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Less alcohol- January 2018- one day at a time
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Went out for Mexican last night, normally I would have had a few Margarita's and then came home and slammed 3 more vodka's on the rocks. Last night I didn't even think about it. Hubby even said look at the money we are saving and calories(As I wolfed down a bowl of chips and salsa). I do get tired of all the restrictions, I am okay now with no alcohol but I did think I would lose weight quicker, now I am needing to start restriction calories of food more, Since being dry I have a tendency to reward myself in the evening with a treat since I am not drinking. Ordering me an electric tea pot today so I can have more tea in the evening instead of food.
You did very well!!! My husband looovvvveeeesss Mexican food and we eat it once a week. I dont like sugary drinks so I am good with not drinking Margheritas.
But like you stated our food bill is so much lower now that I am not drinking!! That is a great thing LOL!!4 -
Wow. Thank you @dbanks80! And thanks for the pep talk @JulieAL1969. I wish you the best in Nashville. You’ve been so strong. I will be interested to hear how you navigate with someone who is obviously quite invested in drinking. Luckily although almost everyone I know drinks, I don’t think anyone cares if I do or don’t, including all my soon-to-be limo buddies.3
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JulieAL1969 wrote: »@donimfp Perhaps, when you are a few days from the big bash, make a list of pros and cons of having alcohol. Then, decide if you'll have some. Right now, just focus on the next few days.
I saw my friend at the mall today. She, a few others and I will be heading to Nashville on Thursday for a girl's weekend. She said "hey let's go to the airport early and drink a few." I then told her the news, "I'm not drinking; I'm doing dry January." Her face just dropped!
She said , "Oh.. really. Even for the weekend." She looked bummed. I'm her party friend! The difference is she can drink five vodkas in a short period of time and never seems to get a hangover... while I"m the one finding my shoes in the flower pot outside at home the next morning. That's how messed up I get with her.
So, bottom line is I am very happy to be dry. I want to enjoy the bars, dancing and the live music sober for a change. I hope my tune doesn't change when I'm with her. I plan on staying alcohol free on that trip!
LMAO!! This made me laugh!
Don't you hate the stress of that? It's like I don't want to go anywhere because I have to deal with the struggle and explaining why I'm not drinking. It's so stressful. And I hate it when you tell someone you aren't drinking like I can only be fun when I am drinking. It's like they are so disappointed if you don't drink like the times will not be fun unless we are drinking.
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@dbanks80 It really is funny!
Hence, why I am on this thread and doing Dry January. 3 -
No alcohol today! I had a great work out, the house is clean, dinner was good and I’m looking forward to relaxing before bed either watching a movie or reading, and then sleeping through the night with no chance of hangover tomorrow 9
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Not one to actually say, "MYOB" but I enjoyed reading this article before the holidays, and before my decision for drytime.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/why-people-dont-drink-its-none-of-your-business/article37367578/
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MonkeyMel21 wrote: »No alcohol today! I had a great work out, the house is clean, dinner was good and I’m looking forward to relaxing before bed either watching a movie or reading, and then sleeping through the night with no chance of hangover tomorrow
I got in a great workout too and I even ran a little on the treadmill. I am hoping to do a half marathon this summer. Without hangovers I may be able to accomplish this. I look forward to a good night sleep and the smell of coffee in the AM, it taste good when you are not hungover. Yep another dry night for me.11 -
Congrats to all who accomplished their goals this weekend. I had a football party at my house today and the beer and wine were flowing. I admit a glass of wine sounded fun, but I saved the calories for a oven baked cookie and Imice cream. My mom who is doing dry January with me (though she really doesn’t drink much) was like “we could just have a little, right??” I’m like no! I’m staying the course! Three weeks down and not stopping now.10
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@dbanks80: "It's like I don't want to go anywhere because I have to deal with the struggle and explaining why I'm not drinking. It's so stressful."
Geez, I hate that you and @JulieAL1969 (and others) have to deal with this! Didn't anyone teach their kids manners?
