Less Alcohol - OCTOBER 2020 - One Day at a Time (Try a Sober October)
Replies
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@dawnbgethealthy I enjoy your photos. You're inspiring me to try to make non-alcoholic orange mojitos a few different ways at home.2
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Happy Saturday all.. @dawnbgethealthy your mojitos look amazing. How fun to try with the different kinds of mint. With hydrangeas, I have heard they turn different colors depending on the soil. I have one in my front garden that was white last year and this year it is pink. So interesting. At one point in time I had looked up what the different colors mean for the corresponding soil traits, but i have forgotten. I do know they often turn blue in acidic soil because I have one under a big spruce tree that is always vibrant blue.
@globalhiker that is amazing about how easy the covid test was. There are still very few tests available where I live and it takes a week to get the results. It is so frustrating. I was briefly looking at the possibility of traveling to Hawaii this year, but I don't think we could manage the testing requirement.
I was AF yesterday. Had a bit of a doldrums of a Friday night. I felt really fatigued for some reason and just climbed into bed, before my kids even. Today a storm arrived and it is pouring rain. It is welcome here after our fire filled September but I am worried about landslides with the unstable soil.
Its good to hear about many of your weight loss success stories as I refocus around that.
Oct 1: 2 drinks
Oct 2: 6 drinks
Oct 3: 4 drinks
Oct 4: AF
Oct 5: AF
Oct 6: AF
Oct 7: AF
Oct 8: 3 drinks
Oct 9: AF
So far in Oct: 5/9 days AF3 -
One glass of wine with pizza dinner and one glass with cheesecake when I returned home ... celebrating my oldest birthday! Told DH that I do not want any wine on Sunday night in order to make my 4 AF days this week.
Oct accountability: 3/10 days AF
This week: 3 AF days
Goal: AF days 4 per week / 16 per month; limit 1-2 glasses per day
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Lovely lovely weather in Da'Burgh this week, gotta be outside to soak in the warm & see the trees decorate themselves for Fall.
Not a hard booze or mixed drink imbiber, but gotta admire the mojito photos @dawnbgethealthy has been posting. Still cutting and drying armfuls of mint for winter tea. The original plant came from my Daddy's mint patch under his outdoor water spigot in Southern Maryland. Over the past 60 years it has traveled through 6 states and many family homes, now thriving in Maine, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana.
Error-error-error....watched Cable News for the past 2 days. Now living in a mental maelstrom of Stephen King novels [The Stand, The Mist...etc] . Is this past year real, or just a "fever dream" ?? So much for a Sober October. Even though the serving glass is a wee 3 ounces....the Chianti bottle is quite large. Easy to lift & refill. Tomorrow is another day, right, Scarlet ??
Just a little more than 3 weeks to go on my personal Doomsday countdown. I'll try to keep off the vino til then, after this weekend's binge. Sorry, to me and thee.
Love and hugs [socially distant] to all those who have been affected by the virus and are doing the proper quarantining and testing. Glad to hear that there have been no really serious adverse affects among our small group, health wise.
Job wise, yeah, that sucks.
Eldest Daughter & DH cut short their Maine lobstering summer to go to Louisiana shortly after "Laura" to sort out the damage to their Lake Charles home. FEMA \ insurance\ contractors ...Many thanks to the local FD !! Oooppps...Tropical storm...Many thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers!! ...Oooppps...Hurricane Delta...We were on the phone last night as the wind howled up and the northside window screens left the building and the power went out for the night. Eldest Daughter had planned to spend the evening crocheting afghans for her online business. Silly child, this was her first hurricane since the one that destroyed Ellicott City in '72 when she was a preschooler. We lived on the 3rd floor of a building that flooded over the 2nd floor. As a child, she was only as affected as her parents would allow her to be. Keep calm and carry on, right ??
Going forward, I would hope she will have some kerosene or battery lamps at the ready. Double crochet....
Middle Daughter's husband calls me the "Ultimate Prepper" because most of the "stuff" he puts forward is something I already have or do. I just consider it "take care of yourself... if"...
Tomorrow is a lovely day , when scrapple, bok choy , and romaine lettuce will be delivered from an online order. A year ago, would I even have thought that I would have ordered more than pizza over the "net" . "Hail NO"
My "bucket list" for after corona has dwindled. Been slashed by reality. No Goat curry, no senior movie passes, no wide ranging expectations. ...Day-um....
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@forestdweller1
I always enjoy everything that you write : - )
What is scrapple though?
Good story about your Dad's mint : - )
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I am Dawn and live in South East British Columbia. I am 60.
My goal remains the same as it has been for quite some time, 16-20 AF days per month.
