Less Alcohol - JANUARY 2021 - One Day At A Time
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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.7 -
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)9 -
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!8
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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.6 -
@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!7
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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 days6 -
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?4 -
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.2 -
@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
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@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.5 -
@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!5 -
@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.6
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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.
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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.9 -
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 AF9 -
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.9
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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!8
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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 days8 -
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.
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@lmlmrn and @CryingBlue these are all little steps for us all. Having a day/evening of alcohol is not the end of a GREAT JANUARY for you. Look how many AF days you both had before the other night. I applaude you both.
You both are giving nessacery accountability. Being honest with yourselves and us. 👍👏5 -
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Went a full 7 days AF, went to the cupboard for a drink afterwards and realised that I didn't have anything in, so it became 8 days by accident...! Broke it last night, though strangely I didn't *feel* like a binge or anything, I just fixed myself a martini and called it a night
I wonder if anyone else has noticed the effect going AF has on the appetite? I haven't been as ravenous the day after as I used to be, and I'm thinking it's the absence of alcohol. It's been great for my calorie goals9 -
I tried 2 new teas yesterday to stay away from coffee and alcohol. Afternoon: chocolate rooibos with soymilk and a dash of chipotle powder
Evening: Ginger +probiotic10 -
It's a new week! I slept through the night for the first time in a while. Unfortunately, in addition to drinking dreams where I at some point realize I'm supposed to be taking a break, I'm now having unmasked dreams. I'm in some crowded public place and realize I'm not wearing a mask. Nor is anyone else. Where am I, what am I doing here, where's my mask? I guess it's too much to sleep through the night AND have glorious dreams.
@Lilylady3k Oh wow! What a story! Still think it's book-worthy. I work for a cybersecurity company and sure would like to retire/figure out how to work part-time. It's on my list. Even working from home, I'm not getting time to exercise and running to the kitchen for pretzels for lunch while on non-stop calls is not Zen for sure.
@MissMay I certainly did fall. Twice. I'm searching for a tailbone pad on amazon, but think it's gonna be Depends next time!
@dawnbgethealthy I shared my excitement of skating on Nextdoor.com, and several people were so grateful as they didn't know about the pond skating so close. One woman said her homebound mom watches all afternoon from her window overlooking the pond and asked people to wave to her.
Congrats! @Womona!
@lmlmrn Great strategy--out of house out of mind.
I'm gonna do something BOLD today.
11/11 days AF
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@mainelylisa - I totally understand working from home stress! DH worked from home since 1996 and myself since 2000 (but I did have a local office 45 miles away) ... but between the traveling and time zone challenge calls with Europe, India, Asia, Australia and across the US I sat in my chair way too much and did not get the exercise. My suggestion is ... get up and move at least once per hour and try to focus on something beside the screen during that time. Toward the end of my work career I finally started standing during calls or lift hand weights if I could. It helped but whew I was happy when DH and I agreed that I really didn't need to work any more.
Retire if you can answer YES to these 3 questions:
- Have you had enough?
- Do you have enough?
- Do you have something else to do?10 -
Hello Everyone,
I'm Karen in Ontario Canada
I've been on and off MFP for many years and received lots of inspiration and met my goals so when I wanted to get back on track and take care of myself this is where I came.
My alcohol consumption like many has increased during COVID. I was drinking daily 1 to 2 glasses of wine which I didn't think was alot until I realized in the morning I was waking up and trying to remember the night before and going to bed. Not a good feeling.
One glass of wine and then one more then a splash and then I was blacking out, still talking, function and interacting with my husband but no recollection the next morning. Until I mentioned it to him, he had no idea!
Today is day 4 of being AF. I'm proud of myself.
Proud, I noticed my problem and proud that I am taking action to take care of myself and my health.
I'm so glad that I found this thread for support and inspiration.
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Yearly Goals:
1) Make my bed everyday. - EVERYDAY!! Woohoo!
2) Walk at the minimum once a day. - Every day but one day due to timing/errands of when I normally walk, but I made up for it the next day by walking twice as long.
3) Dry January - 8/10 days AF
4) Stay close to calorie goals. - So far so good! I am tracking everything, the good, the bad and the ugly.
5) Read/Finish one book a week (52 book goal for year) - I somehow left this one off the list initially. I am an avid reader and love this goal! Finished Book #1 yesterday and started Book #2!!
I have a foster dog that needs put down due to a myriad of reasons, but I feel horrible making the call. I am usually the one that fixes them up. I haven't been able to fix her, and her issues are both mental and physical. Her behaviors have actually retriggered my anxiety. It has been a looooooong month, including the fact that my son has lingering side effects from Covid (he is only 10, so he should have "bounced back" technically) and I had to test my daughter (age 11). I think that is why these goals are so important to me.
I drank on Saturday, and it wasn't horrible. But still due to giving into stress. I'll still take 8/10 days and on to 11!10 -
I've not checked in for several days and missed some interesting topics! My AF streak has reached 28 days as of yesterday. I remember the movie 28 days with Sandra Bullock. I don't recall the significance of the number is but am happy to get this far just the same lol. What I do know it means is that for me, even one drink will kick me back into old habits so it leads me to a question for @DancingMoosie. I wonder about the tea you drink: chocolate rooibos with soy milk/dash of chipotle. Sound yummy! Pretty sure that is more than a tea bag--which is the extent of "tea time" creations today. Can you share how you make that tea and share any other "tea tip secrets" you have? For whatever reason, caffeine-free tea a couple times a day helps me not think of alcohol treats.
@TheSunAndTheRainfall Drinking alcohol absolutely increased my hunger the next morning and pointed me to less than nutritious food as well. Could have been my "punishment" since I don't get the usual hangover symptoms most experience. (Blessing and a curse when trying to quit/cutback.)
@lilylady3k Love your retirement questions. #2 is always the tough one since we do not have a crystal ball, but my fav is #3 and I think that is the least thought about for pre-retirees. After watching the hubs "be bored" since he retired 6 years ago (as well as other friends), I will certainly give that more thought over the next couple of years on my way to my deemed "safe" retirement age of 62.
You all inspire me. Our struggles are real but so is the support here.
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