Less Alcohol - NOVEMBER 2020 - One Day at a Time

mainelylisa

Jeez Louise. Can't even have a Drink Less thread without alcohol advertising. It's everywhere. And the only thing in this picture that I want, lol. There's def something to the power of suggestion. I am weird and don't like peppermint. Or mocha. But it's starting to sound festive and comforting!!!

LoveyChar

Homegrown peppers!

Lilylady3k

DH finished the final glass of white from the bottle last night then opened a red after dinner. It has been really tempting and difficult these past few nights sticking with my commitment to myself to clean up my act before bloodwork on Wednesday for my physical. I so want a glass!

Instead I'm sipping on decaffeinated Bigelow Constant Comment tea ... blend of black tea, orange rind, and spices. And of course water.

AF once again
Nov accountability: 9/16 days AF

@mainelylisa warm drinks are a diversion for me ... when it is cool/cold outside.

@LoveyChar beautiful veggies! What kind of peppers are those? I'm growing serrano peppers

LoveyChar

@Lilylady3k No better reason to resist a drink and cut back plus it's such an anxiety inducing process no matter what. I'm grateful to go to the doctor but I still experience anxiety before going. Dentist too, it's never fun. It's a relief to just get it over with. Peppers in first picture are Bells and jalapenos in a others. I'm going to order some other pepper seeds on Etsy, so much variety there.

MissMay

@mtw70 congrats on your streak of over one week. Worrying about the 1 primer drink that may start an avalanche is a very real issue. You really need to set a hefty drink hoal limit if you fear it may start you on that drinking roll.

@brittgreenlikethecolor88 what a huge difference in your two side by side profile photos. You must have worked off a lot of weight. Tell us your secret to do that.
Congrats on your 1 day AF.

Two more weeks of NOvember left. Lots coming up.
Tonight girls night out paint party for a small group of us, Friday night the kickoff to our town show of holiday lights, next week Thanksgiving, two days later hubs birthday, then moving day for the less alcohol thread.

Another AF not in Vegas ( I miss @whitpauly 😣 )


Btw @LoveyChar your peppers are gourgous. Blemish free

mainelylisa

@LoveyChar I guess this is the other kind of resistance training, eh? We are all doing resistance training in a way.
I especially applaud those living with someone who is making the resistance even tougher, yet still resisting temptation. Beautiful peppers! I jalepenos. Put them in almost anything. Including smoothies.

Yesterday was Day 1 in a long time.

globalhiker

Good looking peppers there @LoveyChar ....

On the agenda today...after I get enough caffeine in my system, is exercise. I have youtube bodypump class with Lazuria (sound quality is pretty good) and a 5 mile run on the schedule.

Goal is to make it a HAPPY AF day...

dawnbgethealthy

I am Dawn and live in South East British Columbia. I am 60.
My goal remains the same as it has been for quite some time, 16-20 AF days per month.

I check in diary style. It works for me.

Tuesday Nov 10 - Drinks. Seemingly back to making Tuesday my drinks day.
Wednesday Nov 11 - AF - Remembrance Day.
Thursday Nov 12 - AF
Friday Nov 13 - Drinks. Friday the 13th!! We had that one teaser snowfall 2 weeks ago and then it all melted away. Today we got a really exciting big dump of the stuff. I got out to a circular trail that normally takes me about 15 minutes, but 10 inches of snow made it take blissfully longer. The sound of deep snow with my new hearing aid was so wonderfully overwhelming for me. Photos to come...if y'all don't mind : - )
Saturday Nov 14 - Drinks. Not planned, just low willpower today I guess. The month is not over.
Sunday Nov 15 - AF - Lovely day, but all of that beautiful snow melted away, not much left on the trails now, and none left in town.
Monday Nov 16 - AF

Rolling total. 11AF day out of 16 days

Lilylady3k

Picture of my flowers (Pansies, snapdragons, alyssum, ornamental cabbage) I planted in the front of the house a few weeks ago. Texas winter ... these will last through Easter. Fox tail fern, azaleas, and perennial coreopsis & agapanthus are dormant but will not lose their leaves ... so a background of green.

brittgreenlikethecolor88

Another day down!

2 days AF!! / 2 days

Goal: 5 AF days a week.

mw00087

Hi everyone! I hope you're all well. My name is Mike and I know that alcohol is affecting my weight-loss.

I don't drink everyday, however if it's in the fridge then i'll drink it. Usually i'll buy some alcohol on Friday night after work (i'm a 9 - 5er), if there is some left over on Saturday i'll drink it, Sunday etc, until it's gone.

My drink of choice right now is Whisky & Coke. Last week I'd finished the bottle of Whiskey, and realized that by the time I was done, i'd finished the whole 2L bottle of Coke... in one night. And then of course; I get hungry. And before you know it; i've messed up my weeks weight-loss goal.

Second to that, i'm now training for a marathon so I need to do my long runs on a Saturday morning. Usually i'd do it Saturday afternoon (because i'd need to re-hydrate after Friday nights' drinking). However that being said, my goal this week is to not drink on Friday night, so i'm fresh for my run on Saturday.

