Less Alcohol - FEBRUARY 2021 - One Day At A Time
Options
Replies
-
@mainelylisa
“Just so glad to see so many people here supporting one another! And please don't stay away if the wine/Scotch/whatever devil gets the best of you. And I encourage you to share your struggles--not just your victories. I think by all of us sharing our struggles, it helps those of us who have been struggling. No one wants to fall off the planned drinks wagon, then pop on here to everyone doing a fabulous job 100% of the time.”
Thank you, very well said!
Karen7 -
Wow last night was a struggle to stay AF, the urge was some of the strongest for me. I think the interview for a job I had today was the stressor? I thought I was pretty laid back about it but may not. So to keep me moving forward I took via tinature and little dropper full of CBD/THC (it is legal in our state). Then proceed with my tonic water and bitters. I do have to find a way to slow down my evening snacking. Popcorn and pretzels (all salt bombs) are taking it's toll on me and not letting my scale move (I know this is a good excuse right?)
@globalhiker I am trying hard to use the positive statements that you have outlined, and I do pretty good but that ole alcohol devil really can get in your head.
@mainelylisa @MissMay would not have accepted you to start the new threads and monitor this forum if she did not think your would do and outstanding job! I think all of us here will be there to help you in anyway we can.7 -
Happy Friday! Today is AF day 26 for me, day 18 for husband. Here's my morning ramble under the influence of one cup of good Colombian coffee:
For me, I learn from my mistakes from my past few other drinking breaks. Usually it was a planned stressor that set off my drinking alarms and got me drinking again. Here are my real life examples that happened after I was "off" drinking for several weeks:
1. Family mandates: Got off the plane after flying to the Midwest in the midst of freezing winter, stopping at a restaurant for lunch and a drink en route to visit in-laws. Stressors: sleepy having gotten up at 3am for a 5:30 flight, cold weather, didn't want to go. I felt mad since I was obligated to go and paid for much of the cost. I felt mad at having to travel so early but the flight costs were too high later in the day. I felt trapped. I should've said no and stayed home.
2. Vacation rush: On vacation, drove 6-7 hours straight in the frying hot summer sun to another state, hungry and tired, skipping places to stop and pee because Covid was at it's peak and even McDonald's had their bathrooms closed to the public. We got to destination rental and suddenly the most important place to visit in town became the liquor store. I let too many stressors build up. I should've planned out the drive better and taken a slower approach, stop at scenic spots along the way and picnic, and loaded the trunk with some non-alcoholic alternatives to be my first drinks when I arrive.
3. The Unexpected: Another vacation where the focus was a 12 hour hike in a super scenic mountain range to celebrate our anniversary. I trained for 5 months. I studied the weather patterns from the prior years and picked the perfect time to go. The day we flew in, the rain began and it rained for 5 straight days, constantly. I had saved all year for this special trip and spent a lot on nice lodging and felt it went to waste. I was really, really mad. Beeline to the liquor store each rainy day afternoon, to pick a different wine. We finally did the hike and it was awesome. In hindsight, didn't prep or plan a solution for the unexpected.
4. Work: Mandatory work trips during the winter months, especially those in duration of longer than 3 days. And especially those outside the country. Beeline to the liquor store each night to help me deal with being alone in a cold hotel room. I just hated being there. Felt hijacked against my will. I should've gotten myself a job with no travel requirements and said to hell with the money.
I realized even smaller daily stressors really get to me while I am AF. It's a sensitive time, so that said I am trying really hard to lay low, not plan to do more than 1 thing at a time, hold off on job applications, and teach myself to live at a slower pace. I have to really re-learn this before I even think of how the heck I will be re-introducing drinks.8 -
Well darn. Slipped up last night. Did not drink water before between or after drinking wine. 2 glasses of red with pizza from the first bottle and then yep I went and drank 2 glasses of white from the second bottle DH opened. Not sure why ... can't find a reason for me indulging when the white opened. But boy did I feel it about 2am ... needed water & motrin! Moving slow this morning.7
-
Hi
I originally decided to drink less in order to lose weight.
I have been on this thread since Nov 28.18
Thank you to @MissMay for keeping us going.
I am going to post with my usual diary style to keep track of my AF days.
I will be keeping to my usual goal of 16-20 AF days per month. It is manageable for me and doesn't put too much pressure on me. So far I have been able to keep with it. One month I raised the goal and failed miserably, so I learned from that. I think this is my sweet spot.
My rule for myself: No drinking 2 days in a row, strive for 2AF days in a row in between at minimum.
Sunday Feb 21 - AF - I will be tomorrow also to get my 2AF days in a row.
Monday Feb 21 - AF - Very early workday start tomorrow, so AF tonight. Always happy to see my 16 : - )
Tuesday Feb 23 - Drinks. I enjoyed them, but eat completely differently when I have alcohol for sure.
