LESS Alcohol ~ FEBRUARY 2023 ~ One Day at A Time

Good Morning and welcome to the new people. You will have a ton of non judgy support here.

This is my 5th morning waking up AF. Yesterday was a bit hard. Due to some stress, around 5pm I was craving pretty badly and was having that dialogue with myself that goes, "We could split a bottle of wine. That wouldn't be so bad. I need it to relax me." You know that story. Anyway like I've said before, I played the move to the end which would have ended with me going back out for more wine, drinking it all, and waking up at 2 AM with my heart rate at about 115 for several hours and terror I was about to have a stroke. This thought squashed my craving.
My sleep is slowly, slowly improving. I am going longer stretches now without waking up. This part of AF living has definitely given my life an upgrade.

joans1976 wrote: »

Hey everyone, I’m Amanda. I live in Michigan and it is freezing and gray here but at least it’s staying light out past 5 pm now. ☀️
I joined this lovely thread in the summer of 2022 and it has made a huge difference in my life! I’ve gone from being 25% AF to 98% AF. My last A day was Christmas Eve and my last A day before that was 10/28/22.

The people here are kind and real and smart and fun! Welcome to all newcomers!

2/1: AF
I can’t even post here what has happened with work, for one it is too long and for another it’s too infuriating. I definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

I downloaded one of the apps @MissMay has in her recommendations at the beginning of the month. It’s called “Reframe.” So far it’s telling me about the psychology of alcohol but letting me put in my “why” and AF streak. There is a forum too. I tread lightly there as I have pretty high standards for my LA friends 🙃 I’m using a 7 day free trial now.
39 days AF

I downloaded Reframe in January! I find it very helpful and enjoy the daily tips but I think it will be more temporary for me versus something I want to rely on long term. Overall it's a great resource to stay mindful and provides insightful information to help remember our "why"

Happy Thursday!

2/1 AF
30 day experiment: Day 15, AF 14

I had wine on 1/31, so it doesn't count towards my February totals and it was the first drink I had since starting the 30-day experiment.

I have experienced two major improvements:

• Sleep
• General overall energy level (which comes from more restful sleep)

I was simply tired of being tired and had no idea what to do about it. It was part of the aging process, for sure. I figured my weight had something to do with it, but again, I had no answer.
When Covid arrived, and we were sent home to learn how to spend quality time with our families, even though I was still on call for work, I didn't need to get up at a specific time, so I ditched the alarm.

When things started to return to normal or the new normal, I continued not setting the alarm. I left my bedroom curtains open and allowed my natural body clock and sunrise (in the summer) to wake me. Since this was working (I was waking up on my own and on time), I figured I was getting the needed I rest. Yet, I still felt tired.

There were mornings when I'd wake up and feel even more tired than when I went to bed. I was current with my physicals and blood work, so there was no medical reason for this. Again…I pinned it on aging as that was the only place I hadn't been before….(ie: growing older)

I am not a sleep expert, nor do I play one on TV 😊. What I write here is based on my interpretation of information and how it pertains to me and my sleep patterns.
Other Reference Info
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/stages-of-sleep

I wear my apple watch to bed and, previously my Fitbit. I like the watch because you can add apps that give you more information about your sleep. There was this app that kept reporting my sleep quality as poor. I could only assume that because I frequently went to the bathroom during the night, the app was interpreting as disrupted sleep and lowering my sleep score. I was just about to delete the app.....

I looked back at the raw data from my apple watch, and it didn't conclude one way or the other. It just told me I was "consistent" and noted how much time I had slept, and showed me my sleep cycles. I saw that I spent about an hour in a deep sleep each night. Studies say between 13% and 23% of time asleep should be deep sleep. Ok, I was in the range so I must be getting decent sleep, right?

Part of the experiment provides information about what alcohol does to the body (good and bad), and there was some discussion on sleep cycles and that you should get 5 to 6 cycles to feel fully rested. Interesting I thought.

I started flipping back through my cycles and saw that I was getting 3 to 4 cycles. Hmmm….
I then looked at my recent days without alcohol; my cycles had increased to 5 to 6 cycles per night!

AND not immediately, but by day 4– I realize I haven't been feeling nearly as tired when I wake up or throughout the day.

When I had wine on 1/31 - the next day was a bit groggy. I woke with a slight head ache and continued through the morning with my head feeling like a bowling ball. I checked my app and sure enough, my sleep had deteriorated. It's quite fascinating and disturbing at the same time.

I was never that much of a drinker since my younger years of silliness...I was on a great trajectory spring of 2020 having lost 70 lbs..Enter the pandemic. I soon lost my job and spent a lot of time in the park day drinking with others out of loneliness and boredom but all was not lost, I was working out a lot and still watching my intake.

Then my gym shut down, I was completely on my own. Terrified...I started to stress eat cakes, chips, greasy giant breakfasts, and cinnamon buns. When the weather got nasty I stayed in and started a habit to drink a small bottle of white wine almost every night. I gained back 20 lbs.

