Less Alcohol ~ MAY 2022 ~ One Day At A Time
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Yesterday I was looking over my drink/exercise calenders beginning from 2018 when I joined up on this thread. Doing a comparison of years.(funny, I think @lmlmrn and I were having mental telepathy on that subject yesterday)
2018 was my foot in the door to accountability. A struggle no lying there, definitely had me getting my ducks in a row for where I wanted my relationship with alcohol to be.
Going from drinking daily, trying to keep up and blend in with everyone around drinking what I assumed were normal quantities of alcoholic beverages DAILY around 5-7 drinks on average & as as high as 7-10 off and on.
Fast forward 2022 ( for those new and those lurking who dont think they can cut back, check this out)
I am by no mean super woman but if I can go from the above obnoxious drink tallies I was living through to the drink tallies I have now anyone can begin to cut back.
2022 has given us 123 days so far as of yesterday. I have had a total of 19 standard size drinks within that 123 days. In 2018 and previous to that I could and would drink that amount in 2-3 days. The numbers don't lie.
I dont hide my head in the sand because I don't consume alcohol like in the past. I truely enjoy life, have loads of fun, work hard and try new things. When I want an alcoholic beverage, I have to really think about it, it has to be worth it to me.
I am not going to waste an "A" in a post here to doing a shot with someone or mindlessly drinking something that tastes terrible or that I did not order and came to me mixed incorrectly. I will send it back.
Don't be afraid to be STRONGER than the drink.
Have a great day!
May 2/2AF
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They were surprisingly good! I ate them the night I cooked them and for lunch yesterday. May have the last 4 today
@MissMay Had not thought about making a sandwich with one. I am more of a dipping in BBQ or Sweet N Sour6 -
I am Dawn.
I hit 19AF days for April.
Sticking with my goal of 16-20 AF days per month for May
Diary style.
Sunday May 01 - AF - Mostly because it was the first day of the month : - )
Monday May 02 - AF - That was a struggle, I felt like having a couple of drinks.
Rolling total: 2AF out of 2 days.4 -
@MissMay Love this "Don't be afraid to be STRONGER than the drink."!
I need to stop trying to fool myself into thinking that I can monitor and limit my alcohol consumption on my own. It became a crutch, which then turned into a habit. I need to reduce & reverse this crutch/habit, to something that pairs more closely with my fitness goals, lose weight, sleep better, exercise more, just feel better about my choices.
So, I am back not only "lurking, a lot", but joining in by posting more, being accountable. Change is hard, but I am worth it! I am not going to go cold turkey, looking for more of a 50/50 ratio for now. Much better than my April, guestimate of 5/95 (AF/A) ratio.
May 1: A
May 2: AF8 -
Well darn! DH and I tested positive for covid this morning. Our granddaughter had her 4 month check up this morning and she too has covid (stuffy nose since Saturday night). My DIL says that she feels terrible as well. My son (granddaughter's dad), my pregnant daughter and son in law that were there for Sunday lunch are all now taking precautions to self quarantine.
Guessing either we picked it up from one of the workers (wearing a mask last week but did not show up on Monday this week) at my home, OR my son was on a plane from Calgary to Houston Friday where no one was wearing masks, OR DH working the check in desk at a modeling show Saturday. Or all the above exposed us!
🙏🏻 that we all are healthy and have light cases!
5/1 - AF
5/2 - 2 wine7 -
My reasons for wanting to drink less are to have less bloat, better sleep, less nauseous mornings, and overall better health. So far 2 for 2 in May AF.6
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@Lilylady3k oooooh dear. I’m sorry 😞. Hope everyone recovers quickly.4
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5/1- 2 drinks
5/2-AF
5/3- at my 2 mark and on here to tell myself to just stop. I am armed and ready with Ghirardhelli semi-sweet chocolate chips. When my head asks for the next drink, it will get the chocolate fix instead.
