Sober November

lhermo

Hey all!

Any else want to try to set a goal to stay sober in November? It's a bit tricky with Thanksgiving and all (dealing with family without wine? gasp!), but I'm ready to shoot for a totally dry month. I may have a couple of slip ups, but really want to try to stop for a bit and give my wallet/waistline/liver a break!

If anybody else wants to join, post below! And make sure to update every once in a while about your journey, nights when it's a bit tougher, etc.

Looking forward to a good month!

purpledoll173

I've recently joined and alcohol is the one thing that keeps sending my calorie count skyrocketing. It's one thing to know there's 250 calories in a pint of beer, but seeing how a few drinks double my evening intake is another.
Some of my friends have done Sober October, but my birthday is at the beginning of the month, and Halloween parties are at the end! So let's try November!

Chinkiri

Far too many of my calories come from alcohol: a few wee drams with my Scottish husband, some delicious glasses of wonderful red wine as I live on France. I want to cut down, as I'm 20 kilos overweight, but it's hard to cut these liquid calories! Need support!

lhermo

Great! Let's work to support each other then I'm always amazed by just how many calories I take in while drinking- it adds up quick. I'm hoping that this will really kick start my weight loss!

rdaheatherh213

I want to cut down. This will be tough with thanksgiving approaching! I'm up for the challenge!!

ejcanavan

I reallllly want to do this but it's so hard. Trying low carb so figured if I kept the drinks small and to spirits instead of beer I would be ok. Not sure I can justify drinking my calories anymore

RoseTheWarrior

Well I was in for sober September and sober October, so might as well stay in the dry pool. I'm in

lhermo

@ejcanavan feel free to join even if you do slip up! It'll be challenging but I told myself I'm allowed to have a lapse or two as long as I make sure to post about it here (so one slip up doesn't lead to just giving up the whole month.)

paigehood

Just trying to limit it to weekends for November and forever - having surgery on the 13th, so November won't be too difficult!

fiddletime

I was in the sober September and October also. It helps a lot to see others posting about their struggles. I'm in for November and want to eat the calories at Thanksgiving, not drink them! With 4 different Thanksgiving dinners to go to over a ten day span I don't want to ruin the work of the past month. I've done that for too many years now. While I slipped once or twice in October, I managed to stay AF for my birthday party dinner, so that was a biggie.

MadDynasty119

I'm in! I decided to do this on my own actually and was happy to see your post. There will be a lot of difficulty for me this month doing it, but I'm really looking to evoke positive change and draw definitive yes/no lines for myself on my weight loss journey.
A bit about me - I'm 27 female, 5'7 and currently 240lbs. I've always been heavy, but others told me and I told myself that because I'm proportionate and stylish, it's ok. And it is! I really admire body positive people and plus sized women who embrace their bodies, and I consider myself to be among this group. I was born with my genetics, and I accept them, but when it all boils down to it - I can't say I've ever given losing weight my all. I eat healthier than most of my "skinny" friends, and live an active lifestyle. I do indulge in "bad foods" when I have cravings, but for the most part I eat healthy. I live a moderately active lifestyle, and can do most activities I set my mind to. For years I've looked outside myself and thought "I just can't lose weight, no matter what I do." The truth is that in recent years indulgences can be more accurately describes as binges, and active lifestyle means powering through a long walk on a drunk night out in heels.
I'm obviously going way to far into detail and should keep this more on topic, but I hope to vent my sober frustrations for the month on here and talk to people trying to kick-start their weight loss by doing the same.
Thanks for reading and good luck. Day 3 tomorrow!

purpledoll173

My weight has been creeping up for a while, but I've happily considered myself fat but fit as I walk and cycle everywhere, and generally have a pretty active lifestyle. 4 months ago I had a bad accident which temporarily put me out of action, and now I feel rather out of shape and flabby. The embarrassing (and on topic) part of this, is that for the first month I lost weight despite eating plenty and hardly moving. Because I couldn't walk to the pub.

lhermo

Hey all!

Hope day 3 is treating you well! It's a frustrating Wednesday at work so to motivate myself to stay on task, I did a bit of finance calculation at lunch. I'm terrible at math, so bear with me.

Usually, a bottle of wine costs about 10-12 dollars. I buy one about twice a week.
Every once in a while, I'll bring a bottle of liquor to a party (like last weekend's Halloween party): 20 dollars.
My drink of choice runs me from 7-9 dollars, depending on the bar. When I go out, (generally a few times a week), I'll always get two and, if I don't have to drive later, will get more.