I do it kind of diary style:
Thursday October 01 - AF - I did manage 17AF days for September even though I drank every single day (moderately) of my birthday week while away. I have to wean myself off of that path.
Friday October 02 - AF - I really felt like having drinks though.
Saturday October 03 - Drinks. I did flirt with the idea of an AF October...for a minute. Not yet, and not sure if ever I will want to be joining the sober squad.
Sunday October 04 - AF - Really going to try to get back to having at least 2AF days in a row this month.
Monday October 05 - AF - Planned Mojitos Tuesday or Wednesday before the Mint is finished for the year.
Tuesday October 06 - AF - No Mojitos for me today, I was exhausted when I got in from work.
Wednesday October 07 - Various Mojitos, Strawberry Mint, Orange Mint, Chocolate Mint, and mixtures of them.
Thursday October 08 - AF - Aiming for 2 in a row.
Friday October 09 - AF - Thanksgiving weekend here, so I will be eating a lot of stuffing, gravy, turkey etc. for 3 days. I have a pumpkin loaf for breakfasts even though I rarely eat stuff like that. I may have drinks this weekend, not sure.
Saturday October 10 - AF - First day of 3 of eating turkey, stuffing, potatoes gravy etc., not enough calories left for even a Grand Marnier tonight. Either I will have to eat less stuffing potatoes and gravy the next 2 days, or I will have to be AF to keep within my calorie count.
Rolling total: 8 AF days out of 10 days so far.3 -
@Doxmum
Where are you??0 -
Reflection: Last night the 2 open bottles were shared while we had the cheesecake. DIL and myself each had a glass of white and DH had the red. DS had a diet coke since he was driving home that evening (50 miles).
It was wonderful to share and not be pouring lots of new bottles but just finishing off the ones we had open that were leftover. DS was astonished that we had open bottles of wine leftover from the previous night ... he also said something about our empty wine rack. Both were compliments
At the restaurant I had 2.5 glasses of water with my 1 glass of wine. DH had 2 glasses of wine.
So overall ... it was much easier to not go overboard and I think DH is starting to get the handle on this with his determination. At first it was all or nothing. Looks like he is following me into the "soberish" category.
Yesterdays planning also paid off ... low cal breakfast and lunch plus exercise ... I was able to enjoy the Pizza splurge (1 slice) at our favorite restaurant, salad, cheese cake and wine resulting in the scale continuing to slide downward this morning.
Did I mention that DS and his wife made a pack at their last wedding anniversary in Feb 2020 to lose weight? He is down 90 lbs and she is down 50 lbs. They look great and are an inspiration that it is possible to change your life and be more active!6 -
globalhiker wrote: »Day 3 AF done....and Covid test came back negative. Yay!!!
Got results within 48 hours. Testing very quick and easy. Just made an appt. and pre-registered online with CVS pharmacy, went to the pharmacy drive thru window, they gave me the swab and vial and I did the swabbing myself, then just placed it in an outside bin. All of it took like less than 3 minutes. And it was free.
I'll probably have to do this each time I get sick this winter with any typical cold.
On the weight topic, I still have about 11 lbs to goal. Gained 1.5 lbs on vacation. I thought I would lose since each day we put in at least 5-6 hours of hiking and I ate hardly anything during the day. But, I drank at least half those days and that wine with chips at night did the damage. Had I not drank, I would bet I would've come back with some weight loss. Damn alcohol is such a super-fattener for me.
Expect Success and Nothing Less
Thank goodness it is negative!! Big relief. I have friends that have gone through the drive up testing, most of them at their DRs offices. One man took a video of himself being tested. It looked so painful that my eyes began to water just watching it. UGH.
Crossing my fingers for the scale to move downward for you. But remember, muscle weighs more than fat. So you may be getting slimmer and not know it.4 -
dawnbgethealthy wrote: »I am Dawn and live in South East British Columbia. I am 60.
My goal remains the same as it has been for quite some time, 16-20 AF days per month.
I do it kind of diary style:
Thursday October 01 - AF - I did manage 17AF days for September even though I drank every single day (moderately) of my birthday week while away. I have to wean myself off of that path.
Friday October 02 - AF - I really felt like having drinks though.
Saturday October 03 - Drinks. I did flirt with the idea of an AF October...for a minute. Not yet, and not sure if ever I will want to be joining the sober squad.
Sunday October 04 - AF - Really going to try to get back to having at least 2AF days in a row this month.
Monday October 05 - AF - Planned Mojitos Tuesday or Wednesday before the Mint is finished for the year.
