Less Alcohol - FEBRUARY 2021 - One Day At A Time
Replies
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mainelylisa wrote: »Good morning! I'm in. Goal: max 15 drinks for the month (not all at once), and to hopefully not even want that many, because I'm diving into old and new hobbies. Like snowshoeing and photography. We saw no shadows yesterday, but did see this in our yard. What does a deer call her husband on MFP? DDH?
There don't seem to be any tracks around them. Were they just standing still letting the snow pile up around them? Those are some hefty deer!5 -
Hi
I originally decided to drink less to lose weight.
I have been on this thread since Nov 28.18
Thank you to @MissMay for keeping us going.
I am going to post with my usual diary style to keep track of my AF days.
I will be keeping to my usual goal of 16-20 AF days per month. It is manageable for me and doesn't put too much pressure on me. So far I have been able to keep with it. One month I raised the goal and failed miserably, so I learned from that. I think this is my sweet spot.
Monday Feb 01 - AF - Had to at least start the month with an AF day to set the tone for myself.
Tuesday Feb 02 - Drinks. I used to always designate Tuesdays as my "drinks" day, because it is a very long work day paying very little. I worked to get away from that behaviour and was successful many times. My willpower didn't hold out tonight. I want to only have drinks NOT to relieve stress. I just stumbled a little.
Wednesday Feb 03 - AF - Planned AF
Rolling total 2AF day out of 3 days8 -
@Fit_Happens_2021 I tend to drink decaf vanilla chi it has some sweetness that I crave. Also after missmay suggested I try bitters in my sparkling water that is working well for me too.
AF February 3 out of 3, off to a good start
So glad that you found Bitters and that you like it. Caution, 47% alcohol in Bitters...just saying, don't put too much of it in.
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Day two no alcohol at home = tick.
I have an extra goal for the weekend seeing as there is covid safe food and drink indulge festivale in my home town for which I have a ticket for Friday, Saturday and Sunday...what was I thinking. Anyway my goal for the weekend, no more than two glasses of wine for each of Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon, I will be drinking plenty of water instead. https://indulgebyfestivale.com.au/
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2 Days AF for February
I was happy to stay AF last night. Was tempted last night I have to say but I thought about my goals and had a cup of tea instead.
Goal for tonight is another AF evening.
(It took me until the 26th of Jan to get to 3xAF days so I'm calling this progress
) 11 -
Up and at it early today.
Great conversations about portions and limits per week. It can be extremely eye opening, especially if like I was years ago, putting away close if not some times that much A NIGHT.
@dawnbgethealthy good observation about the deer. It does appear as if they were lowered down from the tree limbs.
I paid a price for that fun snowshoe I had Tuesday. Yesterday after work my knee was unfire with pain. Must have tweaked it in my graceful fall over that stone wall.
Elevate, tiger balm and AF
(I thought about deadening the discomfort with alcohol for a split second and then remembered the added joint swelling from booze would be a step backwards, not worth it)8 -
brittgreenlikethecolor88 wrote: »Failed lastnight & had 4 drinks. Tonight I will do better!!
1 AF / 2 Day.
Feb Goal: 19 AF / 28 days
@brittgreenlikethecolor88, @johnbarth quotes said it so well. Try to go back and figure out what may have triggered your drinks Tuesday night. Then you can have the upper hand to avoid them if it happens again. 🙂5 -
CryingBlue wrote: »@Tesha231 great job staying AF! It's hard. I don't particularly like it yet, but I will keep going. My family and health are worth it.
I took 2 drinks out of a beer, does this count? I was making chili and there was enough left for 2 swallows. I probably should have dumped it, just those 2 drinks were enough to light up that part of my brain. I won't be having anymore.
I am going with dry. Two sips is no worse than high power cough medicine.8 -
3/3 for AF during the week this month. I've been trying to coordinate a bit of a guy's night out for a while, and tonight is the night, so I'll break my rule. But since I'll be driving, it'll be a 2 beer night.
In addition to AF as planned, meals have still been as planned as well. Better choices every day.
