365 days without booze... join me?

[Super Slo Mo]

oilandwater said:

I'm going to be drink free for a few weeks, even months I hope. I'm quite worried about my liver, poor thing. I want to stop any potential damage before it starts. I don't think I'm a heavy drinker, it just seems to creep up on me. A glass or two of red wine at home, five nights a week. Then the glass or two grows into three or four. No beer, no spirits, just red wine. It may not sound much, but it is for me.
So, I'm off the wine. Even for a few birthdays a holiday and a day event. I'll drive!
Wish me luck.

Good luck fella.

I was like that too, thought I didn't drink much. Lied to myself if I'm honest. 3 glasses of wine (half a bottle) a day, pretty much every day, sometimes whisky instead, sometimes both if I felt like it. Trouble is, the habit is hard to break, as is the addiction to it.

I reckon it took me a good month before I had a handle on the cravings, then they gradually diminished, until these days I have virtually no interest in alcohol at all. I had a small can of Brazilian lager a couple of weeks ago (very sweet, fairly weak), it was no more interesting than a can of Coke, and I don't drink that stuff either.

In fact, I pretty much drink water now, with the odd tea or black coffee thrown in.

[Shaw Tarse]

No booze in July for me, don't know if I've lost weight, but have had comments, (probably just less flab round belly)
Found the first few days difficult, habit was to open a beer or (too) then glasses of wine.

[croyde]

I have dipped in and out of this thread over the year and more and it's good to see so many successes. I gave up for Dryathlon for all of Jan 2013 and made it through and continued a few more weeks, even found it hard to start again. I did, how stupid!

This past year i have been working mainly at a place where everyone hits the pub/restaurant as soon as there is a break so have been drinking at work and even worse, drinking on my own at home. Mainly due to unhappiness, split 5 years ago from wife and still have not found some one.

Anyhow I found a drinking buddy, a beautiful blond, and boy! does she drink. So the sad thing is we only end up in bed when we have both have had a skinful and you can guess the rest..........basically no way José

Great! need the booze to get 'em into bed but then the booze stops you from performing. Well in my case anyway.

So I'm now on day 3. Survived a BBQ at the family home yesterday where there was loads of wine and Pimms but I stuck to fizzy water and today I'm heading back to the boozy work place. I'm riding my motorbike in just to make sure I behave.

I have a works do on Friday which is basically a pub crawl via boat so if I can survive that I then have a birthday party the next night at a club in town where I'll only know the person that's invited me.

So I'm going to give it a go.

Shame of it is that I'll doubt that my lady friend will be that interested in me if I'm no longer drinking and I'll probably find her bloody annoying when p155ed

[croyde]

Super Slo Mo said:

Good luck fella.

I was like that too, thought I didn't drink much. Lied to myself if I'm honest. 3 glasses of wine (half a bottle) a day, pretty much every day, sometimes whisky instead, sometimes both if I felt like it. Trouble is, the habit is hard to break, as is the addiction to it.

I reckon it took me a good month before I had a handle on the cravings, then they gradually diminished, until these days I have virtually no interest in alcohol at all. I had a small can of Brazilian lager a couple of weeks ago (very sweet, fairly weak), it was no more interesting than a can of Coke, and I don't drink that stuff either.

In fact, I pretty much drink water now, with the odd tea or black coffee thrown in.

Knowing that we are both in the same business, can I ask how long have you stayed off the drink?

Cheers fella.

[CoolHands]

Over 7 months for me now. Day to day is not a problem, although I do get the odd time I wish I was drinking, but it's easy to continue not drinking at the moment.

However, I'm on a all inclusive holiday from tomorrow!! but not this year The good thing though will be getting up bright and early with my daughter and jumping straight in the pool etc with no problems / hangover so that will be great.

[oceanview]

croyde said:

I have dipped in and out of this thread over the year and more and it's good to see so many successes. I gave up for Dryathlon for all of Jan 2013 and made it through and continued a few more weeks, even found it hard to start again. I did, how stupid!

This past year i have been working mainly at a place where everyone hits the pub/restaurant as soon as there is a break so have been drinking at work and even worse, drinking on my own at home. Mainly due to unhappiness, split 5 years ago from wife and still have not found some one.

Anyhow I found a drinking buddy, a beautiful blond, and boy! does she drink. So the sad thing is we only end up in bed when we have both have had a skinful and you can guess the rest..........basically no way José

Great! need the booze to get 'em into bed but then the booze stops you from performing. Well in my case anyway.

