LESS Alcohol ~ JANUARY 2025 ~ One Day at A Time
Replies
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8 AF
2 LA (LA means 1-2 drinks)9 -
@Stepawayfromthetable I was on Wegovy ( also a semiglutide) for 5 months in 2023. It absolutely lowers your desire to drink (or apparently engage in other addictive habits). This medicine should be available to be people trying to quit drinking or smoking or even gambling. I totally lost my taste for it. When I went off it, the weight slowly crept back up as did the desire for wine. Now I am doing it the old fashioned way. Smaller portions, especially at dinner time. I basically have a bowl of soup and that's it. And like I said before, my mindset about alcohol has changed so that desire has gone away.9
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AF - 6
A - 4
So the A days are creeping up. This weekend doesn’t look good for a reset since it’s my birthday. This winter weather has put a mild damper on my party today because my parents and a good friend won’t be coming due to being over an hour away and not wanting to drive at night. They could always stay the night, but I can’t make anyone do what they don’t want to. So, it is what it is.
I will say the A days have only been 1-2 glasses which is perfect. No hangover or headache.
I cleaned for the first time in about a month since the schedule finally allowed it. It’s been crazy around here. I also baked bread and made my lasagna sauce. Today is the party, so I will make my cake, the assemble the lasagna, use the fresh bread to make cheesy garlic bread, and put together a salad for my birthday dinner. Tonight, we’re going to have dinner and play Pokeno and Left-Right-Center. If you’re in SC, get your roll of quarters and 3 $1 bills and join us!😉😂7 -
@NonnieDoiron HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I would totally come over but alas I am too far away. It's your 50th, right? I'll bet your homemade lasagna sauce is delicious. ENJOY!
@tmbg1 I like how you're tracking LA. I used to only track "A" days and "AF" days. And my past "A" days sometimes were "all you can drink" A days. It's very smart of you to track honest LA days. I should have done that in retrospect.
Day 10 AF done. My husband is doing better this month with his LA. He succeeded in staying AF Mon, Tues, and Thurs this week and on his drinking days, he is much nicer to me since he's switched to regular beer away from the stronger IPAs. Some of those IPAs were making him extremely irritable and incredibly hyper-sensitive. He didn't see it but I experienced it bigtime. He still gets mad if I compliment him on his less drinking or draw attention to it so I only compliment him on how nice he's been and how I like he's drinking the regular beer. Fingers crossed we can plan afternoon outings together this weekend so he doesn't start his drinking behavior till the evening.7 -
@NonnieDoiron Happy Birthday! I've never heard of Pokeno or Left-Right-Center. I actually do have a roll of quarters and 3 $1 bills though. Most people don't have a roll of quarters laying around. But we recently sold something on Craigslist for $30. And the man paid us with a $20 bill and a roll of quarters. Unfortunately, you live too far for me to come over and play *LOL*
We're trying to declutter a bit. We usually just give everything to St Vinnie's. But, we've started listing low price items. It's better than having a yard sale!
Have a wonderful day!3 -
My chronic, nearly unbearable night time hip pain is completely gone. I believe it must have been due to alcohol related inflammation. Another massive plus to staying AF for me!
Happy Birthday @NonnieDoiron !! Have a wonderful birthday celebration!6 -
@NonnieDoiron GIANT happy birthday to you. I'm in NW Florida what time is the party??? I might be able to get there, LOL!!8
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Jan
AF=4
A=6
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So there I was on Thursday after noon around 2:30 PM writing a post in here for accountability and commenting to your recent posts.
My phone rings, someone I have not spoke to in 8 months(thought it might be a butt dial and almost ignored it) is calling me.
Turns out they are concerned about a person we both know. Asked If I would (since I live 3 blocks away) go check on her. I had been wondering myself why my friend did not call me on her day off Tuesday to do something together. She is older than I, single and lives alone in a very nice large apt complex
Just about to go out my door to drive to her apt when another call comes across my phone, my friend has just been rushed tO ER. So of course I drive directly to the emergency room.
Here is the short version of the story. She was at work Wednesday and said she wasn't felling good. A person in management gives her a high power cold/flu pill and grants her permission to go home at noon.
I went to her place after I saw her in the ER. It was like a murder had occurred. Blood everywhere. I determined she hit her head on the sharp corner of a metal stand near her bed. And bleed extensively for a long time. She could not do much to help herself because of the over the counter meds(the person at work gave her) her own prescription meds and a mix of alcohol in her system.
She is still in hospital and doing better after 6 staples to close up the gash in the back if her head. I spent yesterday in her Apt, cleaning up all signs of what had happened so when she gets released she won't have to deal with it.
While cleaning up her place it brought back bits and pieces of what I could recall during similar but not as graphic episodes in my own life years ago Waking up to my own bruises or cuts or trashed house not really remembering much from the hours before.
I am in such a better place. I will be having "the talk" with my friend when I bring her home from the hospital next week.
Accountability- Jan 2025
0-A
10-AF
This morning I had two coffees WITH sugar. First time since Nov 1st 🙄🥺
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SunnyDays930 wrote: »@Stepawayfromthetable I was on Wegovy ( also a semiglutide) for 5 months in 2023. It absolutely lowers your desire to drink (or apparently engage in other addictive habits). This medicine should be available to be people trying to quit drinking or smoking or even gambling. I totally lost my taste for it. When I went off it, the weight slowly crept back up as did the desire for wine. Now I am doing it the old fashioned way. Smaller portions, especially at dinner time. I basically have a bowl of soup and that's it. And like I said before, my mindset about alcohol has changed so that desire has gone away.
@SunnyDays930 That's interesting that the Wegovy lowered your desire to drink. My doctor prescribed me Naltrexone. It's was originally used for opioid addiction, but I guess it works for alcohol too.
When I picked up the prescription, the pharmacist told me that some people have had problems with this medication and suggested that I only take half a tablet at first. I researched it. Drowsiness seemed to be a common side effect. A couple of days later, I decided to try it. I thought if it may make you drowsy then it might be best to take it at night (it's taken once a day). It turned out to be a bad experience. I was a complete zombie until at least 9 pm the next night (then went to bed). I never took it again. I think it is some sort of antidepressant and I've always had problems with them when prescribed.
In 2007, my husband and I took Chantix to quit smoking. We were sharing his prescription at first because I couldn't afford to have mine filled. He gets his medical care at the VA, so they gave him the whole 12 week course all at once. We figured if it really worked, we could fill my prescription with the money we saved on cigarettes. I only took it for two and a half weeks. I didn't have to fill my prescription. Neither of us has had a desire to smoke since. I don't know how it works. But if the Wegovy works for alcohol and Chantix works for tobacco, you would think they could come up with something that could be taken short term for alcohol addiction.
I also saw your comment of hip pain going away since you've been AF. Just yesterday, I started having pain in my back/hip. Actually, the sacroiliac joint. It may or not be related to alcohol. But, alcohol does cause inflammation.
I still haven't stopped drinking. But after tomorrow (Sunday), I'm just going to just tough it out. I can do it!6 -
@MissMay First off congrats on your streak!
That's great that you were able to be there for your friend. Please do have "the talk" with her.
I had a neighbor that was probably in his 70's and he was a very heavy drinker. He lived by himself in an apartment. Another friend and her sister had apartments in the same complex. I had since moved away. But what I was told is that he fell and had hit his head on the nightstand. Eventually, he friends went to check on him since they hadn't heard from he that day. He was later found unresponsive and had passed away.
A nurse once told me that the number one cause of death in seniors is falls. Then if you add alcohol to the picture, it's not a good mix.4 -
@NonnieDoiron wishing you a wonderful birthday celebration! I hope you enjoy every moment of it and feel celebrated (after the cooking and cleaning are done). Sit back and feel the love. 💕5
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Dry(ish) January check in….
Last night I went on a 65-minute walk at dusk instead of having wine and listened to a mindful walking meditation. It really connected my physical body to my mental thoughts, it was so good. Poured a Stella NA 0.0 while making dinner and then had herbal tea later.
Football is this weekend and I’m planning on split pea soup and baking low sugar oatmeal cookies at some point.
I do have a planned wine day for this evening’s game. Small bottle only so limits in check.
I can see my skin is even thanking me for cutting way back amongst other positives like lots of residual sugar calories avoided and improved metabolism.
Take care of yourselves this weekend!
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I’m in. I am aiming for more alcohol free days in 2025. I happened to have a sheet of stickers, 12 colors, 22 of each color. So, I’m going to aim to be able to put a sticker on 22 alcohol free days of each month in my planner.
I have already faced the surprise of having withdrawal symptoms. I didn’t drink heavily, but I was very accustomed to one drink a night (one glass of wine or one beer), two on weekends. And I guess that is enough to get headaches and achy body in the first few days without! A little scary to realize that my body expected the alcohol.
I have been having hot herbal tea in the evening or putting sparkling water with a bit of fruit juice in a big wine glass to have my sipping habit without the alcohol.9 -
6
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globalhiker wrote: »Happy New Year friends! What new fun activities will you be adding to your life transformation to replace drinking?
