I'm still cutting down my drink and this week several people have said I have really bright eyes, great complexion and silky hair! I have felt like a prized labrador! I'm only drinking on special occasions.
I wonder what happened to Opal, did she find the alcohol again I worry??
Opal where are you?

I've posted on your blog post, but I will just say again now how amazing you have done and the best of luck for the future.
:drinker:

Newbie here. Was so great to read all of your stories and see that I'm not alone. I'm 43, married, two teenage children and have increased daily alcohol consumption for the last 25 years. I drink too much, and then eat too much, and am setting a poor example to boot. Last five years my weight has been inconsistent...and last two years I have lost control. I'm up 15 lbs. I can't lose and only go up. Many health risks from my family history will put me in dire straights if I let this weight gain continue and I'm pretty confident it only goes up from here if I don't take some drastic measures. So -- taking the plunge and giving up my nightly wine/other alcohol intake. It's day 3 for me. No side effects to speak of and I've lost 2 lbs. of water weight. I am sleeping SO, SO soundly. I love that. I had almost given up on the idea of sleeping an entire night through from beginning to end. I'm psychologically addicted, I know, so the hardest part will be keeping this up for the long term. I think it's time to be honest and say I've been here before---I know how easy it is to fall back into the daily routine---so I don't think I can be a casual drinker again. I hope to be a regular poster in this group. Thanks to the founder of this group ... I look forward to giving and receiving support. My goal is to lose 18 lbs. I can't believe I've let it get that high...it's just not me. Time to get back to the me I know I should be!

I'd just like to say that I have been really good this year and kept my wine for the weekend, downside, tolerance level lower, didn't realise have been majorly pissed and hung over! Whoopsie!

It was hard especially the first 3 days but I made it with the 5 days of NO alcohol. It'll still be mentally hard because habits are hard to break especially with good and bad stress.

I've lost 3 pounds.

What I did different:
1. No alcohol for 5 days in a row.
2. No salty snacks.
3. Only one sweet (slice of homemade banana bread)
4. Increased my calories 250, totaling 1450 instead of 1200.

What I did the same:
1. Track my food and exercise.
2. Exercised.

Goal:
Continue with "What I did different".

How I feel:
Good

Reward:
Success and freedom

Day 1 done and it was hard to do. Habits are hard to break. I'm looking forward to checking my weight this Friday to see if things improve but more looking forward to feeling happy if I've been successful in not consuming wine 5 days in a row. If I make it, I will continue on the path and weigh in on Friday's with my no alcohol day counts.

Great job!!! Keep it up! The weight will come off. After two weeks I felt so so much better.

Day 4,, this is usually my hardest day,,,,, But if I don't go to the store, it won't be in the house

It's been a relief reading all the replies on here. So many people don't have a 'problem' with alcohol in the sense that it is taking over their lives or being destructive, but it is simply so enjoyable that it makes a regular appearance.

I've been an on/off drinker, I'll go 2 weeks without a drink then binge one night and can't stop for another few weeks until I finally get fed up with it. Cycle starts again and has done for years.

I don't want to give it up forever, I do want a drink now and then. but just wish I knew how to have 'just one drink' and just for that occasion instead of for a few weeks.

Had 2 days of drinking in the last 4 weeks, and nothing for the last 2 weeks. That's good for me but it feels like time to have one again. Resisting anyway, trying to just have one per month.

i just dont know how to use the quote thing lol

Hi,
I have 4 daughters - preteen/teen - and I hear you. I feel like I have to have the wine at night. But it has turned into a bottle.

Wouldn't you know, my husband asked me to go out to dinner just after I had committed to avoid wine. I wanted to order my usual just after my husband ordered his beer---but I didn't. Iced Tea please came out of my mouth. I ate more of my dinner than I would have to reward myself for my newfound self control. I think it's a fine trade-off if it gets me to where I want to be in this journey. One day wine-free. Yea me.:happy:

I'm 'still' with it--but it's only my second day. I'm watching my husband make dinner and I know he will ask me if I want a glass of Chardonnay with my chicken. I will say no thank you and he won't push but oh my, I would enjoy a glass of wine with dinner. That said, someone brought chocolate cake to class today and I was able to have a small sliver of heaven without guilt. I'm thinking that with two glasses of wine/night my tradeoff is fantastic. I always comment that I don't eat that much--and I don't, but adding the wine in, it is enough to have me gain or at least not lose. I do hope I can stick with this.:flowerforyou:

My husband asked me 3 times if I wanted a glass of wine last night. I haven't 'declared' that I'm not having wine yet so he is doing this innocently. I want to see if I can get through a week. I see what I've written and think I sound like an alcoholic - I love the taste of wines, trying new wines, relaxing with wine, and I can't drink more than two glasses without getting mildly drunk. The last is probably what has kept me out of trouble but this will be an interesting experiment.

Another win for me. Sat for 4 hours listening to my husband's band and drank water vs wine. It helped that I had a 'never-ending' salad that took me forever to consume but after the first request for a glass of water, I found that the waitress didn't continue to ask--one 'no' is enough. Of course this is true since there are many who can't drink (something I hadn't put together) so, counterintuitively it might be easy to be in those situations. Nice.

I'm so funny--I thought I was home free for a week without wine because on my last night (last night) I went to hear my husband play a gig (it was awesome--Charlie Brown goes to the Nutcracker . The gig was at a coffee house and lasted until 9:30. Perfect I told myself. Coffee it is! Wrong. We went out after to celebrate a wonderful event and I had a glass of wine. The good news is that I only ordered french onion soup (the coffee curbed my appetite More good news is that I see that, despite being under my calorie count, the wine actually did make a difference in my weight loss/gain (it also could have been the salt in the soup but I'll go with the wine. All in all it was an amazing week--cut down from 14 glasses to 1; lost 5.4 lbs; began going to the gym again; started drinking sufficient water; tracked my food and exercise. I am pleased with my weight loss but more with my returning to some sense of control. And, I attribute most of my success to cutting out wine. Yea me :flowerforyou: