would anyone like to try a dry January with me?

[coppercolouredtop]

i really struggle with not drinking daily.

i have tried before and cheated. my dp hates how much i drink and i would like to try and see if i can do a month without and see if it breaks the habit a bit.

i can easily sink a bottle of wine plus a cocktail and still want more. i go two days without simply because i work nights two days a week.

i am getting fat. i am choosing drink over food. i am reliant on treating myself with alcohol almost daily.

i can give up anything else really easily - smoking? stopped with no help when i decided to stop.
put a box of chocolates in front of me and i can take a couple and leave the rest.
open a bottle of wine and its gone. and i want more and i dont get hangovers so there is no incentive to stop!
ive gained 6lb recently and i know its booze - dp and i used to work same hours and i moderated a bit better when he was around but now im not.
i know he hates what i drink and the annoying bint i become after the third glass.
i have lost motivation to do anything. i dont get up early. i cant be arsed to do much anymore ( i know i am depressed which doesnt help. and i think i depress the people around me)
despite being quite outgoing and bubbly i have no friends and no social life. my kids are grown up and dont see me much. i moved to a village i dont know 4 years ago and know not a soul. i also got pregnant which i was ecstatic about but then found the baby had a disability that would have been life altering for me and her, but i always felt being a mum kept me going and motivated and now my life feels completely empty and hollow. im in a job i hate. with a partner who doesnt like spending much time with me. my kids are gone, i have no friends here and alcohol fills the gaps.

ive decided to try and get to grips with that one problem and bin the booze for a month to see if it makes any difference to anything. (waist line would be good!) i never used to drink like this.. (though i did smoke about 3 cigarettes a day)

does anyone relate? anyone fancy giving this a go and supporting each other? im going to find it extremely difficult but i want to try it.

Today I would like a drink
My head says I don't need one, but I would so love a glass of wine.
I'm not feeling well, had a shit day & am tired.
Just want something to eat a wine and bed
Hope you are all doing well

Hey @chickydoo no one can stop you having a glass of wine if you really want one! If you just have the one.. then get back to DJ tomorrow no drama. 😉

I'm here. Missing that lovely taste and the sheer pleasure of a glass but grimly determined to keep going.

Plus sides:

feeling of well being
better sleep
no muzziness in the mornings
slightly more even temper now, though home situation is v difficult
money
not feeling guilty and annoyed at myself

@whynot93
Thanks Why. I am actually having an alcohol free cider, it's quite nice.
Will have something to eat in an hour.
Feel a bit better now I'm home & off the train.

Excellent news!! I agree with the PP think of the money we are saving not to mention the amount of calories!! Keep on going ladies we've got this 🙌

I had a glass of alcohol free prosecco this lunchtime (met an old friend at her house). Have to say....

first sip not bad
Every other sip it just seemed to get sweeter and sweeter, not good. It's a Sainsbury's one, I wouldn't recommend it

Hello everyone, sorry you feel crappy chicky, and seafeather I loved your list of positives, but for the difficult home situation.

Rousette your 5 weekends comment really made me laugh, that is exactly how I feel.

I am using the Dry Days app it tells me that I've saved 84 UK pounds or $160 ish Aus dollars! By the end of the month that will be $300!!! I can take myself away for a lovely weekend .

I have come up with a cunning plan.....buy 6 of those little bottles to last a week.

I did find this thread since this one kinda is going a bit quieter www.mumsnet.com/Talk/ninety_days_only/3465275-Calling-Penguins-old-and-new-its-the-Dry-January-thread

Oh I crumbled tonight ..1/2 a bottle of red in front of the fire ...it was lush. I will be back 😁

Still here. Feel completely horrible today. I think it's a mixture of PMT, no carbs, general malaise and harddonebyness. I'd love a beer but it would only make it worse!

I am going to buy some more alcohol free cider later. It's lovely. I think it tastes almost as good as the real thing. Have decided to keep going until 27th as meeting a very close friend and we will need a drink.
I least I will have done 27 days.

