LESS Alcohol ~ APRIL 2023 ~ One Day at A Time

dawnbgethealthy · April 2023

@Michieb125

Fabulous photos!! Thank you for posting.
I especially like those red flowered? stalks. I don't think that I have ever seen anything like that before.

dawnbgethealthy · April 2023

I am Dawn, I live in South Eastern British Columbia.
I joined this thread in November of 2018, a daily drinker at the time
My primary goal with drinking less is weight loss.

My usual goal is 16-20 AF days for the month,
I had 17AF days in March.

I do this diary style, I normally post the next morning.

Sunday April 09 - AF - Working long hours to get the garden started is a real trigger for me, which I need to avoid since there is like a month and a half of it to go until everything can be planted. Potatoes are in, pea garden has begun. Rain is forecasted for the next couple of days, so I wanted to get stuff planted on non-work days so as not to limit myself for time.
Monday April 10 - Drinks. Zero willpower was the reason. Day 6, Day 10, and Day 16 are always my mini AF goals throughout the month. Going to hit the 6 Tuesday.
Tuesday April 11 - AF - Planned AF for Wednesday. 6AF days achieved, next up 10AF days to get to.
Wednesday April 12 - 2 drinks between 3:00 and 4:00, a time when I would be normally working my Foster Grant jobs. Unplanned drinks day, I am just struggling a bit right now. Planned AF for Thursday.

Rolling total: 6AF days out of 12 days.

joans1976 · April 2023

@brittgreenlikethecolor88 Youre doing great! I cut back alcohol in June ‘22 and started losing weight in March of ‘22. A big reason I stopped (and there are bigger reasons) was the nighttime heartburn and the daytime sleepiness. It was killing me. I would wake up “fine” but by noon I was a zombie.

Michieb125 · April 2023

Quick pop by on our last day at the beach before heading home tomorrow morning. It’s been a great getaway but back to reality tomorrow! I have been tracking calories and macros everyday and checking in here.
Drive to the cute town with DH yesterday and had olive oil and balsamic vinegar tastings. Bought a Tuscan Olive Oil, and a dark cherry and a dark fig balsamic to take home. Had have my planned red wine last night although slightly more than my serving goal. That did evolve into having a few pieces of dark chocolate naturally. More discipline is in order when I get back.

AF - 8
A - 4
Goal: Limit 2 glasses per day (5-6 oz. portion)

itladyee · April 2023

I got some funky news today which totally meant I'm having a drink. Probably need to change this mindset. I will elaborate more tomorrow but right now I'm #mindblown.

forestdweller1 · April 2023

Okay, everybodeee [channeling my inner Cookie Monster] pick a non-food, non-drink reward for when we've accomplished a goal....getting new workout sweats to fit the improved body...thrift-shopping a fancy-dancy outfit...buying and planting a windowsill full of herbs/flowers...taking the kids [grandkids] on a trip to the zoo/amusement park/ state forest....mani/pedi/massage/ ...buying & learning to play some new sheet music...finding out what "goat yoga" really is...spending a night with a teen at a local race track...going to a pottery & creating something [even if it's pug-ugly]...enrolling in that short Jr. College course in whatever[...reading that new novel or watching the mini-series [without a glass of ????] ...taking your spouse and your new body to Salsa dance classes....
ANYTHING that does not involve food or drink calories. Rewarding yourself with a chocolate bar after abstaining from booze for a week ...well, just, NO.
My personal day-on, day-off drink history this April needs to stop tomorrow. Two sakis too late for tonight. Egg drop soup & crab fried rice were my excuse.
Can I do 17 days AF in a row ? Been there, done that, why not ? 🤞

forestdweller1 · April 2023

SIL#2's meds kicked in enough for him to get on the rider & mow my yard today. No weed-eating, since he cannot use his hands that well yet. It's a point of pride for him to do this, since he took over that chore from me after my "bee-sting, heart-attack, covid, long covid year". He refuses to give me back my riding lawn mower after storing it in his workshop over-winter. It actually was dangerous for me to use the mower the last 2 years since I weighed just over 100 pounds, and could not have controlled the mower on my yard's steep hills. I'm better, but now a victim of "coddle-Mama-abuse".
Thankful and grateful are the words of the day.
Has anyone seen the Velveeta commercial with the elderly lady with long white hair toodling around on an orangey riding mower ?? My daughters scream with laughter when it plays..."It's MAMA!!!!" , Yeah...guilty.

ahoy_m8 · April 2023

@lmlmrn Beautiful find. So awesome hearing about your travels. All that planning and it's happening!
@MissMay Work situation scary. That no bueno.
@itladyee Oh wow! Thank you for progress photos. Turned out fabulous!
@GaryM_25 I love how yours turned out, too. Dueling cheesecakes. Cheers!
@Sinisterbarbie1 May I come to your house next year? Lobster pot pie, oh my! It sounds GLORIOUS. I love spanakopita, too. What was your inspiration for putting those together?
@dawnbgethealthy Your garden is a thing of beauty. Love, love those photos. I cannot imagine how much work that is. Gurrl, you deserve a drink after all that. (I totally get the drink trigger concept).