Wednesday Feb 24 - AF - Trying to not have drinks 2 days in a row.
Thursday Feb 25 - Drinks (2) - Broke my 2 days AF in a row rule for myself. Planned drinks for Saturday, so AF for Friday for sure.
Rolling total 17AF days out of 25 days5 -
Pepsi is launching March 1 some mixers ... non alcoholic. I wonder what they taste like and if the sugar/calories are worth it. Neon Zebra is made without artificial sweeteners and uses juice (but also plenty of sugar, to the tune of 36 grams per 7.5 oz can). But I do love the colorful cans!
Neon Zebra has four non-alcoholic flavors: citrus-flavored Margarita mix, strawberry-lime-flavored Strawberry Daiquiri mix, lime-mint-flavored Mojito mix and a lemon-flavored Whiskey Sour mix.
Might try them out at the camp this summer ... mixing with sparkling water.
7 -
@globalhiker are you sure we are not mind twins when it comes to stressors? Those situations are similar to the things I have done in similar situations. As a matter of fact up until today when I would plan our trips a liquor store was at the top of the agenda either before we checked in our after we dropped our bags. I have not tested out how I would do today on Month 2 of Less alcohol and I know I am not ready for that step
Today I finally had a pleasant surprise, a drop on the scale more than .2! I am not knocking .2 if they are every day but .2 down then .8 up even being AF for 10 days in a row was frustrating. Just reinvigorated me to keep enjoying my non alcohol victories. I do plan to have a few drinks either tonight or Saturday...or not we will see6 -
Week 1: 6.5 drinks, 3 AF days
Week 2: 5 drinks, 4 AF days
Week 3: 11 drinks, 3 AF days
2/22 - AF
2/23 - AF
2/24 - AF
2/25 - AF
Even if I drink for the next 3 days, which I probably will for husband's birthday weekend, I've officially done half of February alcohol-free! That wasn't a specific goal this month, but it's something I'd prefer to do. Despite the pain/insomnia/snowmaggedon triggers, I found racking up AF days a lot easier than the first time I tried this back in September. I have no tips to share; I just think my brain is slowly adjusting to the idea of moderate consumption and frequent days without alcohol being normal. I'm also keenly aware that it would be a LOT easier for my brain to revert back to thinking that 5 drinks a day every day is normal if I picked that behavior up again, so I need to keep this up.7 -
Coming out of the cave long enough to have a word with @MissMay .
NNNOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!
Glad that the other "Mainer" will be taking over, and will surely motivate us.
Word of warning, for women, a heart attack does not always have the "classic" symptoms. Mine in September had NO warning, not even pain.
After lazing around for a month [doctor's orders] and beginning a regime of too damn many pills with breakfast, I'm fine. The lazing around seems to have caused my body to have old lady aches & pains. I'm only 74, so this is new to me. Boomerang effect...the more my body hurts, the less I do, and then my body hurts more, so the less I do. Can't just pop a couple aspirin or other pain killers & keep on moving [not allowed with those too damn many pills]. I admit to taking a few aspirin anyway. And also feeling entitled to having a few drinks. "Life sucks, I can't sleep anyway, might as well enjoy my wine".
Last week, after not sleeping, whimpering in pain each time I navigated the stairs to get to the bathroom, and bursting into tears when Catpuccino meowed for me to do our morning " chase the wand toy around the house", and I couldn't even WALK...
I finally broke down and decided to take the only pain med that doesn't interact with my too damn many pills. It works. It will also KILL my liver if I drink.
Involuntarily Alcohol Free now.
The paragraph above is NOT for sympathy...my natural sarcasm does not allow that. Just informational. Doing some heavy housekeeping [the basement is now a respectable wine cellar, thank you, @MissMay ] and continuing to bring in my heating wood daily. Or as Da 'Burgh Groundhog Day snowstorms allow. The more I do, the less I hurt. Also drinking water all day long, avoiding salt, and doing any other things imaginable to cure my old lady aches & pains. Rather than take more pain meds, go up & down stairs a few times.
The goal is to be able to ditch the pain pills ASAP in order to have wine with my cheese instead of whine. A long strong stick with a bottle of Chianti hanging off the end.
Amazing folks on here, each with a different relationship with the booze devil. Wishing all of you strength and success.
And, to Mischief's hooman, sorry you scarpered when we recognized your new ID. This MFP Auntie would like to see you online again.
Ciao
8 -
I went to a liquor store today. Bought a bottle of my hubs favorite bourbon that takes him about a year to drink—the weirdo! Lol. We are driving to our place in FL Sunday and you can’t get it there. My bottle of choice was also there. And the handle was $7 less than it is in Florida, so I bought it to take down there. Now, one would think that because I have given up alcohol for Lent and will likely be back to IL for Easter it was not necessary. The thing is, I have to have the ability to make a choice to not drink every day. If I know my home is dry—it drives me nuts. I know. Who’s the weirdo now? That said, I have never chosen to be AF in FL. Whole different atmosphere and friends/social structure. Should be an interesting trip.6
-
Hi
I originally decided to drink less in order to lose weight.
