Less Alcohol - FEBRUARY 2021 - One Day At A Time

Welcome to February! Glad to see the looooooooong month of January pass! Last month, I shared my goals (resolution doesn't sound positive enough) last month, and will continue through this month! I am going for small lifestyle changes and good habits!

Goals:
1) Make my bed everyday. - I did great last month! Only two days with an unmade bed.
2) Walk at the minimum once a day. - I moved over half the days in January, so I'll take it and continue to progress.
3) Mostly dry February (less alcohol). - The beginning of January was great, but slipped into some old habits toward the end. Goal is 20+ days AF!
4) Stay close to calorie goals. - I tracked really well in January, with only a few meals missed. Obviously wine has empty calories, so the additional 120+ calories a few days a week didn't help. While I don't drink really anything but coffee, tea and water, definitely need to stick to more water!!
5) Read a book a week (I am doing a 52 book challenge and a 52 prompt challenge). - So far, four books completed!! I have thoroughly enjoyed getting back to reading regularly.
6) Weight-wise, I am looking to lose five solid pounds this month. I am getting weighed at the doctor tomorrow, so I'll use that as the starting point.

Here's to a great February!!

0/1 Days AF

hello/good morning/afternoon/evening...depending on your time zone

AF last night which was the plan. I had my sparkling water with 'old fashioned' bitters and sipped on them in my regular drinking glass. I am feeling positive about this month maybe because it is so short?
I really am hoping I can hold out until DH birthday on the 21st.

I have always liked working out and I just could not get into a regular routine since the gyms closed down. They are open now and I have rejoined but trying to workout with a mask is impossible for me (sorry) I keep it on for as long as possible before I just have to lower it to catch my breath. I know the more I go to the gym my cardio endurance will improve again and the 'raising and lowering' of my mask will be less. This seems to be the theme in this gym. But when everyone is off a cardio machine those masks are up over the mouth and nose.

@globalhiker I have never heard of sleep gummies, I will look them up! That is the hard part for me falling asleep at night for the first 3-5 days. After that I am fine. Then I drink again and have to start the whole process over. sheesh why do I do that to myself? LOL

back later

Af evening... check!!

1 AF / 1 Day.

Feb Goal: 19 AF / 28 days

I've been a part of this group for a couple of different months, but I've never started off the first day AF for some reason. I finally did yesterday! I was so tired that I wasn't in the mood for anything but a light dinner and a lot of sleep. I've been really struggling to fall asleep before 1am lately, so I took some ZzzQuil before bed and got a solid 9 hours. Feeling really good today, excited to go for a longish walk at lunch.

Since sleep aids have come up: ZzzQuil has turned into my go-to sleep aid. I don't get a "hangover" from it, I don't wake up at 3 am when my system has finished processing it, and I haven't noticed any kind of dependency on it when I stop taking it. The active ingredient is the same as Benadryl, I think.

@globalhiker great job on your first AF day.

I'm almost 2 weeks AF now and the sugar cravings have hit me HARD! It's frustrating for me, I'm trying really hard to be careful with my calories and I have gone over all week due to sweets. My brain is looking for that elusive serotonin.

@CryingBlue keep small candy around for the cravings. Eat 2-3 Hershey's kisses; not too many calories.

Made a plan for Super Bowl. That will probably involve drinking & too many calories. Ideally I'll get in a walk earlier in the day but we're looking at another storm

Re sleep aids-- I have had better luck with the ones where the active ingredient is doxylamine (unisom, or the walgreens knockoff 'wal-som'), vs zzquil which is diphenhydramine. Both are common in nighttime cold medicines. With zzquil I find myself waking up after 4 hours, and pretty quickly develop a tolerance and need higher doses. Doxylamine lasts longer, I've been taking half a pill pretty regularly without needing higher doses, and I find I'm less groggy and unhappy the next day. Would love to learn how to sleep all night every night without either alcohol or a medicine, definitely a 2020 goal...

Couple years ago I waa purchasing a 30 pk of beer to have on hand. Never kept track of how many cans I was drinking a night. I mainly bought it because it was cheaper by that size.

Then I did start to notice clothes getting snug, I signed up in MFP to bulk up to shed fat, because muscle burns fat.
At my height, 5'7" even 10 pounds looks bad and flabby. That is when I stopped buying the 30pk and switched to a 12 pk. By now I was paying attention as to how fast they were disappearing.

I was doing fairly well and was down to buying a 6pk every night, was working out regular and at a great weight I felt comfortable with. Then covid hit. I got home bound, stressed and every thing the rest of the world was feeling. And started to get sloppy and flabby again(my GF disagrees she said she liked the extra weight)

My success:
Any how I started coming back into the less alcohol thread and went from drinking a 6 pk every night and a variety of nips(cuz they dont really count, right?)
To buying a 6 pack ( cut out the nips completely) every other day I stash two beers out of my 6 pk in the cabinet so I only have 4 to drink every other night.
* I finished ONE AF day in January .

Last night:
I bought a 6 pk last night and put all 6 in the frig. But I only drank 3, NO MORE HIDING THE OTHERS. I have to face them in the refrigerator face on and have enough control not to grab them to drink.
So tonight I only have those three from yesterday. I guess I am now buying a 6pk EVERY OTHER DAY instead of daily and am switching to only 3 beers each night to even it out.

Does that make sense?

Today I went skiing! It was a very last minute thing with my friend, and we got in a couple of hours. It was literally the best, most wonderful snow I have ever skied on. I’ve never skied in better conditions. That’s one good thing about a foot of snow dumped on us! And I finally got to enjoy it properly!

I’m AF tonight. I’ve been AF for a full 50% of the days this month so far! Haha! I can justify anything.

@CMB44512 Makes perfect sense. So happy to hear the great strides you are making toward drinking less!

@MissMay I can’t seem to open the picture, but snowshoeing through the woods sounds lovely.

Hope everyone sleeps well tonight!

Yeah AF tonight that is 100% for February.

Ever notice how easy it is to negative self talk and how much harder you have to work at positive self talk? I am working to correct this about me.

I would like to participate as I have found myself drinking more alcohol than usual at home. My goal for the rest of February is no drinking at home. I will need to take an alternative route home from work as there is a bottleshop on my usual route. I probably shouldn't take credit card or atm card to work either as I can see me taking the alternative route to staight to another bottle shop!

Today counts as day 1 - tick.

@MissMay - thanks for the welcome. i'm hoping to only have something on Valentine's day this month. *hoping being the operative word*
i've started drinking raspberry hibiscus kombucha and soda water that is has no sweeteners of any kind that is flavoured like cherry vanilla. these sorts of beverages help when i'm feeling a desire.

day 3 AF - so far so good

Good morning! I'm in. Goal: max 15 drinks for the month (not all at once), and to hopefully not even want that many, because I'm diving into old and new hobbies. Like snowshoeing and photography. We saw no shadows yesterday, but did see this in our yard. What does a deer call her husband on MFP? DDH?