Less Alcohol ~ AUGUST 2022 ~ One Day At A Time

Lilylady3k · August 2022

@sarah7591 - We've all come a long way. Some have lots of practice and others still have their training wheels on. Me I couldn't even count or remember the number of drinks I had each night nor the last time I had an AF evening back in 2018 when I found this thread during a Christmas break. Now I can claim "some" AF days each month and "usually" I keep it to 2 drinks each evening ... but I'm not perfect. None of us are. But it is wonderful to have someone to help chat through our own ups and down.
Thanks for checking in again this month! Keep looking for the small changes ... like maybe a water after each drink ... that too is less alcohol! Whatever your goal ... make it simple and feel the accomplishment of making the steps.
Good luck! And come back to post often.

Lilylady3k · August 2022

@MissMay - I'm nosy too LOL We want to hear your plans for this transition.
The concert sounds like a blast last weekend and especially after selling your home!

Lilylady3k · August 2022

Thought for the day ...

MissMay · August 2022

Hey peeps

I have been AF on M-T-W since getting back from my concert weekend.

My husband...not so much. Family mega DRAMA on his side with the death of his Father. Why do families choose to cause trouble while planning a funeral???? No wonder I have kept my distance from that dark side.🤐

Yes @lmlmrn getting a PODS container dropped here so we pack it ourselves and they will store it in Florida and/or deliver to our new location when we get there.

More AF days ahead for clarity. No one needs fuzzy or even slightly hung over when packing up thier lives.

💪be strong!

Womona · August 2022

@Lilylady3k how interesting that your husband quelled his anxiety about money by spending $150-200 on wine.

As I told my college age son, don’t burn through all the money you saved this summer by blowing it all on beer. You’d be literally pissing your money away. I think the same thing applies here!

Womona · August 2022

I had one glass of wine last night, and because I’m eating more food, it was a tasty addition to dinner instead of getting me tipsy. I was able to stop at one, no problem.

I’m not too worked up about increasing fat by eating more protein. Our brains need fat to function. Rather get that from a nice juicy steak than a candy bar!

I have a serving of cashews before my workout, eggs, some kind of lunch meat for lunch and meat with dinner. I find that chicken breast has the least amount of fat, but oh Lord I can’t eat that every day. So I’m ok with my husband’s homemade burgers or some sausage. The only pure protein that doesn’t also have either fat or carbs is egg whites. I also look for protein content in things like cereal (for example, Special K has 6g, add milk and it doubles. )

Tonight is wine night at work, and my husband is cooking dinner.

joans1976 · August 2022

This thread has been a game changer for me and I sincerely appreciate every one of you!
I joined in July 2022 and it has already made a big impact!

8/1-8/7: 5 AF out of 7
8/8-8/14: 5 AF out of 7
8/15-8/21: 6 AF out of 7
Rolling total 16 AF out of 21
8/22: AF Back to work yesterday and it was as bad as everything I stayed up the night before worrying about. I need a life coach to get me away from this job. Sorry, just feeling sorry for myself this morning.
8/23: AF
8/24: AF

globalhiker · August 2022

August AF days: 15. My husband joined me in going AF about 10 of those days.

7 days left. I need to make them count!

I do follow a protein+ veg diet only because protein turns my hunger off and the veg gives me volume so my tummy feels full. I do try to keep it under 20g each time because I read the body can only use so much and it's ideal to consume it 20 min-1 hr after exercise. Overeat protein and it will be stored, like anything else.

My go-to proteins:
egg whites with salsa
canned tuna zero fat or low fat greek yogurt jumbo shrimp dipped in cocktail sauce natural & low sodium turkey slices
steak or hamburger of course, grass fed, most fat squeezed out (try to limit to 1x a week)

I go vegetarian 2-3x a week. When I do, with dinner, I eat foods like:
peas
lentils
black beans (yummy with green chilis)
gluten free pasta made with quinoa
chili
bean soups

NOTE: I do not lose weight unless I move throughout the day. My hormones sense when I am sedentary and goes into store mode - whether I am fasting or eating protein or on a diet or not. In fact, most of the items I lost weight was when I ate anything but moved all day long.

RockinRobyn672 · August 2022

Hey Team! August is challenging for me since every single weekend is packed full with either friends/family visiting or us traveling to see them.