I have been on this thread since Nov 28.18
Thank you to @MissMay for keeping us going.
I am going to post with my usual diary style to keep track of my AF days.
I will be keeping to my usual goal of 16-20 AF days per month. It is manageable for me and doesn't put too much pressure on me. So far I have been able to keep with it. One month I raised the goal and failed miserably, so I learned from that. I think this is my sweet spot.
My rule for myself: No drinking 2 days in a row, strive for 2AF days in a row in between at minimum.
Sunday Feb 21 - AF - I will be tomorrow also to get my 2AF days in a row.
Monday Feb 21 - AF - Very early workday start tomorrow, so AF tonight. Always happy to see my 16 : - )
Tuesday Feb 23 - Drinks. I enjoyed them, but eat completely differently when I have alcohol for sure.
Wednesday Feb 24 - AF - Trying to not have drinks 2 days in a row.
Thursday Feb 25 - Drinks (2) - Broke my 2 days AF in a row rule for myself. Planned drinks for Saturday, so AF for Friday for sure.
Friday Feb 26 AF - Quick month!
Rolling total 18AF days out of 26 days3 -
Day 27 AF for me, day 19 AF for husband. We agreed last night that life felt "chill". We got ourselves into a good place, calm and content, so we're good with keeping it going.
I tried AF faux bubbly rose Senorio de la Tautila and actually it was the best AF drink taste-wise so far for me.
Smelled like the real deal, looked like it, tasted like it, had the "zing" on the tongue feeling like real wine, sweetness level just like regular bubbly rose. It was well made. The downside is the price tag (an import), not avail in stores just online. The other downside is that it can make you seriously gassy if you drink too much of it! Still I would buy it again maybe as a gift for a pregnant or nursing mother or for when people come over and I need an special AF standby.
I got their AF white wine bubbly too but that one arrived spoiled (normal for Arizona due to heat and sun) so I chucked it.
Time to finish my coffee and get to work making today a great day...:)4 -
2 glasses of wine with a shrimp broccoli mushroom pesto pasta dinner last night. Do you ever feel like you deserve the indulgence of wine? That is where my head was last night after doing a deep cleaning of the camp inside and out. But I stopped at 2 glasses did not join DH in the additional drinks of bourbon & 7up.
Side note: My mom had no reaction or issues after her second shot of the vaccine. She is just a little more tired than usual.5 -
@forestdweller1 sorry you had to go though this tough spell but the good news is that you survived a heart attack and on the "mend", as challenging as that can be.
@Tesha231 I don't think you're weird, my husband still has a real double IPA on the top shelf of the fridge and he said he needs to see it there daily because it makes him feel powerful not touching it. LOL.
Me, I am the total opposite. If I bought a real bottle of wine now, I would consume it now. Same with chocolate, quality parmesan and mozzarella, tortilla chips, and ice cream. I am so addicted to all this stuff!5 -
Happy Saturday, LA People! I'll be posting a link to the March thread tomorrow--be on the lookout!
22 out of 15 planned drink this month.5 -
@Tesha231 I don't find it odd at all to have the alcohol in the house, I need it there for me to say no I really don't want that now.....but and you knew I had to have a but....as long as it is 'unopened' I won't open it. Well at least not without a lot of internal debate.
So last night I did make the decision to have a few drinks last night. We stopped at the store and DH picked up a bottle of wine and some scotch. With dinner I sipped 1 glass of wine that I kept adding tonic water too...(it was not too bad actually) Then when that was finished I switched to scotch and tonic water. I had 3oz of that and yep I measured. So still rolling 20 AF days this month and will finish the month with 22 AF days. I am ok with that.7 -
Checking in. I did not stay af last night. I bought a beer and a little carton of wine and drank them both.
Rolling total 25 out of 27 days af. Thinking about buying the same for tonight while I'm out.6 -
Recover Saturday for me today.
I'm not sure how drinking went out of control last night for both my GF and I. We both got a little comfortable with receiving a bottle of rum as a gift yesterday.
Next thing we knew it was half gone and so were we. Been a while that my head has pounded this hard. A grim reminder.8 -
2 open bottles of wine. I enjoyed 1 glass of red wine and 2 glasses of white wine. DH poured me another glass of white which I put in the fridge. I'm not drinking four tonight.7
-
Pizza and wine tonight, guess my running total for the month will stop at 21 days AF, but still better than last month at 18 days AF6
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.9K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.8K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.7K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 397 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.8K Motivation and Support
- 7.9K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.3K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 975 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions