Less Alcohol - NOVEMBER 2020 - One Day at a Time
Replies
-
How do you find all the willpower? I don't think about alcohol all day long, it is as soon as I finish work I automatically pick up a 6 pack and some nips. All the guys I know say they do the same thing, either a pack of beer or bottle out of habit. It seems both normal and wrong at the same time. Work hard, relax hard.
I would buy one or two beers only, then the price would be higher and that don't make sense financially. I need some one to take three of the beers out of my six pack and hide them.12 -
Happy Anniversary @Lilylady3k : - )4
-
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.
Wednesday Nov 18 - AF - Very early busy work day tomorrow, so AF tonight
Thursday Nov 19 - Drinks. Well, I haven't had any yet, but am planning on having a couple tonight.
Rolling total. 13AF day out of 19 days4 -
Couple of glasses with the wine & cheese party and then couple of glasses much later with dinner sitting at an outdoor Italian restaurant. Nice evening.
Nov accountability: 10/19 days AF5 -
Back on track after a rocky week...my DH agreed with me we'll do AF together today, yes on a Friday....so what
@CMB44512 My husband keeps a closet-full of different beers, 12 packs and 30 packs in the closet, not refrigerated. He must have like 200 in there now. And only buys them on a good sale. He only pulls out those he plans to drink that night and puts those in the fridge. He only will drink those pre-planned refrigerated ones.That's his method of portion control/beer management.
Me, I am totally different. I can never,ever stock my favorite wine in the house, same goes for ice cream and chips. If it's in the house - I will consume ALL of it. ALWAYS. Only those 3 items.
So I just buy what I plan to have that same day and pay more "per ounce" buying mini-bottles or whatever. Yes I do miss out on all the deals, but I have proven to myself at month-end because overall I drank way less and purchased way less- I saved a TON of cash. Paying more, buying singles, and focusing on drinking less was most cost effective in the end. Plus, I keep no inventory because that too erodes savings.7 -
@lilylady3 belated anniversary wishes to you both. And OMG I am such a cheese hound. Your display MADE me get out cheese too. Yummy.
@CMB44512 your self control can begin in very small increments if you wish to attack it that way. You do not have to go cold turkey(no holiday pun intended) .
Just because all the other guys you hang with say they have those habits do not make them YOUR habits. Try pulling yourself away from your drinking buddies one night a week. It is a start. Wishing you much success.
@LoveyChar sorry to hear your disappointing news. Drop in again when your frame of mind is in a better place.❤
@globalhiker yes there are some MIA's. But you never know who is listening and not talking. Glad your still able to get your runs in.
Nice work getting your AF days caught up @dawnbgethealthy, any more snow up your way?
Our holiday lights celebration kicks off tonight. Going to be interesting since our Governor just put a curfew on our state for the next 2+ weeks for some businesses. @mainelylisa send me your tissue box please.😥7 -
@mainelylisa The Point Reyes virtual cheese tasting instructions had us get all the cheeses out .5-1 hr prior to the event ... they advised room temp for the cheese
Fun session and I got to meet my husband's "team".
@dawnbgethealthy @MissMay Thank you for the anniversary best wishes. It was a lovely beautiful day and a great way to celebrate. Now back to the real world of ... yep losing weight.7 -
5 DAYS! Did it The next week is going to be difficult with the holiday. My mom is planning on bringing over jello shots for Thanksgiving... Who makes jello shots for Thanksgiving?? LOL!! 2020 has been so weird, might as well finish strong. Lord help us lol
5 days AF!! / 5 days
Goal: 5 AF days a week. >5 days AF / 7 days.8 -
I found out yesterday that an arena in another town was open for public skating twice a week. I didn't know! The 3 arenas in my town have not reopened, so I thought that I had to wait for the lakes to freeze (again).
Very joyful, I left work, drove there, then went back to work. I got an awesome 75 minute skate in, my first since early March.
I haven't posted a skating photo of me for awhile, I am 20 pounds less now than I was when I posted the last one, although it might be hard to tell in my coat. And lol, yes I do have other coats, but the red one lives in my car so if I can get away for a quick trail walk I take off my suit jacket and voila, winter coat with a hood. (boots stay in the car too).
New restrictions as of last night in my province (and many other provinces) as we are encountering big spikes in Covid.
So happy that I got to skate, I don't yet know what the implications will be for that one open arena.
My happy place : - )
9 -
I do not post in these threads that often but sometimes I have time to reflect on where I was and where I am and I have a thought to share.
It is obvious to everyone that drinks past their comfort level that it is a negative. I was certainly drinking past my comfort level. What I didn't always realize is how much of a mental anchor I was dragging around. In addition the the anxiety alcohol was in my thoughts a lot. It was also permanent ink on my schedule. By 7pm I should have my first drink in my hand. If anything interrupted or delayed it I would get agitated.
