LESS Alcohol ~ JULY 2023 ~ One Day at A Time

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  • MissMay
    MissMay Posts: 3,754 Member
    nicolewhittier wrote: »
    Hi peeps! Thanks for such an inspiring thread for those of us who are aspiring to be AF or LA. I don’t drink more than once a week typically and it’s socially. I even go weeks without alcohol sometimes, even though there is a lot of addiction in my family. My reason for eating to be LA is that even 3 drinks once a week is destroying my calorie goal of 1300 per day and I don’t feel great the next day after drinking.

    What are some possible ways to drink without calories. Vodka bothers my stomach the least bit I don’t like tonic. I tend to have wine, cocktails or vodka in sprite. If it’s a BBQ then I can make my own vodka with Sprite Zero but if I am out it’s hard. Vodka soda isn’t that palatable to me. I need some drink ideas that don’t have that many calorie for the social occasions where I want to have some drinks.

    My goal is to stick to one drink a week for now- two tops. Any suggestions on how to make it less damaging to my diet?

    Welcome @nicolewhittier we are so glad to have you joining in our LESS Alcohol thread. A bit of a trick some of us have caught onto is putting what ever NA or LA drink into a fancy glass. It really works! There is less(ha, pardon the play on words) chance anyone will question why you are not drinking an alcohol drink. More than likely they will be curious and say WOW that looks good what is it? I depending on how well I know them, either say it is mymown special secret request or just tell them it is NA.

    Other low calorie mixers are ICE which come in a huge variety of flavors, mango is my favorite. You can also cut your drink in half by having a half shot instead of the 1.5 ounce in your drink. I actually like the NA Heinekin00, Bud Zero. To which I still order them with a wine glass to drink them out of. Also sweet iced tea, with mint crushed ice and ginger ale is a great mock mint julep.



  • Michieb125
    Michieb125 Posts: 811 Member
    @dawnbgethealthy yay to hitting 10 AF days and congrats on your consolidation loan going through. Your garden(s) are looking fantastic!

    @MissMay always appreciate your wise perspective on Less Alcohol and the helpful suggestions you have.

    @nicolewhittier welcome to this thread! Your question is “ Any suggestions on how to make alcohol less damaging to my diet?” If you think you want two glasses of white wine, have one or both as a spritzer (so 1/2 the calories). I now like Stella NA 00 - a very acceptable look in a drinking establishment for 59 calories and more people are gravitating toward NA for many reasons. A lot of people in our lives could probably drink way more than us, and more than they really should. My advice is do what YOU are comfortable with.

    Sunday was 100 degrees again so stayed in for the most part and caught up on house stuff. I would not call it re-centering but definitely more organized and ready for the week. Also packed up clothes to donate so a little purging never hurts. Racking up some more AF days with zero lemonade, and splash of Pom with sparkling water.

    July goal: 21-22 AF days
    AF - 11
    A - 5

  • Womona
    Womona Posts: 1,780 Member
    nicolewhittier wrote: »
    Hi peeps! Thanks for such an inspiring thread for those of us who are aspiring to be AF or LA. I don’t drink more than once a week typically and it’s socially. I even go weeks without alcohol sometimes, even though there is a lot of addiction in my family. My reason for eating to be LA is that even 3 drinks once a week is destroying my calorie goal of 1300 per day and I don’t feel great the next day after drinking.

    What are some possible ways to drink without calories. Vodka bothers my stomach the least bit I don’t like tonic. I tend to have wine, cocktails or vodka in sprite. If it’s a BBQ then I can make my own vodka with Sprite Zero but if I am out it’s hard. Vodka soda isn’t that palatable to me. I need some drink ideas that don’t have that many calorie for the social occasions where I want to have some drinks.

    My goal is to stick to one drink a week for now- two tops. Any suggestions on how to make it less damaging to my diet?

    Hi and welcome! There are so many good Vodka drinks out now. I’m a fan of High Noons- only 100 calories. Stateside , Kiki’s the new White Claws and other vodka drinks are similar. A glass of wine is 125 calories, so that’s usually my go to. Once I start with the real mixed drinks, not only do the calories go way up, but it’s like 2-3 drinks with all the shots of whatever. Too much alcohol (and calories) for me!
  • tmbg1
    tmbg1 Posts: 1,434 Member
    6 A and 11 AF so far - Enjoying Three Spirits N/A Nightcap tonight. Love it but it's a little pricy so I can't buy it too often.
  • forestdweller1
    forestdweller1 Posts: 415 Member
    @dawnbgethealthy ..." jalapenos popped "....I see what you did there...Your garden is awesome !! Since most of your plantings seem to be for winter sustanance, I was wondering about the black hollyhocks ?? Are the flowers for stuffing, or do they yield seeds for seasoning ?? Never heard of black hollyhocks, so maybe just for " pretty " ??

