Less Alcohol - January 2019 - One Day at a Time
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@VeggieGirlforLife I have hit that wall! I was feeling great when I first started cutting back, but then I noticed I’ve become a sleep machine and can’t get anything done! Maybe my body is finally used to less alcohol?
Stayed home and cooked with my husband Friday night- and drank too much and “drunk ate” after dinner. Again. WTF is my problem? So irritated with myself. It did get better. Yesterday (Saturday) had only seltzer with a splash of cranberry (YUM) after a memorial service while everyone was drinking. But I ate too much at the reception. Sat night had my allotted one glass last night out with friends, and had wine with lunch out with hubby today. Was craving wine tonight but didn’t imbibe.
I have just been sleeping a lot and porking out since before the weekend. All my weight loss has come back. Granted it’s my TOM (sorry gents!) but I definitely don’t have the spring in my step I did when I started AF. I hope its just TOM issues. Just a little discouraged his weekend.4 -
@kittybenn I don’t think it’s at all surprising that you crave sweets after going AF. Our bodies basically had sugar coursing through it with the alcohol, and now we still need the sugar. I trust that craving will subside as well. Lots of people are able to cut way back on sweets!
Hmmm, maybe that’s why I feel so tired and listless- I need some chocolate! Haha!2 -
My goal is 4-5 AF days per week.
January 1st - AF
January 2nd - AF
January 3rd - AF
January 4th - 3 drinks Friday night. I actually had 4, but then threw up lol. This is the reason that I never have more than 3 if I choose to have drinks. Good reminder. Yes, I can never be "drunk" because I can't have more than 3.
January 5th - AF So curious that each and every day that I have drinks I am down 2 pounds the following day. I think that I read somewhere on this post that it dehydrates you. It comes back the next day of course : - )
I don't log my AF or not AF until the following morning for the night before.
January 6th - AF - 5 days out of 6. Very busy week, so more AF days to come.
January 7th - AF - 6 days out of 7 for the month
January 8th - AF - 7 days our of 8 for the month so far
January 9th - AF - 8 days out of 9
January 10th - 1 champagne, later on 3 drinks
January 11th - 2 drinks - 8 out of 11 AF. I am pleased with that.
January 12th - 3 drinks - 8 out of 12 AF. Going to rack up some more AF days.
January 13th - AF - 9 days out of 13
January 14th - AF - 10 days out of 14. Began logging at night before bed instead of waiting until the next morning. No danger of sleep drinking I don't think : - )
January 15th - AF - 11 days out of 15.
January 16th - AF - 12 days out of 16
January 17th - AF - 13 days out of 17 - as I look at this I see that I keep including December 31st in the count.
January 18th - 3 drinks - 12 AF days out of 18, definitely ahead of where I was in December.
January 19th - 2 drinks
January 20th - AF - 14 AF days out of 20
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January 31st3 -
Not been on for a few days and I’m sad to say I had alcohol on Friday night really disappointed but one good thing is I had s lot less than I would normally have had (2 glasses of Prosecco).
The first issue was I won a hamper in work that included 2 bottles of vodka and a bottle of Prosecco. The second was my OH had decided to have a couple of beers with dinner then started on the vodka when we got home... and I love Prosecco. I will say that in the past a night like that could have easily seen us share 2-3 bottles and I had two glasses instead. Still pretty annoyed though and hoping now to not have any more slip ups before the end of January.
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Dry January day 21 begins for me. Wanted to share this inspiration from the morning email the app sent me today. I hadn't heard of mindful drinking.
Welcome to the end of your third week. This is a big milestone because, for many people, it takes just three weeks to break a habit. This means that from now on your future drinking is up to you, not the result of a pesky habit.
If you’d noticed that you were having a drink or two each night, or if going out inevitably meant drinking – well, this is the point where you can start to count ‘dry’ as your new habit.
This is one of the most powerful things about Dry January – you gain the ability to stop your old habits dead in their tracks and decide how you want your drinking to be in future.