The physical anchor was more obvious. I weighed far too much and even if I was not hung over I felt a dullness that I had to fight through to get work done.
As I began to make progress in my overall self improvement alcohol was finally put back into moderation. Weight loss got easier. But it didn't stop there. As that mental and physical anchor lessened I did more "other" stuff. More quality work. More exercise, More volunteer work. More time helping friends, family, neighbors, etc.
Where alcohol was crowding out my best quality life, as my better quality life began to take over, it crowded out the alcohol. Each and every time I think about drinking now I think about what I want to do the next day and I wonder if I would do it as well if I drink. It is just not a risk I want to take anymore in my normal routines. Perhaps on vacation I might feel differently but I am not even sure about that anymore.
Much like the weight, I really had no idea how much I was giving up to drink and how much I would gain by drinking less.
15 -
@globalhiker !! I SO admire your DH's method of portion control. Taking advantage of sales and still not having his beer available for "over" consumption.
Substituting AF beer for my beloved wine works for moi much of the time. One is usually quite enough. A few times I've opened a second bottle....and halfway through, the carbonation has made it hard to keep drinking. The next night is usually tea or water, since I can't face more "bubbles" .
Cheap glazed donuts/dried fruit/potato chips/ chocolate [anything]...NOT on my shopping list since they disappear within minutes of arrival. If the extra pounds would only disappear as quickly.6 -
I'm back on this thread again - and glad it's here! I have had some good periods without alcohol, but it always seems to creep back and make friends again. I don't binge or drink large amounts, but when it gets to be every day with occasional days where I drink enough for it to disturb my sleep, then I have to kick it back again.
So here I am. It has taken me a week or so to get going, but today went AF and am making a plan! I want to stop for a while to get ready for a surgery I will be having some time in the next months (they are very vague about when it might be...). It is not major, but I am soon turning 67 and want to be in the best shape possible for this.
SO my goal for right now is to have 1 (ONE!) evening a week where I get a pint of IPA or a dram of good scotch. I'm at maintenance weight, so I'll be sure to stay there and keep my exercise regimen up as usual.
I love the opening page of this thread with the list of resources. I have tried several, and always find a fresh approach helps get me going. I need support, though - so thanks again for being there.7 -
This evening I am AF! My mom is in town and wanted to come over with friends to try out our cheese and have wine. I had planned a no wine evening. Well her friends were not able to make it so I nixed the idea of wine & cheese. DH had a couple of glasses of white wine left over from yesterday and opened a bottle of red for a 3rd glass.
I had hot tea and then more water
Nov accountability: 11/19 days AF6 -
During the insane days of this last summer I went a wee bit wonky about not being able to nip down to the wine store for a single bottle [THEY WERE FREAKIN' CLOSED, ALL OVER THE STATE !!]. BUT...an online purchase of a certain [large] amount would allow a home delivery. And, boy, did I take advantage of that. Not particularly to drink, but to fill my antique wine rack. Like stacking up freeze dried provisions against the coming disaster. The UPS guy and I became very familiar. There are almost a hundred bottles resting in my wine cellar. One of my "post-Covid" bucket list items almost completed, fill my wine rack. Others, like following up on the invitation by a stranger on the street to visit his newly opened "art mecca" [now a vacated building], and once again enjoying jerk goat at Leon's [now another vacant building] are empty promises. SADS.
Middle Daughter & I have not entered a grocery store since late last winter, enjoying the services of online shoppers. Sometimes they make mistakes in their selections, which are refunded. One recent goof was substituting Port Wine Cheese for pumpkin cream cheese....WTF ?? Not acceptable in their gluten free household, so cheese freak Mama got the mistake. Oh, boy...pull out the fancy *kitten* crackers, warm the cheese to room temp, slice an apple, uncork a bottle of sorely missed Chianti...Well. There's a newly minted family joke !! Tasted just like Cheez-Whiz. There's yet another catch-phrase for our extended family to howl over.
The Instacart folks, and the shoppers for the stores Middle Daughter uses are heroes. Maybe not on the order of the hospital and EMS guys, but, they do what we don't dare to do.
Yep, @MissMay , the situation in Da 'Burgh is not great, and no matter what the "guidelines" are, Middle Daughter works in a MAJOR government building where they are NOT followed. Lots of "yaddayaddayadda" . She's the one in the entrance of her cube armed with a spray can of Clorox....
Since the early days of this month I've felt a lifting of last year's depression, less interest in drinking, just joy in general...9 -
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.
Wednesday Nov 18 - AF - Very early busy work day tomorrow, so AF tonight
Thursday Nov 19 - Drinks. Well, I haven't had any yet, but am planning on having a couple tonight.