@Lilylady3k I hope and pray you will be Ok. I know many people getting Covid again but it seems like it's a flu-like thing and they are getting past it. Best wishes to you....
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Great to read all of your comments and hear all your goals!
My goal: Limit 2-3 glasses per day with 10-12 AF days this month. I'm not sure how many AF days I had last month but I suspect it was somewhere around 10 AF days. I would like to have more like 15-20 AF days per month but I want to set achievable goals.
Would love to hear what drinks you opt for that are AF - I'm not a huge fan of AF wine or a lot of AF spirits. I've been drinking kombucha which I enjoy. I just like having something to sip on that isn't water. (I'm in Australia so something I can buy here would be ideal
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Some of my alcohol triggers include boredom (which feels ridiculous to say but it's true. If I have nothing else to drink other than water I'll often crack a bottle open and have a glass or two of wine instead. My other issue is social drinking - I rarely drink heavily but if someone wants to do 'after work drinks' I always order a glass of wine or a cocktail, rather than option for AF - it's something I need to work through and become more confident with ordering a soft drink or a lime&soda etc.5 -
@Lilylady3k I am so sorry to hear you and so many in your family have covid. Take care, get some rest and get healthy again quickly. Lots of hugs your way.3
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looneycatblue wrote: »@MissMay Love this "Don't be afraid to be STRONGER than the drink."!
I need to stop trying to fool myself into thinking that I can monitor and limit my alcohol consumption on my own. It became a crutch, which then turned into a habit. I need to reduce & reverse this crutch/habit, to something that pairs more closely with my fitness goals, lose weight, sleep better, exercise more, just feel better about my choices.
So, I am back not only "lurking, a lot", but joining in by posting more, being accountable. Change is hard, but I am worth it! I am not going to go cold turkey, looking for more of a 50/50 ratio for now. Much better than my April, guestimate of 5/95 (AF/A) ratio.
May 1: A
May 2: AF
Welcome back @looneycatblue it's great to see your user name back on this thread.
YES you are definitely 100% WORTH IT.
Love your reasonable approach to wanting LESS in your life.
😁4 -
ERRRRRrrrrrrrrr lost a big post!!!!!!!🤬
MFP -> These posts should go into draft automatically if the window is closed.
anyhow @thehealthyadventurer I make and have bartenders make for me mock mint juleps:
Muddled fresh mint
Sweet iced tea
Ginger ale
Simple syrup if needed and don't have a sweet tea
Serve over shaved ice, garnish with a mint leaf and go put in a horse racing bet!🐎
Kentucky Derby is only 3 days away. Here is my painting of "Hat day at the races" that I painted in March
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So far ya'll are right in that this strain of covid is more like the flu for most people ... but it is interesting that everyone is responding differently and to different extents.
Thank you all for your thoughts and concern. I'm feeling well ... slight headache yesterday and then poof it was gone. DH is under the weather but doing okay ... well enough to walk the dog. Watching his breathing since he does have asthma. Our 4 month old grandaugther has bounced back completely (the doc said just a few days Sun-Tues for her and they were right). My DIL sounds terrible but is starting to feel better. My son just started having symptoms and had fever during the night but is struggling through and doing okay. My pregnant daughter and her husband are still testing negative thank goodness.
However, my sister an elementary teacher stopped by and said she felt terrible. We've not been around her for over a week. She took a test at school and she thought it was negative. She took a test at my house and it was positive. So she looked at the picture of her results at school and she had misread it ... it too was positive. She is running fever and not feeling well ... I'm monitoring her since she is immune comprised (cancer remission with cancer pill treatment now for 13 years after stage 4 cancer) + she is already not in good health.
5/1 - AF
5/2 - 2 wine
5/3 - 1 wine4 -
5
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I am Dawn.
I hit 19AF days for April.
Sticking with my goal of 16-20 AF days per month for May
Diary style.
Sunday May 01 - AF - Mostly because it was the first day of the month : - )
Monday May 02 - AF - That was a struggle, I felt like having a couple of drinks.