Keep up the good work everyone!12 -
fergusonlaceyloo wrote: »Hey everyone I am happy to start this journey with you all.
I have been drinking since I was 14.
Started of just a sip here sip their, than every weekend turned into almost every day. It has ruined so many things in my life.
I am at a point wear i can drink a 24 in 1 night to myself. I am ready to stop that.
I am almost 30 now & no wear in life like I wanted to be, its time. My goal is to start of only drinking 2 days out of the week.
Thanks for listing.
Welcome @fergusonlaceyloo we are very happy to have you join us. How do you want to go about starting this journey of drinking less, or maybe you already have it in motion?6 -
Survived Day 3 AF! No nightmares or sweats or monsters in the room. And NO CRAVINGS! Took the Stress Gummies at the normal "drinking hour" of 5pm and yep, no cravings.
Slept almost 6 hours straight, that is progress! Yes, 2 Olly melatonin gummies before bed worked.
Slight nausea, zero appetite and headache is what I have now. I read this can be from "endotoxin die off" and is normal. The remedy is to drink tons of water, move and sweat it out, take good probiotics.
Today I will try out L-glutamine, low dose like 500mg, instead of the Stress Gummies which have GABA and could be what is triggering my headache, not sure. L-glutamine supposedly helps with both sugar and alcohol cravings and habitual drinkers are deficient in this.
Game plan for today is to avoid known "trigger" situations (shopping later in the day, hunger, cooking in the kitchen). I'll pick up chinese takeout and plan another movie night at home. The idea is to make this whole process as EASY and COMFORTABLE as possible, get through it, and NEVER have to do this again 8 -
@Tesha231 wow 45 days AF is really outstanding! In the past 2 years I did 3 weeks AF and 2 other separate months AF, but never past the 30 day mark.
I've been approaching this like a crash diet. Do it for a few weeks, achieve success, get some weight loss, then the rebound starts to happen, slowly, insiduosly. Along comes a vacation, a life event, an unplanned stress, and there you go!
I want to kill my cravings once and for all and this go-around I think I need to go for a longer stretch, like 3-4 months to really "reset/heal" my nervous system and get the whole "dopamine" process back to working normally. I read the length of time depends on one's genetics and how long /how much damage they've done. One article said 2.5 months is the average for people who are not hard core drinkers but who knows. Also read chances of long term success increase significantly with cognitive-behavioral therapy so I may pick up a book on that first.
In the meantime, I'll just focus on having a good AF day 4 9 -
@globalhiker SO PROUD OF YOU! I love the insight you shared on "reset/heal"--something I wondered about but didn't research. Cognitive-behavioral therapy --please share what you learn as the topics intrigues me!
The personal damage part worries me. Based on some of the graphs that have been posted I was more than a heavy drinker for well over--I don't even know how many years. Likely "hard core" for the last two anyway. Like @fergusonlaceyloo (welcome!) I started drinking in high school. For me it was to be cool and fit in with my older brothers' friends. Fortunately I married earlier than folks do today so was more responsible for a few decades, but not AF.
Fast forward back to now. I'm really trying to continue a "self discovery" trip as it relates to my relationship with alcohol. It's not a fun adventure so really glad I'm not alone and have all the fine folks on this thread to help me identify and love my true self. Even the realization that I am/was a "heavy drinker", "hard core drinker" helps. Now I wonder--how do I know if I am an alcoholic? How does anyone really?
Sorry for the mind dump, but that is where I'm at and taking a hard look at myself helps separate me from the bottle. Maybe it would help others would be my wish.
I know you got this. Keep your eyes on the prize. No nightmares, better sleep is just the beginning rewards of our AF journey.8 -
February - Goal 20/28
2/1 - AF
2/2 - AF
2/3 - AF
I'm aiming for no more than 2 drink nights per week, those were going to be Fri & Sat, but I saw @MissMay said she aims not to have consecutive nights, which makes a ton of sense, so I will maybe go with Thurs and Sat, or Fri and Sun.
Grocery shopping late last night I nearly bought alcohol, then remembered seeing a tip on this thread that said most cravings last about 6 mins, so I went straight home, and yes, the craving passed.
