Less Alcohol- June 2018- One Day at a Time

FaithIt365

Hello all. I have lurked the threads all year. Even said I'd join in a few months back but didn't. Now I'd like to join in. My goal for this first month is to simply have more days AF than days of alcohol consumption. I wanted to do Sunday through Thursday AF but it doesn't work for me at this point. One of the things I'm also working on in this early stage is not abandoning my goal because I mess up, but to continue toward the goal regardless. That will be huge for me because I get so hard on myself that when I mess up, I feel like I've completely blown it and I abandon the goal. This has helped me a lot with my weight loss journey and I hope I can carry it over to other areas of my life.
Thanks for having me!

donimfp

Day 4 began with a walk to the river, a very cold swim, a walk home thankful for that heat relief, and making a delicious green smoothie. All before I would have managed to roll out of bed and drink a Diet Coke if I’d been drinking.

Why on earth do I ever deprive myself of joy like that???

thiswillhappen

Hi everyone, I'm going alcohol-free in June for a variety of reasons. One, because the past few weeks I have over-indulged a few times and it leaves me feeling terrible the next day, physically and mentally. Two, because I am getting married in August and my weight loss has reached a standstill/plateau, and in January/February I was dry and the weight came off very easily. I am now on day 4 of my alcohol-free month. It hasn't been easy, especially since I was at a music festival this weekend, but I made it through, and that made me feel very strong.

SunnyDays930

Thanks for the recent book recommendations. I will check these out. Another one that has not been mentioned on here that I loved is "Lit" by Mary Karr. She has written 3 memoirs starting with, "The Liars Club". She is an excellent writer. You do not need to read the others before Lit, (the liars club and Cherry) but it does give some background. "Lit" covers her addiction to and overcoming alcohol. I recommend all 3.

donimfp

@JenT304, thanks for that recommendation. I loved The Liars Club. Will certainly try Lit. I did't know she'd written about this.

amberellen12

Thank you for the recipe! I ‘m going to make up a container of ice tea right now for the unhappy hours which for me is 3 - 5. If I don’t have anything to drink by 5 I usually don’t have any cravings so don’t drink. I also don’t drink after I’ve had dinner. I try to have my dinner between 5 & 6.

herestomyhealthy

AF for me this month...rough night on the 1st of June was a painfull reminder that my body needs a break. So tired of waking up sick. No beer, no wine just hard liquor is my vice.

summeroflove99

Have been reading all your posts and they’re both helpful and insightful. I’m especially interested in the addictive voice thing and am also going to have a look at the book ‘Lit’. In my case I will sometimes find myself opening a bottle of wine I don’t even want because my addictive voice is shouting that I need/deserve it after a hard day at work. It’s awful because I know it’s happening but I’ll still open the bottle (WTF?) Anyway, I felt much better after a dry January and weight loss was much easier so I think this group will help. Thanks.

SunnyDays930

donimfp wrote: »

@JenT304, thanks for that recommendation. I loved The Liars Club. Will certainly try Lit. I did't know she'd written about this.

Her writing is both harrowing and laugh out loud funny. I absolutely love Mary Karr. I want to be her neighbor. She is very inspiring.

SunnyDays930

@thiswillhappen The weight will fall right off. Best wishes on your nuptials!

ErynVee

Hello all!

4 days AF now, which is the longest amount of time I’ve gone without drinking in a long time! Between finally making better diet choices and this, I am feeling much better. Go figure!

donimfp

@JenT304, Rodney Crowell has a wonderful song called “Earthbound” in which he celebrates all the things that make him “want to stick around.” Along with the Dalai Lama and Charlie Brown he lists Mary Karr.

erikNJ

Hey everyone. I have been kind of quiet in June. Stuck to my drinking goal, only on Saturday this weekend. My food choices havent been terrible but not the absolute best either. With I had squeezed in a few more workouts too.
Tomorrow night I’m going to see my favorite band play and I already knew months ago that this was a rare Tuesday where I am allowing myself to drink.

kbmnurse1

I would love to take a month off ETOH. I am not sure I have the discipline to do that. I did get thru the weekend with a 1/2 glass white sangria. I usually can polish off a 12 pack lite beer each weekend

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easily. So this weekend I will try to have no ETOH and see how it goes. I just love the buzz I get after a few beers. I have to be honest.

RubyRed427

@ErynVee Awesome job! Four days is terrific! You must feel good when you wake up.

dshbabydoll

I messed up..I had a

dshbabydoll

Beer. But only one..that's improvement.

