Less Alcohol - May 2019 - One Day at a Time
Replies
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I did not fail April ... I keep telling myself. It was still better than any month in 2018 where I daily drank. But I still need to watch myself closely AND not avoid reporting in! So back facing the music and continuing to track toward my goals. Happy that we are in a new month!!
Goal: AF days 4 per week / 16 per month
January accountability 31 days
No Alcohol: 19 days
Alcohol: 12 days (27 drinks)
February accountability 28 days
No Alcohol: 16 days
Alcohol: 12 days (23 drinks)
March accountability 31 days
No Alcohol: 17 days
Alcohol: 14 days (27 drinks)
April accountability 30 days
No Alcohol: 9 days
Alcohol: 21 days (45 drinks)
May accountability ~6 days so far
No Alcohol: 3 days
Alcohol: 3 days (5 drinks)
Oh and yes I'm doing this for weigh loss ... and while I lost 15 pounds January - March I made no progress on that effort in April. Here is to focusing on another 5 pounds loss in May!!!4 -
2kellymike wrote: »OK well here I am again. We had visitors over the weekend and we had a derby party. Lots of booze, self included. But it was a fun weekend with our friends who we don't get to see often.
The goal now is AF during the week, starting today. My husband is on board with it. We agree that we both drink too much. He also admitted to me that he knows that it is usually him that falls off the wagon first (true) but I also admitted that I happily leap off right behind him, and that is my fault.
Is anybody here doing this with a partner/spouse, and if you are, how do you handle it if he/she slips? I frequently am the drink maker, if he asks for a drink do I remind him we're not drinking or just nod and pour? Curious how other couples handle this.
I too have this issue. My husband and I decided to reduce drinking this year together. Actually he was the one that originally suggested it Dec 28 ... his father was a "functioning" alcoholic. January we did great. Then Feb - Mar he sort of gave up. By April I was joining him most of the time. Really because when he opened a bottle of wine I didn't want him drinking the whole thing by himself. Also challenged with him opening a second bottle. BUT I found that no matter what I do ... he will or will not drink. I can only control my response. I've decided to not fall into the bad habits of the last few years joining him. Beer wine bourbon ... he will drink it. My only request is to keep scotch out of the house because he will drink the whole bottle. One alcoholic in the family is enough we don't need both of us. So I'm not going to be guilty about drinking a few. BUT I"m also not going to be guilty about not drinking.
I plan to encourage us both to not drink but it is a sensitive subject.5 -
I’m back for May
April was only 6 AF days, so far January is the month to beat at 17. I’ve ordered the alcohol experiment and the goal is to complete the 30-day challenge 6 -
May 6, 2019 9:32AM
May 1: Goal 3/Actual 5
May 2: Goal 3/Acutal <2 (didn't finish it all) I focused on postponing that first drink. Kept myself busier. Tried to stay off the phone and couch. Success!
May 3: Goal open/Actual, 2 wines and aunt & uncles, 3 beers when returned home.
May 4: Goal open/Actual, 2 wines at lunch with girl friends...…..wayyy over Saturday when returning home (8).
May 5: Goal 3/Actual 0
May 6: Goal 3/Actual 5. I did find myself thinking and making continuous choices when almost done with 3 & 4. New day today.
Read several pages of The Alcohol Experiment2 -
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May 1 - one generous size glass of whiskey in celebration of going into contract with selling our house!
May 2 - 1.5 truly hard waters (150 cals)
Oh and I took a sip of my husbands
whiskey
May 3 - AF
May 4 - 2 drinks. Not too bad for a party and better than I normally would have done. One mint jelup and one truly 100 calorie hard sparkling water.
May 5 - 2 lime-a-ritas
disappointed myself on this one.
May 6 - AF
Tonight's goal, AF as well. In order to not find myself tempted at night I will have some calming chamomile tea.2 -
@AbandondedKSCharger thank you, what a kind way to handle it. I'll try it.1
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And @globalhiker , thank you too for a similar kind suggestion. I love my husband dearly; he is a broken soul and genuine kindness and respect speak to him.3
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My plan for May will be 5AF days per week.
May 01 - AF
May 02 - AF - planned night out for dinner, drinks, a concert Friday night the 3rd. I am okay with that, I do it seldom.
May 03 - 1/2 litre of wine + 2 drinks! Off the rails with food too - this happens when we consume alcohol. I had a good time, but it is bad for the waistline.
