Less alcohol- February 2018- one day at a time
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February was my first month of moderating and cutting back. I drank a few dozen times but more nights then not I was sober. That's more then I've done in a long time. And even better those nights I did drink I didn't over do it one time. I've had a lot of mentally clarity, and I'm making exercise my main focus every evening through the week after work, instead of happy hour at my house. And I'm logging my food and being mindful of what I eat. I'm looking forward to March and cutting alcohol even more out of my life.
Thanks for letting me linger in January, participate in February and progress even more with you guys in March!6 -
Hello everyone, I haven't had a chance to catch up on posts, but I hope everyone is doing ok with their challenges. It is challenging.
I'm going on 2 weeks AF. The 1st weekend was the grateful dead cover band concert, plus it was the 3 day weekend. This past weekend was a long planned celebration at the Irish Cultural center in San Francisco. What could go wrong here !!!? LOL There was 14 of us from our neighborhood that piled into 2 cars headed for the City. One thing I can say. Everybody loves the DD (Designated Driver) It was tough with all the Irish partying away, but I persevered. I had a great time and I was the early ride home. I took the sober-ish folks who had 2-3 drinks, home and we got home at 1 AM. The other car had the the younger crowd. I heard they staggered in at 3 AM. Weekends are the hardest!
All in all, I'm doing really good not drinking. I'm going to ride this AF wave for awhile and see where it leads me.
Congrats!!2 -
I hit my goal of 10 AF days in February! I have already joined the March group and am looking forward to seeing everyone over there!
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Happy dry Tuesday people. Feeling real good physically.13
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JulieAL1969 wrote: »3) Exercised that willpower muscle, stopped fooling myself into thinking that since everyone drinks, it must not be harmful.
What are your takeaways?
@JulieAL1969 and everybody - I think your #3 was the most important in Feb. for me. I started drinking wine again, but am thrilled and amazed that I'm able to moderate. It's only been a few weeks, to be sure, but this past weekend was good. I stuck to the number of glasses I'd planned. But the more I exercise that willpower muscle the better it gets.
The other takeaway was drinking isn't all I thought it was. Every Sunday night now, I'm kinda like eh. That weekend of wine was nice. It was ok, but it wasn't that fabulous. I am with @springsweet in that I really don't want to stress over "rules." It's just a matter of how to balance all that.
Just like everything, I guess it’s different for everybody. If I didn’t set “rules” for myself I would never have made it two months with my health and wellness goals. I know I would have quit a few weeks back. I’m the kind of person who likes structure in my life, of course that doesn’t work for everyone.
Another thing is that sometimes rules get broken. I know I broke some of my “rules” or drinking/diet standards I set for myself in February. But I was able to get right back on track the next day. And I’m hoping this continues on and on.
I bet you're wife loves and respects you more for it.
She is a huge motivator for me. Honestly she is one to usually give up on health goals before I do. And we both are two months strong! We had a nice long talk about what is keeping us going strong this time. It was nice to be honest about the things that are working and things that can help going forward.3 -
Going to give my end of Feb progress report now cause I will be busy tomorrow.
My goal was to lose 4 lbs in Feb, I lost 4.5
Since the holidays I am now down 17.7 lbs!
Since Jan 1st I have drank a total of 10 days. My goal was 8 but those Super Bowl celebrations took me over early this month. No regrets about it.
11 days over the two months I went over calories with my food diet. Most of those coincided with the nights I drank.
I have worked out 24 days and done yoga 8 times. Almost all of that yoga was the last half of Feb, but i’m on track now.
My bad knee feels better, my back is getting better. Overall I am more energetic. Other than a few bad nights I sleep much better.
I am very proud to be two months strong but I need this to be a change for life. I have at least 40 more pounds I would like to lose. And I don’t want to do what I did last time I lost 60 pounds, which was gain almost all of it back. Looking forward to the next steps. Thanks for the support from everyone in this group
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Going to give my end of Feb progress report now cause I will be busy tomorrow.
My goal was to lose 4 lbs in Feb, I lost 4.5
Since the holidays I am now down 17.7 lbs!
Since Jan 1st I have drank a total of 10 days. My goal was 8 but those Super Bowl celebrations took me over early this month. No regrets about it.
11 days over the two months I went over calories with my food diet. Most of those coincided with the nights I drank.
I have worked out 24 days and done yoga 8 times. Almost all of that yoga was the last half of Feb, but i’m on track now.
My bad knee feels better, my back is getting better. Overall I am more energetic. Other than a few bad nights I sleep much better.
I am very proud to be two months strong but I need this to be a change for life. I have at least 40 more pounds I would like to lose. And I don’t want to do what I did last time I lost 60 pounds, which was gain almost all of it back. Looking forward to the next steps. Thanks for the support from everyone in this group
Strong showing3 -
JulieAL1969 wrote: »Nearing the end of the month and I'll make a March thread later today. Sounds like some people continued from Dry January to a Dry February. Others had a Damp February with more restrained amounts of alcohol. Whatevery your goals were bump it up a little in March.
Set a new goal healthwise. Yoga like Erik , walking, becoming a tea connoisseur, journaling, reading more, meditate each day for five or more minutes.... just continue to improve and grow as a person.
What I have realized is like minded people attract. This thread has improved many of our lives. We found a place to voice our worries, wins, fails and reflections in a safe, loving, accepting environment. Over 12,000 views on the thread and 1200 or so comments this month. We may never know who we help and influence, but all of us collectively have improved our lives in some way.