Love you guys. Apologies for not keeping up. I'm up to pg 10 of comments. Just finished an upholstery project that has had me in sweat shop mode. Finished in time to leave town tomorrow for parents' weekend for DD#3. @dawnbgethealthy I totally had a "I deserve it" trigger when I got it done.

Nice Easter with all the parents, but no daughters. That was a little sad, but throwing myself into a project is a dependable diversion. My dear stepdad is a disciplined photo documentarian. I'll try posting one of his photos.

buxtonlee · April 2023

Recovery day off the bike but some weights later. 1.6kg down and 4 days 10 hours AF, but it’s Friday and that means breaking the habit of meeting the blokes in the pub for a few pints, so a tough one to avoid and stay on track. I have another big ride planned on Saturday which usually acts as a deterrent. Fingers crossed and thanks for all your support.

GaryM_25 · April 2023

Yesterday, I finally did my US federal and state income taxes. Since I owe, rather than get a refund, I put it off.

Or maybe, I simply procrastinated a bit since I could.

I observe a pattern. 1) It's something I can put off. 2) It's something that causes anxiety. 3) It's something that can have some unforeseen anxious ups and downs in the process of doing it.

That's a trigger and a quite strong one. I so wanted to have a drink. I need to give this some thought.

Anybody else share this pattern of trigger?

tmbg1 · April 2023

4/1 - A
4/2- AF
4/3 - AF
4/4 - AF
4/5 - AF
4/6 - 4/7 - 4/8 - A
4/9 - AF
4/10 - AF
4/11 - A
4/12 - AF
4/13 - A

RockinRobyn672 · April 2023

Hi All! Since joining this group Nov '22 I no longer drink on a daily basis. I'm drinking less for weight loss and overall health.

Thu 4/13: AF - Several wins yesterday. My resolve is still holding up. This was day 4 of experimenting with IF, I got in a 45 minute spin, drank water while dining out last night (it was surprisingly satisfying), and then had only one NA IPA at home. We were going to but didn't take a walk on the boardwalk after dinner because it was miserably windy and cool. My weight is down today. Now if I can only maintain my weight over the weekend. We're looking to purchase Trek Checkpoint gravel bikes this week so that we can go on and off-road. Regardless we'll do a long bike ride this weekend. I will not be doing IF over the weekend but do plan to stay AF. I'm really tired of losing all progress over weekends.

Rolling Total: 8 AF Days out of 13

RockinRobyn672 · April 2023

@dawnbgethealthy Hoping you find something fun soon to fill that "Foster Grant" time.

@Michieb125 So glad you had a great time at the beach. It sounds like you did great with food/drink.

@Joans1976 Now that you mention it, I'm noticing less heartburn. Yay!

@forestdweller1 Ha! Here is my non-food/drink reward. I ordered a squirrel feeder for my back yard, for my cat, Sport, and to keep them out of the bird feeder. It's pretty cheesy. It's a little picnic table that holds a corn cob on a screw and seeds/nuts. It has brought unexpected pleasure to our household. It's not just Sport who's enjoying watching the squirrels!

@GaryM_25 I get it. I do the same with taxes and other things, especially things at work that I don't want to do. Those trigger excessive snacking.

@buxtonlee You're doing great. Weekends are hard for me too for similar reasons.

brittgreenlikethecolor88 · April 2023

Goal: AF - Sunday-Thursday.
Less than 3 drinks per day on Friday & Saturday.

Apr 3 - MON: AF ✅
Apr 4 - TUES: AF ✅
Apr 5 - WED: AF ✅
Apr 6 - THUR: AF ✅ 🎉
Apr 7 - FRI: 5 Drinks ❌
Apr 8 - SAT: 3 drinks ✅
Apr 9 - SUN: AF ✅
Apr 10 - MON: AF ✅
Apr 11 - TUES: AF ✅
Apr 12 - WED: AF ✅
Apr 13 - THUR: AF ✅

@joans1976 Thank you! 😊

ahoy_m8 · April 2023

@MissMay You rocked a bikini photo you posted once, soon after the big move, so Ima guessing you are starting from a good place. Have you talked abut this dream vacation in August? Do tell!
@Michieb125 Fantastic photos. Thank you for sharing. Wow. Love hearing about these RV vacations. So interesting! (except the harrowing drive, @lmlmrn

)
@itladyee I hear you about the vacation mindset with regard to food & bev. It can take me a couple days to settle back into routine. Be gentle on yourself. You have most of the year ahead of you, and you can totally make that goal. I'm a big believer in small things done faithfully making the biggest difference - not the Herculean effort here and there. (In life in general, including marriage

the daily kindnesses, not that awesome anniversary present 10 years ago.) What did your coworkers say about the cheesecake? Sorry about your friend's rollercoaster. I know you were worried. Hopefully smaller ups & downs is a good thing.

dawnbgethealthy · April 2023

I am Dawn, I live in South Eastern British Columbia.
I joined this thread in November of 2018, a daily drinker at the time
My primary goal with drinking less is weight loss.