May 04 - AF
May 05 - AF
May 06 - AF
May 07 - AF - really felt like having a drink just now, but came on here to record an AF day, which really helped me to abstain.
Running total: 6AF day out of 7 days so far2 -
5/1- 0
5/2- 2, goal of 2
5/3- 4, no goal
5/4- 0
5/5- 3, goal of 2- not thrilled I had the third glass, but glad I didn’t use the fact that I’d missed the goal turn into a 4th or more.
5/6- 0
5/7- 0, heading to bed soon
ETA: My goals for the month are 50% days AF, and keeping it to 2 glasses the majority of drinking days.
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Good morning.
I like how everyone is giving a break down of their accountabilty towards drinking less.
The other day it was beautiful out and we were tooling around in our car we only bring out after the bad weather is over. Suddenly, I wanted a beer. We drove to the local brewery and HAHAHA they were closed on Mondays! Popped my beer balloon right then and there......so that craving went away as fast as it came on.
Funny how the change of seasons can bring on those triggers.
Have a successful day.
May 7 days AF.7 -
What a great group. I am desperately trying to cut down on the amount of alcohol I drink. Boy - do I like getting a good drunk on. I had zero accountability for years and getting drunk was a regular weekend thing (sometimes a weekday thing too).
I have had zero alcohol so far this month - which is a feat and cause for celebration for me personally. I find that I cannot - and I mean CANNOT - lose weight when I am drinking. My goal is to reach a point where I'm only having alcohol once a month. This month, I'm holding out until Memorial Day weekend. Wish me luck!8 -
I am in Hilton Head for a few weeks vacation and just returned from my morning run
As the sun was coming up and the miles were going by I know I couldn’t ever do this if I was still drinking
So many vacations just suffering one hangover after another and thinking it was fun
So much time wasted being wasted
Have a great day all4 -
May 7, 2019 9:32AM
May 1: Goal 3/Actual 5
May 2: Goal 3/Acutal <2 (didn't finish it all) I focused on postponing that first drink. Kept myself busier. Tried to stay off the phone and couch. Success!
May 3: Goal open/Actual, 2 wines and aunt & uncles, 3 beers when returned home.
May 4: Goal open/Actual, 2 wines at lunch with girl friends...…..wayyy over Saturday when returning home (8).
May 5: Goal 3/Actual 0
May 6: Goal 3/Actual 5
May 7: Goal 3 / Actual 4 Whewww I wanted # 5 real bad....entered my calories and found I had one calorie remaining....that gave me the courage to stop. I let the moment pass....relaxed, and found myself getting sleepy without having too many beers to put me to sleep. Success!! Except for the storms lol. Have a great day!4 -
@CorkyLaRue I totally understand the years of unaccountable drinking. Changes are hard and I am very slow to change. I'm very impressed you are able to go an entire month. Good job!!
Tonight I am packing. I spent about 5 / 8 years, when we'd take a trip, automatic bottle of wine while packing...a pre-celebration. Feels so good knowing I won't be doing that tonight. A few beers, don't want to feel like crap tomorrow. Seeing a college roommate.....surprising her, that I haven't seen in 30 years. Big moment. Need a clear mind.
Have a great Hump day everyone!5 -
Hello All
Hoping to join in on this - I'm challenging myself to cut as much alcohol out of my life as possible. This is why.
1. The older I get, the worse I feel. Honestly I just don't want to feel like crap, I like a clear mind and an easy early morning wake up.
2. It's a way I have always coped with stress and 'feelings' and sometimes I really struggle with an off switch.
3. It's a major contributor to my expanding waist line and I'm currently working to lose over 100lbs. Ain't nobody gonna lose over 100lbs drinking wine by the bottle.
So that's that - just want to be accountable for what and how much I'm drinking, honest with myself if I drink for the wrong reasons to cope with stress and understand the cost of it (feeling like crap and not meeting my health and fitness goals). My goal is really to drink as little as possible - not just for now but in general for the long term. I consider this a challenge because I have to consciously change my habits - I don't feel like I need to drink, I don't necessarily always want to drink but it's just become such a normal practice in my life and has been for so many years it's automatic. I'd rather drinking be a special occasion and not a regular occasion.
I really re-committed to my weight loss and overall health plan this past Monday and I'm happy to say I also have not had any drinks since then either.10 -
AbandondedKSCharger wrote: »May 7, 2019 9:32AM
May 1: Goal 3/Actual 5
May 2: Goal 3/Acutal <2 (didn't finish it all) I focused on postponing that first drink. Kept myself busier. Tried to stay off the phone and couch. Success!