2024 Goals to continue in 2025:
AF for the month
Continue gym weight and kickboxing classes
New January goals:
1-Add at least 4 spin classes
2-Track sleep hours
3-Track the calories (I've been in calorie denial and need to face it)
4-Add running 2 more days a week to make it 3x weekly
5-Cut my grocery bill (including restaurant takeout) by 40% (this will be interesting)
@MissMay BIG thank you for keeping the thread and the team going strong
@SurferGirl1982 I completed 4 months and starting month 5 AF today. Counting months is working for me but I did benefit from counting days the first two months. There's a bit of psychology behind it. A hundred plus days sounds like a big accomplishment and it was tempting me to stop because I got to a goal line. With months, 4 months sounds so small (well 4 is a low number) so I feel compelled to continue and have a stretch goal of a year.
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@NonnieDoiron Happy Happy birthday! I hope you have a wonderful day. We are all celebrating alongside you in spirit!4
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@MissMay, wow, that is really scary about your friend. So glad it wasn’t way worse. Hope she feels better soon, and no more bad mixes!
@jlg1982 That’s a really interesting observation. Who knew that just a bit of moderate drinking can cause withdrawal!
AF today. I tried mixing the One to One with the Giesen NA wines, and it helped a little, but still pretty…. Not good. But I am determined. I think when these are kicked I’m going to go back to club soda with a splash of cranberry, and pretend it’s a sparkling rosé. It must be in a wine glass though, I miss the feel of the glass.
Yesterday had an Old Fashioned with a half glass of wine. Not horrible. I started hiccuping halfway through my wine, which means I’ve had enough.5 -
Setting up for success!!!
Goals for January - 85% Dry (AF = 26 A=5)
Monthly Stats - On Target
AF = 9 ~ 82 %
A = 2 ~ 18 %
Current Streak - AF = 2
Longest Streak - AF = 7
Today was a planned day. Celebrated my MIL's 95th birthday. Ironically, the drinks came before and after. The plan was for everyone to "bring their own food" and we'd cut cake and have cake and ice cream later in the evening. Bringing food, meant the we'd be sitting helter skelter and probably with plates in our laps.... just wasn't in the mood so we decided to go have a sit down meal prior to...
We had gift cards to Coopershawk and enjoyed a leisurely lunch that included two glasses of wine. One thing that it's interesting/cool....when you go without for a few days... the smell, the taste is so vibrant and enjoyable. A good thing (I think) in my case.
After lunch, we headed to their house. It was ok, but remember I am in introvert and don't have any commonality with these folks... so it was a little painful...think nails on a chalkboard. And ...no one really drinks ... which isn't a bad thing. 4 hours later and I've had my max. I didn't eat (cake or icecream) or drink anything. I was actually kind of annoyed at one point but that's a story for another day.
We drove home (about 90 minutes) and...while I was at Coopershawk, which I'm a wine club member, I picked up my wine....so I was able to enjoy one more glass of wine (right now) before retiring. It's a nice decompress and I'm kinda In a funk, but this too will pass.
Tomorrow supposed to go to brunch with my husbands daughter and company to celebrate his birthday. Rumor has it, the price of the brunch includes unlimited mimosas.....Good news...even with lunch out and wine, I stayed within my calorie budget....Tomorrow...game time decision!
@tobinross ~ welcome, I hope you will stay and support.
@NonnieDoiron ~ Happy Birthday to you!!!! I hope you enjoy it and create some super fond memories. I hope you parents surprise you too!!
@globalhiker @tmbg1 ~ good advice. i will probably go back to tracking LA days once I feel more in control.
@surfergirl1982 ~ I have a roll of quarters and dimes and nickles laying around!!! I don't seem to get "change" much any more, but when I did, I'd throw them in a jar and periodically roll them. There used to be changed machines that you could dump your change into and get dollars back, but now they want to charge a fee. Instead, rolled coins can go to your bank for even exchange. Good Luck with your Sunday start!!! We are all in your corner!
@Sunnydays930 ~ OMG...that's amazing. I have a feeling a LOT of aches and pains will go away once I'm truly in control and lose a few pounds. Glad to hear it's relieved your pain.
@MissMay ~ OH MY!!! Can't even imagine and I feel the agony. I hope she's ok and learns to be very careful with over the counter meds. Did she call 911? How did she get to ER? Very scary stuff. I hope she listens to you.
@JLG1986 ~Welcome and I've started doing stickers for EVERYTHING. It's kinda fun!
Happy Sunday....
Month Recap by Day
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tracker ✅️🍷🍸
1/1 - 1/7 ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅
1/8 - 1/14 ❌✅✅❌
1/15 - 1/21
1/22 - 1/28
1/29 - 2/4
Exceptions for January
1/8 🍷🍷🍸 ~ Husband's birthday
1/11 🍷🍷🍷 ~ Lunch out prior to MIL birthday celebration
2023 - 2024 Stats
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2024~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January AF =87% A=13%
February AF =58% A=42%
March AF = 0% A = 100%
April AF = 0% A = 100%
May
June AF =58% A=42%
July
August
September
October
November
December AF = 13% =87%
Best AF Month = January
2023 St AF =12% A=88%
Best AF Month = January4 -
@JLG1986 Yes, it is interesting that you're experiencing withdrawal symptoms as just a moderate drinker. Be very careful. If you're able to moderate your drinking it would help not to drink two days in a row.
