LESS Alcohol ~ FEBRUARY 2024 ~ One Day at A Time

"It’s almost easier for me to have none at all vs. a glass." - This is very much the case for me as well.

I could go all week without a drink, plan to have one glass of wine and before you know it, the whole bottle is gone! Gone, and I still want more so I'll make myself a mixed drink using husband's whiskey and I don't even like whiskey... ridiculous.

Friday night alcohol free is a hard one for me. My last day of the work week and 20/20 and Dateline are both on. If they're not, I'll find a good documentary or docuseries and relax for a change, actually get to sit down for a few hours, something I usually don't get to do throughout the week.

Last night, I started a docuseries, no wine. And, I stopped eating before 7:00. My mom has lost 18 pounds since September by watching the times she eats and cutting out sweets. This worked for her. She's always been thin and now she's very thin. I'm trying not to eat past 7:00 but I did eat a little ice cream last night.

"I echo the reports of other members of this group that, despite the above, I’m not losing any weight! At least I’m not gaining any, either." This is also my case but I'm doing better and I know I will see positive results soon.

99% AF is WORKING! Scale says 147 lbs today. That's 2.1 lbs down from 2 weeks ago and now 10.1 lbs down since Nov. when I seriously committed.

AND I had a high sodium lunch and dinner yesterday so the loss is not water.

I attribute the no alcohol to improving the state of my fat burning machine (liver). And maybe it's balancing out my hormones which have been a disaster.

I'm aiming to report another 2 lb. drop or more by end of Feb. It's all in my power to do it.

Goals for February
Kinda Dry February
Limit drinking to weekends and special occasions
Drink Friday or Saturday, None on Sunday (exception Superbowl) Current Streak - AF = 5
Longest Streak - AF = 16

Off to a good start.
I decided to have some wine today, but with two caveats!
1. I drink 80+ ounces of water first (almost there....)
2. There's room left in my calorie budget ....there is

A = 0
W = 1
AF = 2
A=Non Wine Alcohol
Month Recap by Day
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Let’s go!🔥

I'm one of those people who happen to think Valentine's Day is the stupidest "holiday" on earth. I'll do a few extras for my kids because they're kids and they buy into the stupid one day a year Cupid and hearts.

And, I don't like professional football so I don't care about going to or getting drunk to watch a stupid game.

There are no great reasons for me to celebrate with alcohol this month. Is there ever? Maybe, maybe not.

35 days in total

Day 1 none
Day 2 none
Day 3 none
Day 4 none

Just a quick hash and dash,
Been up to my elbows baking bread again...dang it. I am having a blast making dough's that are 75-100% hydration. Then baked on a hot stone, or in my case a cast iron pizza pan. Pan De Cristal is the type of bread. So tonight I treated myself to a glass of wine and it was lovely.

I did not go for seconds and I savored each sip and made it last about 45 min.

I spent the weekend working outside in our massive backyard, hauling branches to the burn pile and stacking firewood. Had a wine last night at dinner out (wasn’t about to cook after several hours outside working).

AF 🟰 2
🍷 🟰 2

Missed posting yesterday. Time to get back on track with more AF days. Enjoyed reading all the posts. So many great ideas and good insight. I am still waiting on losing weight too. I did finally get to better sleep. Have a great week everyone!

Results Feb 1 -4
(# of days):
AF: 2
A (as planned): 1
A (over limit): 1

Goals for February
Kinda Dry February
Limit drinking to weekends and special occasions
Drink Friday or Saturday, None on Sunday (exception Superbowl) Current Streak - AF = 1
Longest Streak - AF = 16

When things don't go right, I have very little resolve and I HAVE to fix that. So yesterday was moving along...not an excellent day but not in the toilet as of yet. I was about to prepare dinner which included heating up chicken breast strips in the oven. I turned on the oven like I normally do and walked away. I heard "tick, tick, tick"....which wasn't normal.... a few minutes later, I smelled gas. I checked the stove and there was no heat or anything. I turned it off and waited about 5 minutes and turn it on again. Normally it defaults to 350 degrees but it said "pre" (like pre-heat). It made the noise again but nothing happened and started smelling gas again. .... So I can probably cook on the stovetop and use the microwave to heat the chicken. I put a ticket in with the apartment complex but I was concerned if it was continuing to leak gas as I now had a headache. I called the emergency maintenance line and long story short, they said call 911. I really didn't want to call 911 but I also wanted to be safe than sorry and also confirm that it was ok to use the stove top. I did and they told us to leave the apartment until the emergency team arrived. They were there in about 10 minutes and they checked it all out. At first they said it was nothing and I just didn't wait long enough for the oven to heat (which annoyed me) but then they realized that it wasn't working and it was emitting gas. They said what I smelled known as gas, really isn't gas, it's something they add to the gas to alert you of a potential leak... At any rate, they used this gas sensor and all was good and they cleared me to cook on the stove top so dinner was not a loss. So after all this...my husband says ..I'm making a drink, well I could use one as well. So that makes two days of alcohol and it shows on the scale. But up this morning, worked out and back on track for tracking, water, closing my rings and hitting protein. No alcohol today...

A = 1
W = 1
AF = 2
A=Non Wine Alcohol
Month Recap by Day
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2023 Stats Detailed
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Yesterday, I unintentionally ended up crafting a shirt for my son's 100th day of school. I started with pom balls but that didn't work, couldn't get them to stick after two attempts, so I scratched it and decided on another shirt. Stenciling with fabric markers was time consuming as they were faint and I wanted them darker plus the letters were fairly large. The project took approximately 5 hours between other aspects of life but it looked so nice at the end. I had no nagging wine feelings. I need to do more crafting.

I used to be a pretty big beer drinker (micro brew IPAs were my favourite), and have found that having access to good non-alcoholic beer has really helped. When I go out to eat with friends, I've made sure that non-alcoholic beer or hop water are available. (Alcohol-free cocktails aren't a great option for me, as I'm not a big fan of cocktails in the first place.) This way I don't feel like I'm missing out.

But, I went out to dinner with my parents tonight, and I think it must have been the first time since I've stopped drinking. I didn't even look to see if they had non-alcoholic options, just drank water. It helps that my mom doesn't generally drink, and water from good restaurant glasses tastes better!

This week's goal is to be AF Mon to Thurs! Wish me luck! lol

Finally had an AF day yesterday. One day at a time!
A = 4
AF = 1