Less Alcohol ~ SEPTEMBER 2021 ~ One Day At A Time

Hi all. Newbie here!!
I’ve loved reading your posts for a few months now and have found them very encouraging and inspiring and although I’m arriving late in the day, I’d like to join this group!!
Over the last 2 months I have managed to reduce my drinking days considerably!!
I’d drink wine everynight if I could and before getting cancer in 2018, that is pretty much what I did.
I’ve spent 3 years fighting ALL - leukaemia. However, since finishing treatment I’d began to slowly slip back into that bad habit again of drinking every 2/3 days. I’m sure a lot of you are thinking ‘what on earth!!! You’ve fought for a second chance at life, so why do it?!’
WelI, I enjoyed wine before cancer and I still enjoy it now, but its very quickly becoming habit forming again.
Great day walking or cycling…have wine!
Cut the grass, bit of gardening…have wine!
Family board game…have wine
Doing a jigsaw…have wine
Making a nice meal…have wine
Sit and scroll around on my phone…have wine
Hard day…have wine
Evening out…have wine
Movie night…have wine
Feeling stressed…have wine
Generally enjoying some alone time…have wine
Feeling anxious…have wine
Feeling angry…have wine
Looking to unwind…have wine
Going to soak in the bath (which is almost a nightly thing for me)…have wine
….so on and so forth!!! 🤦‍♀️😔
My problem is I don’t just stop at the one glass and appreciate it!! Before I know it I’ve had a bottle and am into the second, which is really bad!
So far I have had alcohol 5x this month, almost 2 bottles each time except for the 5th time (this Thursday just gone) where I had 2x250ml glasses.
My aim is to get to the end of this month with no more wine. That would give me 25AF days, which would be a massive feat for me!!! Would love a glass of wine now while typing this!! So I’ve gone to bed early!
I hope by the end of the month I can tell you all that I stuck with it!! 🤞
Also…… when you do have a glass of wine, is you glass small (125ml) or large (250ml) or other?!
Thank you so much for taking time to read this. Have a good remainder of the month all.

Rolling total 16/21 AF. Total of 9 A days. 9 workout days. General goals/rules: no more than 3 drinks no more than 2 days a week and don't drink home alone.
9/1 AF
9/2 A (4 drinks/5.3SD)
9/3 -9/9 AF
9/10 A. (2 drinks/3.2SD)
9/11-9/14 AF
9/15 A (1 drink.1.6SD)
9/16 AF
9/17 A (4 drinks/5SD???)
9/18 A (3 drinks/4SD???)
9/19-9/22 AF
9/23-9/26 A (???) had multiple drinks each night and alone over the weekend. It was sorta celebrating my overwhelming relief at landing the new job, but just turned into a slob weekend. No exercise, ate too much, drank too much (no hangover but still), my apartment is a mess, didn't start packing... bleh. Why did celebration end up looking like depression? Maybe because I'm anxious and this doesn't feel real. Also...I HATE moving.

Back to tracking everything today.

We went to a funeral Friday for a 31 yo young man who checked himself out of rehab, went home and in 4 days, drank 20 bottles of alcohol and his wife found him dead. He had horrible depression problems that tormented him. It was sickening to see his wife and 10 month old daughter standing there.....
I love this page because everyone is doing something about their addiction/desire. You are all so nice and supportive. Everyone keep up the good work.....even if you don’t have AF days, you are still working on it!!! Way to go!!!
Karen

@AR10at50 -
Karen, Extending my thoughts and prayers to the family and friends left behind in such a tragic situation.

@hunter041 - Check out the first page of "Less Alcohol ~ SEPTEMBER 2021 ~ One Day At A Time" this group. @MissMay has a number of links that are very helpful.

My personal suggestion is to set a goal and then check in daily or weekly for accountability. Your goal can be anything that you want to set ... couple of ideas:
- No drinking between 5-7pm or after 9pm
- Reduce your number of drinks per evening to 2
- Target M-Th as alcohol free
- Drink a full glass of water between each alcoholic drink

The first step is to make a decision and then start following through. GOOD LUCK!

I was getting an annual checkup at the local veteran hospital and the doctor asked if I drank. I said I was a light drinker. He looks up and says 'how light'? I said I buy a bottle of rum, quart or liter, or whatever it is (I did not know what a 5th was... Then he asked how long the bottle lasted. When I said 2 months - he wrote down "non-drinker". Doctors are confusing ha ha.

But... now that I am retired and living on the beach in Asia... I have had to cut back. I generally have one rum & coke for my afternoon snack. I was drinking 4 or 5 day. Spread out through the day/evening, so I never got drunk, but it was a lot (tourism is down so all bars are 2 for 1).

I see people saying do not drink at home alone? That makes no sense to me. At home alone I will have one. Out with friends I will have 8.

Now that I am trying to lose weight I have cut back. I am currently having maybe 4 drinks a week. I do not see me quitting. Long term... maybe one a day is more sustainable for me... 😎

I am continuing with my usual goals, 16-20 AF days per month.
I had 18 last month, I have had as much as 23 a few times.
Being here with y'all gives me the accountability that I need and want.
I was a daily drinker at one time, and gradually moved it to my current goal which I have been able to uphold for quite some time.
I have no intention of becoming an abstainer. I enjoy my drinks, just less often, kind of like I have done with certain fattening foods.
I do plan my drinks days for the most part, but usually it is my schedule that dictates that. Trying not to have drinks when I work the following day.
Diary style is how I like to keep track here.


Saturday September 25 - Drinks. I just found out 2 minutes ago that I am working a split tomorrow. I wouldn't have had drinks had I known, but I will be okay, I will have a big long workout in the morning to sweat it out and oxygenate myself : - ) Must say, that I really enjoyed the drinks and it was 28 degrees Celsius when I got off of work and went on a hike with a friend. Googling...82.4 Farenheit.
Sunday September 26 - AF - Next planned drinks day is Friday. Busy week ahead. Hit my 16 : - )
Monday September 27 - AF - Thinking that I will reach 20AF for this month even though I drank every day on my birthday trip.

Rolling Total - 17AF days out of 27 days.

We are not alone ... interesting insight into the wider lens. It is not just me, myself & I.
- Non-alcoholic beer is gaining traction in the US
- US market for no- and low-alcohol drinks grew by more than 30% in terms of volume last year
- A 2019 Nielsen survey found that 66% of millennials are trying to cut back on alcohol consumption, compared with 47% of all people of drinking age in the US.
- “Maybe you’re in a bar and...you want to remain in that social interaction with your friends, but you don’t want to drink more alcohol because you have to work tomorrow or whatever the reason,” Manso posited. “That’s where the volume is. It’s not in the committed non-drinkers; it’s in normalizing this as a moderation tool.”

https://www.morningbrew.com/marketing/stories/2021/09/27/brands-are-figuring-out-how-to-sell-non-alcoholic-beer-in-a-growing-market?utm_source=morning_brew

@dawnbgethealthy
Perfect present!