Less Alcohol - JANUARY 2021 - One Day At A Time
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New month, new year.
I am Dawn, I live in SE BC
I will post with my usual diary style to keep track of my AF days.
Keeping to my usual goal of 16-20 AF days per month, which is manageable for me and doesn't put too much pressure on me.
Tuesday Jan 12 - AF - Really wanted to have a couple of drinks, but it would have been for stress relief and I am trying to avoid using it for that.
Wednesday Jan 13 - AF - Big wind/rain storms here. It would have been nice to have a drink after work, but I might slip up the mountain tomorrow for a skate at the arena in between jobs, so I want to be as fresh as possible in case the roads are okay to travel, so staying AF tonight. Planning to have drinks either Thursday or Friday.
Rolling total 12AF day out of 13 days5 -
@MissMay Thank you for the visual! It's an eye opener
Your welcome.
BEFORE I was motivated to have less alcohol in my life, my husband and I would frequent a local reastraunt because a friend was a server there. The server "loved" us. He would always have my drink ready when we sat at the table. I would always leave walking sideways.
One evening we went and he was not there. Another server waited on us, I gave her my drink order she brought it and my mouth dropped open. I asked why it was not in the same giant stemmed glass and filled to the rim like William gave me? The girl told me he was fired for over pouring because he was getting hefty tips.
The drink he would always pour me was three times the required measure. So I was telling people and myself all along, I only had one drink there when it was really three. What an eye opener when I first saw these drink charts back in 2018.8 -
Another day AF. I kind of wanted one after work but didn’t imbibe. I will this weekend though.
So we have this no carb challenge at work. I ate a light dinner, am still a little peckish but but don’t want to pork out right before bed, so none of my usual carby snacks. What’s on TV? All the food shows! My husband constantly flips between Man vs food, Guy Fieri, Alton Brown, etc. etc. all these delicious foods on screen! Ugh! Had to go into our room to read. And my son and his friends are making homemade pizza at the house tonight. Temptation everywhere! It’s worse than being tempted by alcohol!
I hear you on the food temptation. My husband loads the cart with snacks, sweets, pre packaged frozen high sodium foods. I always ask him where the real food is? He tilts his head like he does not understand the question.
Then I go shop by myself the next day to pick up fresh veggies, grains and ingredients to make us dinners. Our eating habits collide and it makes it difficult to eat healthly at times.
WE CAN GET THROUGH THIS. Good luck on your no carb challenge at work.6 -
January 13th 2021 check in:
1 A
12 AF
😎
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Jan: 5 AF days/13
Had great sleep finally....it's nice to wake up refreshed and relaxed. I never have that feeling if I drink the night before or in the first few days of going AF, but after day 4 it starts to kick in.
Here's to another day to get better, stronger, smarter, faster, and most importantly, happier.....!
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High five👋 to what @globalhiker said
"Here's to another day to get better, stronger, smarter, faster, and most importantly, happier.....!"7 -
Another AF night!! With almost no cravings
I find myself being more productive and spending more time with the kids when I'm not standing in /consistantly returning to the kitchen for a sip off my drink. Good change all around!
3 AF days / 4 Days.
Goal- 5 AF Days/ 7 days. (AF Sun-Thurs)7 -
Sharing something that popped up in my feed ... 25 Mocktails that aren't just juice.
https://bonappetit.com/gallery/best-mocktail-recipes5 -
@MissMay Your share on tolerance building and drink "unit" really hit home. It's like you read my very deep thoughts from about two months ago. I was actually afraid I would have reactions to going AF and am still shocked I have not. Also knowing that I have tendencies to hide that I am drinking when home and overpouring at that, I found it best to simply stop. (simply = not the best word choice). Now 30 days in, I am as @globalbiker said, "most importantly happier" on many levels--totally uprooting my prior justification that I could only be happier (and stress-free) if I could just have "a drink." ( "a" drink = unrealistic #). For now, I am finding happiness looking forward to sitting with my hubs each evening, reading a book, drinking herbal teas. Whenever the drink urge pops into my head, I think of the happiness I would miss if I cave. For now, that is enough for me. Thank you for the thoughts to ponder!4
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Throwing in some points to ponder:🤔
Tolerance to alcohol
It’s important not to assume that, even if you aren’t regularly ‘getting drunk’, that you are drinking within the low risk guidelines. People who drink regularly build up a tolerance. This might mean that you notice the effects of alcohol less but the fact is that the more you drink the greater the risk to your health. If you are building up tolerance that could be an early sign of alcohol dependence. If you think you might be dependent on alcohol, or if you have physical withdrawal symptoms (e.g. shaking, sweating, nausea before you have your first drink of the day) then you should seek medical advice from your GP before you stop drinking.