Did you know there’s a mindful drinking movement? The idea is to think about each drink before you have it. Do you really want it? If so, go ahead, but if it’s just habit, then why not pass on the drink and take a soft drink instead. This might be how you plan to go forward once Dry January is over.
Whatever you decide, it’s great to know that it’s you, not your habit that’s making the decision.7 -
January accountability ~20 days so far
Me (no alcohol): 13 days
Alcohol: 7 days (15 drinks)
Goal: AF days 4 per week / 16 per month
Jan 20 - AF, company w/ steak & roasted veggies dinner for all, Saints game … no alcohol for 6 of us … my sister brought orange cosmos but she was the only one that drank it
Beat my goal ... 5 AF days this week!3 -
@kittybenn that is such interesting information, thanks for sharing. Some where I heard people claiming day 10 was a huge milestone (which I never got that vibe). 3 weeks is definitely more satisfactorily. I will have to check out that mindful drinking movement.
I did a consecutive 30 days without alcohol between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the most wicked of drinking times for most. Adding at least one day to my streaks to surpass my previous streak is my little mind game with myself.
A page or so back someone asked if anyone else was going to keep going for longer than just dry January for AF. I plan on cruising thru January and to keep it up until I "feel" I want a drink.
In the past I would reward myself for doing an AF streak. That always turned out badly because I came to realize I was a binge drinker. WAS is my key word because I now know if I drink I have to keep to no more than 2 standard size.
Big hugs to those who slipped up a little bit this weekend. Your still hero's on here to us.3 -
My third AF free weekend in a row!! As with others, weekends are usually hard for me. But this weekend I barely even thought about having a drink. That in itself is a huge success for me. I have been kind of lazy all weekend, I had hoped to get more done around the house but I did work out and kept to my calorie goals so all in all it was a good weekend! I'm still planning on staying alcohol free till my b-day in February, then continuing AF till I reach my goal weight. My weight isn't going down as quickly as I was hoping but I'm determined!5
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MonkeyMel21 wrote: »My third AF free weekend in a row!! As with others, weekends are usually hard for me. But this weekend I barely even thought about having a drink. That in itself is a huge success for me. I have been kind of lazy all weekend, I had hoped to get more done around the house but I did work out and kept to my calorie goals so all in all it was a good weekend! I'm still planning on staying alcohol free till my b-day in February, then continuing AF till I reach my goal weight. My weight isn't going down as quickly as I was hoping but I'm determined!
I am also really happy about not drinking! I totally understand about the weekends and have felt great about not drinking! I haven’t been thinking about it either! Saturday night I was watching a movie with my hubby and for the first time in a really long time, I was sleepy with no vino! I am staying AF until I hit my goal weight. I may have a few glasses of wine in Feb here and there (special dinner, etc.); however, so much better than last year! I thought I would be losing more weight with the reduction of empty alcohol calories; however, the scale is going down and I feel awesome! Looking forward to a great workout this morning!
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Dry January day 21 begins for me. Wanted to share this inspiration from the morning email the app sent me today. I hadn't heard of mindful drinking.
Welcome to the end of your third week. This is a big milestone because, for many people, it takes just three weeks to break a habit. This means that from now on your future drinking is up to you, not the result of a pesky habit.
If you’d noticed that you were having a drink or two each night, or if going out inevitably meant drinking – well, this is the point where you can start to count ‘dry’ as your new habit.
This is one of the most powerful things about Dry January – you gain the ability to stop your old habits dead in their tracks and decide how you want your drinking to be in future.
Did you know there’s a mindful drinking movement? The idea is to think about each drink before you have it. Do you really want it? If so, go ahead, but if it’s just habit, then why not pass on the drink and take a soft drink instead. This might be how you plan to go forward once Dry January is over.
Whatever you decide, it’s great to know that it’s you, not your habit that’s making the decision.
