Less Alcohol ~ FEBRUARY 2022 ~ One Day At A Time

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  • MissMay
    MissMay Posts: 3,560 Member
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    Hey guys suffering through another 6" snow fall today. So Tuesday and Wednesday I was in a light jacket WEEDING my gardens......today I cant even find those gardens. This daily flux in the outdoor temperatures is insane and not in a good way.

    @lmlmrn how exciting about the big purge. If you recall it was this time last year I began mine. I still have a lot to go. It can stir up all kinds of emotions having to get ready for our big transition towards retirement. I'm full steam ahead sorting, tossing and donating. While my DH can't part with useless paper from a job he had 25 years ago.

    About the cleaning of brushes. Have you tried a little hand sanitizer? It is AMAZING how it cleans my paint brushes, painting tools, hands and clothing of paint. Start off with a smidge and work it in with your hands. It will rinse out easily.

    Love hearing others are getting out to see some form of play, entertainment and such.

    @lilylady3k gosh I thought we lost you. Great to see you checking back in.

    2 hard coffees within a span of 7 hours. Not the high power caffine ones like last time that kept me awake.

    4A days this month thus far.
  • cowgirlslikeus86
    cowgirlslikeus86 Posts: 597 Member
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    @ahoy_m8 I make mocktail old fashions with Monday whisky. It doesn’t taste exactly like whisky but the mixed drink is great! Totally worth the $50 a bottle plus it’s easy to have one instead of 3 at this point in my journey.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    edited February 2022
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    @lmlmrn Yeah, they are hard to clean. I have to work at it. Hand sanitizer is a good idea, although it’s the alcohol that dissolves the sticky bits so I could try that (diluted) without the goo.

    @MissMay your garden will appreciate the weeding when it wakes up from winter. We’ve had many more days below freezing than normal, punctuated with 80F days 😆
    Confusing to plants!

    @cowgirlslikeus86 so happy to see your comment! Last night I made a Monday G&T with a whole lime and actually no tonic. I used a splash of soda +drop of sweetener. It was pretty convincing as a G&T with almost straight gin. The mixers seem to dilute the taste fast, but the juniper herbal notes are there for sure! More to the point, I was really happy to sip on it (one!) vs. drinking more with DH. He is cleaning out our liquor cabinet by single handedly drinking the old stuff. :/
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
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    Please tell me if I should start a mocktail thread instead of posting here. Interested what others are trying.

    The first drink I tried with the Monday Gin ($40 on Amazon, BTW) was a strawberry muddled with basil & lemon zest/juice +gin + soda. Garnished with basil flowers. It was very strawberry forward (one berry). The gin got lost but the “strawberry soda” was great and worth doing again without spirits of any kind.
  • dawnbgethealthy
    dawnbgethealthy Posts: 7,629 Member
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    @ahoy_m8

    Post away with your mocktail recipes.

    Personally, mocktails only trigger my craving for cocktails, so I don't really use them, but great idea for most people.
    @MissMay sure makes beautiful looking ones!
  • dawnbgethealthy
    dawnbgethealthy Posts: 7,629 Member
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    I am in, with my usual goal: 16-20AF days per month. I had 18 last month.

    Diary Style is how I roll.

    Friday Feb 20 - 2 drinks
    Saturday Feb 19 - 3 drinks all together, I had a piccolo of Freixenet with cheese for lunch (one flute) and then 2 drinks in the evening. Planned AF for Sunday
    Sunday Feb 20 - AF - Running out of month already! We are getting an Arctic Cold front coming through here over the next few days.
    Monday Feb 21 - AF - The temperature dropped 30 degrees overnight. Hard on the joints when that happens.
    Tuesday Feb 22 - AF - Trying to rack some up.
    Wednesday Feb 23 - AF - Planned drinks on the weekend, possibly drinks before and after the theatre on Thursday night also. Seeing a local production of Annie Baker's "Aliens" which looks interesting.
    Thursday Feb 24 - 2 drinks after the play.
    Friday Feb 25 - 2 drinks. I am gearing up to do a 7 day cleanse soon, AF for 7 days will be the first for me in a very long time. I haven't grocery shopped yet for what I need, and will eat my tropical fruits and stuff that I have in the house that is on the "don't" list first.

