Going teetotal - is it really that mad / crazy?

[handlemecarefully]

Bear with me - what do you think of this (I'm thinking aloud):

I'm not an alcoholic (I don't need and crave a drink every day), but I do drink a little too much.

I'd find it easier to stay relatively slim if I cut the booze (it's a struggle not to gain weight atm), otherwise my diet is very good....

It's undeniably healthier without booze

Plus I use it as a prop to relax me / help me sleep / have a good time - and those are not positive associations. I should be able to do those things without a beer.

It might help with my running....

I can't just cut back to merely drinking at the weekends - that doesn't work for me, I have tried it and over time the weekend started to begin on a Wednesday!

I'm an all or nothing kind of gal - i.e. if I enjoy something I can't do it in moderation, I do it to excess. So for instance 4 months ago I totally gave up sweets, chocolate, biscuits, cakes, chips and high fat foods...(because I couldn't trust myself just to indulge occasionally), and giving them up completely has worked for me. I've just become the person who doesn't do fatty foods...

So, I'm thinking I could become the person who doesn't do alcohol...

But friends say I am mad / OTT in giving up alcohol. You would think I was proposing giving up life itself...

So am I mad?

no not mad

I did it for a while but I find it nicer to look forward to a couple of glasses on a friday and saturday and none in the week. (not drinking really at all atm as pg).

you could give up and then lapse at special occasions? or would you binge?

so how much do you drink honestly in a week?

Nope, not mad at all. I enjoy a glass of wine, but since having DD, it makes me feel soo ill the next day that I can rarely be bothered now.

I was completely alcohol free for my hen night, and only had the obligitory one glass of champagne for toasts at my wedding... and I loved it. I remember it all clearly, and was happy the next day.

It does get frustrating having to explain yourself to people (for me at the time "no, I'm not pregnant"), but after a while people just accept it.

You save a fortune on taxis too - and if you are drinking water, your skin is great the next day

I drink lager mostly - generally bottles of budweiser, 2-4 every night (between 1.5 to 2 pints)

I haven't got the restraint to just limit it to Friday and Saturday Enid.

It does take a bit of getting used to too - I am shy anyway, so it is hard not having the initial one to relax, and it is hard when you see the others enjoying it too Not so hard at home because we just stopped buying anything for quite a while, and now the habit is too ingrained for it to bother me being in the house.

That's true Flamesparrow - alcohol is known to have an ageing effect!

no alchohol lager?

the becks stuff is really good honest even dh thinks so

the others taste like P* (i should imagine)

if you drink 1.5 pints a night thats 21 units a week (only 14 recommended) so not very healthy

impossible to cut down to half a pint a night? or one bottle?

Is what you drink too much? I thought a unit was a pint of beer or is it half a pint?

As a life long teetotal, you have to ask yourself, what will you do when you are with your friends and they are all drinking? It can be quite hard to resist the presuure to join in, plus the non alcoholic alternatives are quite expensive and dull.

However, it will help with weight loss and if you have already given up fatty foods successfully, you are clearly someone with will power.

Just please don't anyone say it will make you a boring person if you are teetotal. Who needs alcohol when you can get high on life?

At the end of the day, it's up to you, not your friends. You know best what's right for you. And if you try it and hate it, you can change your mind.

HMC
My god
You are me.
RAther than give it up I have really weak wine and sodas at the "crunch" times
I put myself on a cash amount weekly and no cards so cannot impulse buy 4 cans at 4pm.
It has been a rigorous attempt to regain some control over drinking, I know I'm not an alcoholic, I manage fine without it, I just don't want to
I was on 3 cans of Stella a night, until 6 weeks ago and ta da lost 2kgs without trying just by changing...

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look at cods typing she's never off the bloody sherry

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After scrubbing my kitchen floor yesterday on hands and knees (an annual event before you think I'm domestic goddess)
I can thoroughly recommend flash yellow with a little parazone thick bleach a a heady mix to send you wobbly before lunch

lol cod.....{grin]

I'm thinking an alternative might be rule based drinking. i.e. I'm only allowed to drink alcohol when out socially in the evenings (i.e. not at home in front of tv). If I did this it would only occur at the most once per week.

However, I do quite like the idea of binning the booze totally

will be particularly easy to abstain when there are the alternatives of strong household cleaners to get heady on instead - thanks for the suggestion!

LM - not so much that you are a boring person if you are teetotal, but that you will find your friends boring when you are teetotal and they are a wee bit tipsy

hmc - go for it. as anorak says, nobody's business but your own.

I don't drink, long story but stems from ex being alcoholic, I do find people who are plastered boring but anything silly you can wind them up for weeks!
It isn't really any cheaper but you will deffo lose weight especially from drinking lager.

Yes hugely calorific. 1.5 to 2 pints per night is I think 300 - 400 calories.

Like you MHC I'm a bit all or nothing. I was teetotal for over ten years before I had kids. I just didn't like the taste. It's quite unusual though unless you're a recovering alcoholic. It wasn't so unusual in my circle of friends largely because we were all smoking spliffs instead.

I always have 'a poison'. Be it chocolate, coffee, booze or spliff, I'm pretty much always over-indulging in one of them at any given time.

I must say I used to go out clubbing a lot and I used to avoid drunk people. They don't listen, they talk loudly, they bump into you on the dancefloor and they generally shut down their awareness of the world about them.

I think getting tipsy can relax people and make for smoother, less self-concious conversation though.

I drink wine now and again but I never get drunk.

I havent drank alcohol since dd1 was concieved(9 years ago!) I suppose the fact my dad was an alcoholic didnt help matters, but i like to remain level headed!
I can enjoy meself exactly the same when im on a soft drink as on the booze!
Dosent bother me now, although people cant understand why i dont drink!!(think im some kinda do gooder,lol!!)

hmc - I didnt drink for years. I still dont drink if I am out. I can make a fool of myself any day at a social gathering without the help of alcohol.
Being TT is not weird, and anyone who makes a big thing out of it is probably pretty shallow anyway!

hmc, don't think it's a mad idea at all. I think part of the reason that I've lost so much weight is I don't buy alcohol to drink at home. I've never been a heavy drinker, but it weakens my resolve about grub !

If I go out I enjoy a drink, otherwise I don't bother. I did miss having a couple of glasses whilst relaxing in the evening, but it doesn't bother me now.