To ask how much you drink in a week?

[Ballsygal]

I used to not drink at all but once I had my DD I started having half a glass of wine in the evening after I put her down. Over the years (she’s 10 now) that has increased. I’d now say that I drink at least two glasses of wine every night and at weekends an extra couple of beers / a cocktail. Is that a lot? What do you drink?

This thread has been eye opening. My comment earlier about not being able to leave an open bottle was fairly flippant but honestly thought that was quite normal. It does show that you tend to attach on to our talk openly to people with similar habits.
Most books/ blogs re alcoholism are about people that drink to excess so that it ruins relationships etc. Far more people have it tap away at their self esteem/ elevate their anxiety or stress just a teensy bit more every day. However, they can completely function and be 'healthy in all other parts of their lives.
Genuinely in awe of people who can just have a thimble and leave it.
It's a horrible, nasty drug because the havoc it causes is completely normalised by so many of us.

Never drink at home. Probably had 12 drinks this year. I would rather have a cup of tea.

25ml- I got a measurer when I was counting my calories!

I think as you are asking the question you think it might be too much. I’ve recently given up drinking as it was doing me no good. I drank probably 3 times per week (half a bottle of wine each time). It got to the point where I started to think “what am I doing this for?”. It was giving me anxiety and making my sleep bad. I then went down a sober curious rabbit hole and now I’ve stopped completely. It’s been a revelation and I don’t miss it!

I would say 2/3 glasses a night every night is starting to be something OP. All the more power to you for asking yourself questions.
It's a lot more damaging health-wise to drink without food than to have two glasses of wine with a meal. I know it's not the same...
I don't drink, usually, because if I do, over a short period of time it becomes every day and more and more. I am not aware of alcoholism in my family, but I feel it could easily become a problem for me. I have no problem with drinking alone, have sometime avoided food all day waiting for the hit of a strong gin and tonic (or 2) in the evening, or woken up - not ever having one but - thinking about having a drink first thing in the morning😱! Not very clever or healthy ideas that come very quickly if I start drinking. I'm aware of it so when I start with the crazy thoughts, I stop drinking, and I consider myself very lucky that it's not a struggle to do so. No idea why I wanted to put that out there

I think 'with supper' are the key words here. It's the only healthy way to drink, in fact some studies have shown that if it's red wine it can be beneficial.

I think that's too much and I've been there. Like you it crept up. I now drink like that on summer holiday and over christmas only. Then always have a dry jan and a dry couple of months after summer to make it easy reset back to no drinking during the week. I do crave a glass of wine midweek sometimes after a stressy day at work but it is easier once you have a routine of not drinking on certain nights. I stopped because I knew it was bad for my health. I do feel the positive difference on my health and wellbeing.

No longer drink during the week unless I go out (maybe once every three weeks). Then usually a bottle over the course of a weekend.

I think plenty of people drink at similar levels to you and you’re not officially in dangerous territory but I would cut down. The dependency would worry me more than the actual intake. It’s as much mental as anything.

I think 'with supper' are the key words here. It's the only healthy way to drink, in fact some studies have shown that if it's red wine it can be beneficial.

That is old science. Many studies show that the best amount to drink is nothing.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31310-2/fulltext?code=lancet-site

I don't drink at all

I don’t drink at all Sunday night to Thursday night. Friday and Saturday night I have around 3 large glasses of wine and I love them and I’ve earned them and I don’t feel guilty for them 😂 I am deliberately extra healthy during the week so my Friday and Saturday wine can be enjoyed guilt free. Today is Friday. I’m excited 😄

I used to drink a lot in my 20s and early 30s. Less after I had dc. I'm 50 now and I just don't tolerate it well any more. I have about 3 units most weekends. I'm still capable of sinking a bottle of wine on occasion, but I always regret it. I don't get a hangover as such - I just sleep really badly and feel kind of jittery and on edge the next day.

@H34th we say in AA that we "drink alcoholically" - and basically while the first drink is a choice, the next 1000 are not. We say that one drink is too many and a thousand not enough. I used to be driven by a compulsion to drink everything I had, and then to get some more. Yet we can go weeks or months without a drink at times.

It's also progressive so if someone can drink two glasses a night, even every night, but the quantity doesn't increase over time, you may be exceeding guidelines but I don't think you're an out and out alcoholic. And even with alcoholism, there's a spectrum as to where you decide to stop and seek help - many people in AA stop earlier than others because they recognise early on the downward decline they're on.

Of course there are equally millions of people who get drunk a few times a year who don't have a problem!

I rarely drink. A cocktail on a night out. A Baileys at Christmas. A beer on a hot day. Pint of Guinness if meeting a friend in the pub. Never really drink at home. Wouldn’t occur to me to open a bottle of wine.

I am absolutely ASTOUNDED at people with opened and unfinished bottles of wine in the house. I mean. I don't know anyone who does that.

I'll sometimes open a bottle of wine to cook with on a Sunday, then have a glass of wine with that meal. That usually leaves just under half the bottle. Whether it gets consumed depends on whether I feel like drinking a glass of wine on any of the evenings through the week, which I often don't. Nothing astounding about it.

One bottle of wine over a week at home

My comment earlier about not being able to leave an open bottle was fairly flippant but honestly thought that was quite normal.

I think leaving an open bottle is normal. It sometimes got used for cooking as well. If it wouldn’t keep and wouldn’t be consumed, the rest would just be thrown away.

This!

In my twenties i drank more.

Now (late 30s) i might have one small glass of wine mon-fri, a couple more on the weekend. In summer on a warm evening it might be a g&t instead of wine.

I don't tolerate alcohol well any more either and i actually want my weekend time, i don't want to be hungover for it.

My ex was an alcoholic (thankfully a long time recovering now and hasn’t touched a drop for years) so having lived through that nightmare for me alcohol is the very opposite of a ‘treat’. I don’t like the taste of most alcohol and am always amazed that people love wine as I think it tastes horrible unless it’s with food. Spirits taste awful and gin is disgusting (in all its fancy fruity guises). I quite like vodka (with a mixer) but it’s been about five years since having one. It’s like cigarettes, if you don’t smoke you don’t crave them, I rarely drink so never crave it or even think about it. I’m more amazed at how many people can afford to drink a bottle of wine a night plus other drinks at the weekend but their finances are their business not mine.

My DH drinks a bottle of wine a night. Watching him drink it, knowing the health and financial implications, puts me off it.

The funny thing is when I’m on holiday I drink far less sometimes nothing at all. I think I do it out of boredom. Generally fit and healthy otherwise. It’s always after dinner. I work in finance and my boss says he drinks half a bottle of wine a night and thinks that’s ‘normal’….

I've slowed down a lot since hitting my 40s but a typical weeknight would be half a bottle of wine or two or three beers, plus spirits, a bottle of spirits usually lasts a week so I guess 100ml a day on average.

Like you I drink less if I'm on annual leave from work.

Same.