No Alcohol August

I'm still dry as a bone over here! Loving it, too! Even if I am trippin' a little bit...quitting my multiple whiskies a night has left me emotional.

MyWhole30Journey wrote: »

Monarose wrote: »

Total fail. I did well all week. Then Totally caved into the stress of the weekend. Idk that I can do this with it around me all the time.

Hey, you did great! Better 1 or 2 nights than every night. One trick I use when I feel I'm drinking too much is to pour an 8 oz glass of water with each drink and drink the entire glass before I can have another drink. Your body can only handle so much liquid! Good luck this week.

Thank you. I'm on a 43 day streak of logging everything and totally fell apart this weekend. I feel like I'm also eating everything in sight. My general stress is through the roof really bringing me down. I just consciously didn't work out tonight. Didn't drink either though. Going to keep on trying.

Monarose wrote: »

MyWhole30Journey wrote: »

Monarose wrote: »

Total fail. I did well all week. Then Totally caved into the stress of the weekend. Idk that I can do this with it around me all the time.

Hey, you did great! Better 1 or 2 nights than every night. One trick I use when I feel I'm drinking too much is to pour an 8 oz glass of water with each drink and drink the entire glass before I can have another drink. Your body can only handle so much liquid! Good luck this week.

Thank you. I'm on a 43 day streak of logging everything and totally fell apart this weekend. I feel like I'm also eating everything in sight. My general stress is through the roof really bringing me down. I just consciously didn't work out tonight. Didn't drink either though. Going to keep on trying.

Could it be hormonal? We women have a lot more to deal with than we give consideration to. Glad you made it through the day. Hopefully things will start looking up soon.

I have been alcohol free since August 3, as part of my Whole30. Feeling really well, although I did dream about ordering wine at a bar last night and they were all out and I was sad...haha!

I've been struggling with how I want to move forward. I know that I don't want to completely cut out alcohol for good, but I also know that I'm terrible at moderating. There are certain scenarios when I trust myself to moderate - for instance when I meet up with a friend for dinner. I know I have to drive home so I'll have one glass and then call it good. But if I'm at home or somewhere where driving isn't an issue, then most attempts at moderating are failures.

I also like the mindset of only drinking "for a reason." Not just because it's the weekend but because there is something special going on (vacation, a wedding, birthday, etc.) Then I realize that I have things going on every week. In the next 3 weeks alone I have friends coming into town, a music festival, and a wedding reception.

Sorry for the long post. Basically I'm debating a lot in how I want alcohol to fit into my life style. More to come, I'm sure.

@Brooke1076 - I've been walking a lot and that's really been helping. I like to go for walks after dinner to take my mind off of having a drink. That, and I've become a coffee fiend. I bought a bunch of decaf for the evenings and I've replaced my nightly wine with coffee instead. Surprisingly, I really look forward to it and after a while the nightly wine cravings went away.

Brooke1076 wrote: »

@Somebody_Loved I hear you.... the problem is that now....I make an excuse for there ALWAYS to be a reason! I find the smallest reasons to "celebrate". Had a good day at work? Celebrate! Saved money while shopping? Celebrate!! Got a raise? Celebrate! Ect... I usually walk the dog as soon as I get home but now I am thinking of delaying it a little bit more into the evening to give me something to do as the night goes on. Ugh I sound like such a lush!! Do you find the drinking stalls your weight loss?

Ha, I totally hear you, I do the exact same thing. There is always a reason to celebrate in my mind. And you don't sound like a lush - before I started trying to cut back, I was a very heavy drinker. Multiple nights a week, multiple drinks those nights.

Yep - that was my main motivation when I went dry in July. I had been trying to lose weight for months and was basically just maintaining my weight. I would be good Sun-Thurs and then obliterate any progress I made during the week with drinking Friday-Saturday. I realized I was having thousands of calories in alcohol alone some weeks (plus the subsequent food choices.) I dropped 6 pounds in July by going dry.

I've made it through another day and evening. I look less puffy if that makes sense. My dh commented on how nice I look and he doesn't even know I've gone dry. I didn't tell anyone here.. Just quietly not drinking.

Good Morning All, another day another dollar. Still AF and feeling good about it. Hope everyone has a productive day.

You all have such great comments here, truly motivating!
Thysbeeverblom: you said "dont be ashamed of what you log, I think some of us here can really understand and had times of their own" that is so true.
SandiRemedios: YES you MUST learn to carry water with you when you walk in this weather.
abarriere: I've been doing the Whole30 as well. How's it going for you?
Someody_...: You say you're struggling with how to move forward? The truth is, you know how you want to move forward, you want to keep alcohol in your life but are not sure you can handle it. Below I am writing my future plans for alcohol, read it and take what you want from it or ignore it completely but I have the same problem so maybe, just maybe we can find a solution

So, we've learned or I suppose we've all really knew that alcohol does contribute to weight gain and can prevent us from dropping stubborn pounds. No surprise there, we know what we have to do.

As for reasons to celebrate, some are legitimate, others not so. I too can't image my life without alcohol in it. Maybe it's just because it's been a part of it for so long, maybe it's an addiction, I've wrestled with that idea for a long time. My plan is to do this 30 days cold sober, after that, I'll try to continue as long as I can. I have a time in mind when I'll have my next glass of wine, it's the first snow fall. It's a ritual for my hubby and I, he works on a reservoir and collects beaver logs (soooo cool) for us to have our first season fire with. So, that night I plan to have a fire and wine. Normally that would lead to continued drinking night after night. This time I'll put REAL distance between then and the next time I have wine, weeks if not months. I want to learn to drink when I want it and not because my body craves it. It's time that I take control of my body rather than the other way around. Just and idea. Hopefully it'll work.

Oh and by the way, day # 12 for me. Feel great, losing weight, sleeping well.

I cheated but I'm back on track now ;(

@juliedee20 - I could have written that post. I went through a divorce a couple years ago and started going through bottles of wine very regularly. Over the past few years I've also noticed that I black out often - pretty much any time I drink in excess. Even after I had dealt with the divorce and found myself in a completely happy place, I was still drinking often out of habit. Going dry in July broke that habit for me and was incredibly beneficial. You're doing great!

@MyWhole30Journey - I totally agree with taking control of it rather than the other way around. I went to dinner with a friend last night that I hadn't seen in ages and had one glass of wine and stopped after that. Had I not been driving home, I'm sure I would have had more to drink. I'm just not in the place (yet) where I can trust myself to moderate. At this point it's taking up so my of my time thinking about it that it seems it would be easier to just go completely dry again.

Day 3 done. All Good here, But Fridays Are My issue!! Great job everyone. I'm feeling so good

Day 5 - feeling great, so much energy, so much better at coping with the heat and so much better sleep

I think from today on its the longest period without alcohol in years

yeah, the divorce issue - after my worst break up I had 2 bottles of wine EVERY night. blackouts and injuries are known to me for so many yeaars due to drinking in excess and the worst is - I tend turn into a mixture between hulk and the 2 stepsisters of cinderella (a really mean b***).

Since I have never known moderation my path towards abstinence becomes clearer and clearer - I think everybody has to know for themselves and decide accordingly.

Keep up the good work and thank you so much for the inspiration