Less Alcohol- April 2018- One Day at a Time

Had a busy weekend. Getting packed for my month at my daughter's! My SIL is going on his annual tour of duty and I go up to babysit since my daughter works 3rd shift. Hubby will come up for the last week, then we drive home.

@islandbeez Thanks for the info. I started the Annie Grace alcohol experiment this morning. I just needed that extra boost.
Happy Monday, Everyone! I hope you meet your personal goals this week.

rachelcalsbeek wrote: »

Well, today is 3 weeks AF. It has mostly been easy, but Saturday was hard. I was working at my second job as a server, and one of my friends stopped in to drop off a late birthday gift. It was a very nice bottle of merlot. The rest of the night, I debated whether to drink the bottle after work, as I would have normally done in the past. I seriously could not decide for a few hours. The fact that it consumed my thoughts so much and caused me anxiety was eye-opening to me. Thinking about this thread helped. I imagined what my update post would be today if I drank the wine versus if I abstained. So thank you all for your support!

I have a really busy week with 3 social events coming up that I would normally drink at. We have our vacation in about 3 weeks, so saving money is big right now. I'm hoping that will add an extra incentive not to drink.

That's exactly how I feel - the fact that I have to think so much about it and have some internal debates about whether or not I should drink something, even in moderation - is eye opening for me as well.

Still practicing the mindful moderation but definitely know that it is a slippery slope to mindless moderation and then quickly mindless excess. I was teetering between both of those pretty regularly toward the end of last year, and I feel good about the fact that I do think about every drink I take, every social event where alcohol will be prevalent, and I have mostly adhered to those plans ever since finding this thread earlier this year.

Again, I know I talk a lot about the similarities I see between the successes I've found in losing weight and maintaining that loss - and what I'm trying to do with alcohol intake as well. In the maintaining forums, there are often threads like "Do you think you'll continue to log forever?" and I always say YES! It doesn't feel cumbersome or burdensome to me, and it has brought me such success with being aware of my food intake, my calorie expenditure, and the impact that has on my overall weight management. So I think I just need to get in the same mindset for alcohol too - if I want to be able to continue to imbibe in a safe and healthy way - then I need to focus and practice this mindful moderation forever. Always have a plan, always think about which days and how much I want to drink. No sliding into habitual every day consumption where the AF days are the rare exception.

Just think, now you have that nice bottle of Merlot to share with a couple of friends on a special occasion - rather than drinking the whole bottle by yourself! And happy belated birthday!

@rachelcalsbeek - boy that is tough, and I totally get it. That bottle of merlot would be all I would think about, I'm afraid. We're going on vacation in three weeks and, like you, we need to watch expenses now, so that's kind of incentive for me to do two things: be AF til then and save money! Best of luck to you!