Less Alcohol - JANUARY 2021 - One Day At A Time

Lilylady3k

Love your picture skating @mainelylisa! Way to get out there and enjoy the weekend.

For me 2 glasses of red wine with a steak dinner.

MissMay

Completely forgot to chime in on accountability since Thursday night.
For this January I did not join in on the completely dry month. I had done a totally dry August this past Summer which was difficult, but necessary.
So for this month I told myself I was going to have at least a full week of AF days in between a drink night. With a limit of no more than two standard size drinks. Last night was the night I picked. I knew I was not going to be going back out in the car driving. Settled in with the fire place going, my pup at my feet and a good movie on STARS. Sipped out of my very festive goblet that makes me feel like royalty👸.

All good when I control my alcohol and not alcohol controlling me👍 Tonight back to no alcoholic drinks

January 9th 2021
8AF
1A(2 drinks)

DancingMoosie

I'm actually surprising myself by not craving the alcohol and coffee as much as I thought I would. I had 1 cup with caffeine(only 2/3 caf) this morning and a full decaf coffee this afternoon. I'm looking forward to my hot herbal spice tea tonight!

MissMay

DancingMoosie wrote: »

I'm actually surprising myself by not craving the alcohol and coffee as much as I thought I would. I had 1 cup with caffeine(only 2/3 caf) this morning and a full decaf coffee this afternoon. I'm looking forward to my hot herbal spice tea tonight!

Oh goodness so very sorry you post yesterday was over looked. WELCOME WELCOME. You are a brave soul cutting back on coffee at the same time as alcohol.

I had some kind of internal issues back Oct/Nov. Thought it may be coffee related so I stopped drinking it for about a week. 😨😨😨😨 that was sooooooo rough.

So you are already my hero.
You will do great I am sure.

mainelylisa

@DancingMoosie Yes, that's a double whammy for sure and it's awesome you're not experiencing cravings or bad headaches. I am a believer that a lot of what ails us can be affected by what we put in our bodies. Hope you're feeling healthier soon!

dawnbgethealthy

@mainelylisa
love love love the pic
Thank you : - )

dawnbgethealthy

New month, new year.
I am Dawn, I live in SE BC

I will post with my usual diary style to keep track of my AF days.
Keeping to my usual goal of 16-20 AF days per month, which is manageable for me and doesn't put too much pressure on me.


Friday Jan 08 - Drinks. No regrets on that, they weren't stress induced.
Saturday Jan 09 - AF - One of the city outdoor rinks still has ice, the other lots of bare ground. I went for a little skate today once I found that out.

Rolling total 8AF day out of 9 days

DancingMoosie

MissMay wrote: »

DancingMoosie wrote: »

I'm actually surprising myself by not craving the alcohol and coffee as much as I thought I would. I had 1 cup with caffeine(only 2/3 caf) this morning and a full decaf coffee this afternoon. I'm looking forward to my hot herbal spice tea tonight!

Oh goodness so very sorry you post yesterday was over looked. WELCOME WELCOME. You are a brave soul cutting back on coffee at the same time as alcohol.

I had some kind of internal issues back Oct/Nov. Thought it may be coffee related so I stopped drinking it for about a week. 😨😨😨😨 that was sooooooo rough.

So you are already my hero.
You will do great I am sure.

Thank you. I'm giving the less caffeine/alcohol a try before seeing a doctor because medications for what ails me have unwanted side effects. If cutting back helps, I'll embrace it! Did cutting back on coffee help your issues?

DancingMoosie

mainelylisa wrote: »

@DancingMoosie Yes, that's a double whammy for sure and it's awesome you're not experiencing cravings or bad headaches. I am a believer that a lot of what ails us can be affected by what we put in our bodies. Hope you're feeling healthier soon!

Having substitutes really helps. Thank you.

globalhiker

@mainelylisa I feel super proud of you for courageously getting on the ice! Great picture.

Confidence goes a long way. I am have not been feeling confident, maybe I need to fake it a bit to get myself going.....

Week 2 is going MEH for me:

Jan 8-Drinks and over my allowable limit. I didn't track those or calories.
Jan 9-2 white wines but I started at 6:30 and had them with a fish, sweet potato, and brussel sprouts dinner, not before. After #2 I poured #3 but didn't drink it because I felt really full and my appetite for the wine was not there. Oddly, the rest of the bottle went back into the fridge along with the glass of wine.

I think I know what's behind my "derailment" and anxiety. I only got in 1 run in 7 days. I think it's because the race I signed up for early March is likely to get canceled and if not, I likely won't go because it's not safe here and I won't have the vaccine until about May/June. This stuff has me down.

Going for a RUN now........need to do it not for a race, but for my sanity

mainelylisa

@globalhiker Yes, I'm somewhat faking til I make it. The more I'm bold and make little changes, the more bold I feel in other areas of my life. I picked What Would Frida Do? A Guide for Living Boldly for my book club this month and hope to continue to get bolder. Races can be so fun and challenge us (I did a 10k for the second time in my life 2 years ago with a friend and it was SO fun AND I completed it). The loss of these fun, connecting, healthy activities is a blow for sure. I honestly am skeptical that the masses will be vaccinated before Fall, but hopefully our new Leader will step it up a thousand notches.

