Has anyone else quit drinking alcohol completely?

I gave it up in 2011 (this Thanksgiving will be 3 years strong). Although I had always drank through-out my 20's in my bad marriage...it wasn't till the divorce in 2011 that caused me to go off the deep end and right around Thanksgiving I knew that I had to give it up since I was abusing it at the time. Been free from alcohol since and don't have any desire to drink it ever again. For me I'd like to compete one day after I get my loose skin removed so it's an incentive right there to not put that stuff in my body.

To test myself, i stop drinking for a challenge!, it was for 30 days! Ever since then, i don't drink as much as i use too! I'll have a drink, IF its there, but i haven't actually bought alcohol for myself in almost 2 months! Before that, i use to drink every weekend, thur-fri-sat-sun! It was bad!! NOW i don't even have the urge anymore to drink!

I just recently made this decision after reading a wonderful book (How to Stop Drinking the Easy Way by Allen Carr if anyone is interested). It really opened my eyes to my drinking and made me see things in a different light. I had my last drinks Saturday and I am looking forward to getting healthy. I've been drinking heavily pretty much since my college days (I am 38 now) with the exception of my three pregnancies (which is also the only times I've actually lost weight in the past 10 years because I've stopped drinking...mostly anyway). I have tried cutting back but it never sticks (sometimes not even past that day when I decided to cut back). Clearly I'm not someone who does moderation well and it was hurting my health, my finances, and most importantly I wasnt there as much as I wanted to be or should be for my three young children. I was there physically but often I was counting the minutes until bedtime so I could drink more, didn't do as much as I should with them because I wanted to stay home and drink, etc.

I'm only a few days into this journey but with the help of the book it already feels different. Gone is the anxious feeling I usually have when I am trying to abstain. I'm not saying I don't think about having a drink but it's a fleeting thought right now and I realize I'd like not to have a drink more than I would like to have one. I credit the book for this change in thinking. I'm not sure how he does it but it works. So, far I feel really, really good and I'm enjoying myself much more and finding I have much more time on my hands than usual (I guess that is what happens when you don't spend every night sloshed every morning fighting the slight hangover). I am sure it won't always be easy but I feel confident I can do this.

Has anyone else made this decision and been down the path? Any advice? What positive changes did you notice? Have you lost weight just from cutting the booze?

And I'd love some fellow "quitters" for friends if you want to add me! Support is always great!

I didnt read other replies, just the OP here and I was curious what kind of information thats in the book opened your eyes up?

What helps in making the conscious decision to stop completely and not think twice about ever going back?

The reason I ask is I was wondering if this information could be applied to other things, like smoking, pans of lasagna, piles of cookies and gallons of ice cream.

I read that moderation is key, but if theres a way to actually cut some things out without any negative impact, its worth a try.


ETA: When I cut certain things out, I tend to replace them with others. For example I replaced wine, with ice cream. The problem is what happens when I would like some wine and I am used to eating ice cream? They both dont fit in my goals and in order to get to a place where cognitive dissonance can reign supreme I start rationalizing all the reasons why i can have both. Sometimes I think instead, the proper course of action should be me being sprayed with a firehose until I no longer want either.

I have cut it down from every Friday night to about every couple months.
I used it as stress relief, getting out to "have a life".
I'm just to the point in my my life, I like to be clear headed on Saturday morning.
This is just a personal preference for me.

i scared the *kitten* outta myself when i blacked out one time--and didn't drink again for 4 yrs. after that i realized i wasn't an alcoholic after all and started drinking socially again, with no real problems--other than hangover.

these days my body is so sensitive and my health so important to me that even a slight hangover 1x week is more detriment than i want to deal with. whatever 'benefit' i get from alcohol is no longer worth this price.

plus the effects of alcohol take me away from myself. i'd rather learn to be present with myself in every moment. i'm ready for that now.

quit 14 months ago (june 3/13) ...was 35 lb heavier (still working off the last 25 over the next few months).

...decided after doing alot of research/reading blogs that many people have a ''complicated relationship'' with booze
(and I was, for sure!, one of them)...it's not like AA would like it to be: your an alchie or you're not.

so this finally made me realize: why the hell do I want to have
a 'complicated relationship' with something that is, fundamentally, an expensive
drug, a depressant? it's not like it is my lover or a job where 'complicated relationship' can cause enough headache
on its own and yet still be somewhat legit...but to have such with a drug just lit up a light in my head.

time to stop numbing down issues that food/booze would cover up.

..the first few weeks were tough (and I often used still use the
imagery of a hissing snake that wants to bite me and entangle me again, should I ever have another drink).
..and I worked PT fine dining many yrs (post secondary), so sure knew my wines/beer well.

it'san all or nothing approach for me: i think that going back to trying to have 'just one or two drinks' would soon become
a slippery slope to me: one drink of wine or beer would lead to 2 or 3...and the nights having such
would become not 1 or 2 per week but 3 or 4....then the booze stimulates my appetite
to ordering greasy, fat sodium and starchy foods, all late at night when I'm not burning anything at all.
...so up would rocket my weight again.

...consequently my weight ballooned (and i have enough issues with my weight)...
who wants to go hiking or do something active when you're pissed
and getting the buzz? nada.

so to click on the same 'pleasure' centre of my brain, i sub'd booze with hiking in the forest or being by the ocean listening to my tunes....luckily i live in vancouver bc where lovely areas abound.

**i'm now trying to use this achievement (but will always have my dukes up and not get cocky) as an incentive to dive deep
to continue to get the weight off...like giving up booze for 14 months, esp given how much I was drinking (2-4 or 5 bottles of wine/week) IS a huge achievement...i gotta' tap into that resource to pump me up and spur me onwards when I get weak food wise.

My husband and I quit because it seemed like it was getting to be a problem. When I went out of town and came home to find out he'd bought some and drank by himself while I was gone it really concerned me and when we talked about it he admitted it concerned him too. So we stopped. I have an app on my phone that keeps track of days sober and since I'm a nerd like that it helps me (I'm at 1370 for MFP so the counting thing helps me.)

The other thing for us was replacing the evening drink with something else. We now have a cup of tea or a glass of iced tea or some other non-alcoholic drink that isn't full of empty calories. I know I feel better physically and I definitely feel better about our future. My dad was an alcoholic and my husband's family has several addicts so both of us could easily fall into that trap. I like rum and coke but not enough to screw up my life over it.

Good luck on your journey and I think we've made a good decision in deciding enough was enough.

For me its been one tall can of beer daily for the past few months. At the end of the day it feels good

aside from the odd sip of champagne at celebrations (weddings, graduation parties, etc), i've not drank since january 4, 2013. i quit using drugs in 2001. i kept drinking because, of course, alcohol wasn't my problem, it wasn't my substance of choice. i got clean without twelve steps but have been considering going to a meeting. recovery is a lifelong commitment and i still struggle more often than i care to admit. i finally realized one day that there was nothing positive that alcohol brought into my life, so why should i let it have power over me?

anyone else who's in recovery, working a program, or wants to build a sober support network - add me