    Happy that your loan came through, and you won't be working 3 jobs forever !!

    So, deer like sunflowers...another item I won't be planting again, like azaleas or exotic day lilies. Not that I begrudge deer their little snackies, I would just like to enjoy my magenta-golden-striped-day-lilies for more than 6 hours before they are munched. Here today, gone for lunch...My personal doe visits every day to snatch up low hanging ivy and any fallen apples. Today she started in on the mulberry tree...It's a "code red" day [don't breathe the air] so I didn't follow up on my plan to spread a bedsheet on the ground & shake the tree ...Doe-Doe don't need no stinkin' bedsheet...just chew off the leaves & berries. Then levitate over the fence and tip toe off home.
    Between her and SIL #2 I can't seem to catch a break. He has appropriated my riding lawn mower [I'm too old and frail to use it on my hills, he says]. I DO appreciate the "lawn sevice" , up to the point when he "trims" the herb beds with a weed eater as if they are hedges.
    ME..wailing "STOP!!" as he takes off 8 inches of Greek and Mexican oregano...SIL..."Wha ??" ME..."That's FOOD !!"
    Last year I cured him of chopping down my tea peppermint...transplanted from my childhood home in Maryland to Da'Burgh via several house moves. Now growing happily in Maine and Louisiana.


  • forestdweller1
    forestdweller1 Posts: 415 Member
    edited July 2023
    Leave it to @MissMay to have the best options for AF beverages. After the Lemon & Lime varieties, ICE Orange/Mango is one of my favorites, which I thought I ordered on my last Amazon run. I like to order a half dozen different 12 packs at once to minimize deliveries. In my haste, I clicked on "Peach/Nectarine". It was "orange colored". Oh, my, it is SO good, I almost thought I needed to chew it. LOL. YMMV

    @nicolewhittier ...half shots is a great option. When I was trying to help my bar patrons pretend to their "friends" that they were drinking [NOT] I would float a skim of booze on their beverage so it would seem to their buddys that they were part of the club. "Smelled like Jack & Coke, right ??" And the wife wouldn't have a cow when they came home [sober].
    If your alcohol consumption this summer is at BBQs or Crab Boils, NA beer is low calorie, tasty, and easy to disguise as the "real thing".
    It does not seem that you are committed to drinking for the taste-buzz-need, just to be part of the crowd at that
    event. A half-shot [or not] with ice and a low cal mixer should do you. And maybe just " I don't want any alcohol this
    weekend" would be enough for your friends to say, "Oh, okay, we got some spiced cranberry yadda-yadda-stuff that you might like...
    Welcome aboard...Bring ..Your ..Own ..Bravery.




  • dawnbgethealthy
    dawnbgethealthy Posts: 7,895 Member
    I am Dawn, I live in South Eastern British Columbia.
    I joined this thread in November of 2018, a daily drinker at the time
    My primary goal with drinking less is weight loss.

    My usual goal is 16-20 AF days for the month,
    I had 18AF days in May.

    I do this diary style:

    Sunday July 16 - AF - A full day off. I really liked it : - ) Just caught up with some laundry and weeding and stuff. My Mint has been ready for quite some time, but no Mojitos just yet. I would have had one, but I have 2 jobs on Monday, so stayed AF. Yay to hitting 10
    Monday July 17 - AF - I have managed to give away shifts and take most of Wednesday and all of Thursday off and then will work 12 straight over the 3 jobs. Not going to try to stay AF if I feel like having drinks over the next few days. Definitely getting to a lake while it is still summer.

    Rolling total: 11AF days out of 17 days.
  • forestdweller1
    forestdweller1 Posts: 415 Member
    @dawnbgethealthy ...Olallie Daylily Gardens...click on their color catalog [purples]...as IF you have a spare moment!!
  • Womona
    Womona Posts: 1,780 Member
    I was halfway to golf last night (finally had the time to do it), and said you know what? Tuesdays are my only night off and I don’t want to be in a golf league, even if it’s a “fun, super casual” one. I just need one night home. So instead I ran an errand and came home to have dinner with my family. Great decision! Poof, I just took the pressure off myself feeling I should be doing something I am not all that excited about. I’m too old to feel obligated to do anything. I enjoy golf - but not on my only night home.

