicked the fags some years back and just cant find anything to help me unwind.
Best i have found is exercise and chamomile tea. I wont lie. Its total shit. BUT i know once i have broken the habit for maybe 4 days it starts to get easier...

@edwinbear do you feel like they give you that relax though? I was going to try them (as a benefit for my liver) but read that all the elements that would relax you have been removed.

I tried replacing wine with non-alcoholic drinks and to be honest, they don't do much for me, I'd sooner just have a Diet Coke.

I'm guilty of drinking way too much sometimes but I'm not an all-or-nothing type of person so I am just going to look at cutting out during the week and will probably still have a glass or two on a weekend and when I go out etc.

Early last year I realised that alcohol was giving me bad heartburn. I went cold turkey except alcohol free beer. Have perhaps a bottle a week.

@piglut they definitely don’t get you high, no, there’s no mood altering stuff in there, but I think for me, there’s an element of psychosomatic relaxation. There’re bloody expensive for one - enough to make it feel more like a treat/grown up.

There's loads of 'Quit Lit' out there which is very informative
I knitted, read books, watched Netflix, copious lattès, pints of sugar free squash
It's a habit, albeit a hard one to break for some but it can be done
I know I'll never drink alcohol again
Not to sound preachy but the damage it can do is horrendous, I honestly never realised as I quaffed my 3rd large glass of Pinot......😬

Mid forties here and wine makes me feel
like absolute SHIT these days. Which is annoying as I like it.

Seems to come on a couple of hours after drinking - never more than half a bottle either. First I get very tired. Then a bit queasy. Go to bed and it’s racing heart, roasting like mad and the worst headache right in the occipital area. Next morning groggy.

I’ve decided to give it up too, it’s just not worth it. I only drink at weekends, but I’m fed up of having a horrible sleep and feeling crap after only a couple of glasses.

Not going cold turkey though, going to have gin or a beer. It’s not as though I drink much, but I would hate to completely go teetotal.

Serious answer here
I KNOW how easily I could become alcohol dependent. When I was a student, I drank all day, every day, must admit that I loved every minute of it.
I cut right back when I had my kids, but when my husband left I went back to drinking. I made a rule with myself, that I could drink alcohol on a Saturday when I was out with friends. I never drank at home, unless I was on my way out with them, and had a sneaky few first. If I woke up hungover on Sunday, I accepted that, I didn’t beat myself up for over indulging, but I literally NEVER deviated from the “it’s not Saturday rule”. Not for Xmas. Not for Birthday. Not for anything.
I’ve seen people start off with a glass of wine every night, then it’s a couple, then sits a bottle, then it’s a bottle and a nightcap etc, and it genuinely scares me.
I’m slightly more flexible now, I can drink on any night of the week, but just the once. And I still never drink at home.
You can put any rules in place that you feel you need, and will work for you. My way worked for me, maybe they would work for you they wouldn’t. Maybe you will be better off just saying “no wine” but make it doable for you.

If I want an alcoholic drink but don’t want to get tempted to have lots, I have an alcoholic ginger beer (usually Crabbies) or a fruit cider as I can’t drink large volumes of it. If I want a non-alcoholic drink out and about, I’ve started having mocktail a which are much nicer/less samey than a Diet Coke/J20 etc.

I find most AF white wines are too sweet, but Freixenet 0% is very nice

Or sparkling water with cordial eg Robinsons Lime and Mint

If you track your calories on eg Nutracheck, you'll be quite taken aback to realise how many calories are in alcohol

And check out Naked Mind. It helps to reframe your thinking around alcohol

Good luck