LESS Alcohol ~ August 2025 ~ One Day at A Time
🌟 Do You Want to Drink LESS? 🌟
Less can mean a lot of different things. Maybe you want to:
Cut out that one glass of wine that always turns into two (or three—no judgment).
Save the cocktails just for weekends, special occasions, or when your in-laws visit.
Make “Dry January” (or July, or any other time of year) your new tradition.
Or maybe—just maybe—this is your moment to go all in and step into a fully alcohol-free lifestyle. Imagine how good it could feel to wake up clear-headed every single morning. (No more “who did I text last night?” panic!)
The beauty is, you get to define what LESS looks like for you:
One fewer drink a day, week, or month.
Taking mindful breaks from drinking.
Choosing total sobriety.
Whatever your version of “less” is, you don’t have to do it alone. We’re here—cheering you on, sharing stories, and learning together.
🎉 Join us in drinking LESS (however that looks in your life).
Because every step counts, and a little progress today can lead to big changes tomorrow.
Ready to start? Let’s do this—one mindful sip (or skip) at a time. 🍋✨
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LESS ALCOHOL RESOURCE & GENERAL INFORMATION LIST
USING THIS THREAD:
- Join us at any time.
- Set your own goal – this thread is about drinking less and you decide what that means to you.
- There are no scheduled check-ins…post as often or as little as you want or need.
- AF is an acronym for Alcohol Free. For others commonly used on this site see -
To follow this thread easily, bookmark it by clicking on the star or ribbon at the top right of this thread. Remember that we are here for you and care about you. Check in with us when you have time and let us know what you need!
Reported Benefits of Less or No Drinking: (Results may be incremental, and/or they may vary)- Improved sleep after 2, 4, 7, 10, & 60 days
- Improved skin/complexion after 10 days
- Improved ease in weight loss. Not only from the savings of alcohol calories but some report making poor food choices after drinking.
- Increased energy after as few as 2 days
- Increase in other fun activities. Some have found that daily drinking became their main recreational activity, and their world was decreased in size.
- Reduction of high blood pressure
- Lower resting heart rate
- Retention of vital vitamins and minerals
- Less Acid Re-flux and improved gut health
- Significant financial savings
- Better relationships with family and friends
Life with Less Alcohol:- It can be helpful to educate yourself with books and web research.
- There is no benefit to comparing yourself to others because this is a personal journey.
- You may often feel conflicted. You will know that there are numerous real benefits to sticking to your goal while at the same time think that alcohol is an important part of stress relief, relaxation, celebration, etc.
- You may feel punished by not drinking or drinking less but that feeling usually fades with time.
- Sometimes drinking less or quitting will strain friendships that centered around alcohol.
- Having a list of reasons to stick to your goals handy for yourself can be helpful.
- Some lists have included remembering how bad it feels to have a hangover, excess/unwanted calories, having a racing heart during the night, sleeplessness, anxiety, and depression.
- It is not uncommon for certain activities that were once combined with alcohol to trigger temptation. Many have said that outdoor activities in warmer weather made alcohol very tempting.
- If you begin drinking daily again whether planned like a vacation or unplanned you may once again face a struggle to get it under control.
- For some people it is easier to not drink than it is to moderate drinking. Others have found moderating impossible.
Getting Started or Starting Over:- Some people find it easier to set small attainable goals at the beginning to help boost confidence.
- If you have been drinking daily the first days will be some of the hardest and drinking again will feel like a cure but it delays the relief that only time can provide.
- There will always be a reason to delay the start/restart of your journey.
- For those ready to commit to being alcohol-free permanently, the videos on YouTube by Craig Beck will help. He also has a program you can join.
- You may experience mood swings and anxiety during your first two weeks. It is suggested you try and focus on the benefits of your goal.
- Cravings are said to last only 6 minutes, so find something to distract you like arming yourself with alternatives: tea, mock-tails, activities, etc.
- You may find that filling the time you drink with other activities like exercise or hobbies can be a helpful distraction.
- If you find them tempting try and avoid events/outings that will have drinking for a time.
- Don't let pride or shame keep you from asking for the help you need.
- Sometimes talking it out or posting your thoughts/feelings/struggles may help you work things out for yourself.
- It is okay that you don't always have all the answers.
- Some days will be easier than others.
- You may have initial/increased sugar cravings.
- Celebrate the smaller victories too. Less alcohol is still less alcohol even if your goal was zero at that moment.
- Failure is not giving in and drinking. Failure is to stop trying to accomplish your goals.