I am not sure this way of thinking works for everyone but it sure worked for me. When I decided that I was allowed to drink any night that I wanted that is when I started my unintentional 160 day af streak last May. All I asked of myself was to come up with a good reason to drink and then I would do it. Somehow this kept my inner child from rebelling and the adult in me was able to make mindful and responsible choices. Since weight loss is my higher priority when I did finally break my streak the drinking has been kept to a little bit of holiday related drinking and a couple of random nights.
To make alcohol fit in my weight loss plan I decided that instead of having very little and making it fit in a normal week I would go the other way and have more of what I want and drink rarely. I bank calories during the week for treats. Since most weeks I want to use those calories for other things like steak dinners I would have a hard time with sustainability if I used them on alcohol more often... so I don't.
ETA: Some of these decisions were also based on my fear of restarting a pattern which, as I mentioned, is one of my chief concerns.5 -
@NovusDies - can so relate to this: "Somehow this kept my inner child from rebelling and the adult in me was able to make mindful and responsible choices." This is so smart, and thanks for sharing. I like your idea about how unsatisfying it is to have very little (wine, for me) because it's so hard to fit into your calorie limits. I really don't know what I'm going to do after January, but you've given me lots to think about. Thanks.2
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@MissMay - yes, I think I'm prob a binge drinker (and eater) too. Not all the time, but I can really get out of control with both sometimes. So, just not sure about Feb, although I've become familiar with the idea of not scheduling drinking days and only drinking on occasions. I think that might work for me. BTW, I just threw all the sweets in the house away and am allowing myself only fruit if I want something sweet. It was really getting a bit ridiculous, and I'm hoping I'm over it now. Yesterday was good, sweetswise.3
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Had kind of a rough Monday and I was even more annoyed that husband just had to buy a six pack and drink it in front of me. Drinking kombucha out of my favorite pint glass that I usually drink beer out of. Somehow that helps.9
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9 Sober Musicians on How they Thrive
Steven Tyler, Julien Baker, Ben Harper, Jason Isbell, Joe Walsh, and other sober musicians on how to thrive creatively without drugs or booze.
https://www.gq.com/story/clean-musicians?verso=true6 -
January accountability ~21 days so far
Me (no alcohol): 13 days
Alcohol: 8 days (16 drinks)
Goal: AF days 4 per week / 16 per month
Jan 21 - Bookclub - limit 1 glass wine; finally lived up to my plan to not have a second glass in a social situation!3 -
20 out of 21 days AF this month!!! Last night DH decided to have several beers (he usually only drinks once every week or so) and at first I was slightly tempted but I just continued with dinner prep and kept my mind occupied with a jigsaw puzzle. Then he pulled out some cheese and crackers that I hadn't planned for but thankfully it was ghost pepper jack cheese and was waaaaay too hot for my liking, lol. He's very supportive of my weight loss goal in general, even trying to lose a few pounds himself, but we both agree it's going to be so much more freeing once I've met that goal. It just makes me want to work harder to reach it right now, while I'm doing it.
Keep up the good work everyone, and stay positive! Only 10 more days left in January, we got this!!!7 -
@Lilylady3k - Congrats on your success. I love your idea of deciding that you'll only have one glass of wine and then stop. I've struggled to do that. It seems like one is never enough and always leads to more. Maybe the key is deciding way ahead of time.2
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8 days left and I'll be 31 days AF!! I can't believe I've been able to pull this off and I'm not going to let anyone/thing stop me! As much as a glass of wine sounds great, the feeling of being AF feels much better I have enjoyed reading the daily checkins with you all because it keeps me motivated to push through the day AF. Have a great 22nd day of the year!!7
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8 days left and I'll be 31 days AF!! I can't believe I've been able to pull this off and I'm not going to let anyone/thing stop me! As much as a glass of wine sounds great, the feeling of being AF feels much better I have enjoyed reading the daily checkins with you all because it keeps me motivated to push through the day AF. Have a great 22nd day of the year!!
WOOT WOOT I am with you!2 -
Happy Dry January! I have saved over 10,000 calories of not drinking wine! I am going to do dry January besides for a few days! What are your plans in Feb?1
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