I started looking for ways to work out not including the gym. Walking was the easiest choice. I set my goal at 5k. The blisters upon blisters, the blown out shoes, the pain..I persevered and the weight gain stopped. I could no longer afford to go to my gym so had to cancel that.

The end of 2022 found me running a 5 k per week working in a very physical job I thought that the weight would fly off...not with a bottle of wine per night..I did not lose, but gained back 5 more pounds, recomped my body, dropping pants sizes and toning my muscles.

Still drinking the wine almost every night. I recently decided enough is enough and dropped the wine..the first week I lost 6 lbs. My friend told me about MFP and I am so excited to be able to track calories and see others in this with me. My first goal is to lose that 20 lbs. I cant believe how many calories this MFP thing wants me to eat to lose 1 lb per week!

My big goal is to keep the drinking to once every few weeks and get back to my original goal of my pre pregnancy weight from 31 years ago..I am a gramma now and it still has not happened. My doctor suggested I stop coffee, running, and doing really heavy cardio for a while and go back to walking along with my heavy job as it seems the coffee and cardio activity combined with heavy physical labor may be activating my fight or flight response. Let's see. Scared..unknown territory here.

@forestdweller1 Oh these gummies only have l-theanine and GABA and lemon balm, no special stuff, although there are 2 dispensaries within a mile of my house if I am ever in the mood. Legal here in Michigan.
Radiation: got a call from the doctor this morning after I posted. Putting radiation off for 3 more weeks due to the original radiation plan not being to her liking. Getting re-measured next week. So, more waiting. Once I finally get there a countdown calendar will be made!
Work: It was a client that did me in yesterday but it was more the managements lack of support (surprise!) that upset me. Notes all over this client’s chart about how she is rude, disrespectful, uncaring, entitled. I am only getting on the computer this weekend to polish the resume, not to work for this toxic circus.

Thank you! ❤️ Meowlo to Catpuccino, stay warm!

I'm having my herbal tea and sitting in front of my "fire". It's actually a youtube of a crackling fire with some lovely music playing but it feels like the real thing anyway As usual I was tempted around 5 pm but I surfed the urge. Another AF day done and dusted.

Well as always, late to the party
Thank you @MissMay as always for starting this groups month with a bang. Welcome all the new posters I love reading everyone's story. In so many ways other than our consumption of alcohol we are similar in our why we want to drink less.
AND when I found this thread I did not think that there were so many others just like me! besides this group is so non judgemental, witty, funny, sometimes sad but most of the time uplifting.
So to everyone Thank you

ps I will so try harder to post daily LOL

2 out of 2 AF so far for February.

Good Morning Everyone.

2/2 AF
Yesterday was tempting. I came home from work and within a few minutes, I heard the drink shaker. DH decided to make some pomegranate sours. At first, it smelled of alcohol - I guess I'm a little sensitive now that there's less in my system and then it smelled good. But I didn't. I poured a glass of my 5 calorie juice and held strong.

The weekend, I will take one day at a time. We have nothing really planned so that leads to idleness....

@joans1976 - I downloaded the Reframe App as well. let me know what you think. And, re the vodka, today is another day.

@zenzone - lets us know how it goes at the Volksfest.

@MamaJammy - Good Luck. I dropped the wine almost two weeks ago and 5lbs vanished. Then my body seemed to adjust. I'm sure over time it will start to lose again. It's amazing the amount of empty calories the wine provides.

Wishing everyone a terrific Weekend!

Month Stats

Always value seeing your thought process, @dawnbgethealthy , so thanks for sharing. I aspire to be more like you with respect to my present tense self respecting my future self. And ice skating.

Awesome job holding strong, @itladyee . That's some willpower, there. It is those situations, exactly, when I find it so helpful to have an AF substitute I enjoy. Good on ya.

I'm stumped, too, on the 240 calorie vs. 500 cal lobsterita. I'm guessing it has to do with size. Maybe served in a larger glass, plus the rocks version may have lots o ice, not so much hootch.

Happy Friday, all. My day started super cranky, mostly from hacking up ice on my entry and front walk early this morning (don't have suitable tools for that, but I will note that hacking solid ice is different from shoveling snow) but also simmering unrest from being cooped indoors all week and other irritants I have wanted to vent but just kept a lid on instead. The vent is all "don't sweat the small stuff" stuff like my things being used and put away dirty and in one case broken (scraping ice). It wouldn't bother me, I'm sure, if I were better at sharing in general. And then my day took a dramatic turn for the better when I had a massage - a Christmas gift from a friend. Can you believe how kind? I'm on the table (a heated table), and thinking, "omg... how could this have ever been a bad day!?!" It was glorious.

AF M-Th. DH returns within the hour. Will probably have a glass of wine together then make hatch chile stew for dinner. I'm looking forward to both! Cheers, everyone!