Does anyone worry that they are drinking too much?

[24joy]

I have slowly increased from a couple of glasses of wine every other night to definately half a bottle to two thirds a night. Is anyone else in the same position? What are you doing (if anything!) about it?

We had this - realised by Christmas the nightly drinkage had just crept up and up.... Was a bit shocked when we realised! Anyway, now we basically don't have any wine in the week - just decided it wasn't good for us (or our budget) and to cut it out Mon to Thurs evenings....

DH and I did this at exactly the same time, which has helped of course. Not actually missed it which just goes to show we didn't need it IYSWIM. First couple of nights felt a little odd as we were just so used to reaching for a bottle when we sat down for supper. But very quickly got in the habit of having something else instead - just make sure you have a selection of ok soft drinks in the fridge. We particularly like Ginger Ale and Spicy tomato juice and I have a couple of "grown up" cordials I mix with fizzy water....

Half a bottle plus a night, every night, is just too much really. You don't have to stop completely but having a few nights off completely is definitely good for you (and you sleep sooooooo much better, believe me!) and then you can look forward to and enjoy your Friday or Saturday night few glasses of wine...

Good luck!

Good post bird.
I started the Dukan diet and stopped All booze for 8 weeks. Lost 2 stones! Now I have wine on Friday / sat nights only an it feels special. Kind of look forward to it!

IMO you probably do need to cut back and give your liver a few days off. Maybe buy fizzy elderflower or something 'posh' like that! !

Yes I regularly drink 2/3 bottle but not every night - however have decided to cut it out mon to thursday for a bit.

I know that its too much.

Thanks for replying - funny you should mention the dukan diet - i have attempted that diet (and other 'standard' ones) recently and it always seems now that my drinking gets in the way. Not so much from the calories, more from the tiredness/low sugar level in the morning that makes me reach for the carbs/quick fix. Then i feel like a failure during the day and then i drink more in the evening!

I feel like i'm generally consuming too much at the moment to be honest - food, wine the odd fag binge.. Think i'm definately trying to fill a void. If only i could work out what it was...

From the outside you would never tell i was so empty!

Yep, DP and I would regularly top our glasses up while having the conversation about how we were drinking too much. So post Christmas we have cut back and are restricting ourselves to a few glasses at the weekend instead. Saves a few £££ too.
I find the over-eating/drinking thing creeps up on me and it gradually dawns on me that I'm drinking every night, having too much coffee, biscuits/cakes every day, then give myself a bit of a mental shake - worry about my health and then cut down.

Yes maybe you're right beamur - its a general increase in consumption that's happening - and they all kind of feed each other iykwim. More drink leads to more food and vice versa. Throw my husband (big anti-smoker) going away for work lots and the smoking creeps in (compliments the drinking - stops the eating!)

Grrr - i just need to get a grip. I HATE coping mechanisms!!!! Why can't i have a healthy one?!

I know what you mean, why is it never 'What I really really want now is an apple' - or 'You know, I've got half an hour to spare, I'll go for a run'.

Yes, I decided I was drinking too much a few years ago and have cut it out Monday to Wednesday/Thursday. Sometimes I don't drink on a Sunday either. Am toying with the idea of giving it up altogether, now, as I definitely sleep better on the nights I don't drink. It wasn't easy to begin with - I had cravings a bit like nicotine cravings (somehow didn't feel quite "right") from around 6pm - 8pm but the more often I had a run of alcohol free nights, the easier I found it to achieve. Am drinking tropical squash with fizzy water as I type!

All the liver experts say you must have at least a couple of alcohol-free nights in a row per week at least in part to halt the descent into dependency.

I've given up alcohol, and I have found that for me, the two issues were that I drank socially - my social life involves being around people who drink like fish, so I had to find a way of still being with them, and having a good time without drinking, and that just saying 'I can't drink tonight' at the start of the evening made things less awkward, and also that I loved a glass or two of wine as a way of easing into the evening - I loved choosing which wine to drink, I loved having a wine glass in my hand and feeling like 'Now I can start to relax.' Again, I've found a way of still doing all that, with non-alcoholic drinks. So keeping a nice stock of different, 'grown-up' soft drinks in the fridge, still drinking them from a wine glass at the same time of day that I'd have a glass of wine, and lighting candles to get that relaxed ambience going, really helps too.

Good for you for thinking about this - hope you can work out how to enjoy drinking less! (You could drink half the amount of wine but still spend the same amount of money, so you'd be drinking much better quality wine. Or save the money and save up for somehting you really want....)

God this thread is helping! 'halt the descent into dependancy' - that has struck a chord with me big time. I suppose i feel like im just on the cusp of a 'need to have a drink' lifestyle (and not in a cute 'fun' way) and i obviously dont want that. Also dont want to get so far down the line that ive been to rehab and i can never ever have one again! There must be some middle ground.

The other thing that ive noticed though is that although one glass definately cheers me up/relaxes me - beyond that there's a diminishing rate of return. And then i turn miserable (ish).

Might try to not drink at all tomorrow. My husband has recently really cut down and he goes on and on about how his sleep quality has improved. I honestly cant remember the last time i havent had at least one glass of wine in an evening...

Bloody hell

Thanks holoferneshead. Whats your favourite grown-up drink? I suppose a bloody mary without the vodka might work? I dont think i would enjoy anything sweet.

(And the problem about getting a nicer bottle of wine is that i would guzzle it quicker!)

DH and I are spending some of the money we have saved on having a cleaner!

Yes, 24joy, I decided I had to do something about my drinking because I did not want to have to give it up at some point in the future. I needed to cut down my overall consumption in order to still be able to enjoy a drink.

Now that I drink less I am much less bothered, funnily enough.

I quite like lime and soda - even nicer with some fresh limes squished in. The 'feel good' drinks are ok too, I find J2O's too sweet and can't drink more than a small glass of fruit juice at a go.

Cool. I'll give it a go. Even if it's only to stop me being permanently 'barred' from alcohol in the future!

Just read that back - yup its a slippery slope if that's my main motivation!!

Me too. I don't drink a lot but I have realised that I now drink every night - usually only 1.5 glasses of wine but it's become a habit. So much so that I feel panicky if I realise I don't have any wine at home- not in an addict "I need my fix" kind of way, but more in a "my glass of wine is my favourite part of my evening" kind of way...
Anyway, I am also going to go without any Mon to Thurs.

Hi 24, how are you doing?

You asked about my fave soft drinks - I love the Fever tree 'mixers' like their ginger beer, and tonic water. Really good quality tonic water in a wine glass with a slice of lime feels almost as nice as G&T!

Also there's a French sparkling pomegranate juice you can get at Waitose (called Pomona? Or something?) It comes in a gorgeous old fashioned bottle and looks and tastes divine.

Fentiman's drinks are really good too - they do a 'Curiosity Cola', and if I'm in the right mood I love their 'rose lemonade'. They also make a dandilion and burdock, which is a taste of my chlidhood!

There's another company that makes soft drinks with numbers - they look v. upmarket with flavours like lemongrass. I haven't tried them yet as I can't buy them round here, but they sell them in Selfridges.

These are not the cheapest, but still cheaper than booze . Ihave to confess to drinking lots of sparkling water wiht lemon slices in, and also Sainsbos cheap-as-chips flavoured sparkling waters too. I don't like v. sweet drinks, so I don't really drink things like cola. I'm not a great fan of fruit juices or smoothies but obviously there are some gorgeous ones on the market; cloudy apple juice or pear juice are my favourites, which again I drink from a nice wine glass and buy the best quality (still cheaper than wine - and locally produced, so all good!)

I drink lots of types of tea too - current fave is Lady Grey (like Earl Grey with citrus - v. perfumed and light). There are loads of lovely things!

DH and I spoke about this last night - we have a bottle between us every single night, it's a habit now.
We didnt have any on Tues cos we both had the sniffles, but didnt miss it at all.
We both also love Diet Coke. SO.....what we've decided to do is (starting tomorrow, hahah!) we will have wine on Fri/Sat/Sun/Wed and Diet Coke on the other nights. i.e. we wont drink BOTH any evening - so each is a treat to some extent. Does that make sense?

How did you get on this week joy, did you manage any alcohol free days? You might like to have a look at the Brave Babes thread in relationships. A whole bunch of lovely ladies, some drinking, some not but loads of fantastic advice and non judgemental support. I like fennel & peppermint tea, also orange, mango & cinamon. If you have soft drink, add loads of ice, makes a nice chink in the glass .

Ive started the Dukan today. This is my first night of not having a drink for months and, thats bad. Im going to try for as long as I can but, it wont be easy considering it the Big Brother final tomorrow night and, I like to have a nice bottle with that. It is so bloody fattening though. My friend gave up for two months and lost two stone!! Im really going to try my hardest this time.

I survived last night and do feel fresher today. Thats quite sad, I think.

The test will be tonight, for me.

Brightness - well done!!! Dukan sounds very brave to me... I get the impression it is quite a punishing regime (even before you have to give up booze!) but I've seen people do so brilliantly on it, lose loads of weight...

I slipped slightly - been no booze during the week all month, until last night. Was MIL's birthday, so we dropped round to give her her cards and wish her happy birthday etc and naturally they had wine out so I drank two glasses. Then, when we got home, put the kids to bed, I had two more!!!

Naughty, naughty. Wasn't good, already looking forward to stopping again as I didn't sleep well and had odd dreams and was a bit slow off the mark this morning as a result.

I also recommend The Brave Babes thread, for anyone who is interested. It is really great if you are finding it tough stopping/cutting down.