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LINKS
▪▪▪▪
•General Information/Blog Sites:
The Sober School
•Sobriety Blog:
•The Thirty Day Experiment:
•Ten Things That Helped Me Quit Booze:
•The Neuroscience Behind How We Make Decisions:
•Summary of Book on Addiction:
•Article on the Difference Between Being an Alcoholic and Really Liking to Drink:
•To the Mom questioning her drinking habits:
•Guided Meditations:
ALTERNATIVE DRINKS:
▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪
•Overnight Cold Brew Iced Tea:
•Mocktail Recipes:
APPS
▪▪▪▪
•Daybreak iOS link. A Deakin University study of hundreds of health apps found that Daybreak is one of only four that have proven effective and provide quality assistance.
•Dry Days by AlcoChange iOS is for those who want to cut down or cut out the booze throughout the year, while seeing the impact it has on your health and wallet.
•nomo - Sobriety Clocks iOS - In addition to an alcohol clock and monetary savings this app lets you check in and do a sobriety exercise if you're tempted and connect with accountability partners.
•Sobriety Counter - Stop Drinking (Sobriety Counter - EasyQuit pro version) Android- Provides health stats, money saved, games to distract you, motivational tips, and several other features
•Sober Time - Track your progress in the sobriety counter. Stop drinking with built-in motivation. Look at the sobriety clock when you need it most.BOOKS
▪▪▪▪
•Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol
by Holly Whitaker
•The Naked Mind by Annie Grace
•Alcohol Lied to Me by Craig Beck
•Rational Recovery by Jack Trimpey
•The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober by Catherine Gray
•The Liars Club, Cherry, and Lit by Mary Karr (3 different publications)
•Kick the Drink...Easily by Jason Vale
•Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp
•Being Sober: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting To, Getting Through, and Living in Recovery by Harry Haroutunian
•The Easy, Illustrated Way to Quit Drinking by Alan Carr
•Alcohol Explained by William Porter
•Tired of Thinking About Drinking: Take My 100-Day Sober Challenge by Belle RobertsonCredit and thanks to the MFP Less Alcohol One Day at a Time participants
For their willingness to share their insights and resourcefulness in finding this information
~Established 2017~1 -
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Link for LA Spreadsheet
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Link for LA Spreadsheet
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Hey y'all, I think I'm going to sneak back on in here.
My story, in a nutshell (trigger warning, it's not pretty):
Prior to August 2024, I was drinking pretty much daily (AF days were rare), I was 270lbs, had migraines permanently, felt like crap, was miserable, and was dealing with near daily fights with my husband, who had a severe drinking problem. In August I decided enough was enough, that alcohol was ruining my life and my health, I didn't enjoy it, and that really, the only reason I drank so much was because my husband drank constantly and it is far, far more tolerable to live with a drunk when you too are drinking. So I pretty much stopped, save for 'occasions' - ie drinks with friends, dinners out, special days. Around the same time I started going for walks/hikes a lot and also stopped eating terribly. Hence I started losing weight.
Over the following 6-7 months, I lost weight, got healthier, and my husband got… worse. He drank constantly, multiple day benders, drinking in the mornings, not able to get thorough a day without it, sneaking drinks and hiding them from me, walking up in the small hours of the morning to start drinking again… The fights were less, but mostly because I avoided him, and wouldn't engage when he was drunk and being argumentative.
In March this year, he made an attempt on his own life. It was not his first, but it would be his last. It was spurred on by mental health issues, but the biggest driver, I believe, was his alcoholism and the fact that he was trapped in this cycle where he didn't want to stop, didn't want to face his reasons for drinking, didn't want to be "sober", and was so embarrassed and ashamed by what he'd become that he just didn't want to be here anymore.
After he passed, I swore off drinking entirely. It was a knee jerk reaction, and one that I have since revisited with a clear head. While I have been a heavy drinker in the past, I am able to moderate. I truly enjoy alcohol, I have been a wine snob for many years. I have participated in, and placed in, international cocktail competitions. I am able to happily sit with people drinking and not drink.
So bearing that in mind, I do drink now. I have tried to keep it to weekends, and events, and not me being a sad sack at home with a glass of wine and my dogs, but I'll admit it's been creeping in. I have bought a bottle of wine on the way home a few times in the last month, and there's been less of it left in the morning than I'd like. I know it's a lot to do with the loneliness kicking in as missing my person becomes so entrenched and the lovely friends who have been so good with checking in on me slowly go back to their normal lives, and start to think I don't need that as much.
So here I am, with my sad story, and a commitment to go back to drinking mindfully and only with enjoyment as the purpose - no drinking out of boredom, or habit, or to dull feelings that I might not be comfortable with.