What's a standard unit of alcohol?
It's not as simple as one drink, one unit.
The size and strength of your drink will determine the number of units it contains. A glass of wine can range between just over one unit and more than three units depending on the size of the glass and type of wine. And people who choose to drink at home tend to pour measures that are larger than you get at a pub, bar or restaurant. So you could be regularly drinking far more than you think.
Weekly drink recommendations not more than 14 standard drinks/ not more than 2 standard drinks per day.
Thank you for posting this. I only recently found out that it is recommended that women drink no more than a single 5oz glass and I was shocked! I think I knew that I was consuming too often, but I didn't know that my 2-3 glasses of red wine were so much over the amount considered safe! I thought I was a safe moderate drinker, that just drank too often. It was a real eye-opener for sure.
The other thing that really brought it home to me was a British documentary I watched recently that showed the effects on the liver, and what life is like for those living with severe liver damage. How it creeps up silently until suddenly it isn't silent at all anymore, but by then massive damage might have been done and the way it compromises their lives is quite terrifying.
In July last year, I had a CT scan to look at my colon which was inflamed and bleeding, they think it was food poisoning, but anyway - I was able to look at my notes as I had to take them by hand to my own GP. On the notes, it said a lot of things that I didn't understand but what stood out was it said "Low-density liver". I still don't know really what that means, how low is low, what does in mean in practical terms, but the fact it wasn't mentioned to me indicates that it isn't advanced liver problems, and I am taking it as a wake-up call to take all of this very seriously. The liver can recover up to a certain point, and I literally can't take a drink now without thinking about that line on the CT scan notes, and those poor people for whom it is too late in the documentary.
Goal 14 AF by the end of the month.
Today 2 AF/14
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@Amanda_Brit_Expat and @Tesha231 you are welcome for the information. Seeing is believing.
@Amanda_Brit_Expat I have witnessed for blown liver disease with my first husband(deceased because of it) You are correct, liver disease allows you to keep functioning supposedly normally until it is too late.
He owed his own labor intense business. Worked extremely hard. Did not drink at work. His drinking hours were between 5:00- 9:00. He could drink heavily the night before and fully function the next day without fail.
He had no idea he had cirrhosis of the liver when he first started noticing some odd health concerns. He had no drink limits. He would continue filling up his glass the second it was close to being empty.
I wish I had known about this chart back then, it may, in some small way helped him.
Yes women are supported to have lower drink limits both daily and weekly here in the United States. The UK has a different set of guide lines and limits(which I always thought weird).
I use an app called Mydrinkaware. It is UK but I am in the USA.
So happy you are both doing so well in drinking less.
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5 AF / 6
I had blood work last November 2020 and it showed that I have enlarged red blood cells, my Dr. explained that excessive alcohol use was the cause and suggested I cut back on my intake. I was drinking 2 glasses of wine a night which I didn't think was alot! After monitoring my enjoyment it was 2 large glasses of wine a night. I started measuring my wine to 1 5oz glass and cut back on my daily enjoyment. This lasted for awhile and then the overpouring started more frequently and now I am experiencing black outs.
I wanted a glass of wine last night and I think I had 3! I had a glass before, during and after dinner and I do not recall going to bed! This morning speaking to my husband he said that I did not appear in any way to be drunk!
I'm ok that I had wine last night, I'm not ok with my not knowing 1 glass is all that I can handle and I keep filling my glass. As I like to say some days are easier than others.
It's comforting to know that I can share this here.
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Still staying AF. Wondering if I will be able to keep it up through Valentine's weekend when we are slated to meet up with my college roommate then go on to see DH's brother.
I knew about portions & people's common misperception that one container / glass of an alcoholic drink equaled one drink without considering the type & amount of actual alcohol in the drink. Having 1 martini is not the same thing as having 1 gin & tonic if both are accurately measured.