When I was an older teenager, my mom was getting ready to host people for dinner, and she said something that has always stuck with me: "it's bad manners to ask someone why they aren't drinking alcohol." And adding to that, "It's bad manners to pressure someone to drink. If they say no, move on, without comment."3 -
Cleosweetie wrote: »@dbanks80: "It's like I don't want to go anywhere because I have to deal with the struggle and explaining why I'm not drinking. It's so stressful."
Geez, I hate that you and @JulieAL1969 (and others) have to deal with this! Didn't anyone teach their kids manners?
When I was an older teenager, my mom was getting ready to host people for dinner, and she said something that has always stuck with me: "it's bad manners to ask someone why they aren't drinking alcohol." And adding to that, "It's bad manners to pressure someone to drink. If they say no, move on, without comment."
I’m in the stage of life where for a long time if I didn’t drink at an event people assumed I was pregnant! At least now that we made it “official” that we’re done people have just given me weird looks like “why would you do dry January?”
To Julie’s point with her friend, I think we normalize drinking when we are with like-minded people. I think back to times when people I knew stopped drinking it always made me think about my own alcohol use. People sometimes don’t like or want that reminder!5 -
Has anyone else found that sobriety makes you more anti-social? I feel like i have to plan my non-drinking days for when i am not planning to see any friends specifically. And i often turn down opportunities to hang out with people on days i am trying to avoid alcohol. This seems unhealthy to me as many studies show social connectivity is critical to health/longevity/happiness. I like to feel open to my current social circle and to new people but this seems to always screw with my attempts to resist alcohol. I planned to avoid people saturday (after hosting a party friday night...and drinking as planned). However neighbors we'd never hung out with spontaneously invited us over to a party that afternoon and of course the wine started flowing. I didnt drink to the point of feeling bad but it ended up being a lot over the course of the afternoon into evening. Today i didnt know how to feel about saturday... I met new people, had a good time, laughed a lot....but i drank on a day i hadnt planned to. Ugh. Do others struggle to know the difference between feeling healthy/motivating guilt and guilt that's just because i didnt acheive a specific goal? Does it matter or doesnt it? Hell, i sometimes feel guilty for not exercising even when i have the flu so i am not always sure my "guilt gauge" is reliable...5
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jenifer7teen wrote: »Has anyone else found that sobriety makes you more anti-social?
You know I feel like this has been my biggest victory and learning experience. I feared this aspect of cutting down drinking. And i always felt like if I was going out with people I had to get a buzz on. But I just dived right in to going out with people and not drinking and it has been pretty easy.
I haven’t had any “beer pressure” from friends and coworkers. The only time I was out in public and really felt I needed a drink was in one bar that was packed - i mean standing room only, shoulder to shoulder with people. That got my social anxiety going. But I had two supportive friends with me. And when it got to be a little too much I just left and went home. It felt good5 -
As I planned,I had a couple of drinks with friends on Saturday after a dry 3 weeks. It didn’t taste great, I didn’t feel great and I didn’t feel good on Sunday. It’s galvanized me into carrying on and a realization of what even a small amount of alcohol does to your body.5
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jenifer7teen wrote: »Has anyone else found that sobriety makes you more anti-social? I feel like i have to plan my non-drinking days for when i am not planning to see any friends specifically. And i often turn down opportunities to hang out with people on days i am trying to avoid alcohol. This seems unhealthy to me as many studies show social connectivity is critical to health/longevity/happiness. I like to feel open to my current social circle and to new people but this seems to always screw with my attempts to resist alcohol. I planned to avoid people saturday (after hosting a party friday night...and drinking as planned). However neighbors we'd never hung out with spontaneously invited us over to a party that afternoon and of course the wine started flowing. I didnt drink to the point of feeling bad but it ended up being a lot over the course of the afternoon into evening. Today i didnt know how to feel about saturday... I met new people, had a good time, laughed a lot....but i drank on a day i hadnt planned to. Ugh. Do others struggle to know the difference between feeling healthy/motivating guilt and guilt that's just because i didnt acheive a specific goal? Does it matter or doesnt it? Hell, i sometimes feel guilty for not exercising even when i have the flu so i am not always sure my "guilt gauge" is reliable...