My goals:
- No drinking my feelings - this means no grabbing a bottle of wine because I'm sad, or stressed or feeling depressed or anxious.
- No drinking on weekdays unless there is an occasion (dinner out, an event).
- Drink mindfully at all times - not because I need to to avoid or escape something (negative emotion), but because I want to and it will enhance my day/experience (positive emotion)
I won't say no drinking alone, which I admit I typed into this list a few times and deleted. Because I AM alone. That's a fact now. And I do find joy in going to a nice bar with a book and having a glass of wine, or popping to the pub on a weekend and listening to some live music, or even making myself a really nice dinner and pairing it with a glass of something delicious. I don't think drinking alone is necessarily a problem, it's drinking being driven by negative feelings that is the problem, and avoiding that is my aim.
So I hope you don't mind me sneaking back and and maybe sometimes doing a bit of a brain dump in here.
Happy August and may you all feel strong and empowered in whatever it is you are aiming to achieve.
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@Alatariel75 welcome back, and I am very sorry for your loss. I’m sure I speak for everyone when we say feel free to “brain dump” whenever you need to. That’s what we’re here for.
I understand the drinking alone with feelings rather than just having a drink when you’re alone. So, your goals make sense to me.
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@Alatariel75 ~ Welcome back and I'm so glad that you decided to not continue this journey alone, we are here for you, to support, encourage and allow you to brain dump. I am also very sorry for your loss. It looks like you're ready to take care of YOU in a mindful way and I love that. Your goals are solid. Welcome back!
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@itladyee first I thank you sincerely for keeping us going. Your leadership is appreciated and the time you spend keeping us organized does wonders. Just look at how far we've come as a team.
So here I am, back at it. August starts month 12 AF. This team here has helped me so much. I spent a moment looking back, even at my photos from a few years ago (wow was I really that puffy, pudgy and tired looking?), and I am so happy I am not "her" anymore, not by a long shot. So to not regress and keep improving, I show up here and commit to an AF August no matter how many crazy stressful circumstances life throws at me (I had enough in July).
@Alatariel75 welcome back and it's time for good things to come your way.
Sending strength and energy to all of you chasing goals - here's to a successful month!
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Thank you all for being supportive and looking at my vision with an open mind; I appreciate that. One of my quirks is being an organizer; I find ways to make things organized and efficient, and it’s just my nature.
But… I have read all the feedback from everyone, and while I didn’t do an official “vote”, I do not feel that the majority are on board with the change. And that’s ok!
The two main concerns were visibility to the group (I do have a workaround for this) and the sorting of the buckets of information presented in the announcements (I don’t have a good answer for this just yet).
In the future, we will remain as a discussion group (no change) for now. All of my work was not in vain. I will use the group as an "Admin" base, to "organize". When new information comes up during a discussion, I can add it to the Admin group immediately. I can then make the admin group my source for building the new monthly discussions going forward. Otherwise, what has happened is stuff gets lost because you can't go back and edit a discussion. The Admin group will be private, but anyone who was already in the group that wishes to stay, can, and anyone who wishes to join, if you’re part of the monthly discussions, can as well.
So I still made some progress and found a way to be a bit more organized. I'm happy with my new Admin section! So it’s still a win. Thanks again!
@globalhiker ~ appreciate the kind words! Congrats on starting 12 months!!!
We had a good month with most on the spreadsheet coming in at close or over 50% AF and some at over 80%! That’s huge!
Another thing about me, I’m competitive…but hear me out… We are NOT competing against each other as everyone has their own unique circumstances….It’s not even ground. BUT I do challenge you to do better in August than you did in July. Even if it’s just one day!!! Yes?
Moving on to August and planning my month. As with most anything, I do better when I plan!!
Wishing all a very successful August!
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itladyee, if you're still open to more feedback, I hope you will reconsider turning the group into a private one. If I am understanding right, nobody would be able to see all the information and helpful resources upfront, they'd have to join in order to even learn that the information existed. I never had to join anything previously to get access/see the information before, and I'd personally like that to stay the case for everyone else, new and old. Open and viewable for everyone.
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I’ll be here for August! I’ll be working on increasing my AF days and maintaining a 2 glass limit (this seems to be getting much easier). There are no upcoming celebrations, vacations, or holidays in August for me just babysitting my grand pups for a week and my husband’s knee surgery at the end of the month.
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@itladyee I don't mean to be a pain in the behind. I was thinking about adding my name to the August spreadsheet. But I can't really pick planned days that I'm going to drink. I'm actually striving for an AF August. Even if I was aiming for 60% AF, I couldn't plan the days in advance. I guess I could just leave the planned checkmarks blank. I'm just not sure which checkboxes are planned and which ones are for AF? Your planned checkboxes are black and your actual are red. I'm not sure about the other user's checkboxes. It seems the colors of the boxes are reversed. I hope this makes sense?