I'm not going to all out "quit drinking" because it's not a realistic goal. But yeah; that's my goal this week; no Friday night drink. Which, if you knew me, you'd know that was a pretty big goal for me.

Lilylady3k

@mw00087 - baby steps! No Friday night drink is a wonderful goal ... especially with you trying to train on Saturdays. I too am not trying to give up drinking ... just drink less

I complemented DH this evening. I've noticed that even though he has opened bottles of wine this week even though he knows I'm trying to not drink any until after my bloodwork on Wednesday ... he has not "polished them off". He is limiting his wine to 2-3 glasses (not 4-6 + whiskey & coke when the bottle is empty). He said "I'm trying" ... which is great! So last night he had a glass of white leftover from the previous night and a glass of red. Tonight he has leftover red from last night. Oh and tonight is DH's birthday 🎂 so I've cooked up crawfish étouffée and roasted broccoli as a treat. My daughter sent over lots of cookies ... which I already had one and need to pass on all the others.

AF again this evening! WHEW this week has seemed long.

Nov accountability: 10/17 days AF

LoveyChar

@mainelylisa I'll have to try them in a smoothie. I leave seeds in and fry them into eggs with cheese or throw them into crockpots (beans, chicken and rice). I'm trying resistance, sort of trading one in for the other, maybe temporarily.

Oh, and adding thank you... husband has not smoked in 3 days, one good thing. Drinking doesn't bother me so much but smoking is a kick in the... he's done it for years, though, and promised to quit for years. But I think he's really doing it this time. He smells fresh.

LoveyChar

@Lilylady3k I love your flower bed!

LoveyChar

@mw00087 I'm running one in less than 3 months and gearing up for the long weekend runs too. I ran it this year and drank throughout training. I'm really just thinking about not drinking at all until it's over. I want to run it better this next go around. When I got past the finish line where they were offering free beers I declined because my stomach was so torn up. Maybe you've done it before and know your capabilities but I want to push my limits this time. No Friday night drinks will probably knock out any Saturday morning bloat or gas from soda and dehydration makes for a sad run. Good luck, stay strong and stick with it! We'll all cheer you on!

LoveyChar

Traded one evil in for another, alcohol for sugar. Today I said I wasn't going to eat or drink any sugar, no creamer in coffee, no Halloween candy. Nothing. And I got so depressed in just a few hours of thinking about it and I ate all the sugar. I really, really need to get it together.

dawnbgethealthy

I am Dawn and live in South East British Columbia. I am 60.
My goal remains the same as it has been for quite some time, 16-20 AF days per month.

I check in diary style. It works for me.

Tuesday Nov 10 - Drinks. Seemingly back to making Tuesday my drinks day.
Wednesday Nov 11 - AF - Remembrance Day.
Thursday Nov 12 - AF
Friday Nov 13 - Drinks. Friday the 13th!! We had that one teaser snowfall 2 weeks ago and then it all melted away. Today we got a really exciting big dump of the stuff. I got out to a circular trail that normally takes me about 15 minutes, but 10 inches of snow made it take blissfully longer. The sound of deep snow with my new hearing aid was so wonderfully overwhelming for me. Photos to come...if y'all don't mind : - )
Saturday Nov 14 - Drinks. Not planned, just low willpower today I guess. The month is not over.
Sunday Nov 15 - AF - Lovely day, but all of that beautiful snow melted away, not much left on the trails now, and none left in town.
Monday Nov 16 - AF
Tuesday Nov 17 - AF - I have one of my favourite jobs at a store in another town tomorrow, up a mountain, so want to make sure that I am alert for the drive and for the day, thus AF tonight.

Rolling total. 12AF day out of 16 days

mainelylisa

@LoveyChar I traded evils last night too. I've noticed that when I take my edible earlier in the eve, my desire for alcohol decreases considerably. Unfortunately, however, my desire for Snickers, nachos, chips while I'm waiting for the nachos to cook 30 seconds in the microwave...skyrockets. Oh, and peanut M&M'! Seems my DH got into the M&M stash, so at least there's that calorie save. However, I'm without ho (hangover) this morning--yay! And should have enough stored calories for a half-marathon this morning, lol.

globalhiker

@mw00087 my husband convinced himself that taking a night off drinking is really only "not drinking a few hours", which is very do-able. He just distracts himself watching Netflix, eats his peanuts or popcorn, then goes to bed early so he can run at 5am the next day.

On the topic of snacks, you who know me already know if I am not drinking, I am snacking. That won't ever change.

But I am now liking my "healthier" snack of Nonfat Greek Yogurt + pure no-sugar Cocoa powder (I use Trader Joes or Hersheys, the pure version)+ a few drops of stevia (too much will taste bad) and maybe a 1/3 tsp sugar to improve the taste. I put it in the freezer just 10 min or less so it's super chilled.

This is a great recovery snack for runners and exercisers - protein, calcium, and beneficial polyphenols and flavonols in the chocolate powder. Plus it gives me that mood fix chocolate provides, I think they call it a serotonin boost. Whatever, it kills my hunger and it's low calorie.

brittgreenlikethecolor88

3 days down! My snacking in the evening has decreased as well. Yay!

3 days AF!! / 3 days

Goal: 5 AF days a week.