Yes, but I’m kind of anti social and introverted anyway, so I haven’t seen it as a huge drawback. I want to practice though and be able to be like @erikNJ in social situations non-drinking. I have a bit of social anxiety, so especially in my younger years drinking has always helped with self medicating that. As I get older, I care less what people think of me, but the few social situations I find myself in still give me anxiety.5 -
Today marks 2 weeks of abstaining.
I had a thought to see how many calories I’ve “saved” from the challenge here so far.
My typical pattern is to have 1 beer a night and sometimes 2. Never more than 2. As with many of us, along with the drink, comes the snacks.
Here’s what I estimate:
- 21 = Total cans/bottles of beer not drank @ 1per day (14) + 1 for 1/2 amount of days (7)
- 4200 = Cals “saved” from abstaining / est. 200 cals per drink - (200 calories * 21 drinks)
- 5600 = Cals “saved” from not snacking / est. 400 cals per day - (400 calories * 14 days)
- 9800 = Total calories “saved”
My daily maintenance calorie allotment is 1750. That means approx. 5 days of total calories not taken in. This being said, I really haven’t backfilled with other food so I am losing weight that I really don’t want to lose. Need to eat more snacks… At least until I get to the end of Feb, which is my personal challenge.
Just thought I’d share this perspective and perhaps give you something to think about for your own situation.8 -
@Cleosweetie says, "Geez, I hate that you and @JulieAL1969 (and others) have to deal with this! Didn't anyone teach their kids manners?
When I was an older teenager, my mom was getting ready to host people for dinner, and she said something that has always stuck with me: "it's bad manners to ask someone why they aren't drinking alcohol." And adding to that, "It's bad manners to pressure someone to drink. If they say no, move on, without comment." [/quote]"
Nice to see you on the thread again:) I love your mom's advice !
My sister who quit ten years ago, said that when she first quit, it seemed she had a bullseye on her. People were pressuring her to drink. They'd say, why not have one? So, she started to tell people she had a medical condition and that's why she couldnt drink. Too bad she even had to do that.
@slimbyjune18 It was a good experiment to drink after a few weeks off. You can see the difference:) in how you feel and want to feel.
@justlog Good awareness as to how much we are all saving in calories and money, too.
@jenifer7teen I've noticed I've preferred to stay at home doing things around the house than going out to the bars over the last few weeks. And I don't really miss the bars. I'm getting so much more done at home now that I'm not recovering from hangovers.
@MichSmish So true about self-medicating.
@erikNJ You seem to have great supportive friends!
@SanDiegofitmom I read an article that sober is the newest trend. In New York, a few sober bars opened up. I bet they have tasty mocktails!
@Skyweigh Good article! I read it! I love reading about sobriety ; keeps me motivated.1 -
MonkeyMel21 wrote: »No alcohol today! I had a great work out, the house is clean, dinner was good and I’m looking forward to relaxing before bed either watching a movie or reading, and then sleeping through the night with no chance of hangover tomorrow
I got in a great workout too and I even ran a little on the treadmill. I am hoping to do a half marathon this summer. Without hangovers I may be able to accomplish this. I look forward to a good night sleep and the smell of coffee in the AM, it taste good when you are not hungover. Yep another dry night for me.
Awesome goal! I have been running on the treadmill, too. Enjoy your coffee!0 -
@SanDiegofitmom Yes, we do normalize drinking based on who we are with. My sister in law who is sober for 20 years says that she recently felt tempted to have a glass of wine, but she didn't. She's always with all of us who drink at holidays and family events. She also said it's gets tiring always being the DD driver.
I called her yesterday and told her I"m 21 days sober. She confided in me that another family member who was sober for 10 years is now drinking again. A bottle of wine every day.
I think some of us who are abstaining will have to continue to be mindful of the temptations each day. Xo5 -
I have no reason to drink. I just do. Every day I have wine. It's just a habit I guess. I'm over it. It makes me feel like crap. I think this is a good of a time as any to just stop. I'm hoping that it won't be as difficult as I think that it may be...6
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