Tuesday October 06 - AF - No Mojitos for me today, I was exhausted when I got in from work.
Wednesday October 07 - Various Mojitos, Strawberry Mint, Orange Mint, Chocolate Mint, and mixtures of them.
Thursday October 08 - AF - Aiming for 2 in a row.
Friday October 09 - AF - Thanksgiving weekend here, so I will be eating a lot of stuffing, gravy, turkey etc. for 3 days. I have a pumpkin loaf for breakfasts even though I rarely eat stuff like that. I may have drinks this weekend, not sure.
Saturday October 10 - AF - First day of 3 of eating turkey, stuffing, potatoes gravy etc., not enough calories left for even a Grand Marnier tonight. Either I will have to eat less stuffing potatoes and gravy the next 2 days, or I will have to be AF to keep within my calorie count.
Rolling total: 8 AF days out of 10 days so far.
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to you Dawn. You are making me hungry for turkey and squash. Enjoy.3 -
forestdweller1 wrote: »Lovely lovely weather in Da'Burgh this week, gotta be outside to soak in the warm & see the trees decorate themselves for Fall.
Not a hard booze or mixed drink imbiber, but gotta admire the mojito photos @dawnbgethealthy has been posting. Still cutting and drying armfuls of mint for winter tea. The original plant came from my Daddy's mint patch under his outdoor water spigot in Southern Maryland. Over the past 60 years it has traveled through 6 states and many family homes, now thriving in Maine, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana.
Error-error-error....watched Cable News for the past 2 days. Now living in a mental maelstrom of Stephen King novels [The Stand, The Mist...etc] . Is this past year real, or just a "fever dream" ?? So much for a Sober October. Even though the serving glass is a wee 3 ounces....the Chianti bottle is quite large. Easy to lift & refill. Tomorrow is another day, right, Scarlet ??
Just a little more than 3 weeks to go on my personal Doomsday countdown. I'll try to keep off the vino til then, after this weekend's binge. Sorry, to me and thee.
Love and hugs [socially distant] to all those who have been affected by the virus and are doing the proper quarantining and testing. Glad to hear that there have been no really serious adverse affects among our small group, health wise.
Job wise, yeah, that sucks.
Eldest Daughter & DH cut short their Maine lobstering summer to go to Louisiana shortly after "Laura" to sort out the damage to their Lake Charles home. FEMA \ insurance\ contractors ...Many thanks to the local FD !! Oooppps...Tropical storm...Many thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers!! ...Oooppps...Hurricane Delta...We were on the phone last night as the wind howled up and the northside window screens left the building and the power went out for the night. Eldest Daughter had planned to spend the evening crocheting afghans for her online business. Silly child, this was her first hurricane since the one that destroyed Ellicott City in '72 when she was a preschooler. We lived on the 3rd floor of a building that flooded over the 2nd floor. As a child, she was only as affected as her parents would allow her to be. Keep calm and carry on, right ??
Going forward, I would hope she will have some kerosene or battery lamps at the ready. Double crochet....
Middle Daughter's husband calls me the "Ultimate Prepper" because most of the "stuff" he puts forward is something I already have or do. I just consider it "take care of yourself... if"...
Tomorrow is a lovely day , when scrapple, bok choy , and romaine lettuce will be delivered from an online order. A year ago, would I even have thought that I would have ordered more than pizza over the "net" . "Hail NO"
My "bucket list" for after corona has dwindled. Been slashed by reality. No Goat curry, no senior movie passes, no wide ranging expectations. ...Day-um....
DITTO on the excellent reads from you. They are very animated.
I loved that area when I lived there with the gourgous Indian Summer weather.
Try watching some comedies on the boob tube instead of those horror shows you are tuned into. It will be over soon.2 -
Lilylady3k wrote: »One glass of wine with pizza dinner and one glass with cheesecake when I returned home ... celebrating my oldest birthday! Told DH that I do not want any wine on Sunday night in order to make my 4 AF days this week.
Oct accountability: 3/10 days AF
This week: 3 AF days
Goal: AF days 4 per week / 16 per month; limit 1-2 glasses per day
Nice job on the pre-planning and keeping DH in the loop. Hope he is being a respectful coach to your AF requests.2 -
chocolate_owl wrote: »Oct 1-7: 12ish drinks, 4 AF days
Oct 8: AF
There's something mentally challenging about NEEDING to not drink instead of CHOOSING to not drink. There was a 12-hour ban on alcohol after my procedure, so the earliest I could have had a drink was 11pm (bedtime). The procedure was diagnostic, and the hope was it would temporarily relieve my pain, but instead it triggered a lot more pain than I usually have. Bad pain makes me want to drink, and I wasn't supposed to, and I basically stewed about it the whole night even though this was a planned AF day.