Which means that, sticking with this, I can occasionally save about 100 dollars a week! It's really interesting to see this all laid out. Sometimes on weekends, if I'm out for a bunch of hours, I can spend 50 dollars on one day on drinks alone.

I'm planning on using all this extra $$$$ to save up for amazing travel experiences: I'm planning a cabin trip in December with friends, and tickets to Panama are looking super cheap. So when I think about faltering, I'll just picture myself on a surfboard and know that I'm one step closer to that goal!

What are you all doing to motivate?

marymbradford18

I'd like to join. I'm trying to lose weight and calories from alcohol kill me. I am furthering the goal to say that I will only drink water this month. I am craving a Coke badly!

rdaheatherh213

lhermo wrote: »

Hey all!

Hope day 3 is treating you well! It's a frustrating Wednesday at work so to motivate myself to stay on task, I did a bit of finance calculation at lunch. I'm terrible at math, so bear with me.

Usually, a bottle of wine costs about 10-12 dollars. I buy one about twice a week.
Every once in a while, I'll bring a bottle of liquor to a party (like last weekend's Halloween party): 20 dollars.
My drink of choice runs me from 7-9 dollars, depending on the bar. When I go out, (generally a few times a week), I'll always get two and, if I don't have to drive later, will get more.

Which means that, sticking with this, I can occasionally save about 100 dollars a week! It's really interesting to see this all laid out. Sometimes on weekends, if I'm out for a bunch of hours, I can spend 50 dollars on one day on drinks alone.

I'm planning on using all this extra $$$$ to save up for amazing travel experiences: I'm planning a cabin trip in December with friends, and tickets to Panama are looking super cheap. So when I think about faltering, I'll just picture myself on a surfboard and know that I'm one step closer to that goal!

What are you all doing to motivate?

Isn't today Tuesday ? Lol

starwhisperer6

I am in. Since I work weekends in a bar, I need an excuse to say no to shots. I will use this as my excuse

lhermo

@rdaheatherh213 Lol, you're right! You can see how long this week has been for me

missbrownsuga444

I know it will be hard but I'd like to !

kbmnurse

I am in. Last alcoholic beverage 10/24/15.

purpledoll173

I had dinner with friends last night which would normally be very tempting, but 3 out of the 4 of us weren't drinking. Only the birthday girl had a glass of wine. The host has been warned off drinking due to a couple of bad bouts of pancreatitis, and the other girl is pregnant.
The money I would have spent on wine or beer doubled the money I spent on the birthday girl's present. So there are benefits already!

pie_eyes

Lol I can't

purpledoll173

Blankly4200 wrote: »

Lol I can't

You can't what?

lhermo

Hey all! I hope your sober weekends go well! Feel free to post here if you find yourself needing some extra motivation.

Mussronkey

Challenge accepted. Now if I can stay sober AND not binge eat on T-Day I'll have a solid month! Away with you pumpkin pie. No extra stuffing Grandma. Uncle Carl is annoying I need a drink. Hmmm... this is going to be tougher than I thought.

Merrysix

For me easier to eat to my macros when I don't drink alcohol -- and for me easier not to drink at all that worry about how much to drink. The benefit -- I feel so much better physically!

lhermo

Hey! Hope you all got through the weekend okay! We're now more than halfway through Sober November!

dagost17

I'm coming in late but better late than never! I stopped drinking for about a year and a half and dropped some weight without even trying. Now that I've started drinking again, I can see my body isn't as nice as it was when I didn't drink So I've stopped drinking and getting back on the wagon! We can do this! Only two more weeks to go!

fiddletime

I've gotten through the month so far with just a taste sip of beer that I wanted to try. I've been tempted a few times but managed to not drink. I've bought sparkling juice, some really fancy bottles, for the big Thanksgiving dinner we're having but there will be lots of alcohol as well. Sigh. One thing that's made it easier is that our young daughter in law can't drink so not drinking at family dinners helps to support her. That's a big motivator for me. A real treat drink for me is Diet Coke as I don't have it very often. That may be my Thanksgiving lifesaver since I don't like juice.

lhermo

Well, the stress of yesterday got to me and I broke down and had wine. It's amazing how much worse I slept and how much more tired I am today because of it. Although I did have a slip, I think reminding myself of how exhausted I was today and how much worse I felt than my new normal will help me stay strong for the rest of the month

Hope y'all are doing well!

fiddletime

Had a big banquet last week. Open bar. Somehow my hand latched onto a glass of white wine almost before I knew it. I nursed that one glass for the next 2 1/2 hours. So, I did stay sober but had a glass. There have been very few times in the past 20 years that I can say I had a single glass of wine at a party or at dinner even.