Less Alcohol- June 2018- One Day at a Time
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islandbeez wrote: »JulieAL1969 wrote: »@NormInv also I'm sorry your going through tough times - I didn't mean to minimize that in my response.
Hmmm Julie, lest you forget, I amplify my plight with exaggerated irony.....I am doing quite well thank you
Oh, Normy! There are words for handsome devils like you...and the words are not "handsome devils". ;-)
On another note, my 22 yo daughter has been the DD for her friends so far this summer and I mentioned that must be kind of a drag. But she said, "Momma, I don't mind, I feel like crap after I drink, but dealing with their obnoxious drunk antics is getting old." So that made me feel good. Hope they never have to go down this road.....
You set a great example for her, Momma!5 -
islandbeez wrote: »JulieAL1969 wrote: »@NormInv also I'm sorry your going through tough times - I didn't mean to minimize that in my response.
Hmmm Julie, lest you forget, I amplify my plight with exaggerated irony.....I am doing quite well thank you
Oh, Normy! There are words for handsome devils like you...and the words are not "handsome devils". ;-)
On another note, my 22 yo daughter has been the DD for her friends so far this summer and I mentioned that must be kind of a drag. But she said, "Momma, I don't mind, I feel like crap after I drink, but dealing with their obnoxious drunk antics is getting old." So that made me feel good. Hope they never have to go down this road.....
You set a great example for her, Momma!
I always say if you can't be a good example be a horrible warning! But thank you, Norm. She is seeing the positives and it makes me happy. 4 -
@erikNJ, I think it’s key that you’ve “never been a problem drinker [your] whole life”. The folks Annie Grace addresses when she says moderation doesn’t work are those who have been problem drinkers. That includes me. I would SO love to be a moderate drinker. Yes, alcohol is a poison but I refuse to deny that a lovely wine can be a genuine and worthwhile pleasure (See Wedding at Cana). However, in this 7-month journey I’ve had to face the fact that I am not able to enjoy that pleasure without nasty consequences. I enjoyed the complimentary champagne delivered to our hotel room last Friday on our anniversary. Then I had too much alcohol Saturday, yesterday, and today. It will take an effort to go AF once again.
@JulieAL1969, thanks for articulating the downsides of the slippery slope. I miss feeling and looking my best.
In my case this is how the slippery slope worked...I went on vacation and allowed myself to drink, it was a great time and i would do it all over again....so I get back and I was like ok, lets drink through the weekend and then I will be back on....then abstained for 4 days...then i was like, dayum i look so good and am so thin, whats one more drink gonna do....so i get another....then it was like, well its the weekend and i am already so handsome so why not.....then it was like....holy crap I am fat, high BP, high pulse, my girlfriend left me, my dog avoids me, all my money is gone....so ima like.....take me back my MFPals!!!!
Thanks for the smile. Your MFPal are here for you. I am sure your dog will take you back too.
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@Norminv, have you ever considered writing country music?
I'm glad you're back, too. And thanks to you and others for understanding that slippery slope. That and watching the Sober School video from yesterday have made me determined that today will be a good Day 1.4 -
You guys NEED to read the book: Kick the Drink. Really recommend it to change your mindset about alcohol.4
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Yep, that's exactly me. I can really get carried away. I'm moderating, I guess, but have gone back to the carefully measured 4 oz of wine every night. Just don't know what to think about that. Haven't had any social occasions lately, which is where I tend to go a little crazy, so haven't been drinking anymore than just my little half a cup every night. We'll see how things go . . .JulieAL1969 wrote: »One day, I had a drink at lunchtime, and then I wanted to have ten more and it took a lot of unnecessary energy to stop at two drinks.
Wanted to share with the group that I ran across this book recently and downloaded the first section: The Here-and-Now Habit, How Mindfulness Can Help You Break Unhealthy Habits Once and for All by Hugh G. Byrne.
My Kindle version said you can go here for his free meditations: harbinger.com/32370. You have to sign up, but they're pretty interesting. Also, don't know if any of you have the app Insight Timer? Most of their content is free, but they're starting to sell their courses for a pretty moderate amount of $. His is $4.99 - called How to Change Unwanted Habits with Hugh Byrne. I'm pretty drawn to the idea of mindfulness helping us surf through urges and overcome bad habits, so this is right up my alley.
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@Norminv, have you ever considered writing country music?