On a positive note, 3 of my 4 vacation pounds have already fallen off, and I'm feeling like losing 4 more pounds by the end of October is doable. That will be 10 lbs down, and I get to buy a new kitchen knife after losing 10 lbs, so I want to get there ASAP
Gotta keep that goal in mind when I consider alcohol tonight. Planned food is over calories already so I have no room for alcohol, even if my week has been really rough...
@globalhiker I hope that test comes back negative! I haven't been out to eat since March, and I miss it terribly, but it's terrifying to think that the one time you step out of your bubble a bit you might end up sick
Congrats on having some of your vacation weight dropping off. We love to hear these successful moments as well. What kind of pain are you suffering from?1 -
@FeelinFooFoo DO NOT go back into hiding just because you slipped up on your October goal. I am calling you OUT. It is ok, it is human, it is a pandemic.
💓💓💓2 -
Happy Saturday all.. @dawnbgethealthy your mojitos look amazing. How fun to try with the different kinds of mint. With hydrangeas, I have heard they turn different colors depending on the soil. I have one in my front garden that was white last year and this year it is pink. So interesting. At one point in time I had looked up what the different colors mean for the corresponding soil traits, but i have forgotten. I do know they often turn blue in acidic soil because I have one under a big spruce tree that is always vibrant blue.
@globalhiker that is amazing about how easy the covid test was. There are still very few tests available where I live and it takes a week to get the results. It is so frustrating. I was briefly looking at the possibility of traveling to Hawaii this year, but I don't think we could manage the testing requirement.
I was AF yesterday. Had a bit of a doldrums of a Friday night. I felt really fatigued for some reason and just climbed into bed, before my kids even. Today a storm arrived and it is pouring rain. It is welcome here after our fire filled September but I am worried about landslides with the unstable soil.
Its good to hear about many of your weight loss success stories as I refocus around that.
Oct 1: 2 drinks
Oct 2: 6 drinks
Oct 3: 4 drinks
Oct 4: AF
Oct 5: AF
Oct 6: AF
Oct 7: AF
Oct 8: 3 drinks
Oct 9: AF
So far in Oct: 5/9 days AF
Those doldrums hit us all. It is our bodies saying TAKE A BREAK, RE-SET. You have been through a lot lately.
Nice AF streak of 4 days.2 -
looneycatblue wrote: »I almost gave into the 3rd day cravings... sometimes I want to drink just to drown out the complaints, stomping around, slamming doors, moody teenager / "25" y/o step daughter... just puts me into a bad mood, but the drinking really doesn't help, the issues are still there!
4 AF / 6 days
I hope your 25 y/o SD finds her way soon to maturity. Sorry you are having a rough go with that. Keep strong.2 -
DH made fresh salsa verde, which required a beer. Glad to open my Dogfish lo-cal and follow it with a Brooklyn AF beer. I will need to get my 6-pack if October beers though, before they disappear.
Thanks the the thoughts on “sober”. I too always thought I would not ever belong to that club. But sober-ish, a drink sometimes with a focus on moderation, that fits me.
Yes I so enjoy term moderation over the word sober. I believe you gain streangth from controlling a situation instead of dismissing it.3 -
flossyruby1 wrote: »Is it ok to jump in a week late? I recently rejoined MFP and this would be a timely challenge to participate in, especially entering into holiday season. I don't have any boundaries surrounding alcohol just yet. But I haven't gotten off to a great start. Last night was an AF night and I slept so well! I'm planning on another AF night tonight with the promise of another. As I've entered into menopause, sleep has become sooo important because it's been an elusive commodity!
@flossyruby1 are you still with us. Never never too late to join in with us. We will ALWAYS be here. How is your AF nights going. Good sleep is important.1 -
@dawnbgethealthy & @shorepine I'm in central Texas and it's only now cool enough to camp (in my opinion). It's still in the high 80's and low 90's here! It never really feels like fall here but I was raised in PA so I do appreciate a beautiful, chilly fall.
You changed your profile pic again. Beautiful flower. How is October treating ypu so far?1 -
imgwendolyn2015 wrote: »My drink of choice lately has been hard seltzers, so instead, I am drinking LaCroix when I feel like I need something. It's a tricky trick, but works! Yesterday, when I heard that Eddie Van Halen died, I could have drank myself into oblivion but I resisted. He is my idol, Mr. Magic Hands. RIP Eddie!
It was very sad to hear of his death. My husbands favorite for sure.we love hearing about how to "trick" our drinking brain. All suggestions welcome.1
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