Friday Nov 20 - AF - Got one more garden bed weeded, turned over, added compost, mulched, and covered until tomato planting season next year. 3 more to go, my aim this weekend before everything freezes again.
Rolling total. 14AF days out of 20 days4 -
@dawnbgethealthy
Wonderful picture of you enjoying what makes you happy.
@brittgreenlikethecolor88
you did it YAY 5 day goal seized.big breath for this up coming week.
@jugar
Welcome back.
@forestdweller1
My hubs is in on a wine club delivery to the house as well. BUT YOU have stashed up over 100 bottle? I am going to need to see this antique wine rack you talk about. Sounds as if you have an old speak easy in your cellar. Luckily our grocery is minutes away. I can run in as soon as they open at 7:00am. Grab my listed items( mostly the produce fresh items) and be on my way through the self check out. Back home all within 30 minutes.
6 -
@CMB44512 Welcome! As @MissMay said, it can start very small. Just you reading and posting on this thread is a start. Taken some of us a LONG time to get to where we are, and some of us, like me, can go 4 months AF, and then struggle like the devil (with the devil?) to not want to drink every day. And as @novusdies conveys, little by little, with positive changes in our drinking habits, we find new little joys that our previous habits wouldn't have welcomed. Or allowed.7
-
Happy anniversary @Lilylady3k !
@dawnbgethealthy the ice rink picture is the best one of you yet, shows pure joy
Low-key weekend for me, hearing it will be especially risky to be out given most everybody who wanted to travel to Arizona is already here or en route....college students, sports teams, snowbirds, people from higher Covid states escaping. Odd that a travel advisory is issued now (seems a bit late I think) since visitors are here already, that or people already have reservations.
Bars everywhere are open and packed inside, how crazy is that! I only know this because I drive by their parking lots and they are full. Bars are supposed to be closed but if they serve something to eat, it's now a "restaurant" and they can stay open.
Well quarantine day 4 for me and this needs to be an AF weekend. Maybe I will jump in the car and drive out to some remote mountain trail and run away from all humans.8 -
I'm in for November! After a very good August & September decreasing my alcohol consumption, October just didn't go as planned. But recommitted to drinking less this month.
11/1 - AF
11/2 - AF, No plans to drink today (but tomorrow is another story)
11/3 - Stress drank watching election coverage
11/4 - More election stress drinking
11/5 - Blaming Arizona for my drinking at this point
11/6 - 2 drinks
11/7 - 2 drinks
11/8 - 2 drinks
11/9 - AF
11/10 - AF
11/11 - AF
11/12 - AF, no plans to drink today... So far 6 out of 12 days this month AF but plan on keeping this current AF streak up for the foreseeable days
11/13 - AF
11/14 - AF
11/15 - AF
11/16 - AF, no plans to drink today but have been thinking about Thanksgiving a good bit. I have never planned to be AF that day but now wondering if it is worth breaking the streak???? I really have no issues with not drinking & enjoy being AF but once I start then it is much more habitual, I don't want one day to turn into 1 month of drinking like October did. Although, If I just buy 1 nice bottle for DH & I to share then we definitely won't overdrink that night. Decisions, Decisions... So far 10 out of 16 days AF this month.
11/17 - AF
11/18 - AF
11/19 - 2 Drinks
11/20 - AF, Broke my 10 day streak yesterday, takes a little pressure of breaking it on Thanksgiving.
11/21 - AF, no plans to drink today. Busy weekend cleaning and organizing the house, making Thanksgiving grocery and prep lists, and getting some good runs in on this super nice unseasonably warm weather. So far 14 out of 21 days AF this month.
7 -
This COVID-19 spike has freaked me out—not sure why but I am honoring where I am and what I’m feeling. So, I placed my first grocery shopping order this morning, for pickup Tues 5pm. The craziness of regular Thanksgiving shopping and my sudden true anxiety about Covid combined. My husband at first said he’d go, but when he saw I was 90% done with the cart, he backed me and said we’d try. We are major picky foodies. So letting someone else do this for us feels strange.
I checked that we had an assortment of wine beer, and AF beer ( and lots of other options). So don’t need a liquor delivery. Just trying to keep my anxiety down without a drink. Off to rake (some more) leaves 🍁!
And welcome and welcome back to one and all. I’m often reading your inspirations, even if not posting. So thanks!6 -
Tonight Torchy's Tini with a taco. No plans to be AF today but also not wildly out of control.
Nov accountability: 11/21 days AF
My youngest son in Austin was on phone with teledoc yesterday ... he had to get tested for Covid. He & his wife are not coming for Thanksgiving now one way or the other. Cold, Flu or Covid ... they don't want to transmit it to us.
My daughter had an outbreak of Covid on the other side of her office in another team. She & her husband got tested for Covid yesterday too.
My oldest son & his wife had Covid in July so they currently tested and have the antibodies.
