How much do you drink? Honestly!

[Starlight1984]

And yes, yes I know there is an "alcohol support" section of MN but this isn't for help or advice or anything other than curiosity!

Just been reading on another thread about what people do and don't do which others would find unusual and a LOT of the posts include people saying they don't drink alcohol which I find insane as pretty much everyone I know drinks to some degree!

Anyway I'll start, I don't (or try not to!) drink from Mon - Thurs but on average will have a bottle of wine on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. So 3 x bottles of wine a week. I know it's above the guidelines of "normal" drinking and know I need to cut down but it's something I genuinely enjoy. DH is the same. We never get drunk. We just slowly drink 3-4 glasses over the course of the evening (from about 6pm to 11ish) whilst making dinner, sitting down to eat, watching a film / reading a book... It's just something that helps us to unwind after a busy week!

So for AIBU

YABU - No thanks, would rather have a cup of tea.
YANBU - Pour me a large one!

I'm not voting as I think each to their own.
I don't think drinking every night is a good idea for anyone but my DH does it often and usually has more energy than I do.
I just think it's a depressant and your body has to try to counteract the affects of it on a daily basis then so you're just giving yourself an uphill battle on a daily basis.
Anyway I used to drink a lot, since having kids I don't.
As I had more kids I simply couldn't have more than one or two on a given night. So now, with my oldest at 17 and youngest at 12, for the last number of years I have one beer a week, usually on a Friday night. I really look forward to it but as I drink so little now I can "feel" that one beer the next day. With work and my kids and my age, I don't have the extra energy to spare trying to recover from alcohol so it's a beer a week for me and that's it. If I have to do something on the Saturday then I skip it for that week most likely or I might have the beer on the Saturday if I'm not too tired.

If I go out with friends for a meal I will drink wine at the meal but will not drink any alcohol in a pub before or after the meal. All my friends do though so I am clearly in a minority. It doesn't bother me in the least, I'm very happy to have friends to go out with as I'm only here 10 yrs and am delighted to be welcomed into a lovely new group of ladies.

There are times when I definitely crave a drink. I grew up drinking from 13 and it's a big part of the culture of any friendship group I've even been in. Just since having kids my priorities have changed and they are additional needs too so it's full on with them and I need to be my best self most of the time if you know what I mean, there's not much let up.

It fluctuates. I try not to from Mon-Thurs but sometimes DH will open a bottle of wine or pour me a gin. On Fridays and Saturdays we will usually share a bottle and he'll have a beer or two.

On a rare occasion I'll go on a girl's night out, roll in at 4am and nurse a hangover all day Sunday but I'm too old for that now and it leaves me exhausted all week. It used to be every weekend.

I agree. The heavy drinkers I do know through work tend not to be particularly fit at all.

I drink too much, certainly after my dad died last year. Trying to cut down now and have at least 3 days a week alcohol free.

I have never had a hangover either.

Mumsnet does seem to have a higher than normal amount of people who don’t drink at all. I only know one person in real life who doesn’t drink but here there are loads

I don’t drink or not drink on certain nights of the week, if I fancy a glass of wine, I’ll have one. But perimenopause means that I can’t really have more than 1 glass as I really really feel it the next day if I do and it’s just not worth it. Such a shame as I used to love a couple of glasses of wine of an evening.

Similar to you OP. Only drink Monday to Thursday if I’m going out (but go out on one of those days at least twice a month) then Friday to Sunday drink 2 bottles in total rather than your 3, so on average probably about the same as you.

Is it too much? Yes probably. Do I give a shit? No.

I find friends judge me though whereas they don’t judge DH. Double standards much.

I also aim not to drink Mon-Thu, but we do sometimes go to the pub or go out, in which case I will. I am a beer drinker and will happily drink multiple pints in the pub, or several cans at home, on each of the other days. Definitely more than 14 units per week on a typical week. If we're out with friends, we do get drunk on occasion.

As more and more evidence seems to be coming out demonstrating its dire effects I have been thinking more and more about cutting back significantly to only partaking on rare occasions, but I really enjoy the social element of it.

Nothing as I’m on medication that doesn’t go well with alcohol.

😆 I was about to say that my most recent drink was was three months ago but you have reminded me that I took a sip of communion wine last Sunday and that stuff is potent!

Im not adverse to drinking for fun on a night out or having a drink on holiday etc but I have never bought the whole ‘needing to wind down’ thing either with drinkers (Because there are three categories imo: people who drink, drinkers, and alcoholics) or smokers.

If you need a drink to wind down it’s because you have developed a dependency even if you aren’t an alcoholic. Heavy drinkers also underestimate what impact they have on their loved ones. I have some terrible childhood memories of a drinker even though they weren’t an alcoholic.

About 4 pints, maybe twice a week. Was more frequent, but I got diagnosed with diabetes at the end of last year.

DP has a couple of bottles of Budweiser maybe once a month and thats it.

I'm pretty much the same as you. Probably 3 bottles of wine a week spread out over 3-4 nights. Also don't really get hangovers unless I sleep badly.

Almost everyone I know is the same as this. My parents are retired and seem to drink every night, but never to excess. I'll also drink more if I'm on holiday or around Xmas.