I was just looking at it again. I guess it doesn't matter which color box you decide to use.
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itladyee, if you're still open to more feedback, I hope you will reconsider turning the group into a private one. If I am understanding right, nobody would be able to see all the information and helpful resources upfront, they'd have to join in order to even learn that the information existed. I never had to join anything previously to get access/see the information before, and I'd personally like that to stay the case for everyone else, new and old. Open and viewable for everyone.
@Fursian Always open to feedback. The helpful resources would be populated to the monthly discussions each month. The Private group would really only be for me to organize, track and make sure all information gets capturing during the month from the discussion and then populate to the next month.
By way of example. The August Discussion will be alive and well starting tomorrow, even though we are posting on it now. Let's say on August 10th, Fursian comes up with a great post about how sleep inproves in 10 days after stopping alcohol (just an example, no fact checking here) and we all believe it's a great idea and want to add to our resources. Well I can't go back and add to the beginning post with all the resouces and, let's face it, I'm NOT going to remember come the end of August, Start of Sept to go back to August 10th to grab said "great post" or any others throughout the month.
So… on August 10 - I would grab "great post" and post it in the private group. In September, I will now grab all the resources from the private group including the new "great post" and create the new discussion for September.
From the "discussion standpoint", nothing changes, it actually gets better and the group becomes my master template if you will. If at some point we reconsider the group… it will be there, all up to date and ready to go.
I hope this helps.
So in summary:
Discussion > No Change > Business as Usual > Open for everyone to see and kept current with new posts and information
Group > New Admin Area > primarily for my use > kept updated > source for creating new groups each month.
Footnote: I'm afraid if I leave the group open, people will find it and start posting there instead of in the discussion
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I don't mean to be a pain in the behind. I was thinking about adding my name to the August spreadsheet. But I can't really pick planned days that I'm going to drink. I'm actually striving for an AF August. Even if I was aiming for 60% AF, I couldn't plan the days in advance. I guess I could just leave the planned checkmarks blank. I'm just not sure which checkboxes are planned and which ones are for AF? Your planned checkboxes are black and your actual are red. I'm not sure about the other user's checkboxes. It seems the colors of the boxes are reversed. I hope this makes sense?
I was just looking at it again. I guess it doesn't matter which color box you decide to use.
@LittleSurferGirl7 ~ You don't have to use the planned days row, just ignore it. A lot of us like to plan so I thought it might be helpful. If it's not helpful to you, then ignore it. The colors of the boxes are the alternating rows that you suggested earlier to make it easy to read. It's either alternating or none at all or done manually and I don't feel like doing it manually.
So you can do it one of two ways. Since you're striving for an AF August, you could take the first line (row 21) with your name and label it LittleSurferGirl7 ~ planned and check all the boxes. Then label the next row (22) with your name and ~ Actual and check off the actual days that you are AF.
or
You can ignore row 22) and simply put your AF check marks on that row.
The planned row is optional for those who wish to plan and have a visual of how well they did against the plan.
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OK, thanks @itladyee I'll just use the one row for my AF days. BTW…you must have noticed by now all the multiple posts from one new user?
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@LittleSurferGirl7 yes, I’m just flagging them as Spam. When the count gets to 5 (I think) MFP will delete. I hope they don’t find their way to August.
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@itladyee I started flagging them as abuse. I hear ya…I hope it doesn't continue. I can't believe people have nothing better to do with their time.
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Welcome back @Alatariel75 - thank you for sharing your difficult journey and how you are moving toward healing from your loss. You have set great goals for yourself.
Great to see you here @globalhiker - you continue to inspire me as you have accomplished so much on your personal journey! Here’s to a great month 12 for you!
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Is anyone else's "@" function being inconsistent? I couldn't seem to turn usernames into a link with the function yesterday and it's still not right today for me. Usually as soon as you place "@" a list of usernames would appear that you can select from.
@itladyee It sounds like the information and resources will remain visible to everyone, that is reassuring to know, thank you.
Footnote: I'm afraid if I leave the group open, people will find it and start posting there instead of in the discussion
That could end up being problematic, I see where you’re coming from.
@Alatariel75 I hope the brain dumps help you and continue to. You have been through a lot, and I think your goals are great.
Everyone’s goals look great. Even if any of you feel like you’re failing, the fact that you’re showing up to threads like this in the first place tells me that you are seeking a better life that works for you. I think that is something to feel proud of.
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