Tuesday May 03 - 2-ish drinks. I had the last of the prosecco from the weekend, about an ounce lol. Then had a half of a drink from the freezer and topped it up.
Rolling total: 2AF out of 3 days.5 -
Hello everyone!
Welcome to the new posters.
AF last night but during the week I seem to do ok as long as DH does not mention going out for dinner at the local pub. But when we do that I cut out a day on the weekend.
So one of my HUGE triggers has been boredom in the evenings. I have tried so many things to distract myself from the urge to pour. For me I just discovered.... @MissMay you can appreciate the process....Diamond Painting. It requires some real concentration without really thinking. It is more like paint by numbers with tiny pieces of plastic. I purchased one yesterday and set about trying to figure it out. Well a few hours later I am invested. You can not be impaired to place the tiny plastic domes on the sticky paper to make a picture. So not only did I not have an urge I also enjoying the process.
I have to stay disciplined. I will only let myself work on the 16x20 canvas in the evenings. My other painting I can do anytime during the day or evening. Still sober but still.7 -
Day 3 for me and feeling so much better already!
1-A / 2-AF
@MissMay thank you for the words of encouragement!
So much going on with you all, my life is so boring in comparison, but I am okay with boring at this time!
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A lot of my problem is that I love wine. I drink some wine and then I get hungry. Two years ago my life became very stressful and I started to drink wine at night after work to relax and I had gained at least 70 pounds. One Year ago I decided to get back to my healthy eating habits and the weight came off. I'm down to 123 and still trying to get to 110. Of course I no longer drink wine. Not to say I won't ever drink wine again but I was up to 2 bottles a night.6
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Today is 7 days alcohol free for me!
Dawn, your garden looks great. I’m very excited to see things growing again!
I wrapped up a really stressful work thing today and instead of celebrating with a glass of wine, I bought a bunch of trellises that I will be stapling (?) (haha should probably figure that out) to the side of my house for some flowering vines. I think what I got was coral honeysuckle but it’s been in my greenhouse for several months and I lost the label. I’m really enjoying seeing all the pollinators enjoy the natives I’ve got planted. Saw the first swallowtail of the season the other day! Next year I’ll be figuring out where to plant some trumpet vine in the hopes of attracting hummingbirds.6 -
My May so far:
1st: A (2 drinks)
2nd: A (1 drink)
3rd: AF
4th: AF7 -
thehealthyadventurer wrote: »Hello! First time commenter and have recently decided to try to use MyFitnessPal to assist with my goals. I love the idea of drink less! A lot less pressure than sobriety and something that I would like to try. I don't drink excessively, I just believe the frequency of my drinking is slowing my progress. Bad habits from Covid (lockdown especially) has given me some bad habits and caused me to gain some weight I'd very much like to get rid of. Thanks for starting this!
Welcome aboard!!! Your reasons for wanting to drink bless resonate with me so much.4 -
Hi all, where is this month going?
I’ve had a glass of wine every night except Tuesday, when I had two. I’m noticing my sleep quality is going downhill, so I want to back it down.
A huge contributing factor is stress at work, a big pile of paperwork at home, and lack of exercise. I see that whatever balance I had becoming unbalanced, so I need to fit in more fun and exercise. Then I won’t need to reach right for the bottle of wine the moment I walk in the door.
So, this morning I’m going to work out, and then just tackle my list of house things one at a time. It always feels better to just methodically get through my list than agonizing about it.5 -
@Lilylady3k hope everyone gets better soon!3
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Day 1- 2
Day 2- 0
Day 3- 2
Day 4- 2
The one thing keeping me from drinking 3 is that my rule is to buy only mini bottles. After 2, there is none left and that's where consumption ends.
@thehealthyadventurer - l drink pure cranberry juice on ice, for the tartness and the anti-oxidants. Did you say you are in Australia? How fortunate. I saw a photo of the Whitsundays recently and convinced myself that should be my next trip and I should learn to snorkel there. One day when I leave my job and have time!