Oh Bert!

Hi MrsTP, I feel horrible today too, really tired. However I have just met some friends for lunch, they were guzzling beer and I had a green juice. So am managing to stick with it.

Can I join? I started a bit late, so day 13. I’ve also joined the brave babes thread and am reading lots of books about not drinking, trying to put my all into it as I don’t want to fail as I have with all other dry attempts.

Does anyone else find the weekends particularly hard? I desperately wanted wine last night, I didn’t have any but was in a pretty bad mood all evening (although now realise that was mostly pmt).

Bit late but I can recommend Annie Grace’s 30 day alcohol experiment, it helps having a relevant chapter to read each day.

Today I find the weekends really really hard, that is my pressure point.

Last night, DH had half a bottle of red wine (other half tonight) and I sipped on Raspberry Lemonade which has obviously had all the sugar taken out of it, replaced by saccharine. It wasn't pleasant. Plus points... I've woken early and that's good, as I had a solid 7 hours. I usually have a bangin' hangover on a Saturday morning.

General feelings are... I am just so bored with this. One more weekend to go. Then I'm going to cut down. I will continue with no alcohol during the week and just have some Friday and Saturday because I've missed it

We didn't go to the pub last night which we usually do, and did watch a really good Netflix film together which was nice (can thoroughly recommend it... it was called Wind River, a good story and fantastic scenery)

I’m hoping that after this I will be able to stick to just weekends. I will have to be very mindful about it though as for quite some times I’ve been a daily drinker and not a light drinker by any stretch of the imagination. I also think having a month off at the beginning of each school term will probably help keep me on track.

Thanks for the film recommendation. When drinking I never really watched films because I either fell asleep before the end or couldn’t remember the whole plot the next day.

For alternative drinks I like becks blue or seedlip and tonic (expensive but much cheaper than all the wine I was consuming). Once I’ve had one of those cravings seem to subside.

Yes Today it was very unusual for us to sit in the lounge on a Friday night watching a film together, so that's a plus! We're usually up he pub on the 3rd one after sinking at least a bottle at home with our tea...

I am worried I'm eating more (I can't afford any more weight) as I am so hungry at the moment and can't stop thinking about food.

I'm eating tonnes of chocolate in place of alcohol - not good! Not drinking though!

I'm having the weekend off because DD1 turns 18 tomorrow but that's planned. Apart from that the hot flushes are still shit but that's a long term thing. I don't miss alcohol when I'm not drinking though.

I slipped up fairly big time yesterday but am straight back on it today.

Well done everyone. After my 2 days of slipping up ( Thursday & Friday ) I am fully back on board. Felt absolutely shit yesterday after consuming a bucket full of wine and cocktails ( ended up staying up till 2am in the hotel ). We did have a great night and it was lovely seeing the family and celebrating my niece's 18th. But I felt sick the next day, which is very odd as I have never suffered from sickness due to alcohol - I guess my body is just not used to it . So sticking to DJ for the rest of the month 😁

I'm still dry... eating lots of crap though.

Dry too and so far it's been the easiest Dry January. The first one was really hard!

Kinda wondering about extending the dry time because I do feel so much better.

I am so glad i didn’t drink yesterday. I can’t believe I didn’t really notice how bad I must have been feeling when drinking daily.

I am doing veganuary as well but I’ve done it before and find it much easier than dry January - no meat cravings so far!

I'm still dry - am getting twitchy about Australia Day which is Monday - it's usually a day of massive boozing in the sunshine, we've been invited to a friends to eat, drink, swim in the pool etc which will be lovely but I REALLY don't want to drink - will investigate Alc Free wines and beer to take along.

I do feel so much better, the good sleeps are a total revelation to me. I was waking up so many times in the night and snoring like mad which drove dh to distraction. So YAY for that.

I've also lost 3kg but I have been hard core low carbing as well.