Goal: 16 AF days for the month; no more than 7 in a week.

8/15 M - Drinks - Last day with our guests.
8/16 Tu - Drinks
8/17 W - AF
8/18 Th - Drinks
8/19 F - Drinks - Hanging out with family in NC for the weekend
8/20 Sa - Drinks
8/21 Su - Drinks - Celebrated MIL's 93rd birthday
8/22 M - AF - Home again, home again, jiggity-jig ... well you know the rest (lol)
8/23 Tu - Drinks - Had 2 glasses of wine at dinner. We're heading out for a camping trip on Thursday. I'm not going to meet my goals this month but I'm finding that tracking is still extremely helpful.
8/24 W - Drinks
8/25 Th - Heading out today for a long weekend camping with our son and friends. Yay! It won't be AF but I plan to limit the daily intake. I am taking a surprisingly good NA IPA that I found.

Rolling total: 5 AF out of 24 days

dawnbgethealthy · August 2022

@joans1976

Thanks for asking about my sleep. I have had sleep issues since I was a little girl, too busy of a brain. It is what it is.

@lmlmrn
I bought some bitters at the gin tasting place, mostly because I remembered you talking about them.
You are getting very close to finishing your house projects : - )

@Lilylady3k
Yes, those 6 bottles of expensive wine would have funded quite a bit of the holiday that you were trying to plan. One whole month without any booze probably would have paid for the entire trip. Quite interesting that your DH is worried about the cost of the trip yet is freely spending money on something that is not creating memories like a trip could, and only has fleeting effects. I totally get that you would not be wanting to have a fight by showing actual numbers to him, but your own priorities are being put on the back burner because of it. Where were you hoping to go on travels?

dawnbgethealthy · August 2022

I am Dawn. I joined this thread in November of 2018

My usual goal: 16-20 AF per month.
I had 19AF days for July.

Diary style (I post the next morning)

Saturday August 20 - AF - I am sure that I can get 5 more AF days in this month to reach my AF goal.
Sunday August 21 - AF - I really felt like having drinks, but had a mock cherry sling, which felt like it was giving me the little buzz that I was looking for lol. Busy day Monday, so it was best to be AF. I may have a couple of cocktails Tuesday night after work.
Monday August 22 - AF - Long workday with my 2 jobs, felt like having drinks (like usual) afterward, but didn't. My waistline (and weight) sure does reduce after AF days.
Tuesday August 23 - 2 drinks, felt like a 3rd but knew that would be too much. Enjoyed the flavour and my little "buzz". 7 days to get 3 more AF days in, pretty sure that I can do it.
Wednesday August 24 - AF - Made myself a mocktail with bitters instead of any of my flavour extracts. It was okay, I prefer the banana, orange or cherry extracts in these drinks. Bitters are almost 50% alcohol, so I used just 3 drops.

Rolling total: 14AF days out of 24 days

joans1976 · August 2022

This thread has been a game changer for me and I sincerely appreciate every one of you!
I joined in July 2022 and it has already made a big impact!

8/1-8/7: 5 AF out of 7
8/8-8/14: 5 AF out of 7
8/15-8/21: 6 AF out of 7
Rolling total 16 AF out of 21
8/22: AF Back to work yesterday and it was as bad as everything I stayed up the night before worrying about. I need a life coach to get me away from this job. Sorry, just feeling sorry for myself this morning.
8/23: AF
8/24: AF
8/25: AF
Going to the doctor today to discuss some bloodwork I’m not happy about. Proud to be able to tell her I’ve cut way down on alcohol-and it will be the truth.

dawnbgethealthy · August 2022

I am Dawn. I joined this thread in November of 2018

My usual goal: 16-20 AF per month.
I had 19AF days for July.