RubyRed427

@JenT304 I was reading an excerpt from Mary Karr's book LIT. And I also stumbled upon a site called the Drinking Diaries.
http://www.drinkingdiaries.com/about/

lorrainequiche59

5 days in. I like not drinking. I know this from other times I've gone AF for months at a time. The only thing is I also KNOW that I am going to crave at some point. I just don't want to cave to the crave so I made a list of benefits of being AF & need to look at it when the cravings strike. I really want to make it through the month & see what the results are at the end. It's just one month!! I CAN DO THIS & SO CAN YOU ALL!!

edmudman

I had some vodka last night, diluted with alot of sparkling water. I drank so much fluid yesterday - ice tea, sparkling water, flat water that I was just sick of actually drinking anything at all by about 9pm. Up at 4am today, a nice run and a cheeky ice bucket shower as a reward. Awesome!

SunnyDays930

Another good read from The Sober School. https://thesoberschool.com/the-vanity-argument-quitting-drinking/

edmudman

islandbeez wrote: »

I am reading The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober by Catherine Gray. In it she lists AVRT as one of the important tools to use early early on, and it makes so much sense to me. I highly recommend this book. It hasn't had it's official release in the US (later this year) but I got it from Amazon, it just took a few weeks.

Thanks for this recommendation, downloaded it onto my Kindle and enjoying it. The AVRT section is very interesting. Deciding that the desire to have a drink isn't due to a weak mind, but is the result of something else inside you that wants feeding, could be a very useful mental tool.

amberellen12

Had the home made ice tea... it was great!!!

tracimcp

I am in for June. I normally drink during the week and weekends, sometimes more. I'm ready to feel better by cutting out the alcohol!

RubyRed427

amberellen12 wrote: »

Had the home made ice tea... it was great!!!

I did too! It was good.

mgiron

Well it has been 5 days into June and I had my first 3 alcoholic drinks last night. I had 2 Smirnoffs I had in my fridge and a Michelob 25oz. I know I should've not drank them, but I was a bit frustrated as my wife lost her car keys last night. I went to sleep right after.

I have found myself more and more in control of my drinking habits. The weekend was here and I didn't drink so I think that I'm doing better. The only thing I'm worried about is my friend's 25th Birthday Weekend Bash this weekend. I am going to limit my drinking by volunteering to be the designated driver. I will also ONLY take cash to the bars so I know that I have a monetary limit to what I can buy and how much I can drink. At her party on Friday, my goal is to drink a maximum of 4 drinks all night or less.

Wish me luck guys.

donimfp

So glad y'all like the tea! I do, too. My favorite thing about it, besides how ridiculously easy it is, is that it lacks that bitter "bite" iced tea can have. As the guy on the podcast says, some people like that, so they need to brew it hot. But I am not one of those people.

Today is Day 5. Yay! I realized that this is probably my 7th or 8th "Day 5" since January. That keeps me from being over-confident, but I certainly am enjoying the great sleep and energetic mornings. This time I'm making abundant use of our cold river for swims and green smoothies for protein and just about any other "weapon" I can think of.

As far as that "BEAST" thing . . . for me a more helpful analogy (but it means the same thing, I think) is Annie Grace's comparison of that reptilian brain to a little petulant child who screams and has tantrums because she can't have alcohol. It's up to "me," the parent, to say, "No, that's not good for us and isn't going to make us happy." Usually that works for me for about 13 days before I give in to "her" and say, "OK, just this once." This time I'm going to try my best to remember that "this once" becomes every day before I know it.

AleLue_1

Hi everyone! My name is Alex, 29 year old mom of 2. I work at a liquor store but I need to lose weight so no more drinking! Last week alone I had 16 oz of wine, 14 beers, 9oz of rum. I know this is what is packing on the pounds for me! Need some accountability so I can stay away from temptation and stay on track!!!

como_agua

bad vodka - bad! ugh . i did so well on the weekend not having anything. got stuck in traffic *construction* and was late for the dentist - who proceeded to tell me there's three spots in my teeth to watch out for regarding cavities and one i have to get filled. i've taken such good care of my oral health my whole life. since i got diagnosed, these random issues where things are deteriorating really affect me and i emotionally dissolve. i got home and had 3 drinks with dinner and immediately regretted all of them after. today's another day. only water tea and coffee to drink. a good reminder to not drink when i'm down.... *sigh*

AleLue_1

mgiron wrote: »

Well it has been 5 days into June and I had my first 3 alcoholic drinks last night. I had 2 Smirnoffs I had in my fridge and a Michelob 25oz. I know I should've not drank them, but I was a bit frustrated as my wife lost her car keys last night. I went to sleep right after.

I have found myself more and more in control of my drinking habits. The weekend was here and I didn't drink so I think that I'm doing better. The only thing I'm worried about is my friend's 25th Birthday Weekend Bash this weekend. I am going to limit my drinking by volunteering to be the designated driver. I will also ONLY take cash to the bars so I know that I have a monetary limit to what I can buy and how much I can drink. At her party on Friday, my goal is to drink a maximum of 4 drinks all night or less.

Wish me luck guys.

Good luck!!! That's a good goal!