I can't tell you how much this thread is helping me, I would never have imagined it could before I started!
@globalhiker Tried the Olly sleep gummies last night and they DID work! They didn't knock me out the way some reviewers say, but they made it easy to fall asleep, and even though I woke a couple of times I was able to get back to sleep almost straight away, no lying awake for an hour or more trying to get back off. I hope they keep working, I haven't read about whether people gain tolerance to them.9 -
globalhiker wrote: »Survived Day 3 AF! No nightmares or sweats or monsters in the room. And NO CRAVINGS! Took the Stress Gummies at the normal "drinking hour" of 5pm and yep, no cravings.
Slept almost 6 hours straight, that is progress! Yes, 2 Olly melatonin gummies before bed worked.
Slight nausea, zero appetite and headache is what I have now. I read this can be from "endotoxin die off" and is normal. The remedy is to drink tons of water, move and sweat it out, take good probiotics.
Today I will try out L-glutamine, low dose like 500mg, instead of the Stress Gummies which have GABA and could be what is triggering my headache, not sure. L-glutamine supposedly helps with both sugar and alcohol cravings and habitual drinkers are deficient in this.
Game plan for today is to avoid known "trigger" situations (shopping later in the day, hunger, cooking in the kitchen). I'll pick up chinese takeout and plan another movie night at home. The idea is to make this whole process as EASY and COMFORTABLE as possible, get through it, and NEVER have to do this again
We'll done @globalhiker on hitting 3 days AF! It sounds like you have a plan.
I've not read about L-Glutamine helping with cravings so will look into that as purely by coincidence my wife asked me to order her some last week. So learning about that was a plus.
On the negative side I'm now craving a Chinese takeout 9 -
Fit_Happens_2021 wrote: »
@globalhiker Tried the Olly sleep gummies last night and they DID work! They didn't knock me out the way some reviewers say, but they made it easy to fall asleep, and even though I woke a couple of times I was able to get back to sleep almost straight away, no lying awake for an hour or more trying to get back off. I hope they keep working, I haven't read about whether people gain tolerance to them.
Ok so first I went off searching for L-Glutamine and now after a second recommendation I went off looks for Olly Sleep Gummies
To my surprise they ARE available in Sweden so I might give those a go too. Thanks!
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Had a couple of glasses of wine last night. I was low on calories and just not hungry... so... wine. It was tasty
2/1 - AF
2/2 - AF
2/3 - 2 Drinks
Plan going forward:
2/4 - 1 Drink
2/5 - 1 Drink
2/6 - 1-2 Drinks
2/7 - AF7 -
dawnbgethealthy wrote: »@Fit_Happens_2021 I tend to drink decaf vanilla chi it has some sweetness that I crave. Also after missmay suggested I try bitters in my sparkling water that is working well for me too.
AF February 3 out of 3, off to a good start
So glad that you found Bitters and that you like it. Caution, 47% alcohol in Bitters...just saying, don't put too much of it in.
All in All I consume about 1 tablespoon of bitters each night, I am not sure that really amounts to much? or does it?3 -
dawnbgethealthy wrote: »@Fit_Happens_2021 I tend to drink decaf vanilla chi it has some sweetness that I crave. Also after missmay suggested I try bitters in my sparkling water that is working well for me too.
AF February 3 out of 3, off to a good start
So glad that you found Bitters and that you like it. Caution, 47% alcohol in Bitters...just saying, don't put too much of it in.
All in All I consume about 1 tablespoon of bitters each night, I am not sure that really amounts to much? or does it?
A serving of 40% hard alcohol is 1.5 oz, or 3 tbsp. A serving of bitters at 47% would be 1.275 oz. You're having about 2/5 of a drink if you're having a tablespoon of 47% bitters.6 -
Stayed AF lastnight Much better than the night before.
@JohnBarth
@MissMay
@Fit_Happens_2021
Thanks for all your support and encouragement
2 AF / 3 Day.
Feb Goal: 19 AF / 28 days10
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