    At any rate, I had a lovely dinner with the hubby, had 1.5 glasses of wine, got my stuff done, and feel great today!

    @Michieb125 i love your changing perspective - I’m right there with ya!
  • dawnbgethealthy
    dawnbgethealthy Posts: 7,895 Member
    forestdweller1 wrote: »
    @dawnbgethealthy ...Olallie Daylily Gardens...click on their color catalog [purples]...as IF you have a spare moment!!

    I clicked.
    Prince of midnight, Royal fireworks, Real purple star, Chicago knobby, Punk, Ollalie Maggie Brommel, and Deluxe Issue all look to be Magenta in colour with stripes.
    Wow, what a catalogue!

    I like the: Velvet Underground and Darius out of the purples
    Being that I like black and red flowers the Black Pearl, Baltimore Oriole.

    I had some black lilies (2 spots) for years, but they didn't come back this year. I do have some black petunias and lovely deep red other types of annuals. I have Crimson Lace Dianthus that come back every year.

    Thanks for the link!
    Because I am not going to work at all today I had time to enjoy that lovely website : - )
  • dawnbgethealthy
    dawnbgethealthy Posts: 7,895 Member
    @Womona

    Good on you for saying "no". We can all get overwhelmed with commitments, leading to NO downtime at all.
  • dawnbgethealthy
    dawnbgethealthy Posts: 7,895 Member
    I am Dawn, I live in South Eastern British Columbia.
    I joined this thread in November of 2018, a daily drinker at the time
    My primary goal with drinking less is weight loss.

    My usual goal is 16-20 AF days for the month,
    I had 18AF days in May.

    I do this diary style:

    Sunday July 16 - AF - A full day off. I really liked it : - ) Just caught up with some laundry and weeding and stuff. My Mint has been ready for quite some time, but no Mojitos just yet. I would have had one, but I have 2 jobs on Monday, so stayed AF. Yay to hitting 10
    Monday July 17 - AF - I have managed to give away shifts and take most of Wednesday and all of Thursday off and then will work 12 straight over the 3 jobs. Not going to try to stay AF if I feel like having drinks over the next few days. Definitely getting to a lake while it is still summer.
    Tuesday July 18 - Drinks. Orange Mint Mojito and Chocolate Mint Mojito. I wouldn't normally drink more than one, but made them for a friend and I and then she said that she couldn't drink hard liquor and that I would have to drink hers. They were both delicious and quite different from each other. I got a good stretch of Bindweed battling after my bank appointment, and then really really relaxed knowing that I would have Wednesday off. Planning early morning weeding in another area of my garden and then off to a lake today. If I feel like having drinks when I get home I will.

    Rolling total: 11AF days out of 18 days.
  • Michieb125
    Michieb125 Posts: 811 Member
    I must look up that amazing DayLily gardens catalog this week….I hope to try some new flowers outside of my safety zone of petunias and petunias lol.

    @Womona I know you made a great decision last night. Feeling good about how we spend our precious time is key for me too.
    @dawnbgethealthy a day at the lake sounds heavenly - enjoy!

    Yesterday, I went to a Zumba Gold class (beginners and/or seniors) thinking it was going to be easy peasy but NOT. I pretty much kept up but laughing inside and out half of the time….it was a lot of rapid movements but the instructor was so fun and I wanted to burn some extra calories this week. Made some icy cold NA zero calorie refreshments last night and kept hydrated.

    AF until Fri or Sat this week to meet my personal goal.
    July goal: 21-22 AF days
    AF - 12
    A - 6
  • dawnbgethealthy
    dawnbgethealthy Posts: 7,895 Member
    @itladyee

    So sorry about your dog :'(

    @ahoy_m8
    I bet that you wish that you were back in the mountains of NM with the current heat.

  • dawnbgethealthy
    dawnbgethealthy Posts: 7,895 Member
    I am Dawn, I live in South Eastern British Columbia.
    I joined this thread in November of 2018, a daily drinker at the time
    My primary goal with drinking less is weight loss.

    My usual goal is 16-20 AF days for the month,
    I had 18AF days in May.

    I do this diary style:

    Wednesday July 19 - Drinks. Made myself a Mojito out of my Ginger Mint, very delicious and different. Planned AF for the next 5 days.

    Rolling total: 11AF days out of 19 days.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    @itladyee Awww... I am very sorry about Yoda. What a cutie. He must have felt loved and cared for till the very end. Because he was. 14 is a good score for a dog! His prognosis was not promising at all and you spared him suffering. It hurts to loose a faithful companion. Hugs to you.

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