Sending each one of you a big hug! I never imagined I would be two months sober so far. This thread can be a life saver and life changer.
Before we switch over to March thread, please let us know how you did, what you learned this month, and how you feel with less alcohol in your system. It really is a poison. But a tasty poison at that.
Love you Julie!!! Thanks for this thread! You and everyone on here has been my inspiration! I enjoy reading everyone's post and it really does motivate me. I keep you guys in mind when I feel tempted to binge drink. The great news is I a only had 2 slip ups of binge drinking. Normally I would binge drink every weekend ALL weekend!
So from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU!!!!
Love you too and all of you! My favorite part of the day is checking the thread to see how my friends are doing. Today, I was thinking of caving - I'm going out to dinner with friends. I will be surrounded by my old friends vodka and Chardonnay as well. But I'll resist because I am armed with my friends here on this thread ❤13 -
I made it! AF tonight- the other five ladies shared three bottles of wine. I wasn't tempted at all. I still had fun and will sleep like a baby. LOL19
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JulieAL1969 wrote: »I made it! AF tonight- the other five ladies shared three bottles of wine. I wasn't tempted at all. I still had fun and will sleep like a baby. LOL
Yay! Nice - glad you had fun! That’s a big accomplishment!2 -
Going to give my end of Feb progress report now cause I will be busy tomorrow.
My goal was to lose 4 lbs in Feb, I lost 4.5
Since the holidays I am now down 17.7 lbs!
Since Jan 1st I have drank a total of 10 days. My goal was 8 but those Super Bowl celebrations took me over early this month. No regrets about it.
11 days over the two months I went over calories with my food diet. Most of those coincided with the nights I drank.
I have worked out 24 days and done yoga 8 times. Almost all of that yoga was the last half of Feb, but i’m
Hey, that my lucky number!
my planking minutes todate . Only until tonight then it starts again next mth.
Thanks for sharing your Wins, u r another leader
* flex*
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JulieAL1969 wrote: »I made it! AF tonight- the other five ladies shared three bottles of wine. I wasn't tempted at all. I still had fun and will sleep like a baby. LOL * flex*
2 -
JulieAL1969 wrote: »3) Exercised that willpower muscle, stopped fooling myself into thinking that since everyone drinks, it must not be harmful.
What are your takeaways?
@JulieAL1969 and everybody - I think your #3 was the most important in Feb. for me. I started drinking wine again, but am thrilled and amazed that I'm able to moderate. It's only been a few weeks, to be sure, but this past weekend was good. I stuck to the number of glasses I'd planned. But the more I exercise that willpower muscle the better it gets.
The other takeaway was drinking isn't all I thought it was. Every Sunday night now, I'm kinda like eh. That weekend of wine was nice. It was ok, but it wasn't that fabulous. I am with @springsweet in that I really don't want to stress over "rules." It's just a matter of how to balance all that.
Just like everything, I guess it’s different for everybody. If I didn’t set “rules” for myself I would never have made it two months with my health and wellness goals. I know I would have quit a few weeks back. I’m the kind of person who likes structure in my life, of course that doesn’t work for everyone.
Another thing is that sometimes rules get broken. I know I broke some of my “rules” or drinking/diet standards I set for myself in February. But I was able to get right back on track the next day. And I’m hoping this continues on and on.
I bet you're wife loves and respects you more for it.
She is a huge motivator for me. Honestly she is one to usually give up on health goals before I do. And we both are two months strong! We had a nice long talk about what is keeping us going strong this time. It was nice to be honest about the things that are working and things that can help going forward.
Thats so cool!!, well done!! 1 -
Here it is the last day of February. Everyone on here has been so committed and honest and inspirational each in your own special way.
Logging in when ever you could and sharing your experiences has helped me the most. That way I knew I was not alone, and struggling by myself. I would log in evey day sometimes many times a day just to get my dose of support if I were feeling slack.
I had tried to cut back by myself. It is not easy in a town or state for that matter where alcohol is 90% a common every day staple in these peoples lives.
Being a part of this group has given me strength to get back to the person I had at one time been. Happy all the time and not basing my evening on weather or not I should take a taxi to town because driving back was not going to be an option for me.
Thank you Julie who started this in Jan. And ALL & EACH one of you that have posted and shared and listened.
February success -
17 days AF
YAY YAY YAY
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So for mid-feb, 4 A.F out of 14, which is not the goal i had in mine, so that's a fail, i went back to the usual routine, cooking/wine, waiting for food to cook/wine, relaxing/wine, friends over/wine. The only good side was about half the consumption i usually have, so i must be doing something right. Anyway i'm in for March as well.6
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Good morning! I just found this group and it’s a3
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JulieAL1969 wrote: »I made it! AF tonight- the other five ladies shared three bottles of wine. I wasn't tempted at all. I still had fun and will sleep like a baby. LOL
When it's so many drinking refraining is true grit.3 -
ulcaster555 wrote: »So for mid-feb, 4 A.F out of 14, which is not the goal i had in mine, so that's a fail, i went back to the usual routine, cooking/wine, waiting for food to cook/wine, relaxing/wine, friends over/wine. The only good side was about half the consumption i usually have, so i must be doing something right. Anyway i'm in for March as well.
Half the usual sounds like a win to me.
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@JulieAL1969 you are so inspiring and strong! I don't know if I could sit there and not partake with 3 bottles of wine in front of me. Maybe I am still in the stage where it requires more willpower than I have. I'm hoping the farther alcohol is in my rear view mirror, the weaker the pull becomes.4
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