Can a binge drinker ever become a moderate drinker?

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I am a binge drinker, never have cravings but at least one day over the weekend Dh and I turn off the telly put on some music and drink from 7pm until bedtime,
I will easily sink a bottle of wine and him 6-8 cans.

I did consider giving up completely but I look at my mum 80 this year and enjoys a glass of wine most nights but she’ll only have a drop about a small glass measure and make it last but when it’s gone it’s gone and she doesn’t make a night of it.
I don’t want to binge anymore but is it realistic to think I could enjoy one glass in a restaurant or one glass in the garden or even relaxing in the evening without the need to go back and finish the bottle?
I seem to be fine not drinking for a while but then I wish I could just have one when others do.
Would my tolerance level lower enough to get used to one glass?

Yes, I think this describes half the population. Silly teenagers become sensible middle aged people.

PP’s suggestion of buying half bottles is a good idea. There is a website called something like half bottles.com which has a really good range (supermarkets don’t stock very much in this size).

If you find you can’t resist opening a second one, that’s a sign that you ought to take a proper break and reset.

we no longer keep alcohol in the house op

it we went a drink on weekend we go and get literally 2 cans of beer each or I grab a cocktail in a can and have that

then when it’s gone that’s it 🤷‍♀️ if there was more there I’d probably drink it

I dont think you can while living with someone who also binges once a week.

You could change if you had to get up for something the next day or went out somewhere not alcohlly that night instead. Change the environment, change the behaviour and all that.

I binged exclusively in my teens and twenties because I wanted to get drunk.
Now that I drink exclusively for taste, I haven't been drunk in 10 years. I really , really don't like the buzz anymore, which is why I moderate.

How many units is it?

My XH had a compulsion to finish whatever alcohol was in the house. It took me a while to twig as to why I always started a new bottle of wine when I had a drink. I stopped drinking at all. In the end he started to go out late for alcohol when he'd drunk what he'd got in as there was nothing of mine to pinch.
That's one of the reasons he's an XH.

I agree. My family thought I was on my way to alcoholism because they were all non drinkers and my social life utterly confounded them.

I had hobbies and work socials and zero responsibilities and my whole friendship group were the same.

We’re all now teachers, accountants, data analysts etc with kids, in the midst of menopause and drink very differently.

I mean all you need to do to prevent it being a binge is keep it under 6 units. A bottle of wine is usually 10. So just have 2 glasses instead of 3. Pour the remainder down the drain to stop you finishing the bottle.

If you really only have one bottle of wine a week you’re hardly going crazy and I say that as a teetotaler. Your mum shouldn’t drink everyday. Even only a bit she needs alcohol free days.

That’s rubbish. There is not just one but several liver tests, and damage would flag, then it’s a case of working out what it is and what it is due to.

I like alcohol, not all though, I’m selective. I drink more than usual as I love the taste. If I was forced to have stuff I don’t like the taste of I would turn teetotaller in a millisecond. I use prescription and non prescription gastro protectors if I’m going to have more than a few drinks, a mega Vit B with my first sip of any alcohol and include full liver panel testing every 3 to 4 months to flag if any issues are arising. So far so good, so I continue as I am😁. DH’s liver tests flagged some issues at one point so he scaled back, no issues since.

This is interesting. I wonder if it’s because your liver has time to repair with all the alcohol free days in the week.

I know binge drinking isn’t recommended- do we know where the 6 unit definition comes from? Is the same for men and women and what do other counties say? I just wonder about arbitrary numbers and want proper scientific reasoning. The 14 units a week is also an arbitrary number and varies by country. Some way more, some way less.

I am aware there is risk with all levels of alcohol consumption. However, life is short and having a few glasses of wine with friends and loved ones is one of life’s pleasure for me. I would rarely drink a bottle in one go!

I’d just like more science rather than ‘all alcohol is bad’

OP - I wouldn’t sleep after a bottle. That helps me cut down! I also set a deadline to stop drinking - usually around 9pm and then I switch to a Trip drink to relax me. I also focus on what I want to do the next day (which for me would be ruined by a bottle of wine) so I plan an early swim or exercise. These things help me moderate.

I also buy half bottles or a couple of little cans. That is a good way to moderate.

I probably have similar once a week as does dh. Never considered it binge drinking! I think binge drinking of when I went round town and had 10 Malibu n cokes and a few after shocks!!

i get what your saying it probably would be better to have it over two nights but because you’re giving your body 6 days break it’s probably fine.

a friend who was trying to reduce alcohol was given the advice to tip the first glass down the sink.

would you be worried if once a week you went out and drank a bottle of wine over a meal with friends?

I used to be a binge drinker and I just decided one day that I’d always stop at 2 glasses of wine, so that’s what I do now. Much better not waking up with a hangover.

Another thing I’ve started doing if I drink wine op is mix with ice or soda water or sparkling water and the drink lasts way longer then 🤷‍♀️

Yes. Stick to white wine and add a decent sized ice cube.

Yes it’s possible, I did it. What you describe doesn’t really match my own definition of binge drinking, but I guess it qualifies as it’s having lots of units in one night and then none the rest of the week.

Like PP, I was a binge drinker when younger (late teens through to mid 30s in my case). I often ended up puking at the end of a night or couldn’t remember things the next day. I got sick of it and cut out alcohol completely for a period of a few months. Since then, I now drink infrequently- if I’m on holiday abroad, I’ll have a beer most days of the holiday, and I’ll also have a pint if I go to a gig (provided I’m not working the next day) but otherwise I just don’t bother.

Well, the question is can you? Drinking one bottle of wine at the weekend doesn’t mean you have a drinking problem. I say this as a recovering alcoholic. I would consider that pretty typical drinking for all the people I know who aren’t alcoholics like me. But the question is, can you?

There is absolutely no physiological reason why you can’t just have a cup of tea or a kombucha on a Saturday night instead. Save your few glasses of wine for once or twice a month when you go out for dinner. Or why you have to be stuck at home drinking anything. You could go out and go to the beach for a swim or take a pottery class or go for an evening hike. But if you aren’t going to bother changing your habits and doing something different, nobody is going to do it for you. Yes, to answer your question though, for someone without a drinking problem, it’s absolutely possible.