My usual goal is 16-20 AF days for the month,
I had 17AF days in March.

I do this diary style, I normally post the next morning.

Sunday April 09 - AF - Working long hours to get the garden started is a real trigger for me, which I need to avoid since there is like a month and a half of it to go until everything can be planted. Potatoes are in, pea garden has begun. Rain is forecasted for the next couple of days, so I wanted to get stuff planted on non-work days so as not to limit myself for time.
Monday April 10 - Drinks. Zero willpower was the reason. Day 6, Day 10, and Day 16 are always my mini AF goals throughout the month. Going to hit the 6 Tuesday.
Tuesday April 11 - AF - Planned AF for Wednesday. 6AF days achieved, next up 10AF days to get to.
Wednesday April 12 - 2 drinks between 3:00 and 4:00, a time when I would be normally working my Foster Grant jobs. Unplanned drinks day, I am just struggling a bit right now. Planned AF for Thursday.
Thursday April 13 - 2 drinks, apparently I am back to drinking every day? It was an AF planned day, didn't make it.

However, I did get another big patch of my pea garden turned over, weeded and planted:

Getting there : - )

I will get to this patch today after work if it doesn't rain as promised

Rolling total: 6AF days out of 13 days.

Michieb125 · April 2023

Returned home today and so happy the sun is shining - I’m definitely ready for more!

I logged 54,600 steps or 22 miles in 4 days - a first for me in such a long time.
It feels weird going into the weekend with planned
AF until Wednesday or Thursday next week but had my 2 days A back to back days so it is time for a break.

This weekend I plan to prep my small patch raised garden and get ready to plant some established vegetables next weekend.

DH and I will continue work on the greenhouse project-painting is about 3/4 done and has been a LOT. Worth it I’m sure but anxious to start the

AF - 8
A - 5
Goal: Limit 2 glasses per day (5-6 oz. portion)

Michieb125 · April 2023

@forestdweller1 a non-food, non-drink reward…. Probably a new pair of sandals or white skinny ankle jeans. Or, a beautiful potted plant from the nursery near by.

@Rockinrobyn672 congrats on all your wins! You are doing so great. Cute little squirrel feeder too!

@dawnbgethealthy your pea garden prep is really coming along! I am also sending you positive thoughts for your job transition.

@ahoy_m8 I share your philosophy about how the small things done faithfully make the biggest difference.

@GaryM_25 “I observe a pattern. 1) It's something I can put off. 2) It's something that causes anxiety. 3) It's something that can have some unforeseen anxious ups and downs in the process of doing it.”

I really related to this pattern during my master’s program given the deadlines for exams and writing assignments. I believe there is a definitely correlation between procrastination and anxiety for individuals in general as well as students. Good luck with those taxes!

itladyee · April 2023

Recap for 4/13/2023
This has been a horrible week. Not so much with overeating or drinking, but other stuff had been grating my nerves which then leads to over drinking and then overeating. Last night there was overdrinking.

The short story is this... since this is a public board, I won't go into detail but if anyone has knowledge or experience with going from W2 to K1 and is willing to educate me, please inbox me. The end result as I see it, is causing me to have a significant reduction in income due to additional taxes being paid by me. I had a quick conversation with my cpa, but it's the final hour of tax season so he's really busy and thought he was done with me!

I worked from home today to avoid biting anyone's head off.

