Less Alcohol - SEPTEMBER 2019 - One Day at a Time

I drank a little more than I usually do last Friday and I had a few beers last Saturday but nothing since. I don't want to drink during the week because I have to get up so early to drive the kids to school. I have a part time job at night and I work pretty late. Basically, I haven't had time to drink, so that's a plus. I find I drink mostly when I'm bored or don't have anything to do the next day. I work tomorrow afternoon so I'll probably drink a few tonight but not much.
I still don't really want to go totally AF because I find that when I don't drink at all, I give myself a pass to eat as much junk food as I want (and for some reason exercise less often). I know junk food still isn't as bad for you as alcohol but I was one of the few that actually gained weight when I didn't drink. So as long as I can keep the drinking to a minimum, I'm fine with it for now. If it becomes a problem, I'll do another 30 day AF challenge.

Great job everyone! Love seeing the posts here everyday. I thought about drinking several times last night but chose to stick with my plan. Still plan to have 2-3 tonight.

Listened to an older TED talk yesterday from Kristen McGonigal (or something close to that) about stress and our perception of it. Basic message: Instead of perceiving stress as bad or as an anxious feeling, try to perceive it as being excited and your body gearing up to face the challenge. Been trying to remember that.

Have a great weekend, all!

9/3- AF
9/4- AF
9/5- AF
9/6- AF
9/7- AF
9/8-AF
9/9- 3 drinks (rounding up)
9/10 - AF
9/11 - AF
9/12 - AF
9/13 - AF
9/14 - AF

@MissMay "drinks rarely" is a perfect goal for me. The weight of being a total non-drinker seems way more difficult. I checked out the first page - there's so much there. Thank you for recommending it!

As usual, I am going to work on 4-5 AF days per week.
I managed 18AF days out of 31 for August somehow.
I am going away the last week of September and first week of October, and I will be in a bathing suit every day, so am wanting to rack up lots of AF days before that.

September 01 - Sunday 5 drinks! (Saturday between 1pm and 1am at the music festival I had 7 drinks and didn't even throw up strangely). Drinks 2 days in a row is such a no-no, it makes it become normal to have drinks on the 3rd day 4th day etc. But I won't.
September 02 - AF
September 03 - AF - my "scheduled" day to have drinks, but there is ice skating at one of the arenas tomorrow and I haven't skated since April, so, well, I don't want to have a hangover or anything and fall and break my head : - P
September 04 - AF - I was invited over to a friend's house for some wine, but declined. Skating was exhilarating today, even though it took me a few times around to get comfortable. Definitely didn't want to wreck the added calorie burn by having drinks.
September 05 - 3 drinks. Feeling so much different than yesterday. My second sleepless night this week and a stressful workday coupled with Anxiety that I just couldn't seem to meditate away even though I ran (drove) to the lake after work for a float under a cloudless clear blue sky with sparkling glass-like water and some deep breaths. Sleep deprivation is crappy. I realize that booze probably doesn't help Anxiety, but it has somehow tonight numbed me and relaxed me. Still using booze as a crutch I guess, although I tried other things first. Not going to beat myself up. Us humans can be so fragile! If only I could skate every day... : - )
September 06 - AF
September 07 - AF - I didn't intend to be, but I burned over 1100 calories through exercise and didn't want that to be wasted, so stayed AF
September 08 - 3 drinks - next planned drinks, Tuesday
September 09 - AF
September 10 - 3 drinks Tuesday. I didn't have enough to eat I guess and really felt it, thought that I was going to puke but didn't. I drank a lot of water after the drinks, so actually feel okay now. Time to rack up some more AF days.
September 11 - AF - Skated today, but with having drinks last night I didn't really feel that steady.
September 12 - 2 drinks, just couldn't have the 3rd which is unusual for me. Too tired to even make a 3rd drink. Long workday today, I must say that it was nice to have a couple of cocktails. Off to bed early.
September 13 - 2 drinks + an AF beer. Really, I never drink beer, but am glad that I bought that 6-pack of Labbatt AF to put in the fridge. I think that I have had 2 of them now. I wanted one more drink but didn't really feel like having more alcohol, and definitely did not want water. Broke the "never have drinks 2 days in a row" thing. But also didn't have my 3rd drink 2 days in a row. Faulty thinking, but whatever. 2 weeks of barely any sleep, have a hard time shutting off my brain even though my body is super tired. Maybe my discipline goes out the window, although I have been low on calories. Perhaps I will make the 4 AF days per week this week, maintained the 5 AF days for the week last week. Weekend, no big pressing events to look good or feel sharp. Just need to continue to work on harvesting and processing my garden tomorrow.
September 14 - AF - Felt like having drinks, but didn't.
September 15 - 3 drinks. no reason to have drinks really, just did. I have had 2 glasses of water since. I have had a couple of weeks of sleep deprivation, not that it is an excuse, but the few days that I was able to actually fall asleep were days where I had alcohol. I hope to do well when I am in Dallas for 2 weeks. I had tentatively booked an all-inclusive (much cheaper than Dallas) but I struggle so much with my weight loss and putting in some AF days every week that I knew that the all-inclusive option was only going to be setting me up for failure. Not that I will never do an all-inclusive again, but maybe after another 20 pounds down on the scale. Anyone here live in Dallas btw? Or have been to Dallas and know some great places to visit? There are 8 arenas with public skating 2-3 times per day 7 days a week, so y'all know that I will be ice skating every day (packing my skates in my suitcase since rental skates don't make me skate my best, and people hear that you are from Canada and expect you to be steady on your blades). I would be tickled pink if someone is from the area and wants to skate with me : - )

Running total: 8 AF days out of 15 days so far

I pop in to this thread, verbalize a commitment, and then disappear for a few months at a time. I'm so tired of the cycle. I haven't successfully stopped my weekend binges and I've gained a lot of weight.

But I'm going to be forty in a few months and I dont' want to enter my next decade a binge drinker. I want to return to the old me-the one at a healthy weight who was running 5ks and aiming for her first 10k. Now I can't run hardly at all. I used to curl up and read on weekends, not sit my *kitten* in front of the tv and drink and eat and drink and eat.

Today when I weighed myself I knew it would upset me-I obviously could tell by the way I had trouble buckling my belt. But I really need to commit and STICK to it. I'm getting married in a year and I want to look fanstastic for it. So I'm going to say that this past Saturday was my last binge and I'm going to aim for AF for the remainder of September and see how I'm feeling then.