I'm glad you're back, too. And thanks to you and others for understanding that slippery slope. That and watching the Sober School video from yesterday have made me determined that today will be a good Day 1.
maybe there is a career change in my future 2 -
@mgiron, thank you for recommending Jason Vale's book. I read it yesterday, cover to cover. Much of what he says echoes Annie Grace (or she echoes him), but much of what he says is totally new to me. He has a very refreshing take on addiction to alcohol. I've been a "day-counter" during these months--as in, "Today is Day 12." But he contends doing this is remaining under the influence of alcohol because it's focusing on how long one has resisted something attractive. He likens it to Nelson Mandela being released from prison after 20-something years and then counting each day of freedom rather than just putting prison behind him and moving on and enjoying his new life. Good thoughts.6
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I have been looking and so far I am not finding a lot of information out there for moderation. Specifically I am trying to find out how to reset my alcohol tolerance. Some articles advertised assistance in their titles but really talked about the dangers of alcohol until the final paragraph with a little unhelpful blurb about resetting tolerance taking time or heavily limited drinking without any meaningful specifics.
It makes sense I suppose. Quitting altogether is the primary focus and helping someone to continue to drink is not a priority. I would also imagine that most doctors do not want to give advice on safer ways to drink because it could be a liability.
Unfortunately I really only have anecdotal information so far but it appears that 2 weeks of abstinence will do some good and it could take 4 months to get close to zero tolerance. I can confirm that when I was drinking once every other week under my original moderation plan my tolerance was slightly lower.
Before I jump on the 4 month plan though I plan to look into it a little further.
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I have gone a week without any alcohol. My goal is to get to the 4th of July and then I may have a glass or two of wine. That will have been 2 weeks without alcohol.6
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@mgiron, thank you for recommending Jason Vale's book. I read it yesterday, cover to cover. Much of what he says echoes Annie Grace (or she echoes him), but much of what he says is totally new to me. He has a very refreshing take on addiction to alcohol. I've been a "day-counter" during these months--as in, "Today is Day 12." But he contends doing this is remaining under the influence of alcohol because it's focusing on how long one has resisted something attractive. He likens it to Nelson Mandela being released from prison after 20-something years and then counting each day of freedom rather than just putting prison behind him and moving on and enjoying his new life. Good thoughts.
The day counting thing is interesting. I have wondered about that since I have been participating in these threads. In the past when I would go for an AF month the day counting made the whole thing drag on and on it seemed. The beginning days were really no fun when the numbers were low and the going was much tougher. Mentally I would think it had been twice as long because it was rough and then to add it up to find out it had only been 6 LONG days was not encouraging. Of course someone else might find comfort in counting. I suppose it depends on the person.
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I have been looking and so far I am not finding a lot of information out there for moderation. Specifically I am trying to find out how to reset my alcohol tolerance. Some articles advertised assistance in their titles but really talked about the dangers of alcohol until the final paragraph with a little unhelpful blurb about resetting tolerance taking time or heavily limited drinking without any meaningful specifics.
It makes sense I suppose. Quitting altogether is the primary focus and helping someone to continue to drink is not a priority. I would also imagine that most doctors do not want to give advice on safer ways to drink because it could be a liability.
Unfortunately I really only have anecdotal information so far but it appears that 2 weeks of abstinence will do some good and it could take 4 months to get close to zero tolerance. I can confirm that when I was drinking once every other week under my original moderation plan my tolerance was slightly lower.
Before I jump on the 4 month plan though I plan to look into it a little further.
I can say that my tolerance has really gone down, and that is considering the longest I have gone witthout a drink in the past 6 months is only 2 weeks. Since I have cut back to just moderate drinking once a week though, it doesn’t take much. I used to be the type who couldn’t get drunk on light beer. I needed 10% abv craft beer and many shots. Now I basically only drink light beer. And there is a real nice bottle of good whiskey I got for Xmas. There is still half of the bottle left. In my old ways that would have been gone before the Super Bowl4 -
I used to mark the dry days with a sticker on my calendar but I've also decided to stop counting as well. It feels like too much pressure to me.2
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I can say that my tolerance has really gone down, and that is considering the longest I have gone witthout a drink in the past 6 months is only 2 weeks. Since I have cut back to just moderate drinking once a week though, it doesn’t take much. I used to be the type who couldn’t get drunk on light beer. I needed 10% abv craft beer and many shots. Now I basically only drink light beer. And there is a real nice bottle of good whiskey I got for Xmas. There is still half of the bottle left. In my old ways that would have been gone before the Super Bowl
That is very helpful information. Drinking less even semi-regularly was one of the ways mentioned to reduce tolerance. As I said, mine is lower too but I am not back to my original moderation days which is where I would like to be. Of course I have a few extra pounds than previous moderation me had so that is a factor too. Has your tolerance reduction coincided with weight loss as well? It seems like it should. I am making decent strides in the weight loss department and perhaps until I make more I won't get back to my previous tolerance completely.
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I like counting days. Today is 2 months AF. I do not think everyday is this number but my goal was basically 2 months so I feel accomplished.7
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