Less Alcohol - March 2019 - One Day at a Time
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I'm still pretty sick, but at least not quite as bad as yesterday. Usually when I'm sick like this I say, eh I'll just have several beers, I'm already sick, can't possibly feel any worse! But now I haven't thought about drinking all week. Not going to my sister's house tonight so I'll watch some TV and call it an early night. Maybe I can skip drinking this weekend and all of next week up until next Friday.4
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GO ANTHEM76 !! Great list. When I wrote out my own personal list of "Reasons To Not Drink" , it was taped to the wall just behind the spot on the kitchen counter where my wine bottle had pride of place...couldn't help but see it each time the bottle was hoisted. The times that it helped and the times that it didn't were about equal. The list remains, the bottle has been [again] replaced with a stack of diet sodas. After 200 days AF I decided that moderation was worth a try. That had been my goal for going AF, to break the habit, and then sip sensibly. That went to *kitten* after about a month this year.
Now back to filling up on interesting teas, and no-calorie sodas. Odd benefit, since my main bathroom is on the second floor, there is a lot of extra exercise trotting up and down stairs....
Don't plan on drinking til mid-May, at which time I'll head down South for 6 - 8 weeks. No alcohol then, I'll be in an AF household and just too busy to think about drinking. Hoping to keep AF til I return home at the end of June, then we'll see if middle daughter and I can resume our monthly wine and cheese tastings in a local park...
Reasons for drinking?? Habit, relaxing, actually like the taste. The "buzz" I can totally do without because I hate to not be "in control". When the "buzz" seems imminent, I gotta put the cork in. That's the main reason I no longer drink the expensive Scotch with names I cannot pronounce...the "buzz" comes way too fast.
Tossing another log into the woodstove and settling down with a book and a pot of Belgian Chocolate tea.
Day 25 AF [one more time].
Wishing y'all success in setting and meeting your goals...and the gumption to pick up and move forward when the goal seems too far away.6 -
nicolajw00 wrote: »I’m very glad to have found this thread. I made it through tonight without a drink despite having a strong craving for one, it did disappear much more quickly than I expected, after about half an hour I’d forgotten about it. I think I might need to abstain for a few weeks before I reintroduce drinking again, I don’t trust myself to stick to one drink at the moment. Has anyone else tried that strategy?
@nicolajw00 - I had a dry streak of 37 days before re-introducing alcohol back (the cravings went away for me after a couple weeks). Moderation was always something I struggled with, but I will say, something about those 37 days changed my view and it has been easy to keep alcohol within limits I'm comfortable with. Since adding it back, I haven't gotten drunk once or had more than 3 in a sitting (which is saying A LOT for me - I used to have around 20 - 25 drinks a week). I also read "This Naked Mind" during my dry month which helped change my mindset. Good luck!!6 -
I am glad to have found this thread also. I quit drinking on Jan 3rd with my husband - he was diagnosed with some alcohol related health issues. I will say that it has gotten easier each day. I do miss my glass of red wine every night after work but in my case there is too much at stake to drink at home so I decided to just give it up with him. I will say that I feel great! Y'all keep up the good work!6
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@sub4_2018 that's the 3rd time I've heard about the book This Naked Mind since being on this thread. I'm gonna have to check it out3
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OK, so I've been looking forward to this day to look back on my diary.
January, about 16,000 calories of alcoholic drinks
February, 8,000!
Here's to seeing if i can get to 5,000 total for March.
Thanks for all the support in February! You all are awesome!9 -
mabelsdaddy wrote: »OK, so I've been looking forward to this day to look back on my diary.
January, about 16,000 calories of alcoholic drinks
February, 8,000!
Here's to seeing if i can get to 5,000 total for March.
Thanks for all the support in February! You all are awesome!
Wow!! That's a new way of looking at it...…...how many calories a month did I waste on alcohol...….along with $$'s
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@feelinfoofoo Yes!! GREAT JOB!!2
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March accountability ~1 days so far
No Alcohol: 0 days
Alcohol: 1 days (2 drinks)
Goal: AF days 4 per week / 16 per month
You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine. - John C. MaxwellIncluding the last few days of February to monitor my weekly goal which I surpassed!
Feb 25 - AF
Feb 26 - 2 glasses of wine
Feb 27 - AF
Feb 28 - AF - @ fishing camp for long weekend which is always a challenge!
Mar 1 - 2 glasses of wine
Mar 2 - Plan 2 glasses of wine
Mar 3 - Plan AF1 -
FeelinFooFoo wrote: »So I ate cake tonight. I really needed cake.
So bring on the cake! (Now and again) 😁
Oh my, the next time you mention cake. It had better be a big enough cake for like 30 of us on here to share with you. Lol
p.s. cake will not give you a hangover.
EAT CAKE.5 -
Hey I am back in for March and I was able to finish out the last week of February without drinking. I drank a total of 6 times last month and I was overall pleased with my moderation when I did drink. My goal for March is to have no more than 4 drinking days and continue consistently working out. I would also like to get into yoga and work on my flexibility.4
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Friday night, stayed in and cooked and only had one glass of wine instead of my usual 3! I figured out that the earlier I start drinking, the more I drink. The more lengthy the meal prep, the more I drink. So, I held off until 7:30 and by then my “happy hour” craving was gone. Yay!9
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@Womona congrats!!! My DIL mentioned the same thing to me once. She reduced the amount of wine she drinks in a similar fashion as your Friday night experience ... no longer starting at 5pm or with dinner prep and waits until she actually sits at the table for dinner.
Your 1 wine on Friday is huge!!! Wonderful success.6 -
My goals for March will be the same as the previous months - 4 AF days per week. I have found it to be a realistic goal for me. I hit my goal in February (and surpassed it a little). Daily accountability is good. I was a daily drinker before making this resolve.
March 01 - 3 drinks - yes, chose to do that because I have a free Saturday to sleep in, basically no responsibilities or commitments. I had a very busy week and it was so nice to finally kick back, have a great dinner and a few drinks.
0 AF days out of 1 day
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I am not sure why that went in 3 times! Sorry!0
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We had dinner out and I had wine and I think that was fine. We also ended up sitting down and watching TV and I had another glass of wine but after thinking about it there was just no point to it. I just added up empty calories. I should have made my tea. I think I got caught in the 'habit' and maybe a bit of 'it's Friday!'. We also decided to sit outside last night and I couldn't resist this Grand Marnier type drink as that's warming and it was cold out, I only had about and ounce. I know others have said that the craving go in about 2 weeks but I've been at this about 3 weeks and definitely still have a urge or craving each night. I'm actually really happy with my progress but when I have something to drink like last night I want to take the time to think it over....I think if I was to do it again I would skip the evening wine. So glad I got the little 4 pack bottles because even though I had a glass I don't have bottle open that I would have had more of last night or I would be drinking tonight.3
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mabelsdaddy wrote: »OK, so I've been looking forward to this day to look back on my diary.
January, about 16,000 calories of alcoholic drinks
February, 8,000!
Here's to seeing if i can get to 5,000 total for March.
Thanks for all the support in February! You all are awesome!
Great way to look at it. I just checked and I was having about 1700 cals/week in wine! That's a whole extra day of food I can eat during the week!1 -
My goals for March will be the same as the previous months - 4 AF days per week. I have found it to be a realistic goal for me. I hit my goal in February (and surpassed it a little). Daily accountability is good. I was a daily drinker before making this resolve.
March 01 - 3 drinks - yes, chose to do that because I have a free Saturday to sleep in, basically no responsibilities or commitments. I had a very busy week and it was so nice to finally kick back, have a great dinner and a few drinks.
March 02 - AF
1 AF days out of 2 days so far2 -
I am glad to have found this group. I can easily drink too much wine on too many days. These are some of the things I'm looking forward to by cutting back:
1. Save Calories
2. Experience fewer migraines
3. Use mindfulness to cope with anxiety instead of wine
4. Be more real with others in social situations (my drinking personality is much different than who I really am).
5. Face the worry that people won't like the real me. Be authentic with myself and others.
6. Provide a better example for my kids
7. Confront my worries, fears, negative emotions rather than obfuscating them in wine
8. Use that awareness to make real progress in my life.
9. Eliminate the regret that occasionally results from my actions while drinking.
10. Enjoy better sleep which will lead to greater energy in the day.
March will be a tough month to begin this challenge. We are going on an RV camping trip for Spring Break. While we do a lot of healthy things like hiking on these trips, we also drink at the campsite. I'm up for the challenge!
Those are excellent goals!
This is a great place to work on those.
Welcome!1 -
March accountability ~3 days so far
No Alcohol: 1 days
Alcohol: 2 days (4 drinks)
Goal: AF days 4 per week / 16 per month
You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine. - John C. Maxwell
Including the last few days of February to monitor my weekly goal!
Feb 25 - AF
Feb 26 - 2 glasses of wine
Feb 27 - AF
Feb 28 - AF - @ fishing camp for long weekend which is always a challenge!
Mar 1 - 2 glasses of wine
Mar 2 - 2 glasses of wine
Mar 3 - AF - driving this evening 5 hrs4
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