The Month recap to stay accountable

4/1
My plan starts/restarts tomorrow.... Mayo Clinic "diet" . Today wasn't so bad. Had 6 ounce filet and asparagus and two glasses of wine for dinner. I have only one bottle of wine left in my house and I don't plan to buy any more this month.....
4/2/2023
Well.... the day was actually going well. I had a couple of breakfast sausage for breakfast (not the best choice but I haven't been shopping yet). For lunch, cobb salad and for dinner Chicken with a southwest salad. All meals accompanied by water! I made it until 8:30pm when my husband came home from work. He cracked open a beer and started recapping his negative day... so two glasses appeared .... bottle is almost empty🙂
4/3/2023
I skipped breakfast, considering IF again. if only to kick start some action. Good for lunch (leftover Chicken and Salad) and dinner was an airfried pork chop and broccoli. Husband turned on the NCAA championship game and make Pomegranate Sours. I had one and a half (about 6 ounces).
4/4/2023
[Noted yesterday]I'm already claiming today as AF. Gotta get started and ignore the triggers.
Yeah! That worked....:) AF! Mental mind games. It's funny. Once you put your mind to it, it's fairly easy. When your mind isn't committed, is easy to waiver. I came home and immediately poured my substitute wine (Ocean Spray 5 calorie juice) and proceeded to cook dinner. My husband came in and out of nowhere said, lets have a shot of Maker's Mark. I said no thank you, but go right ahead. He didn't. Then later on in the evening we were watching Jeopardy and the final Jeopardy question comes on and he says...if I get this right, you have to take a shot. It was like the devil incarnate! I said no!
4/5/2023
Weird day....as far as alcohol was concerned. I've been going to a place to get my nails done for over 15 years. My nail tech use to tell me to relax as my hands would be quite rigid while we would attempt to do my manicure. I use to tease that they should sell wine, that would relax me. Yesterday I went to get my eye brows waxed, nails and pedicure done. While getting my eye brows done, the tech says, would you like a glass of wine? I looked at her like she had two heads. She said, we have cabernet or moscato.... I politely declined. She continued that I could sip while getting my pedicure done. I declined again. Then when getting my pedicure done, my regular guy asked again. I just chuckled and said no thanks. I had received message late Monday from my friends son that she was in the hospital (she's 84). I tried calling Tuesday day and evening and left a message. I missed his call again but he didn't leave a message. When I got home, I tried again and got the message that his voice mail box was full. So that left me a bit concerned and put me in a solemn mood. I poured my substitute wine and air fried some catfish for dinner. It just wasn't doing it, so I finished that bottle of wine (not quite two glasses). Now here comes the weekend as I'm off tomorrow for Good Friday.

When all is said and done and I get annoyed for not staying AF, I have to give myself credit that I am continuing to limit alcohol and not drinking nearly as much. And I can see the difference with the reduction. Glad I found this group.

4/6/2023
Thursday was my "Friday" as I'm off today!

Guilty - went shopping for weekend meals including Easter dinner and did buy wine. Did drink wine. I think my next AF target day will be Monday, 4/10...I want to have mimosas on Easter Sunday morning. The rest of the weekend is unplanned.

I learned that today (4/7) is National No Housework Day.... I must observe!🙂

4/7
4/8 -
4/9 - Easter - Had my desired Mimosa's and had wine with dinner
4/10 -
4/11/2023
I spent time regrouping yesterday. Just like eating, it so easy to continue those drinking days once they've started. I had more alcohol on Easter than I have had in quite a while. Monday it was easy to come home and pour that glass of wine. I was content with getting back on track yesterday but just had a horrible day.

I really want to meet my weight loss goals for this year and in order to do so I've got to get a handle on both eating and drinking. Now I say this while coming off of vacation and the holiday so I feel like I'm really out of control, but if I look back, I'm not. I took half the cheesecake to work, we ate 1/4 of it on Easter and 1/4 is still in the refrigerator! Hopefully my husband will make it go away.

Sooner or later, I'm going to find something I can consistently work with. I am doing a combination of things. The Mayo Clinic diet focuses on servings of food groups, basically making sure that you are balanced within a certain calorie range. The problem is I swap things on the menu which is legal, but I think my swapping upsets the food balance. I think I will continue to use some of the recipes that they provide and plug them into MFP to make sure my I am within my range of calories and carbs. I am going to alter my daily calories, ZigZag or Calorie cycling they call it so that I don't consume the same amount of calories everyday. I will average about 1400 calories but not all days will be the same. And finally, I had some success with IF last year so I'm going to add that process to the mix as well.

It will be almost impossible for me to include wine on my low calorie days, so that's another motivator to help me with this plan.

My 2023 Stats...

AF = 1
A = 13
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January
AF = 53%
A = 47%
February
AF = 29%
A = 71%
March
AF = 0%
A = 100%
April
AF = 7%
A = 93%

globalhiker · April 2023

@brittgreenlikethecolor88 is motivating me bigtime....thank you! I was AF yesterday and had insomnia but that is to be expected.

What I have learned about these posts and motivation is that I always get super-inspired by the positivity and also I have learned to forgive myself and expect the "life curveballs". We're never perfect and life is challenging. The important thing is to continue elevating ourselves and those around us.

My goal is always to be better than the day before. Get to bed early and have a purposeful day tomorrow.

Going on a hike tomorrow- bright and early

LESS Alcohol ~ APRIL 2023 ~ One Day at A Time

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