Share your drinking habits with me please

[gulp]

Because I would like some examples of responsible drinking as I think I am on the verge of starting to drink too much too frequently. An idea of real-life responsible approaches to it would be very helpful. Thank you.

Hi Gulp. My policy is to drink only on Friday and Saturday nights now.

I stopped drinking about a year or so ago, not that I was drinking that much in the first place. I just realised that I wasn't actually enjoying it and if I stopped and thought about it, there really was no point. I hated feeling bad in the mornings if I drank and I act like a total twat when pissed.

Both parents have or have had problems with drink and do not want to go there.

Do not miss the booze.

I guess I'd normally drink a couple of bottles of wine over a normal week. The best way to abstain is not to have any in, I find! Atm I'm drinking hot Ribena!

i don't think i dare add up how much i drink right now, far too much i am sure.
we have lots of home made wine
i only drink in the evenings but recently i have switched to bacardi & cokes.

I drink much too much: probably half a bottle of wine a night. Can be more.

thing is, socially, I really don't know who I am without being merry/drunk.

and can't imagine social occasions without booze, really, it's been there for so long.

but I want to be sober and me, hate the feeling of having drunk!

I've only gone out socially sober when I've been pregnant. But I never (very rarely) get drunk. Often feel a bit woolly tho!
gulp, how much do you actually drink?

finishing a bottle of wine as we speak, but can make a bottle last a few days normally. will drink more at weekends......

Gulp, your pattern is very like mine it would seem. It's got to between 1 and 1 and a half bottles every other night but the important thing is that more often than not I end up doing something stupid (the last time which was Sunday,I passed out and left all the lights on and woke up in the morning with all my clothes on. Quite amusing when you're 19 but I'm 49. Thankfully daughter was with grandparents. I know I've got a problem and am trying to change the way I view alcohol. Have just read a book by Allen Carr called the Easyway to Control Alcohol - basically it encourages you to see booze for what it is and makes you really question what benefits you get from it. Don't agree with some of it at all but since starting to read it on Monday, I haven't had a drink and amazingly have had no craving.The best thing is, I've had 4 whole days of not feeling hungover - it's a revelation. Anyway, the weekend is coming up so don't know if I'll carry on feeling this way. But for the first time in ages, I can imagine getting through the weekend without a drink.

I know I've come in a bit late on this ... I have a glass of wine very night at 5:30 . I might have another one after that some nights too. I think I drink too much too... I gave up for Lent both this year and last year in the hope it might break the habit but it creeps back. I didn't feel any better for those 40 days.. but perhaps I didn't give it long enough. A nurse told me if it was red I was drinking she would encourage me but as it was white she would just let me off because I had 2 young kids !

hmmm, probably drink between half (often) and a bottle of wine (not so often) 4 nights a week.

gulp, would say u are normal

feel out of control though!

have finished a bottle tonite but dh is away so rebelling. i am also on AD's so should know better but hey!

I think that sounds normal, gulp.
Some weeks I manage to have up to 4 days off the wine (unusual!), and it's a struggle. And I have to make sure I eat something for supper that doesn't go with wine, eg beans on toast!
I think I'm probably alcohol-dependent actually, but not motivated enough to do anything about it, and feel fine in the mornings.

bigbear, who says wine don't go with beans on toast!

"socially, I really don't know who I am without being merry/drunk."

Indeed. Time to find out, perhaps?

I think your drinking may be "the norm" but it is not healthy or "normal" to drink this way, except for the fact that so many people do it

so to those of you who dont drink at all, or not very much - how often would you be out socializing? i ask because my weekends revolve around going to the pub. i dont see how i could stand being out and not drinking. btw i dont tend to drink much through the week but the minute it gets to friday afternoon i have a beer in my hand

I go out when I feel like it and when there's things I want to do. It could be 3 times a week, or once a month.

Sometimes when people stop drinking they find that there are more interesting things to do than going to the pub.

I find that if I can get to 8.30 pm without pouring a glass of wine I then I don't want one. I think it's important to work out why you are drinking - habit, or is it something you really want?

For me a glass of wine was marking the moment when I make the transition from being a parent to having time to myself when the kids go to bed. However once I had one I always had a second and whilst I was not drunk on two glasss it does make me very lethargic and more likely to collapse in front of the tv. I prefer to do more with my evenings.

I agree with franny. If it doesn'ty feel right to you gulp, stop. Just because it's normal it doesn't mean it is healthy.

One big thing for me is the example for the dcs. As a child we had wine with every weekend meal (I had it watered down from the age of about 8 or 9) and every social occasion involved drinking. I remember becoming aware of the extrordinary lengths people woudl go to so they could avoid having to drive and could therefore drink - except my dad, but he would go over the limit at home. I grew up thinking drinking was the best way of enjoying yourself and in my teens used to get drunk regularly. I cut right back in my early twenties - maybe one glass a month - and have been teetotal since getting pg with dd1. OTOH dh had upped his drinking to the point where it was a problem, and I hated being with him. If it had carried on I would have left, mainly b/c we have ds now and I don't want him following his father's example. Dh has given up but still socialises in the pub, he's doing really well and I'm very proud of him. Socially I enjoy eating out w/out drinking as I enjoy the food more and I know I'm not making a twat of myself. I go to the pub occasionally but find talking to drunk people very boring.

2 bottles of wine a week. Don't really drink beer or spirits. Rarely go out to drink.

I spread the wine over 4 days a week so that I have 3 sover days. I drink plenty of water as well to ensure I don't get a hangover.

Lots of us have a slightly uncomfortable relationship with alcohol, whether it's rationing out a certain amount out over a few days, or having x number of alcohol-free days, or whatever. It's like we're trying to control it so it doesn't control us!

To me, pouring a glass of wine is a real marker that now it is time to relax. Evenings I don't drink I tend to run around doing all the jobs that I didn't do during the day.

Until (ahem) day before yesterday... I've been drinking a serious amount of white wine. Given up to see if a. I can and b. it helps the weight loss.