It seems that you might just be experiencing hangover symptoms. But, it can get worse very quickly. For a lot of us, we start having a little hair of the dog to make us feel better the next day. And, then, it can snowball very quickly.
I've had major withdrawal symptoms where I was hospitalized for five days or more. Fortunately, I was in the ICU and and was medically supervised. It can be really scary and dangerous to withdraw on your own. I was hallucinating (I had never had any mental issues in the past and have not since that experience).
If you continue to have hangover or withdrawal symptoms, you really have to think about your drinking. It really can go downhill at anytime. I drank all my adult life. Then I retired early. And with too much time on my hands, things got out of hand.
There's a lot of wonderful people here and they are very helpful. Keep posting.
Take care of yourself!5 -
@itladyee It sounds like you're having a busy weekend!
You know about the coins. My husband bought coin wrappers at Staples and rolled all our coins. We too have I wine jug for the quarters and cute coin banks for the other coins. He rolled them all up and took them to our credit union. We don't go there much anymore. But, I noticed a coin machine the last time I was there. I asked about it and it's free for members to use. So, I knew in advance that he would have to put the coins in the machine. Sure enough, he had to unwrap them all and put them in the machine ☹️ But, that's OK. I plan on buying some canvas bags to bring the coins in from time to time and put them in the machine. Much easier really!3 -
@JLG1986 I love the idea of using colored stickers in your calendar, welcome here!5
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My weight is finally starting to come down. Definitely want to be AF until Thursday.6
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8 AF
2 LA (LA means 1-2 drinks)
1 A (A means 3+ drinks)7 -
Today I set my new weekly targets - 5 AF days this week.
The beauty of creating my targets is…..if something comes up and I want to switch a wine day I can. Really appreciating a mindful approach! I have found that progress is definitely not a linear journey.6 -
SunnyDays930 wrote: »My chronic, nearly unbearable night time hip pain is completely gone. I believe it must have been due to alcohol related inflammation. Another massive plus to staying AF for me!
@SunnyDays930 I was just re-reading some of the last days posts and I came across yours.
I have a list of reasons to quit drinking. I have quite a few reasons listed. But I just realized that I hadn't listed reduced inflammation. That is very important. Inflammation doesn't just cause hip or knee pain. But it causes problems with just about every system in our bodies.
Thanks, I will be adding reduced inflammation to my list!5 -
SurferGirl1982 wrote: »SunnyDays930 wrote: »I have a list of reasons to quit drinking. Inflammation doesn't just cause hip or knee pain. But it causes problems with just about every system in our bodies. Thanks, I will be adding reduced inflammation to my list!
So TRUE! That was a realization that really hit home last year. Inflammation/water retention can add big time #'s. Not to mention it makes several parts of my skeleton plenty unhappy. The list is big!
Keep keeping on SurferGirl5 -
There's many health benefits to quitting or cutting way back on drinking. If I could moderate, I would only drink on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. That way I would have 4 AF days and 3 A days a week. And I would never drink two days in a row (to keep from becoming physically dependent). But I tried that for about the last 10 years. And, I've never been able to stick to it.
I've been drinking daily again lately (fairly heavily). One thing that I've noticed for the last couple of weeks is that my skin has become dry and I have some rough spots on mainly my arms. If I can quit drinking and start eating healthy again, I'm sure that would clear up real quick. When I'm drinking, I don't feel like cooking or eating healthy foods.
@Michieb125 mentioned that her skin is thanking her for cutting way back. Has anyone else experienced a difference in their skin when either increasing or decreasing their alcohol consumption?
I still plan on quitting. Tomorrow is a new day!4 -
Thanks @longrun224
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@Surfergirl1982 Yes I totally see a difference in my skin and even my hair when I am drinking. My skin is nice and soft and not red now at day 14 AF. And my hair is softer and shinier. This is because alcohol is a major dehydrating substance. Not only will it suck the moisture out of your skin and hair, it sucks it out of your brain. From AI:
Alcohol is a diuretic
Alcohol causes your body to remove fluids from your blood more quickly than other liquids. This can lead to dehydration if you don't drink enough water with alcohol.
Dehydration causes the brain to shrink
When your body is dehydrated, your brain shrinks in volume. This can cause headaches, dry mouth, and moodiness.
Alcohol damages brain cells
Alcohol can damage brain cells, especially if your body doesn't have enough water.
So....yikes7
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