@dawnbgethealthy So glad you found ice!

@Lilylady3k I continue to be amazed by your resolve with so many temptations. And I think I remember that you do work full time and have kids? I'm just thinking you should write some kind of book on how you do it all. You're probably the camp that has a linen tablecloth and flowers on the picnic table with a multi-course meal, lol. I'd love some pics of your dinner spread sometime.

Womona

@CryingBlue so sorry for your loss. I can only imagine how devastated you feel. Good for you for starting to reverse the funk.

I am not off to a good start with less alcohol. Haven’t had one AF day since I started, and I’ve had at least two when I did drink. My goal is only one. Just got back from a mini ski vacation with the family, and the drinks were a-flowing. Time to reset!

mainelylisa

@Womona mini-fam ski vacation sounds glorious! Not to late to jump in! I'd recommend trying to get at least a week in AF to help with reset, cravings, etc. if you can.

Lilylady3k

mainelylisa wrote: »

@Lilylady3k I continue to be amazed by your resolve with so many temptations. And I think I remember that you do work full time and have kids? I'm just thinking you should write some kind of book on how you do it all. You're probably the camp that has a linen tablecloth and flowers on the picnic table with a multi-course meal, lol. I'd love some pics of your dinner spread sometime.

@mainelylisa - I retired when I was 58 in Jan 2019 after working 30 yrs for a large worldwide tech company. Stress and very long hours were getting to my personal health. My kids are now 25-30 and married (3 marriages in 3 years). So it is just DH, myself and our standard poodle. Of course they still keep us busy and we have close relatives that are not married my sister and DH's brother that rely on us as well as my mom that lives 5 hrs away (my camp is next door to her house). Flowers always & candles but never table cloths! LOL
Stress of raising 3 kids with both DH & I working and both traveling is where the wine habit came from. I still remember meeting DH at the airport gate to ensure he landed before I got on my plane before the cell phones and security when the kids were very very young! Also the couple of years where his job was in Minneapolis and mine in Dallas and living in Houston with 3 young kids. No wonder we both let the weight increase, our health diminish and our alcoholic tendencies rule our evenings. I'm excited that I've finally come to terms to just stop at 1-2 glasses instead of an entire bottle or more on my own. And I'm down 35 lbs since retiring. Baby steps.

lmlmrn

Good day to you all
Your posts are just amazing and inspiring.
Last night I did indulge with 3 standard drinks, and boy did I sleep last night until late this morning. This was my first drinks in a week. I asked my DH please put the rest in your truck and take it to his work (he is self employed) My motto right now is if it is not here I can't drink it. I also noted I ate way too many snacks while drinking.

My new goal is only on night a week with alcohol and last night was it. I may re-evaluate this later or next weekend when it rolls around but for now I am happy with my decision.

CryingBlue

Well I didn't make it AF last night. I ended up making myself an old fashioned after husband went to bed. So 1 drink. We plan to each have a drink together tonight.

8 out of 10 days AF

Lilylady3k

DH poured me a glass of wine at 4pm while I was reading a book. Took one sip and paused. It sat and I sipped on the one glass over 4 hours finishing around 8pm. Now on to water.

Womona

I did it! No alcohol tonight, finally! I didn’t even crave it, which was nice. Good thing too - I had to drive my son to urgent care when he got home from skiing tonight. Luckily it’s not serious, and luckily I didn’t have any drinks in me!

dawnbgethealthy

New month, new year.
I am Dawn, I live in SE BC

I will post with my usual diary style to keep track of my AF days.
Keeping to my usual goal of 16-20 AF days per month, which is manageable for me and doesn't put too much pressure on me.


Friday Jan 08 - Drinks. No regrets on that, they weren't stress induced.
Saturday Jan 09 - AF - One of the city outdoor rinks still has ice, the other lots of bare ground. I went for a little skate today once I found that out.
Sunday Jan 10 - AF - Great day outdoors for a big chunk, skating, hiking and stuff. Really really wanted drinks when I got in, but I just had drinks on Friday, so I didn't. I had some really good club soda flavoured with blackberry/tangerine in a wine glass. 0 calories. I had a giant steak and prawns instead of the calories from booze.

Rolling total 9AF day out of 10 days

MissMay

Good Monday Morning~
I read in here yesterday but got distracted with getting my tax stuff together and forgot to post.
Accountabilty so far ~ 9AF / 10 January days

Love the motivation of that book @mainelylisa. How to be bold. Hope you stayed upright during your skating adventure Saturday.

@DancingMoosie cutting back on my coffee did account for some relief, I knew it was gallbladder related and used some simmered down flax seeds made into a tea and grated fresh raw beets to finally get it settled down. But yes I am definitely back to drinking my java. Btw great user name.