I read through the some of the articles / links on the 1st page. One that spoke to me was about hanging out with like minded people -- especially ones who drink too much. In our crowd I'm probably one of the "light weights" but most of the people we spend time with, including our family members, are heavy, problem drinkers. I would sometimes console myself by rationalizing that I drank less & less often than they did. Given their extreme consumption, that is not exactly a hallmark of responsible drinking on my part. At times when I'd try to discuss it they would point out that they did the same things so it wasn't a problem.
I'm hoping my liver is enjoying the break.7 -
Today is my day 3. I needed support and found all you wonderful people on my search. I am thankful for this group.11
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Like many of you, I have also been telling myself that I need to cut down on both the frequency and amount of drinking. It has become a daily habit to have a glass of wine or a beer while cooking dinner, then with dinner and maybe one more after. Between planning for an international move, moving and spending my first year living in a new country under a pandemic lockdown, wine or beer in the evening became my go-to stress relief.
I am now in Germany where beer is a culture and a normal serving in a restaurant or bottle is half a liter. At some of the beer gardens you can only get a full liter. Talk about difficulty with portion control. When visiting the in-laws, dinners always end with a digestive of schnapps (brandy or grappa) which I only recently learned to "just say no" to. My body thanks me for that the next morning by a lack of headache.
I have been aiming for a Dry January, although last Friday night I had 4 ounces of wine left from a single serving bottle I had used in a recipe. I knew I should have thrown it out, but thought perhaps I would use the remainder for another recipe rather than waste. Lesson learned
Currently at 13 AF/14.8 -
@Amanda_Brit_Expat and @Tesha231 you are welcome for the information. Seeing is believing.
@Amanda_Brit_Expat I have witnessed for blown liver disease with my first husband(deceased because of it) You are correct, liver disease allows you to keep functioning supposedly normally until it is too late.
He owed his own labor intense business. Worked extremely hard. Did not drink at work. His drinking hours were between 5:00- 9:00. He could drink heavily the night before and fully function the next day without fail.
He had no idea he had cirrhosis of the liver when he first started noticing some odd health concerns. He had no drink limits. He would continue filling up his glass the second it was close to being empty.
I wish I had known about this chart back then, it may, in some small way helped him.
Yes women are supported to have lower drink limits both daily and weekly here in the United States. The UK has a different set of guide lines and limits(which I always thought weird).
I use an app called Mydrinkaware. It is UK but I am in the USA.
So happy you are both doing so well in drinking less.
I am sorry to hear about your husband, that is very sad and must have been a difficult time to get through
I just saw that the guidelines in the UK have thrown out the gender difference in their guidelines, why is that? Now it just says 14 units per week for anyone, surely it is different depending on a multitude of factors that are different for women and men, and average size should play a part. Very confusing why they have just one number for everyone. My daughter is 5 foot and weighs 100 lbs, my husband is 6' 2" and weighs 210lbs, so going by UK standards they are both supposedly safe on the same amount - doesn't make sense, he is more than twice her size!4 -
Unexpected dinner out Brandini’s lettuce wrap burger, no fries & Paco y Lola Albarino (1 glass of dry white wine).6
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Welcome @WonderCort and @Gaertnerin plenty of room in here for new faces.
I am in shock at the sizes of the beers they are pouring @Gaertnerin n Germany. Not only that, but what about the price? What if you don't want to pay for an entire pint or even half pint? And those beers I guess are very strong in comparison to our beers here in the U.S.
Good to see you again @Sweet_Pandora not appearing drunk does not mean one has not had to much. ( hope you are doing better todsy)
As @Amanda_Brit_Expat stated each person has their own body mass and 1 or 2 drinks for one body may be more than that person can handle.
It is all very individual and sad but true I think we all have to be our own test judges as to what is enough for each of us. Just as calorie intake based on height, age, activity level. So should drink allowances be a beginning guide with the same questions in place. Oh and not to mention if you are taking some sort of medication for health reasons.4 -
Lilylady3k wrote: »Unexpected dinner out Brandini’s lettuce wrap burger, no fries & Paco y Lola Albarino (1 glass of dry white wine).
A lettuce wrap sounds refreshing. What all is in it?4 -
@Trish1c I found when starting this journey it extremely difficult in my area to have others that did not drink daily or did not consume more than one or two during a get together.
That is when I found this thread and at least I had "like minded" people to bounce my own stories off of and for me to hear theirs.
Now, I do not mind at all being the only person in a room or pub that is drinking Heineken00 or have a stemmed glass filled with cranberry juice in front of me.
I am sure your liver is very thankful for the vacation you are giving it.7
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