    Rolling total: 14AF days out of 25 days
  • sfharvey07
    sfharvey07 Posts: 17 Member
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    @dawnbgethealthy just curious, what sort of cleanse are you doing? Have you done this before? If so, what sort of results are you looking for? I’ve tried a couple and never seem to be able to endure til the end of it, so never really reach the goal of the cleanse (sugar detox, weight reduction, overall feeling healthier, etc.); I turn into a 🐻😬 So just curious 🙂🙃
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
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    dawnbgethealthy wrote: »
    @ahoy_m8

    Post away with your mocktail recipes.

    Personally, mocktails only trigger my craving for cocktails, so I don't really use them, but great idea for most people.
    @MissMay sure makes beautiful looking ones!

    Thanks for commenting. It occurred to me that mocktails could trigger craving, so it is truly an experiment as to whether that will be the case for me or not.

    I have noticed it helps me to have a last drink transition plan. Having something I enjoy *can* stop me from just giving in to another drink I didn't plan on. Often it is just a cup of tea. The most effective are pistachios, but I don't always have them in the house (or have the calories for them). On week nights I frequently make a citrussy or gingery soda that I sip on all evening as a kind of "kitchen closed" ritual. So I'm wondering if I can deploy something similar as a "bar closed" ritual. Work in progress...
  • globalhiker
    globalhiker Posts: 1,522 Member
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    @ahoy_m8 yes please post your mocktail ideas. I need ones with real juices, zero chemicals, not too sweet or caloric, tart. Any with anti-aging properties are perfect.

    side note: I have seen success with drinking a 3rd cup of colombian coffee along with a vit B complex around 3-4pm. It's cutting my dinner appetite and takes away that 5pm "I want a drink" feeling. My problem now is I am not sleepy at 9 p.m. so I stay up reading the news (yes I know, another problem).

    @dawnbgethealthy I really want to hear about the cleanse. Sounds promising.

    Feeling happy because tomorrow I am going on a "hike" date with my husband.
    And the weather is really nice @MissMay, hope you can get out of cold Maine for a winter trip.
  • tmbg1
    tmbg1 Posts: 1,321 Member
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    Feb 1-2 - AF
    Feb 3-5 - stuck with 2 drink limit
    Feb 6-9 - AF
    Feb 10 - 12 - 2 drink limit
    Feb 13-15 AF
    Feb 16-17 - 2 drinks
    Feb 18-19- went a little off the rails oops
    Feb 20- 23 - AF - Feeling good!
    Feb 24-26 - wine nights but back in control- 2 drink limit!
  • dawnbgethealthy
    dawnbgethealthy Posts: 7,629 Member
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    I am in, with my usual goal: 16-20AF days per month. I had 18 last month.

    Diary Style is how I roll.

    Friday Feb 20 - 2 drinks
    Saturday Feb 19 - 3 drinks all together, I had a piccolo of Freixenet with cheese for lunch (one flute) and then 2 drinks in the evening. Planned AF for Sunday
    Sunday Feb 20 - AF - Running out of month already! We are getting an Arctic Cold front coming through here over the next few days.
    Monday Feb 21 - AF - The temperature dropped 30 degrees overnight. Hard on the joints when that happens.
    Tuesday Feb 22 - AF - Trying to rack some up.
    Wednesday Feb 23 - AF - Planned drinks on the weekend, possibly drinks before and after the theatre on Thursday night also. Seeing a local production of Annie Baker's "Aliens" which looks interesting.
    Thursday Feb 24 - 2 drinks after the play.
    Friday Feb 25 - 2 drinks. I am gearing up to do a 7 day cleanse soon, AF for 7 days will be the first for me in a very long time. I haven't grocery shopped yet for what I need, and will eat my tropical fruits and stuff that I have in the house that is on the "don't" list first.
    Saturday Feb 26 - 2 drinks. I begin my cleanse Monday (plan to finish up my hummus and stuff that has vinegar/sugar/dairy etc. Sunday) No alcohol for 7 days starting Monday, but also planning AF for Sunday.