I also find it strange on mn that so many people don't drink. I only know one person in real life that doesn't and she's a recovering alcoholic!

@Starlight1984 I’m mid 40s and drink the exact same as you. I’m good in all other aspects of my life but I adore wine and this is my one pleasure/vice. Enjoy it

I’m teetotal.
I used to have what I’d consider to be a ‘problem’ with alcohol, so just stopped drinking altogether and much prefer it.
I would have a bottle of wine almost every night.

Honestly OP, what you drink is fairly normal in my circles. It might be over the weekly limit, but it’s not uncommon.
I have 10-20 units a week depending what I am doing. It would be more at Christmas. I know exactly what a unit is and I do count them.
However, I like a drink most nights, I try to have an alcohol free beer Monday and Tuesdays but yesterday I had won something at work and drunk half a bottle of Prosecco and a small beer last night. Do I quite a lot of exercise and eat healthily so alcohol is my vice, really.
I am an alcoholic by mumsnet circles but most people I know drink often, some much (much) more than me.
My partner and his friends can sink 15 pints on a night out. My brother is an alcoholic I wouldn’t like to know how many units he has a week. BIL and SIL won’t do socialising that doesn’t involve drinking. Some friends will think nothing of sharing 2 or 3 bottles of wine on a night out. I think only on mumsnet do people have a small sherry at Christmas , or my personal favourite, a beer twice a year on a summers evening!
Cutting down would be good, I can feel the difference to my sleep and health when I go alcohol free. Have you tried alcohol free wine? Sometimes it’s more the habit that you like a drink at a particular time, and the actual drink is not the issue.

If I go out I binge… champagne, cocktails the lot! This may be once a month. If we have friends over or go to friends I probably have a bottle of wine and this is a couple of times a month. I don’t drink at home alone and DH only drinks rarely. So in the week nothing usually. Drink makes me feel crap the next day and for a few days after! However I enjoy it at the time to socialise and lose inhibitions! The majority of my friends drink, some a lot more than others! My family less so…

I believe it to be 9 units. So go on, have a Bailey’s as well! (says she who just finished off a bottle 😄)

I had a glass of wine last night. I went out last Thursday and drank more than I have in years and years. Before that I hadn't drunk since September and that was once, and before that it was a wedding in August.

So I drink rarely, but when I drink I tend to drink a lot which I think makes me a binge drinker.

I'll probably only drink once or twice between now and the week before Christmas, but then I'll drink most days until the new year, when I won't drink until March.

Hardly ever across much of the year and then like a sailor at Christmas.

I drink practically zero, maybe 2 or 3 G&Ts a year and a prosecco if there’s some at an event. I’d rather not though as it makes me go red and bone tired. Chocolate is my vice.

I genuinely do not drink at all. Sorry if it sounds unlikely, but I have never drunk alcohol of any sort. It's not for religious or cultural reasons, just a preference. My parents weren't drinkers either, although most people around them were, and most of my peer group seems to be.

No drink during the week. Friday and Saturday DH and I will share a bottle of wine. He usually has slightly more share than me. So I would say just under a bottle a week. Very very occasionally we will resurrect one of our legendary whiskey nights when the kids are away, play records and dance drunkenly around like it's 1999.

Usually a bottle of wine on a night out every two weeks. I’ve lost weight on mounjaro, and now in maintenance and after not drinking for months, being fully hydrated and on the drug, has completely reset me, when I do drink I can drink like I’m 20 again, no hangover, I’m in my 50s, and before even one glass of wine would disrupt my sleep and make me feel shit the next day,

i was never a heavy drinker but used to drink maybe 2 bottles a week on a Friday/sat, a bottle a night, even though I felt a bit crap the next day. I thought it was age related, but I have come to realise it’s not quite that, it’s our liver just sustains years of damage basically that accumulates with every drink so by the time you hit your fifties it no longer processes alcohol as well as it used to for many of us, meaning our tolerance drops.

it appears the drugs either cure liver disease which they are looking at now, or by reducing inflammation it allows the cells in our organs to effectively regenerate better, as inflammation is just the marker of damage, and with being fully hydrated, eating a healthy diet, and going several months without alcohol my liver is now clearly functioning optimally. I didn’t even know it wasn’t and all blood tests showed it fine.

I can easily drink a bottle of wine now, sleep like a log and get up the next day and not feel I’d ever had one glass. It’s really a bewildering thing I never expected.

I only really drink at social events. I meet friends every few months and I would probably drink a bottle of Prosecco (over the afternoon/ evening). Apart from that I can go months without it. Occasionally I will have a drink with a meal if we go to the pub but I don’t drink at home unless it’s Christmas Day or we are having a BBQ and we have lots of people round.

I don’t really get enjoyment from alcohol or the winding down effect people describe. I would much prefer a cup of tea or a fizzy pop.

This is like me. It’s like my body has become allergic overnight.

DH is teetotal and always has been.

Since starting epilepsy medication I found that any alcohol made me feel awful. I'll drink maybe once or twice a year - a Pina colada or a Thatcher's Cloudy Lemon. Otherwise, I don't drink at all. Hate wine, hate gin, hate beer. I used to love drinking at parties, I was the one getting all the shots in - never had an alcohol problem but I liked parties. I don't miss it, though.