So I'm now on day 3. Survived a BBQ at the family home yesterday where there was loads of wine and Pimms but I stuck to fizzy water and today I'm heading back to the boozy work place. I'm riding my motorbike in just to make sure I behave.

I have a works do on Friday which is basically a pub crawl via boat so if I can survive that I then have a birthday party the next night at a club in town where I'll only know the person that's invited me.

So I'm going to give it a go.

Shame of it is that I'll doubt that my lady friend will be that interested in me if I'm no longer drinking and I'll probably find her bloody annoying when p155ed

At 42, i try and be a bit more sensible with my alcohol intake. over the years ive had plenty of alcohol-fuelled nights (never as much as my mates) and also when ive had bad anxiety at times, ive drunk too much, which is a stupid thing to do but at the time you dont think that.

Anyways, at other times im into health/fitness in quite a big way and work out with weights and do interval cardio sessions, as well as good diet etc etc.
In fact, i had a full bloods test done on kidney/liver function and other things a few months back and thankfully they were all good. I want to keep it that way so when i go out with friends ,say a couple times a month, i try to have no more than 3-4 drinks over the night or else the next day or two, i get aches/pains in the upper abdominal area which is probably my stomach/liver/pancreas telling me its not happy and to go easy!
I have 2-3 days a week with no alcohol and then maybe a glass of red on the other nights. I occasionaly go a week or 2 without any as a "detox" which i find easy to do.
The problem comes when you go out again and your mates think your a lightweight/dullard!

High alcohol consumption seems to be so ingrained in the british- as Croyde noted- even the women are drinking way too much now. A bird id had my eye on for a while asked me out for "a couple" last friday afternoon as we were both off work. Blimey- can she knock them back and theres. nothing to her either. Shes 39 but knocks them back like a student on freshers week!
To be honest, although shes fit, its put me right off her as i know are free time (in between shagging)would be spent drinking and its just something i dont want to do anymore.

How have others dealt with friends/dates that drink loads and possibly think you're an uptight dullard if you dont join them?!

[soad]

oceanview said:

How have others dealt with friends/dates that drink loads and possibly think you're an uptight dullard if you dont join them?!

Buy them a few rounds!
Being able to assume driver duties is a bonus too.

Nothing stopping you enjoying a glass of juice/tonic/soda water - you still there with them lot, chatting and joking.

Edited by soad on Sunday 10th August 16:55

[oceanview]

soad said:

oceanview said:

How have others dealt with friends/dates that drink loads and possibly think you're an uptight dullard if you dont join them?!

Buy them a few rounds!
Being able to assume driver duties is a bonus too.

Nothing stopping you enjoying a glass of juice/tonic/soda water - you still there with them lot, chatting and joking.

Edited by soad on Sunday 10th August 16:55

Yes, good idea. I think it's just getting into a differnt mindset with it and not being enticed in when they "accidently" buy you a pint/short!

[King Herald]

oceanview said:

At 42, i try and be a bit more sensible with my alcohol intake. over the years ive had plenty of alcohol-fuelled nights (never as much as my mates) and also when ive had bad anxiety at times, ive drunk too much, which is a stupid thing to do but at the time you dont think that.

I need to grow up a bit and be more sensible too, but that is the problem when you have a drink problem: getting drunk takes away your common sense. 54 years old and I was out with friends partying until 7am last Saturday morning. Where I live there are 24 hour go-go bars, and booze is pretty cheap, so I tend to let go once a month or so. That has to stop.

Anyway, it is taking two or three days to get over it now, and I have weird vertigo and anxiety attacks for several days every time I tie on a big one. I'm sure I'm killing off bran cells pretty fast and the delayed recovery is my synapses looking around for spare cells to connect up to. Or something like that.

[Super Slo Mo]

croyde said:

Knowing that we are both in the same business, can I ask how long have you stayed off the drink?

Cheers fella.

Sorry Croyde, I've only just seen this question.

Well, I gave up at the start of the year. I've not been 100% tee total though, but only had a handful of drinks since. I had some nice ales (3 bottles) bought for me at Christmas, which I took to Scotland on a little holiday we had in May, and drank them then. Although to be fair, I never actually managed to finish any of them.
In Glasgow a couple of weeks ago I had a bottle of Sam Adams, which I like and had to have since I haven't had one in years

Then, in Belgium last week, I was with a bunch of crew who are renowned for hitting the drink, even by the usual TV 'drink the bar dry' standards! Unfortunately, as I've mentioned previously, I have a massive problem with stress and anxiety when I'm with people I don't know particularly well and who are drinking. There's no logic to it, but that's just how I am at the moment, so since I needed to be semi-social for business reasons, I went to the bars with these guys and had a few small bottles of lager. Once on the Friday and once after the job on Monday evening/Tuesday morning in the only bar left in Mons that was open!