I'm still grocery shopping in person but spend little time inside as possible and usually every other week during the weekdays.
I spent time with my mom today while she was at my sisters. Mom spent the last 1.5 weeks traveling all over Arkansas visiting family & friends. Praying that she doesn't have it.
Hang in there folks!3 -
So scary this Covid. People here are getting it a second time.
I am laying low.
Stay safe my friends
6 -
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.
Wednesday Nov 18 - AF - Very early busy work day tomorrow, so AF tonight
Thursday Nov 19 - Drinks. Well, I haven't had any yet, but am planning on having a couple tonight.
Friday Nov 20 - AF - Got one more garden bed weeded, turned over, added compost, mulched, and covered until tomato planting season next year. 3 more to go, my aim this weekend before everything freezes again.
Saturday Nov 21 - Drinks - Kind of rewarded myself for a big amount done in the garden today after a great hike with a treat of Apricot Brandy mixed with Bailey's. Open water still on the first lake that will be frozen enough to skate, but it is getting there.
Rolling total. 14AF days out of 21 days4 -
dawnbgethealthy wrote: »So scary this Covid. People here are getting it a second time.
I am laying low.
Stay safe my friends
WHAT? this is not good. Folks were really hoping it was like measles and that you could never get a second round of the virus. This ostrich (me) needs to get her head of of the sand and listen to covid reports more. Thank you gor bringing this to our attention Dawn.3 -
Gourgous day yesterday for 3rd week of November in the North East.
I am really trying to embrace the fact I am going to have a slow Winter work wise. Not easy after being self employed for 35 years. I have always had drive to adapt and reinvent. I actually do love my work.
The other day a younger friend said "Aren't you at the age where you should be slowing down?" YIKES who writes the rules on that?
I need to put my work energy into getting some much needed sorting and tossing done in my storage building this Winter. So that will be my job and then my reward come Spring.
Also going to start picking up a paint brush again and break out my acrylic paints for creative activity (the phrase doing crafts, is passé to me).
Drove into town yesterday and saw on a sidewalk kiosk that our brewery had just released a fresh batch of their jalapeno beer I enjoy. Brakes on and full stop. They do not make it often and I can not over indulge because it is infused with two types of hot peppers. Only a 4 ounce pour can be consumed at a time. So yup.......bought a growler.
Made an incredible fired up bloody Mary out of spicy V8 juice and 4 ounces of this beer. Add in some frilly celery with a black olive, turkey kielbasa and sun dried tomato skewer and I had my first "A" day in two weeks. Stopped at one. 🙄BOUNUS!
6 -
I am trying not to let Covid anxiety (yes I have that) undermine my health improvement efforts. DH and I going out for a long trail run now before the mountain bikers come out en masse as they do around 9am. Still in quarantine, we need to stay away from people.
I feel fine. DH could not get a Covid test appointment for today which would've been the optimal day to take the test after his exposure (all local sites booked up!!- everybody is getting tested to get results before Thanksgiving).
I'm over the fact that we're having a non-Thanksgiving and there will be no mall shopping the day after. Hey, it's better than landing in the ICU not knowing if you'll make it out.
I'll just fast-forward and focus on Christmas and put up my tree and plan out photos for christmas cards.
5 -
dawnbgethealthy wrote: »So scary this Covid. People here are getting it a second time.
I am laying low.
Stay safe my friends
WHAT? this is not good. Folks were really hoping it was like measles and that you could never get a second round of the virus. This ostrich (me) needs to get her head of of the sand and listen to covid reports more. Thank you gor bringing this to our attention Dawn.
I know people that had COVID19 in Jan-Feb in Houston area ... and some died cause we didn't know what we were dealing with. In fact one of my mom's friends they did exploratory on her lungs trying to figure out what was going on ... she died a week later. Testing was a problem then and still. I agree that you can get it more than once. Immunities only last 3-6 months most say. Some say the 2nd time is less intense others say if your first case was light the 2nd can be a bear. Whatever the case my kids that have had it are wearing masks and trying to not get it again or be the ones that are asymptomatic the 2nd time around.
Stay safe!6 -
I took the persons advice who has a husband who has a beer collection. I bought my 6 pack. Instead of buying an already cold 6 pack I picked up a room temp shelf six pack and nips. I put 5 in the refrigerator and 1 in the kitchen cabinet.
Never thought of it before. It worked that night. Had the 5 cold ones and 1 nip.
Thanks for the super easy idea.
Now I have an odd beer hiding in my cabinet.6 -
DH opened a bottle of red. Not joining him tonight. AF this evening ... trying to get my weight loss to quit toggling up and down and have a breakthrough.
Nov accountability: 12/22 days AF
Goal: AF days 3 per week / 12 per month; limit 1-2 glasses per day
YEAH! I made my monthly goal!7 -
10
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions