Less Alcohol- June 2018- One Day at a Time
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Another good read from The Sober School. https://thesoberschool.com/the-vanity-argument-quitting-drinking/
This is so real. My face was bloated and my under eye circles were out of control. I have lost weight after trying and failing for quite a while. My workouts rock. I am 40 days AF and the physical changes are amazing.10 -
@mgiron- Volunteering to be the DD is a no fail way for me to stay sober. It's easy to make the decision to stay sober in advance and then cave in when the party starts, but I find that if I am accountable to people other than myself, i can stay strong. Also a great idea about taking a limited amount of cash. Good luck to you!
@trishfit2014- Awesome job on 40 days AF. I agree that there are so many physical benefits that we need to be reminded of.
Last night was my first AF night in June, but I only drank moderately on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. However, even drinking moderately, I noticed an elevated resting heart rate the next morning. This morning when I woke up, my RHR was only 45, about 10 beats lower than the other days when I had at least one drink the evening before. I am an analytical person by nature and this is the hard core factual kind of evidence that helps to keep me going.
This morning I got up at 4:30 and met my running group at a local track for some speed work. I left my house and ran to the track under a bright moon and a crystal clear sky, with cool temps, no humidity and barely another soul in sight. It was magical. After my work out I jogged to Starbucks, ordered my morning joe and had a beautiful sunrise walk home. A perfect reward for an alcohol free evening.12 -
I totally failed at my day one attempt. Oh well. try again today.9
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lporter229 wrote: »@mgiron- Volunteering to be the DD is a no fail way for me to stay sober. It's easy to make the decision to stay sober in advance and then cave in when the party starts, but I find that if I am accountable to people other than myself, i can stay strong. Also a great idea about taking a limited amount of cash. Good luck to you!
@trishfit2014- Awesome job on 40 days AF. I agree that there are so many physical benefits that we need to be reminded of.
Last night was my first AF night in June, but I only drank moderately on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. However, even drinking moderately, I noticed an elevated resting heart rate the next morning. This morning when I woke up, my RHR was only 45, about 10 beats lower than the other days when I had at least one drink the evening before. I am an analytical person by nature and this is the hard core factual kind of evidence that helps to keep me going.
This morning I got up at 4:30 and met my running group at a local track for some speed work. I left my house and ran to the track under a bright moon and a crystal clear sky, with cool temps, no humidity and barely another soul in sight. It was magical. After my work out I jogged to Starbucks, ordered my morning joe and had a beautiful sunrise walk home. A perfect reward for an alcohol free evening.
It is magical the way you describe it. I always say there are some feelings/moments that money just can't buy. What a great way to start the day!
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trishfit2014 wrote: »Another good read from The Sober School. https://thesoberschool.com/the-vanity-argument-quitting-drinking/
This is so real. My face was bloated and my under eye circles were out of control. I have lost weight after trying and failing for quite a while. My workouts rock. I am 40 days AF and the physical changes are amazing.
40 days! Bravo! Yes, i bet you're skin shines, no puffiness, no bags under the eyes, and so much more. And you brain is going back to normal. I'm so happy for you!2 -
In for this again. My goal is to stay AF until the forth on July. On day 4 of being AF
. I did really poorly last month but I'm starting fresh. 6 -
Another good read from The Sober School. https://thesoberschool.com/the-vanity-argument-quitting-drinking/
Man, these are all so true. I notice a big difference in my face and skin since I've upped the drinking the past year or so. I compare to old photos of myself and it is amazing.
You definitely can't deny the benefits...6 -
I was going to be dry in June after two binges in May and haven't started yet (it being June 5th!). It's time to make myself accountable and stay engaged in a like minded community. It being a very social time of year, and wanting to train myself to maintain a healthy balance instead of either going on the wagon or off, I want to calibrate my goal realistically to 5 days/week then mindful drinking on the weekends.6
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Mindfully moderated successfully all weekend. Only 1 glass Friday, 1 4 oz glass Sunday, and 1 4 oz glass yesterday. I'm happy about that. What's bugging me is that I think my body has developed some type of allergic reaction or something to any amount of alcohol. Even those small glasses have caused me either migraines or fluttery heart beats in the middle of the night. I had the most healthful day Sunday with diet, exercise, and stress reduction. I had 4 oz of wine and I woke up Monday like I'd tied one on. I use to drink up to 3 and not feel like that. I think my body is telling me that it doesn't want the *kitten* anymore.9
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Starting the month sober, AF month so far. I plan to keep it that way. I really struggle to resist alcohol when I feel lonely. I have good communication with my husband and family this month so I haven't felt like drinking.9
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After a terrible start to the month, I finally feel I have a handle on this. I am now going to go with this "Dry til July" idea .... I think this will get me back on track with my weight loss journey and that's really important to me right now.
This is a great group for me, it makes this issue mindful to me and also I feel supported because I have a place I can vent and express myself and set goals, and then that makes me feel more accountable. .... today I am feeling motivated.9 -
1/2 hour to go then I’m pass my stupid hours 3-5. Got my ice tea with me and going fine. I would love to have my nice skin back. I also looked at a picture of me that was taken yesterday and my face does look puffy. Mind you I have 50 lbs to lose but still.6
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I totally failed at my day one attempt. Oh well. try again today.
I have failed at countless day one attempts. One more day was never going to hurt and there is always tomorrow. I could quit and take a break for something big especially if it involved someone else but it was always hardest for myself.
Early on finding something new to do during the time I normally would drink helped me. I needed something to distract me and make the time move faster through my normal drinking window. If I engaged in old routines the call of the bottle would be much stronger. After some time my new normal was not drinking most nights and then it didn't really matter as much what I did.7 -
I decided to post tonight because I have been reading all of your posts and I am very glad I found this group. I already messed up my goal and felt very defeated. But reading through everything I dont want to give up like I normally do.
I don't know what it is... it seems when I set these goals I end up doing worse. I set a goal of alcohol-free Sunday through Thursday and drinking moderately on Friday and Saturday. I did okay Friday but Saturday went completely overboard. And then I just continued mindlessly every night after to have drinks. Except tonight, I guess I snapped out of it.
I liked the idea of someone posting that I need to fill the hours I normally drink with something else. Tonight I slept after work and I don't know if that's a solution for every night... LOL! I think I'm going through some depression and I think the drinking is going to help me feel better but I know it won't.
I am going to look into some of the books suggested. I definately have some voice telling me to have a drink "you'll feel better"... so if I can figure out how to stop listening to that.
I feel awesome when I am AF...it's amazing...the difference. So, why do I do it? Hoping this group will help me get through it!
Have s great day tomorrow!
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AF yesterday, up at 4am today for a run and a nice ice bucket shower as a reward.
Spent most of my not-drinking-evening reading "The unexpected joy of being sober", which is a surprisingly enjoyable, informative and useful book.
I work 4 weeks on/off and tomorrow I go home for 4 weeks, with all the temptations of bars, events and having fun.
Discussed my AF plans with my wife yesterday, so glad I did. I got her support and made strategies for certain social things we will have over the next month.
In case anyone was wondering, the ice bucket shower isn't a metaphor. Here's today's, with extra, bonus ice for being a good boy last night. It was amazing!
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I downloaded the EasyQuitDrinking app yesterday, there are many similar apps out there. I like the health stats page, showing things such as how your blood alcohol level is improving, along with cell regeneration, liver health, mental health etc. Also how much money you've saved and how many hours/days of lifetime you've regained.
I find it motivating, as I don't want to reset those numbers back zero and have to start again! It's a game and a challenge, which I find better than viewing it as a struggle.8 -
Hello! I've been stalking this challenge for a little while. I've been cutting down on alcohol consumption for a while but wine is still my kryptonite. I love good wine and have a sommelier qualification and sharing a good bottle on a Friday and Saturday is a genuine pleasure, so I'm jonesing for limited / no alcohol Sunday to Thursday so budget for it. Things that have helped with this:
1. Eliminating all brandy and whisky from the house so that pesky nightcap doesn't happen. I keep rum in for my husband and we do have gin and vodka, but they aren't nightcappy drinks for me, so that's really worked. I've also eliminated all beer and cider I do like (some left for hubby) and insisted we don't buy wine just for drinking. If we share a bottle, it's the good stuff.
2. Having 345 million substitutes. Stuff I really appreciate having in stock is diet lemonade (makes an excellent fake Pimm's with some balsamic vinegar), pomegranate juice to mix with sparkling water, diet ginger ale, diet Pepsi, alcohol free wine, diet tonic. I also like making shrubs with posh vinegar (balsamic or varietal white vinegar or fruit vinegars and sparkling water). And tea. All the tea. I have lots of varieties of herbal tea, including dessert teas like cocoa green tea and caramel rooibos (from Sainsbury's). I'm in the process of ordering some Seedlip, too. I hate that most non alcoholic stuff is sickly sweet.
3. I invested in some proper spirit measures so I don't get the oops I poured a double phenomenon in the spirits I do drink (generally gin and tonic). Gin and tonic these days is a pint glass of tonic water and a single measure of gin.
4. Wine comes in a unit of a bottle so I buy the teeny tiny quarter bottles for if I really want a glass, and I ration them.
Just in case some of these ideas help. I'll probably relurk but will be reading for motivation. Thanks for providing a space that isn't must go AF. Moderation's the key for me. It is helping with weight loss too, of course
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I downloaded the EasyQuitDrinking app yesterday, there are many similar apps out there. I like the health stats page, showing things such as how your blood alcohol level is improving, along with cell regeneration, liver health, mental health etc. Also how much money you've saved and how many hours/days of lifetime you've regained.
I find it motivating, as I don't want to reset those numbers back zero and have to start again! It's a game and a challenge, which I find better than viewing it as a struggle.
Having introduced myself, does anyone have any motivational websites / apps that do the same sort of thing for drinking in moderation? 2
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