I regretted it the following day mind, I could smell it coming out of my pores, it was horrible. I don't think it's a particularly good thing to put into your body, even though it feels great at the time.

I have no need to drink any more, no craving for it, no desire at the end of a long, dirty job to down a pint of cold lager. What it does mean now is that on very rare occasions, I can have a drink without regressing back into the 'drink every day' mode.

The difficulty, as you know with our business, is that heavy drinking is ingrained within the culture, it's normal if you're away with a crew to go out and drink until the early hours, day after day. Being the odd one out is quite difficult. I find it easier to sneak off and hide in my hotel room, or claim I 'fell asleep', or something like that.
It's not so bad in the UK, since generally I'm on my own, so sitting in a hotel restaurant/bar with a sparkling water is no problem. It's also no problem when I'm with guys I know well.

My aim is to stay off it long term. The benefits outweigh the disadvantages by some margin, at least to me. Oh, and I need a new wardrobe since I've lost well over two stones since the start of the year, although it's not just due to the booze, I've cleaned up my diet and started doing more exercise too.

[zygalski]

I now limit myself to one very enjoyable bottle of beer Friday & Saturday nights.
Works for me. Everything in moderation.

[mug81]

Sadly I'm back in this thread. I now officially have no option but to stop completely... If I told you what happens when I drink you simply wouldn't believe me! Eeeesh...

Anyway work has laid the smack down. No more. Not now, not ever (all the time they pay me a wage). Can't blame them, I manage a not inconsiderable sum of moolah so understandable.

I'm struggling. They've given me a month off, which is great, but chaps I really need ideas to keep myself occupied! Boredom=mischief. No more chances here, and if I lose this one I will absolutely never get a job in this industry again.

I'm in kent (locksbottom) if anyone wants to go for a coffee and have a heated chat about whether BMWs are still better than Audis?!

Edited by mug81 on Tuesday 26th August 23:41

[Super Slo Mo]

It gets easier, the cravings stop after a while, although boredom is a killer when it comes to trying to stay off the booze. Mind you, it's also a killer when it comes to staying off the junk food and snacks.

I'm not in your neck of the woods for the foreseeable future, otherwise I'd take you up on the coffee.

Good luck anyway, hope it works out. The upsides tend in the main to outweigh the downsides.

[mug81]

Thanks... Tbh if I put on a few- several even- pounds I'm not worried, the consequences of booze put a bit of a belly into the pale

[soad]

mug81 said:

I'm in kent (locksbottom) if anyone wants to go for a coffee and have a heated chat about whether BMWs are still better than Audis?!

Try Regional PHers thread, for potential local meets? There's always something going on.

[jonah35]

mug81 said:

Thanks... Tbh if I put on a few- several even- pounds I'm not worried, the consequences of booze put a bit of a belly into the pale

Get through the first 3 months. Cans of coke, milkshakes, whatever you need. Have other food and just do fun things.

To be honest its just a habit you need to break.

[mug81]

soad said:

Try Regional PHers thread, for potential local meets? There's always something going on.

Thanks, looks like a curry is coming up! Good stuff. Not quite sure why that hadn't occurred to me already...

Regarding eating junk food, I have a mega high metabolism which is a pain in the balls because I'm super twitchy, hence boredom factors- but I never seem to put on weight which is a plus hence why I'm 7 bags of crisps in this evening already!

[CoolHands]

^ buy lots of sweets.

Every time you get the urge to drink, eat some sweets, get up off the sofa and go and do something different. Go to your shed, sort out the screws & nuts & bolts, go and post a letter (walk) just do ANYTHING. The urge will pass after 20 mins. It'll come back 1/2 hour later but that's life

Week one is the hardest. If you can go 7 days you can keep it going, so try all of the above and then some.

[oldbanger]

I'm into my 9th month now. Don't miss it most of the time. Lost a bit of weight initially but snacks have been a killer for that unfortunately.

What are people doing instead?

[grumbledoak]

oldbanger said:

What are people doing instead?

Exercise. Endorphins are a far better drug than alcohol. Free too.


Well, as long as you don't take up triathlon. Then you can't get afford enough toys!