Diary style (I post the next morning)

Saturday August 20 - AF - I am sure that I can get 5 more AF days in this month to reach my AF goal.
Sunday August 21 - AF - I really felt like having drinks, but had a mock cherry sling, which felt like it was giving me the little buzz that I was looking for lol. Busy day Monday, so it was best to be AF. I may have a couple of cocktails Tuesday night after work.
Monday August 22 - AF - Long workday with my 2 jobs, felt like having drinks (like usual) afterward, but didn't. My waistline (and weight) sure does reduce after AF days.
Tuesday August 23 - 2 drinks, felt like a 3rd but knew that would be too much. Enjoyed the flavour and my little "buzz". 7 days to get 3 more AF days in, pretty sure that I can do it.
Wednesday August 24 - AF - Made myself a mocktail with bitters instead of any of my flavour extracts. It was okay, I prefer the banana, orange or cherry extracts in these drinks. Bitters are almost 50% alcohol, so I used just 3 drops.
Thursday August 25 - AF - Planned drinks Friday and or Saturday. Getting close to my goal of 16. Working a split shift on Friday, so that would be nice for me to kick back and have a couple of drinks after that.

Rolling total: 15AF days out of 25 days

ahoy_m8 · August 2022

@Lilylady3k I hope you get to have your vacation. I understand the retirement transition thing. Believe me, in my family it's a current topic of conversation, too. At my mom's funeral, my cousin's husband (who we are hiking with in September) said his goal was to die broke and at this rate he has 100% probability of success. Ok maybe it was funnier in person.

I'll toss a comment in the sleep conversation... Last week (mom died, funeral 5 days later with no arrangements having been made in advance) I had nowhere near enough sleep. Even nights I had enough TIME to sleep, I just laid there awake processing the information of the day. So Monday I emailed my Dr. to discuss Temazepam. It really helped me 20 years ago when I had major depression (divorce) but could not tolerate antidepressants. He thought trying it was a good idea. OMG I forgot how awesome that Rx is for me. (I know everyone reacts to meds differently). I spring awake with happiness and well-being. The day might go straight downhill from there, but at least it starts in a better place. I know Rx is not the solution for a long term or chronic sleep problem, but man, I'll take the help for now.

@MissMay I am so, so sorry for the family drama. My heart goes out to you. My family had fuckups and misunderstandings and it was hard enough without intentional drama. I just can't imagine getting through it with people putting obstacles in the way. It is just a rough patch of road.

Alcohol... I was doing ok with AF weeknights until last night when stepdad and his granddaughter (in town for weekend before college starts) came for dinner. DH asked if anyone wanted wine. At that point, I felt perfectly ambivalent - didn't care either way. But after the first glass I had 2 more. WTF?

Also, I'm doing my mileage but tanked on strength training and have lost weight. Not a good combination as that muscle mass is so. hard. to. gain. Honestly, the reason I'm on MFP in the first place is I "intuitively" eat more than I need to maintain. If I am not making some effort to eat the right amount, I will gain. I maintain at the low edge of "normal" BMI so technically being underweight doesn't make me feel good about retaining lean mass, especially in the absence of strength training. Not feeling great about myself on that front, either.

lmlmrn · August 2022

@dawnbgethealthy thanks for the shout out with the bitters! I like (haha) the 'old fashioned' in diet tonic water. That one gets me going.
@MissMay ..damn the drama! Come visit me I have a few tubes of paint that are calling your name.

Long mindless post.........about silly things

So my mom is doing so much better. She is even cutting back on the amt of oxygen the concentrator is putting out; moved it down from 3 to 2.5 in hopes to 'wean' herself off. I think her motivation is....we played cards at her house on Saturday..... She is a huge huge huge card player and has not been able to go to the senior center since becoming ill to play pinnacle 3 days a week. So yesterday I drove her to her hair appt and she has her portable with her. She thought that went real well so now she is on a mission to get back to cards.

I went to my mandatory fair meeting last night to get the details for work starting next week. Good news is I am at the same gate selling tickets as before. Bad news is the one woman who was such a 'stick in the mud' last year will now be the supervisor over that area.
She hated, hated, did I mention she hated that me and another gal had these dowels with ribbon on them and we waved them out our little booth to attract people to come to our booth? She was given one that was made for her and she said to me that this so silly a thing that she ever saw and she put the sticks in the corner of her booth.
So of course I took them home last year and really TRICKED them out lol. So I plan to bring them back and use them. Her words to me last night. You better not bring anymore than just one for you. They are just too stupid. Why the F* is she even working there if you can't bring a smile to someone? Then she said it was her job to attract people and direct them to the booth???WTF? It's going to be a roller coaster of a ride this year!

AF last night.
I am sorry I could not remember who posted this but you mentioned about back in 2018 you could not remember stringing AF nights together and baby steps...something like that.