May 3: Goal open/Actual, 2 wines and aunt & uncles, 3 beers when returned home.
May 4: Goal open/Actual, 2 wines at lunch with girl friends...…..wayyy over Saturday when returning home (8).
May 5: Goal 3/Actual 0
May 6: Goal 3/Actual 5
May 7: Goal 3 / Actual 4 Whewww I wanted # 5 real bad....entered my calories and found I had one calorie remaining....that gave me the courage to stop. I let the moment pass....relaxed, and found myself getting sleepy without having too many beers to put me to sleep. Success!! Except for the storms lol. Have a great day!
So happy for you! You're making such good progress, its inspiring!2 -
May 1 - one generous size glass of whiskey in celebration of going into contract with selling our house!
May 2 - 1.5 truly hard waters (150 cals)
Oh and I took a sip of my husbands
whiskey
May 3 - AF
May 4 - 2 drinks. Not too bad for a party and better than I normally would have done. One mint jelup and one truly 100 calorie hard sparkling water.
May 5 - 2 lime-a-ritas disappointed myself on this one.
May 6 - AF
May 7 - AF
Woohoo! Two days in a row. I found yesterday to be actually super easy after the first day of AF. By the time about 8pm rolled around I realized how late it had gotten and I hadn't had one moment where I found myself thinking of having something. Even with about 450 cals left over! Instead I had a wee snack and completed my diary.
Today my goal is another AF day!6 -
Not been a great week for me, AF wise. And tonight is our anniversary, so probably have some wine. On Saturday I leave for a 9 day school trip, so I will be AF the entire time! Looking forward to it.7
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May 1 - one generous size glass of whiskey in celebration of going into contract with selling our house!
May 2 - 1.5 truly hard waters (150 cals)
Oh and I took a sip of my husbands
whiskey
May 3 - AF
May 4 - 2 drinks. Not too bad for a party and better than I normally would have done. One mint jelup and one truly 100 calorie hard sparkling water.
May 5 - 2 lime-a-ritas disappointed myself on this one.
May 6 - AF
May 7 - AF
Woohoo! Two days in a row. I found yesterday to be actually super easy after the first day of AF. By the time about 8pm rolled around I realized how late it had gotten and I hadn't had one moment where I found myself thinking of having something. Even with about 450 cals left over! Instead I had a wee snack and completed my diary.
Today my goal is another AF day!
WOW! Nice job and proud of you! I am still waiting for my first "AF" day to come! I have to set a date and make it happen. Just intentionally delaying it and waiting for the right moment. Suppose up to us to decide and not wait around for it...:)1 -
Wanted to say I also joined the Ultimate Accountability Challenge group here on MFP (rules loose, but I really like it and it's working!), and I am finding it helpful. It's really making me stick to a daily exercise and when I do that (as I have been), I tend to be more mindful of serving myself and sticking to my "game plan", whether it's food calories or alcohol calories. Bottom line, it's indirectly motivating me to reduce my alcohol calories.5
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My plan for May will be 5AF days per week.
May 01 - AF
May 02 - AF - planned night out for dinner, drinks, a concert Friday night the 3rd. I am okay with that, I do it seldom.
May 03 - 1/2 litre of wine + 2 drinks! Off the rails with food too - this happens when we consume alcohol. I had a good time, but it is bad for the waistline.
May 04 - AF
May 05 - AF
May 06 - AF
May 07 - AF - really felt like having a drink just now, but came on here to record an AF day, which really helped me to abstain.
May 08 - 3 drinks
Running total: 6AF day out of 8 days so far4 -
@AbandondedKSCharger
I see that you had an AF day on the 5th of May!! Congrats. How did you feel the next day??
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What Is A Standard Drink? Or, how many drinks did I actually consume?
Many people are surprised to learn what counts as a drink. The amount of liquid in your glass, can, or bottle does not necessarily match up to how much alcohol is actually in your drink. Different types of beer, wine, or malt liquor can have very different amounts of alcohol content. For example, many light beers have almost as much alcohol as regular beer – about 85% as much. Here’s another way to put it:
Regular beer: 5% alcohol content
Some light beers: 4.2% alcohol content
That’s why it’s important to know how much alcohol your drink contains. In the United States, one "standard" drink (or one alcoholic drink equivalent) contains roughly 14 grams of pure alcohol, which is found in:
12 ounces of regular beer, which is usually about 5% alcohol
5 ounces of wine, which is typically about 12% alcohol
1.5 ounces of distilled spirits, which is about 40% alcohol
How do you know how much alcohol is in your drink?
