Morning 
No further drop on scales overnight but feeling really good at the moment, hoping to keep and (pretty please) improve my loss at next weigh in.
On the subject of alcohol - a few years back when I was really struggling with depression and drinking too much, I read the Allen Carr book on how to control it easily. I found it very useful and was the first time in years I was able to just stop drinking completely for (6?) months. I started again for a social event (rather than self-medicating) and ever since have been able to pretty much take it or leave it.
Other than the occasional time, like recently when some genuinely crap stuff was going on and I let a bit of social half term drinking turn into a nightly ‘need’ lasting a month, I am able to stop/start at will. And I think it’s still pretty much down to the messages from that book.
Even when I’m really struggling with RL, the voice in my head that recognises my unhealthy dependency on alcohol as a crutch, keeps nagging me until I can’t bear it itself. This is usually combined with feeling worse physically and mentally, at which point I KNOW it’s only downhill from there to that very very dark place again if I’m not careful. So I stop. Cold turkey.
Fortunately for me, not being addicted to stuff, or losing control, is a bit of an obsession and a genuine fear of mine. So that helps too. It doesn’t necessarily kick in immediately though, especially when struggling mentally. But when the physical symptoms (heartburn, bloating, looking shit, tiredness) start to become difficult to ignore, the little voice kicks in and then I can’t shut it up. I try for a while, but much like me, it does go on a bit...
Anyway, I think what I’m trying to say in a long-winded way, is that reading that book changed something in my head. It broke the spell, and sobered me up (excuse pun) to the realities of it. I see alcohol differently now, and on the whole, have a much better relationship with it than I did before.
Most noticeably for me, is that my drinking ‘partner in crime’, is still very much on the hook, and has no interest or intention of curbing their intake. But I can see SUCH a difference in them when they do have a few nights off. I know that they feel the improvement too, but they’re not ready to recognise it for what it is so will carry on until they have their ‘moment’. Or not.
So I fully recommend adding this book to the reading pile Summery listed. I haven’t read any of those ones yet but am definitely going to look them out.