LESS Alcohol ~ JULY 2023 ~ One Day at A Time

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  • dawnbgethealthy
    dawnbgethealthy Posts: 7,647 Member
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    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:

    Friday July 14 - AF - Planning drinks after my 2 jobs back to back on Saturday. Sunday completely off! I will get out and give my garden some love very early in the morning before it is 37c

    Rolling total: 9AF days out of 14 days.
  • Michieb125
    Michieb125 Posts: 551 Member
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    @globalhiker thinking of you this weekend as you seek to re-center and good job on the AF with DH. Sundays are my typical day I consciously focus on goals for the week. It does help!

    @dawnbgethealthy enjoy your upcoming and well deserved day off. Your garden is awaiting some love on Sunday! I agree, weeding is pure work, but harvesting and eating your own crop will be such an accomplishment.

    Have a good weekend all - sending positive thoughts your way.
  • tmbg1
    tmbg1 Posts: 1,335 Member
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    6 A and 9 AF- and it's hot as heck where I am- hope everyone is surviving the heat!
  • Womona
    Womona Posts: 1,629 Member
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    @globalhiker. So much for relaxing and re- centering! Ugh what a mess with the insulation stuff. I hope you get a chance to do so today! It is hard when you’re an active person. I wonder if something like knitting would be considered “active test”- something to focus on so you don’t feel bored staring at the four walls trying in vain to “relax”.

    @MissMay I am so happy to hear you got scooped up for the hotel job! Sounds like it will be a MUCH better fit. What will you do there? Is it part or full time?

    For the big tennis tournament, I am happy with how I played, but we lost our match. Our team did not advance to the finals today, but given the strength of the other teams, that’s fine, and makes perfect sense. It was such a good experience for us all, but holy cow was it HOT! Gotta love tennis in
    July.

    Now I need to catch up on cleaning the house and getting back to my workout routine. Everything was put on hold this week in an effort to prevent injury and coordinate what I needed to for the tourney. Back to reality! Especially with eating and drinking. Lots of celebratory extra wine this weekend!

    Hope everyone has a happy Sunday and a great start to the week.
  • Michieb125
    Michieb125 Posts: 551 Member
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    @globalhiker the insulation situation sounds completely awful and frustrating. I hope you were able to sleep and can find a way to recenter today. Maybe an early walk or drive to a park, or visit your fav craft store. You might just need to get out of the house for awhile to look up. Then, verbalize to people around you what you need, I.e., “I am feeling really spent and need some time alone for the next 4 hours.”

    @Womona sounds like you had a great time at your tournament! I like your positive attitude that it’s not always about the win but how you play. Isn’t that true in life too?

    Super hot yesterday but got a walk in early before spending some time with DIL and her side of the family. We went to an open house up on a hill with 3 acres of horse property, then over to our local nursery to look for fall veggie packs before visiting a little longer here. Had iced cold water after getting in from the heat and chatted it up. My old self would have opened a bottle of wine and then you know what happens next. Lol.

    Will hit the grocery store soon and pick up some cold beverages for this week - Stella NA 0.0, club soda, cherry or Pom juice, low cal lemonade. Trying to figure out simple dinners during this heat wave too. AF today.

    July goal: 21-22 AF days

    AF - 10
    A - 5
  • dawnbgethealthy
    dawnbgethealthy Posts: 7,647 Member
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    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:

    Friday July 14 - AF - Planning drinks after my 2 jobs back to back on Saturday. Sunday completely off! I will get out and give my garden some love very early in the morning before it is 37c
    Saturday July 15 - 2 drinks. I quite enjoyed knowing that I didn't have any jobs for Sunday. I just relaxed and watched HGTV. Very hot here, about 99f in the afternoons. I'm sure that all of the lakes are packed it being a weekend. Not sure what I will get up to. Planning AF for Sunday and Monday, planning prosecco after my bank appointment Tuesday after work to sign papers for my consolidation which is going to take all sorts of pressure off of me.

    Rolling total: 9AF days out of 15 days.
  • tmbg1
    tmbg1 Posts: 1,335 Member
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    6 A and 10 AF
  • nicolewhittier
    nicolewhittier Posts: 6 Member
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    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?
  • MissMay
    MissMay Posts: 3,561 Member
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    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: 551 Member
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    @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: 1,629 Member
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    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: 1,335 Member
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    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: 364 Member
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    @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: 364 Member
    edited July 2023
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    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.




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