    Rolling total: 14AF days out of 26 days
  • dawnbgethealthy
    dawnbgethealthy Posts: 7,629 Member
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    sfharvey07 wrote: »
    @dawnbgethealthy just curious, what sort of cleanse are you doing? Have you done this before? If so, what sort of results are you looking for? I’ve tried a couple and never seem to be able to endure til the end of it, so never really reach the goal of the cleanse (sugar detox, weight reduction, overall feeling healthier, etc.); I turn into a 🐻😬 So just curious 🙂🙃

    I did the Wild Rose Cleanse twice a year for many many years. I am doing a hybrid of that this time around.
    I stopped doing the cleanses during all of those years of perio and meno - they didn't sit well with me.

    I have had such an achy body and bad guts over the past month. It is time to clean myself.
    I am a healthy eater for the most part. Eliminating a few basic things, and upping others to reset my guts, system, and organs is the plan. I want to feel better.

    Basically, you eat 80% of foods from 2 columns, and 20% from the other.
    It is heavy on brown rice (or millet), onions, garlic, almonds, tahina, oil, and veggies. Spices and herbs are encouraged.
    The no-nos are: vinegar (or anything fermented), sugars, tropical fruit, dairy (except for butter, which is an 80% for some reason) wheat, peanuts, grapes, and fungus (so no mushroom-y type of things).

    As I am prepping to do this I am surprised at how much vinegar (which I detest the taste of) and sugar (which I also don't like the taste of) is in everything that I normally imbibe. Many of my daily vitamins are in gummy form - so sugar. Store bought hummus has both, wheat is in most processed foods. Alcohol comes from grains, grapes, and sugar.

    Rice cakes and almond butter, berries and apples will be my daytime grazing food.
    Dinners will be brown rice, chicken or beef, lots of veggies, potatoes, spices, tahina. I don't like fish personally, but it lands in the 20% column.

    I will make ahead a big rice cooker of brown rice and put it into containers to sauté up each day with onions and garlic and a bunch of other stuff.



  • tmbg1
    tmbg1 Posts: 1,321 Member
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    Feb 1-2 - AF
    Feb 3-5 - stuck with 2 drink limit
    Feb 6-9 - AF
    Feb 10 - 12 - 2 drink limit
    Feb 13-15 AF
    Feb 16-17 - 2 drinks
    Feb 18-19- went a little off the rails oops
    Feb 20- 23 - AF - Feeling good!
    Feb 24-26 - wine nights but back in control- 2 drink limit!
    Feb 27-28 AF (prelogging the 28th)
    Total 15 AF out of 28
  • lmlmrn
    lmlmrn Posts: 787 Member
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    Thank you all for the suggestions on the brush cleaning

    AND the mocktail ideas are just flowing now. I did not stay AF Saturday or today. But nothing crazy. Dinner yesterday with family 2 glasses of wine for 8 hours of game time. Then today out for lunch and a beer with my philly cheese steak sandwich.
    Then a beer nap, my weekend is complete.
    I am sitting here with my mocktail of citrus y, gingery, tonic water. Delicious
    Tomorrow will be my first day back at the gym....yikes I should have shaved my legs. Oh well
  • sfharvey07
    sfharvey07 Posts: 17 Member
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    @MissMay those mocktails are beautiful!!
    @dawnbgethealthy your cleanse sounds interesting! We do a 5 day Daniel Fast with our church every Jan (no meat, dairy, cheese, butter, sugar, alcohol, flour, caffeine…basically all fruits, vegetables, broken rice, nuts, legumes, water, olive oil, and vinegar are ok) it’s 5 days, but feels like a month! Hahah unfortunately this year, I ended up gaining weight! It’s not supposed to be a diet per se, but if I’m depriving myself of what feels like everything, I’d like to drop a few pounds!😁 I’m going to look into your wild rose cleanse, just to check it out! Good luck with your cleanse and feeling better overall, especially gut health and less aches!

