Drinking too much - I have to stop - how?

[PiedWagtail]

I am drinking too much. I drink a bottle of wine maybe 4 times a week. I have bought Beat the Booze and it's good - have just started reading it.

I'm fed up waking up and feeling crap, having headaches, feeling shaky, feeling guilty for drinking too much, worrying about my health. I want to be healthy and in control of my life.

I think it's a psychological addiction - a habit. When I sit down at the end of the day I pour myself a glass of wine. I think I need to change my habits abd replace this one with something better. If I'm out or doing something different, I don't think about drinking, but I find it hard to have an evening in at home by myself without a drink.

What can I do to help myself not drink any more? It's my 'treat' at the end of a day, wine and crisps. Can anyone help? I can't believe I'm posting this :( I feel so ashamed.

Join the Brave Babes thread on here for starters - lots of support from people in similar situations.

Change your drink - when I gave up wine, I needed to find something that looked the same and I still liked - I found blueberry juice worked pretty well. I had previously tried drinking spritzers (I like red wine spritzers with sparkling mineral water) so I just changed the red stuff.
Now, I have access to a rather nice de-alcoholised wine (don't think it's available in the UK) so I drink that instead of the real deal. Also in spritzers.

Start slowly. You already have some alcohol-free days - extend that gradually, so that you break the habit. Monday is always an alcohol-free day here, and I find that I simply don't even think about having a drink.

More recently I've extended this, and now aim to have Monday to Thursday alcohol-free. It's getting easier! It takes 100 days to make something a new habit, apparently.

The other thing that helps me - don't know if it would work for you as I don't know if you have children/appropriate childcare - but I have twice-weekly gym appointments at 6.45am. Trust me. You don't want to go to the gym if you've had too much to drink the night before! (I have a personal trainer who puts me through some brutal sessions).

Good luck.

www.alcoholfree.co.uk/ try this website for a range of alcohol-free wines.