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 don’t drink alcohol at all. I used to have the odd glass of wine from time to time or champagne on special occasions but I was never that fussed about drinking.

I probably average about 1.5-2 bottles a week, spread over 4 -5 days. I usually have a couple of days off mid week.

I'm in my mid 30s though, 2-3 glasses of wine on a night has no effect on my sleep. No hangovers. I only tend to get those if I have a heavy night on spirits.
I do have anxiety but I'd have that with or without wine. I was an anxious child/teen and certainly didn't drink then.

I'm sure in my 40s, 50s it'll no longer agree with me, and I'm fine with that.

But for now I bloody love white wine. It's a guilty pleasure for me. I'll enjoy it while it still agrees with me.

I’m always quite fascinated when people say they love wine. If I try it I always pull a face as if I’d just sucked on a lemon. Maybe it’s my taste buds or something but all wines taste horrible and vinegary to me.

I used to absolutely hate it in my early to mid 20s. I've no idea what made me like it all of a sudden. I think I got into it through sweeter rosé types then settled on my absolute favourite, Chardonnay. I do find Sauvignon Blanc a bit bitter. I have to be in the mood for it. I also don't really like red wine.

Me. I am. I'm the problem, it's me.

I LOVE having a sedate drink. Up until recently it would be maybe two large glasses of white wine of an evening, sometimes followed by a dark rum and ginger. I really enjoy that feeling of being just nicely tipsy and relaxed, but never drunk.
But it definitely became very habitual and despite enjoying it, it bothered me that it was creeping into most evenings.
But back in the summer I read a news article about the idea of putting cancer warnings on the labels of alcohol, and honestly that shocked me. Whether I've just never noticed the any info about cancer linked to alcohol, or perhaps chose to ignore it, I felt like this was something I really hadn't been aware of before and it frightened me a bit. So I stopped drinking that day. I just took it one day af a time, then slowly looked towards whatever I felt the next milestone was. It's been 4 months now. I'm not saying I'll never drink again (and I'm certainly not sating all this to judge others, or persuade anyone not to drinks, I firmly believe in 'each to her own'), this is just where I am with it.
One thing I have found interesting, is that having a break from alcohol has given me time to notice and analyse my triggers for drinking. It's definitely in large part because I enjoy it, but I've now realised that I used it as a short cut to relax and negate stress, rather than processing things in my mind properly, so that's been interesting.
I've also noticed the effect me not drinking has had on some of my relationships as some of my friends have found it weird that I've stopped, and maybe it's made a couple of them a little uncomfortable. I promise I haven't been preachy at them about not drinking, and actually it's almost felt awkward to try to find a good justification. I guess it's such a big part of our social culture.
Anyway, that's my ramble! 🤣

I give up along with smoking about 6 years ago during an early menopause. Just made me ill. I don’t miss it.

Maybe 1-2 gins every few weeks in summer. Pretty much never during winter months.

never crosses my mind to have a drink usually unless I’m out socialising which I don’t do often without kids so less opportunity. I’m not a big drinker at all anymore so even on a girls evening will have max 3 drinks as it wrecks my sleep and makes me ill. I could happily not drink again tbh!

None because I detest alcohol, it tastes vile. I have far too much chocolate tho, not confessing how much of that I eat!

The last time I drank alcohol was my friend's wedding last October, I had a glass of prosecco and a cocktail. I bought a few of those cocktail in a can things at Christmas and they're still sitting in the back of the fridge. I'm not teetotal but I've just never enjoyed drinking alcohol, I don't like the taste of it, wine makes me sneeze, and I don't have much tolerance for it, it makes me feel nauseous pretty quickly. I've always been very ambivalent about alcohol, even as a student I was far more leave it than take it 🤷‍♀️ We go out to eat a lot and I have a mocktail, soft drink and/or water. DP occasionally has a beer or a whisky but these days it's maybe 2 or 3 times a year.

I drink on Friday nights and Sunday nights. Usually 3 drinks, most often wine.

With one group of friends I'm probably the biggest drinker but in another group I drink far less than anyone else.