There are a MILLION better things to do today rather than drink. Going out now for a walk in the 'hood to listen to the birds chirp.4 -
@Womona A lot of good insights, right there. So true about "eating the elephant" one bite at a time... It really does lower the stress better than anything else, especially compared to fretting how big the whole thing is. But hard to do in the teeth of it. That strikes pretty close to home right now.
@globalhiker Another tart beverage that is a gorgeous color for mixing is hibiscus flowers tea. Mexicans call it agua frescas or agua de Jamaica. A friend taught me to infuse tequila with it (also, gorgeous color) and I had so many flowers left over I tried other things. When you boil the flowers then strain, you get the "tea" which is the very concentrated agua de Jamaica and also the hydrated flowers which Mexicans use to make the incredibly delicious enchiladas Jamaica. A real treat! (Sautee flowers with a little onion and jalapeno for filling and use a rich sauce with cheese on top because the filling is tart. You don't want another tart sauce like tomatillo, for example.)
Happy Cinco de Mayo! We love celebrating Latino cultural heritage, but it's definitely and Americano thing. In Mexico they don't celebrate it at all. Fun fact: It commemorates the fighting spirit of outmatched Mexicans who momentarily beat the French before ultimately losing at Puebla. It always seemed like throwing shade to celebrate a defeat, but then in Texas we celebrate a battle where Mexicans completely decimated Texans, so what do I know? I convinced DH to cancel a work thing tonight so we could have a date. Plan to order one drink. :drinker: 4 -
I am Dawn.
I hit 19AF days for April.
Sticking with my goal of 16-20 AF days per month for May
Diary style.
Sunday May 01 - AF - Mostly because it was the first day of the month : - )
Monday May 02 - AF - That was a struggle, I felt like having a couple of drinks.
Tuesday May 03 - 2-ish drinks. I had the last of the prosecco from the weekend, about an ounce lol. Then had a half of a drink from the freezer and topped it up.
Wednesday May 04 - AF - Planned drinks Friday night before and after the theatre.
Rolling total: 3AF out of 4 days.5 -
Goal: Limit 1-2 glasses per day; 12-16 AF days per month. Aim to drink no more than 2 nights in a row.
May so far ...
5/1 - AF
5/2 - 2 wine
5/3 - 1 wine
5/4 - AF3 -
Today was a great day, despite the fact 'I' chose to drink two beers. I met DH for a late lunch/early dinner. It was Taco Thursday at the place we went so I had a taco salad (skipped the shell) and two beers. The conversation between DH and I was so much fun we stayed longer than planned. Then I oops and went down for a nap when I got home. So now I will be wide awake until midnight. OH well.
Tomorrow is another day5 -
Helloooooo Friday.
Composed another big post yesterday while sitting at the windshield repair shop. My car was finished much sooner than excpected and when I got up out of my chair I accidentally closed the MFP site and there went my three paragraphs. Oh well......
AF despite it all and had 3 different AF drinks while out socializing last night. I curbed my sweet snacking in the evenings drastically since I last mentioned it was becoming to routine after returning home from vacation.
Keep your wits about you and think before the drink as we slide into Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
😎
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I am Dawn.
I hit 19AF days for April.
Sticking with my goal of 16-20 AF days per month for May
Diary style.
Sunday May 01 - AF - Mostly because it was the first day of the month : - )
Monday May 02 - AF - That was a struggle, I felt like having a couple of drinks.
Tuesday May 03 - 2-ish drinks. I had the last of the prosecco from the weekend, about an ounce lol. Then had a half of a drink from the freezer and topped it up.
Wednesday May 04 - AF - Planned drinks Friday night before and after the theatre.
Thursday May 05 - AF - I felt like having drinks, but waited since Friday is already a planned drinks day.
Rolling total: 4AF out of 5 days.3
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