Sheesh I did not have an AF day for 20 years until I ventured on this thread in Jan 2021. Every night was the same thing Hard liquer+ diet something until you either blacked out or could hardly find the way to the bedroom. All while being able to get up at 4:45 am and go to the gym then on to work That was insane.

Ok TMI up there sorry

joans1976 · August 2022

@MissMay My best friend (46 years old) got diagnosed with cancer last September. Her husband and I were her primary caregivers. When she got put on hospice care two weeks before her passing, family came out of the woodwork. Both her husbands and hers. There was so. Much. Drama. I just wanted to scream “isn’t this terrible enough? Why are you acting like this?” Thankfully she had written down her funeral wishes and her husband and I went to the funeral home, alone, and planned it all. Humans can be terrible at grieving. I know I certainly don’t know what the heck I’m doing.
And you’re moving during all this too…I can’t imagine. My parents are packing right now, moving September 9. It’s a nightmare and they are only moving 20 minutes away, not across the country! You are a very strong person!

globalhiker · August 2022

@ahoy_m8 big hugs for you and I know you have a very extraordinary amount of hell to deal with at this time. Lots of deep breaths, lots of patience, prayer or wherever you draw strength from.

For you and all of us really, when life smacks you upside the face (yes been there too many times)...trust me on this one, choose to lift yourself up because it's in your power and control to do it, as super-difficult as it sounds, but ask for strength to come to you and lean on good friends for support. If you believe in a higher power, do it and ask for what you need. Lift yourself first, then lift others around you.

My past 48 hours sucked, not as much as some of you. I'm OK and you will be too.

Lilylady3k · August 2022

My oldest son, his wife and baby ~8months and their 2 dogs are staying with us until their AC is fixed. So Thurs-Wed I believe. Meals have been crazy times which I need to begin planning instead of just letting things get picked up or eating out! Example they bought bagel sandwiches for breakfast, then we had Popeyes fried chicken for lunch and Grimaldi's pizza for dinner at the restaurant.

The house is crazy messy with all their "stuff" in the kitchen and dining room which are open concept and basically in the den. Today I need to get some semblance of order to it all. It didn't help that Thursday I started sanding and painting the walls around the windows which were damaged last spring when we replaced all the windows in the house. But now at least the blinds and curtains for the 7 windows in the kitchen are back up! Yesterday we cleaned the wood blinds which really needed it being in the kitchen. Need to do the same for the 2 windows in the den ... paint paint paint touchups are needed everywhere!
Also went plant shopping and bought beautiful flowers for the pot at the front door as well and some new indoor plants to scatter around the house. Working towards decorating for fall which I want to finish before next weekend since we are having everyone over for my sister's 60th birthday and the LSU football game on Sunday evening 9/4. I have time and can get this done!

Vacation wise ... I'm going to plan something not sure what. But DH would like it to be under $10K instead of the >$20K trip + flights I almost booked.
https://www.tauck.com/tours/venice-dalmatian-coast-cruise?tcd=dc2023

Good news! All of us were AF last night (Fri)! Red wine for steak night on Thursday. I think I'll make my 12 AF days this month!

August accountability: 11 days AF
Alcohol: 15 days (32 drinks)
Goal: Limit 1-2 glasses per day; 12-16 AF days per month. Aim to drink no more than 2 nights in a row.

joans1976 · August 2022

This thread has been a game changer for me and I sincerely appreciate every one of you!
I joined in July 2022 and it has already made a big impact!

8/1-8/7: 5 AF out of 7
8/8-8/14: 5 AF out of 7
8/15-8/21: 6 AF out of 7
Rolling total 16 AF out of 21
8/22: AF Back to work yesterday and it was as bad as everything I stayed up the night before worrying about. I need a life coach to get me away from this job. Sorry, just feeling sorry for myself this morning.
8/23: AF
8/24: AF
8/25: AF
8/26: AF
8/27: Plan AF
Today is my best friends birthday. She passed away March 1st. This is the first birthday without her. She left behind a 16 year old daughter and her husband. I am spending the day with them. Her husband has a drinking problem. Deep breath, here goes.

dawnbgethealthy · August 2022

@Lilylady3k

I watched the video from your link. It looks amazing!!!

Less Alcohol ~ AUGUST 2022 ~ One Day At A Time

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