I used to drink alot on weekends when i was younger, but now i drink hardly anything maybe a few glasses a year and i haven’t drank anything for nearly 3 years, pregnancy and then breastfeeding for nearly 2 years now, i may have a small drink with Christmas dinner as LO doesn’t breastfeed as much anymore so able to wait the recommended time from drinking to breastfeed xx

I don’t like beer, wine or cider so have never sat with a glass of wine in front of the TV or anything like that, but can be a bit of a binge drinker when out. I don’t drink anything for weeks, months sometimes, and then go a bit mad on a night out (although I’m a total light weight so it doesn’t take much to put me on my arse)

The last few years alcohol has made me feel dreadful - makes me feels anxious and jittery, keeps me awake that night and then hangovers that seem to get longer and longer the older I get so I don’t always drink on nights out anymore.

The insistence that the drinkers are deliberately not answering is unhelpful, I think. There really are plenty of people that just don’t drink much.

If you need to tell yourself that other people do drink more but just aren’t admitting it then I think you need to consider why you need to think that. You don’t need permission from others to drink, nor do others need to drink the same quantity to make your own consumption “normal”. Be honest with yourself - if you know your consumption is higher than advisable then try and cut back. If you feel healthy and you’re drinking within the recommended limits, then don’t worry what others are doing!

I rarely drink now but I have friends that do. I’m usually driving as I need to be able to get back for DC so really, not drinking has just become the default.

I do enjoy a couple of drinks sometimes. Might be a random Saturday night at home or a special occasion. I usually have my favourite bottle of wine in the fridge - it might be six months before I touch it, or it might be gone within a fortnight.

Some of my friends drink more regularly but many are either teetotal now or very occasional drinkers. As PP have said, interestingly many of my fellow women who are late 40s/early 50s don’t seem to drink much, if at all, now. Men of the same age in my social group don’t seem to have changed their drinking habits and still drink much more regularly, which is interesting.

It’s also interesting that I can pick up or leave alcohol without a second thought but sugar and carbs? It’s a constant battle not to ram them in my face! And yet, I know there are people out there who aren’t obsessed with food the way I am.

It does make you wonder about how we all have different approaches and desires for alcohol, food etc. Our bodies and brains are just fascinating.

I love wine and love the feeling of unwinding with a drink in the evening and often did so for about 25 years! And lots more when I was younger. But it stops me sleeping so I stopped completely a year ago and feel really well mentally because of giving it up. I just can't handle even one glass anymore. I wake up at 4am in a panic and feel dreadful the next day.

I’m 47. I never drink in the house. This isn’t a “hard rule”, I just don’t. I can’t see the point in just having one glass of wine or a couple of beers.

I do binge drink socially, maybe once, sometimes twice a month. So 5-6 alcoholic drinks, minimum, on nights out.

I say nights, they tend to start early and end no later than midnight these days.

I like bars / pubs an alcohol, like the feeling it gives, and I’m a “good drunk” - sociable, friendly, always in control (I’ve never vomited through drinking or fallen over or got into “scrapes”). I know my limit and stop there.

However, I view alcohol as something I do socially, not at home, watching TV.

Only drink alcohol on Friday and Saturday and try to keep it to 2 to 3 drinks max.
if I’m out with friends it could be more.
I rarely drink in the house and never on a work night.

2 bottles of wine every Saturday without fail

Thank you.

I’m the last person to be judgy btw - look how much I used to knock back ffs! But I did used to be in denial try and minimise my drinking as “not that bad” (even before I got to the shitshow levels of drinking I ended at) and I guess I just wish more people were a bit more honest with themselves,
so they don’t end up like me
:)

I have a bucksfizz at Christmas and that's it 🤣 I used to drink, as a student, first working etc but after having kids, being pregnant or breast feeding for 5 years I just didnt go back to it. I tried but hate the taste and don't have time for the horrific hangover I get after even 1 glass of wine. Dont miss it at all.

I'm trying to not drink from Monday to Friday (although it's Thursday today and I had a can of light beer).
Averaging two bottles of wine at the weekend over 3 days.

I'm not going to lie, I love a drink.

I try to only drink 2 nights a week (DH works shift so this might be a Monday & Thursday rather than a Friday and Saturday) but it's hard as we often like to go for a walk after work and this does go via a lovely pub...

None, ever.

1 or 2 drinks split over a weekend if I do decide to drink.

Couple of glasses of wine nightly on holiday.

And a few at Christmas/my birthday/very occasional nights out! 😄

I'm a lightweight and trying to be careful so a lot of weekends end up going sober anyway. Feel so much better when no alcohol has been consumed, but love the relaxing feeling too.

I used to drink a bottle of red a night, every night. For years.

Then 2 1/2 years ago I just stopped drinking, and that was that. No booze. It was really easy to stop drinking.