How much do you drink, honestly?
Discussion
Pretty religiously sticking to dry Monday - Thursdays. Hasn't been too much trouble for me really once I get in the swing of it.
Have moved to drinking more wine & spirits to cut the calories down a bit. Which has helped in that respect, but still drinking far too much at the weekends.
Just past was:
70cl Vodka
2 x bottles of red
3 x 8.2% ciders
I know that's way way too much, but it was a damp miserable weekend, I tend to drink more in the house than out.
This weekend I have driving to do on Friday night, out for dinner Saturday (driving again), and a car show on Sunday, so should be a much more sensible one.
Have moved to drinking more wine & spirits to cut the calories down a bit. Which has helped in that respect, but still drinking far too much at the weekends.
Just past was:
70cl Vodka
2 x bottles of red
3 x 8.2% ciders
I know that's way way too much, but it was a damp miserable weekend, I tend to drink more in the house than out.
This weekend I have driving to do on Friday night, out for dinner Saturday (driving again), and a car show on Sunday, so should be a much more sensible one.
ben5575 said:
It's been quiet on here for the past week or two. How's everybody getting on?
Not a drop since I got back from hols 9 September, so just 18 days so far. Definitely sleeping better and sharper all round. Last time made it from October 2017 to April 2018, but fell off the wagon thanks to complacency, again. Once I quit I find it remarkably easy to not drink. It's that easy, after a while I think just one won't hurt - after all, I'm not craving it. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that for me. It's 'just the one' that initiates the desire for more, and another...
As I've fallen like this a couple of times before I should know better - hope I do now anyway.
Dr Interceptor said:
Alan Carr book sounds interesting!
Mke sure you get the right Allen Carr 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Easy-Control-Alcohol-Alle...As said elsewhere it's not for everybody, but if you approach it with an open mind, a desire to do something about your drinking and let it wash over you without trying to over analyse and pick it apart (which can be easily done), it seems to work.
It doesn't provide you with a step by step guide of how to stop drinking, rather it provides a metaphoric (and boy are there a lot of metaphors and analogies!) slap round the face so you can see your drinking from a completely different perspective. If you allow yourself to buy into it (and why wouldn't you?) it simply stops you wanting to drink in the first place, rather than teaching you how to stop/use will power. There will be sections in it that won't apply to you, so simply speed read/skip them rather than arguing with them and getting annoyed with the book.
It's £5.75 and 200 odd pages. Why not give it a try, you've got nothing to lose?
I've been buying alcohol free beer and having a few of those through the night alongside proper beer. I find I like the taste of the one particular brand I'm buying more than the wife's bottled lager!! Overall I find it means I'm drinking from a lager bottle but less alcohol overall. 3 non alc and half a bottle of red compared to 3 beers and half a bottle of red has to be an improvement.
Dr Interceptor said:
Well done 
Thank you but it’s not really that difficult. The improvements in health and wellness are worth it. Previously I couldn’t ever have imagined a Friday night without alcohol. Now I’ll just grab a cup of coffee or a bottle of sparkling water, and be perfectly content. Really quite a liberating and practical life improvement when you don’t waste time getting drunk or recovering from being drunk. Jumping out of bed on a Saturday morning fresh as a daisy is great
Kenny Powers said:
Thank you but it’s not really that difficult. The improvements in health and wellness are worth it. Previously I couldn’t ever have imagined a Friday night without alcohol. Now I’ll just grab a cup of coffee or a bottle of sparkling water, and be perfectly content.
Really quite a liberating and practical life improvement when you don’t waste time getting drunk or recovering from being drunk. Jumping out of bed on a Saturday morning fresh as a daisy is great
My experience too, now approaching 6 years dry. AA Gill said quitting was like getting a Willy Wonka golden ticket which I think is a wonderful way of putting it. Really quite a liberating and practical life improvement when you don’t waste time getting drunk or recovering from being drunk. Jumping out of bed on a Saturday morning fresh as a daisy is great
I have heeded the advice in "the book" and have not banged on to mates about how great it is. But drinking to me now seems such an "illogical" thing to do and I can barely believe I did it for so long. It's funny what a change in perspective can do...
Nearly managed my first alcohol free day in a long while yesterday, as close as dammit anyway. One single can of IPA (330ml).
Tonight I'm going round a mates to watch the footy, might drive round there so I won't have a beer.
The weekend is going to be a challenge though as its the annual beer festival at my local (around which my social life pretty much centres), and I'm bound to be there at some point.
Tonight I'm going round a mates to watch the footy, might drive round there so I won't have a beer.
The weekend is going to be a challenge though as its the annual beer festival at my local (around which my social life pretty much centres), and I'm bound to be there at some point.
toon10 said:
I'm doing dry October. So far managed to avoid all alcohol including a work trip to Hemel and a music gig. I have another work trip for 3 nights coming up at the end of the month but I've come this far so might as well push through!
Sounds like a good move - and we're nearly half way through the month already !myvision said:
Monday pickup a pack of 10 kronenbourg and something for tea on the way to the digs drink them while cooking tea.
Repeat all week till Friday when I go home.
Saturday depends what's happening maybe a couple same for Sunday.
So I must be way over the recommended daily units.
I'll update this.Repeat all week till Friday when I go home.
Saturday depends what's happening maybe a couple same for Sunday.
So I must be way over the recommended daily units.
The Mrs bet me I couldn't do a month off the beer I'm fourteen days in and I'm having some mad dreams and waking at 04:00 every day doesn't matter what time I go to bed I'm wide awake at 04:00.
Sixteen more days and she'll have to pay up will be easy.
myvision said:
I'll update this.
The Mrs bet me I couldn't do a month off the beer I'm fourteen days in and I'm having some mad dreams and waking at 04:00 every day doesn't matter what time I go to bed I'm wide awake at 04:00.
Sixteen more days and she'll have to pay up will be easy.
How is she paying you?The Mrs bet me I couldn't do a month off the beer I'm fourteen days in and I'm having some mad dreams and waking at 04:00 every day doesn't matter what time I go to bed I'm wide awake at 04:00.
Sixteen more days and she'll have to pay up will be easy.
I wonder.. is there anyone here that's moved away from drinking beer (lager) to something else such as wine or spirits? how have you found the change?
My reasoning is while I do like everything I tend to just drink beer as my go t0 as it's relatively cheap/easy to get and pop down the shops. However my main gripe with beer is the amount you end up drinking + how bloated it makes you feel (and sometimes gassy the day after). There have been many occasions on a night out drinking that i've optted for wine or spirits because you feel less bloated and you en dup having to make fewer trips to the loo.
So for that reason i'm contemplating having wine instead (or maybe spirits with ice/water).
So has anyone here done a switch and how has it made you feel overall in the long term?
My reasoning is while I do like everything I tend to just drink beer as my go t0 as it's relatively cheap/easy to get and pop down the shops. However my main gripe with beer is the amount you end up drinking + how bloated it makes you feel (and sometimes gassy the day after). There have been many occasions on a night out drinking that i've optted for wine or spirits because you feel less bloated and you en dup having to make fewer trips to the loo.
So for that reason i'm contemplating having wine instead (or maybe spirits with ice/water).
So has anyone here done a switch and how has it made you feel overall in the long term?
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