    Have a great day everyone! 🙋🏻‍♀️
  • MissMay
    MissMay Posts: 3,560 Member
    edited February 2022
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    GOOD MONDAY MORNING!

    Today is the last day of the month

    Also our new March thread has been created.
    Follow this link ->https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10857693/less-alcohol-march-2022-one-day-at-a-time/p1?new=1

    Open invitation to everyone that would like to DRINK LESS for whatever reason you choose.

    A short 28 days ago we all jumped onto the FEBRUARY thread. I have met new wonderful people, read so many inspiring posts and taken in lots of great information to continue my own drink less journey.

    So, get your buns over to our March thread tomorrow or I'll have to come look for you.🤣

    My February month ends with:
    4 days A
    24 days AF
  • dawnbgethealthy
    dawnbgethealthy Posts: 7,629 Member
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    I am in, with my usual goal: 16-20AF days per month. I had 18 last month.

    Diary Style is how I roll.

    Friday Feb 20 - 2 drinks
    Saturday Feb 19 - 3 drinks all together, I had a piccolo of Freixenet with cheese for lunch (one flute) and then 2 drinks in the evening. Planned AF for Sunday
    Sunday Feb 20 - AF - Running out of month already! We are getting an Arctic Cold front coming through here over the next few days.
    Monday Feb 21 - AF - The temperature dropped 30 degrees overnight. Hard on the joints when that happens.
    Tuesday Feb 22 - AF - Trying to rack some up.
    Wednesday Feb 23 - AF - Planned drinks on the weekend, possibly drinks before and after the theatre on Thursday night also. Seeing a local production of Annie Baker's "Aliens" which looks interesting.
    Thursday Feb 24 - 2 drinks after the play.
    Friday Feb 25 - 2 drinks. I am gearing up to do a 7 day cleanse soon, AF for 7 days will be the first for me in a very long time. I haven't grocery shopped yet for what I need, and will eat my tropical fruits and stuff that I have in the house that is on the "don't" list first.
    Saturday Feb 26 - 2 drinks. I begin my cleanse Monday (plan to finish up my hummus and stuff that has vinegar/sugar/dairy etc. Sunday) No alcohol for 7 days starting Monday, but also planning AF for Sunday.
    Sunday Feb 27 - AF - Planned AF for Monday and will squeak into my 16AF for this shortened month.

    Rolling total: 15AF days out of 27 days
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
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    @MissMay Beautiful presentation on the mocktails! When I have extra watermelon or cantaloupe, I puree it (with a couple mint leafs) and freeze in large format ice cubes. It livens up a limey or lemony soda water.

    Saturday I tried a Nigroni mocktail: equal parts Lyres "Italian Orange" (Compari), "Aperitif Rosso" (vermouth) and Monday Gin. It was a pretty decent and interesting approximation. Full disclosure: I don't just love Compari. I make Nigroni's with Cynar instead. But I was content to sip one and it was successful as a "transition" drink from the wine we had with dinner to soda water for the rest of the evening. I might try an Americano next -- amaro, vermouth and soda water, basically a nigroni with soda instead of gin. Or another Nigroni with Cynar + AF spirits.

    February accountability:
    M-Th AF: mostly on track with exceptions for Valentine's day and the trip to help my friend in Mexico. I didn't track (food or alcohol) on the trip. It was nothing crazy, just too hard to log.
    F-Su <=2: mostly on track with the notable exception of one night when I jumped the track and had 5 drinks, according to my notes. Unfortunately, I didn't note what was going on between my ears that night. We went out to eat, had a couple drinks. Came home, had a couple drinks. Probably a case of the drink having a drink and skidding down the slippery slope.
    My weight is still in the middle of my 5lb "maintenance range" so I've been able to compensate for splurges here and there.

    On to a marvelous March!
  • punkahontas71
    punkahontas71 Posts: 73 Member
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    Hi! Looking forward to a change in my habits and being able to post about them!

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