Even though they come in different sizes, the drinks below are each examples of one standard drink:
The same amount of alcohol is contained in 12 fluid ounces of regular beer, 8 to 9 fluid ounces of malt liquor, 5 fluid ounces of table wine, or a 1.5 fluid ounce shot of 80-proof spirits (“hard liquor” such as whiskey, gin, etc.) The percent of ‘pure’ alcohol varies by beverage.
Each beverage portrayed above represents one standard drink (or one alcoholic drink equivalent), defined in the United States as any beverage containing 0.6 fl oz or 14 grams of pure alcohol. The percentage of pure alcohol, expressed here as alcohol by volume (alc/vol), varies within and across beverage types. Although the standard drink amounts are helpful for following health guidelines, they may not reflect customary serving sizes.
For women, low-risk drinking is defined as no more than 3 drinks on any single day and no more than 7 drinks per week.
For men, it is defined as no more than 4 drinks on any single day and no more than 14 drinks per week.
(note: these are U.S. guildlines other countries do or may vary)4 -
AbandondedKSCharger wrote: »
It came! I read Day 1 and did the actions but business trips have me all messed up this week so I plan to restart on Monday when I am prepped with groceries etc to commit to a healthy week of food/AF in general.
3 -
globalhiker wrote: »May 1 - one generous size glass of whiskey in celebration of going into contract with selling our house!
May 2 - 1.5 truly hard waters (150 cals)
Oh and I took a sip of my husbands
whiskey
May 3 - AF
May 4 - 2 drinks. Not too bad for a party and better than I normally would have done. One mint jelup and one truly 100 calorie hard sparkling water.
May 5 - 2 lime-a-ritas disappointed myself on this one.
May 6 - AF
May 7 - AF
Woohoo! Two days in a row. I found yesterday to be actually super easy after the first day of AF. By the time about 8pm rolled around I realized how late it had gotten and I hadn't had one moment where I found myself thinking of having something. Even with about 450 cals left over! Instead I had a wee snack and completed my diary.
Today my goal is another AF day!
WOW! Nice job and proud of you! I am still waiting for my first "AF" day to come! I have to set a date and make it happen. Just intentionally delaying it and waiting for the right moment. Suppose up to us to decide and not wait around for it...:)
@globalhiker that's what I did, i kept saying I'll start Monday or I'll wait till this day because I know there's nothing going on. But that didnt work so I just said today's the day! I hope you will get to find your day and that it goes great! 3 -
Thursday! I'm feeling pretty great about my week so far. This will be day 4 AF but there is an obstacle in my future! I have to go to the grocery store - and why is the grocery store a problem you ask? Well where I lived before you could only buy alcohol in a liquor store... they didn't sell it in grocery stores. That meant when I wanted alcohol I had to go to an entirely different store and it only sold alcohol so there was no other reason to go in there. Where I live now it's everywhere - grocery stores, CVS, Target etc. and while that's great for convenience that same convenience really contributes to the 'regular habit' for me. I am absolutely notorious for a mid-week stop at the grocery store for some random dinner item on my way home from work and grabbing evening booze with it. Not today - my mission is pickles. So today's AF goal - stick to the pickles, no add ons.7
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AF since April 28. For me, drinking makes it almost impossible for me to lose weight. My goal for this month is to stay AF until Memorial Weekend - when I'll enjoy some everclear soaked fruits I've been patiently tending to. smile:
My long term goal is to only consume alcohol once a month.4 -
This Blues guy that I went to see (HarpDog Brown) said "If you can't moderate then you need to eliminate".
Potato chips, booze, chocolate chip cookies.
I think that I am pretty good at moderating most things, but I have friends who can not and must eliminate certain things altogether.
Food for thought.6 -
AbandondedKSCharger wrote: »
It came! I read Day 1 and did the actions but business trips have me all messed up this week so I plan to restart on Monday when I am prepped with groceries etc to commit to a healthy week of food/AF in general.
I'm also on the road until Tuesday. I did bring my book with me though.
I had some negative thinking this morning that has my caution flag up.
I'm already making excuses and preparing myself to fail. " more details later.1
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