How much do you drink, honestly?

[grumbledoak]

jules_s said:

Meh,

I was giving myself a pat on the back being down to around 30 units PW (down from probably three figures )

And it seems they've lowered the bar to 12?

Ignore the numbers. They never were evidence based, and now the politicians are using them to "send a message". No doubt they'll half them again shortly.

Find your own reasons, then cut down, stop, or crack on!

[guindilias]

Nearly teetotal now - clearing out my house and found two cans of strongbow - drank one, chucked out the other one. My Poitin still has been dismantled and sits in the back bedroom.

Drink was getting a hold on me, and it was virtually free. 10am - ah, why not have a quick shot, I've nothing urgent to do.

10PM - even the local takeaway couldn't understand me.


9AM - why did I eat an entire haggis? And where has the black pudding gone?


10am - start again. Poitin is free and gives you no hangover, a little shot won't do any damage.


And repeat.

[Robertj21a]

grumbledoak said:

jules_s said:

Meh,

I was giving myself a pat on the back being down to around 30 units PW (down from probably three figures )

And it seems they've lowered the bar to 12?

Ignore the numbers. They never were evidence based, and now the politicians are using them to "send a message". No doubt they'll half them again shortly.

Find your own reasons, then cut down, stop, or crack on!

Couldn't agree more. The most important aspect surely has to be that a significant reduction has been achieved, any further improvement can then be fine tuning.

[TameRacingDriver]

Last week I was off work, to celebrate turning 40.

Suffice to say, I've fell off in a truly spectacular way.

Back on the wagon again tonight after what must be a fortnight of drinking every night - feel like I'm back at square 1 again. But you are only 40 once and I have survived and now I have no excuses.

[evilmunkey]

stopped begining of the year but ended up having a few shots of j.d. night before last. gave me a horrific hangover, and made me realise i just dont want or need booze in my life. when the hangover is that bad due to having no tolerance its game over permanently. think im getting addicted to cranberry juice now though.

[TheJimi]

To be fair, going dry for a few months then going straight to shots of Jack Daniels isn't exactly the brightest of ideas

[anonymous-user]

guindilias said:

Nearly teetotal now - clearing out my house and found two cans of strongbow - drank one, chucked out the other one.

I’m not surprised. If strongbow was the only booze on offer, I’d probably go dry as well.

[evilmunkey]

TheJimi said:

To be fair, going dry for a few months then going straight to shots of Jack Daniels isn't exactly the brightest of ideas

very true, but learned a good lesson . i dont miss the booze at all and to be honest , life is better and less painful without it .

[Joscal]

evilmunkey said:

stopped begining of the year but ended up having a few shots of j.d. night before last. gave me a horrific hangover, and made me realise i just dont want or need booze in my life. when the hangover is that bad due to having no tolerance its game over permanently. think im getting addicted to cranberry juice now though.

It’s amazing how much more it hurts when it’s out of your system. Far better off without it but it’s definitely easier said than done!

[J4CKO]

Have done a couple of weeks with no booze, I did dry January as well but this is me wanting to lose some weight before going away at the end of July.

Am aiming for 2000 cals a day and no booze until we go as I struggle to lose weight if I still have alcohol, I dont drink vat amounts and not every day but can put it away, once I have decided on a no booze policy I find it easy to adhere to.

I look forward to that Friday night, end of the week beer and normally can be pissed off, if for some reason I cant have any but I just accept it and dont really think about it when I have said I am not drinking at all.

Weight isnt dropping off but feel slimmer, doing a lot of weight training so I think that makes it a bit more difficult to lose weight, pants are definitely looser and getting some definition coming back.

I will go back to having a drink, I love alcohol but I am happy that I can just take or leave it, its a good check to see if you can do without.

Got 80 odd days before we go, want to drop 2 stone by then.

[johnwilliams77]

J4CKO said:

Have done a couple of weeks with no booze, I did dry January as well but this is me wanting to lose some weight before going away at the end of July.

Am aiming for 2000 cals a day and no booze until we go as I struggle to lose weight if I still have alcohol, I dont drink vat amounts and not every day but can put it away, once I have decided on a no booze policy I find it easy to adhere to.

I look forward to that Friday night, end of the week beer and normally can be pissed off, if for some reason I cant have any but I just accept it and dont really think about it when I have said I am not drinking at all.

Weight isnt dropping off but feel slimmer, doing a lot of weight training so I think that makes it a bit more difficult to lose weight, pants are definitely looser and getting some definition coming back.

I will go back to having a drink, I love alcohol but I am happy that I can just take or leave it, its a good check to see if you can do without.

Got 80 odd days before we go, want to drop 2 stone by then.

Measure bf%, not weight.

[FocusRS3]

J4CKO said:

Have done a couple of weeks with no booze, I did dry January as well but this is me wanting to lose some weight before going away at the end of July.

Am aiming for 2000 cals a day and no booze until we go as I struggle to lose weight if I still have alcohol, I dont drink vat amounts and not every day but can put it away, once I have decided on a no booze policy I find it easy to adhere to.

I look forward to that Friday night, end of the week beer and normally can be pissed off, if for some reason I cant have any but I just accept it and dont really think about it when I have said I am not drinking at all.

Weight isnt dropping off but feel slimmer, doing a lot of weight training so I think that makes it a bit more difficult to lose weight, pants are definitely looser and getting some definition coming back.

I will go back to having a drink, I love alcohol but I am happy that I can just take or leave it, its a good check to see if you can do without.

Got 80 odd days before we go, want to drop 2 stone by then.

Drank on holiday every night last week but nothing since.

Screws with my sleep so badly and mostly feel tired and hungover the next day when I have to work.

Weekends only now for me unless I have to go out from work but I did have some non alcoholic beers a few weeks back and enjoyed being sober but still ‘drinking’ at the same time.

Maybe that’s the way forward for some

[Drew106]

wormus said:

guindilias said:

Nearly teetotal now - clearing out my house and found two cans of strongbow - drank one, chucked out the other one.

I’m not surprised. If strongbow was the only booze on offer, I’d probably go dry as well.

Agreed. Strongbow is pish.


Actually if it was the only thing on offer I probably would drink it, which I'd say reinforces that I have a bit of a drink issue!

[Dr Interceptor]

Drew106 said:

wormus said:

guindilias said:

Nearly teetotal now - clearing out my house and found two cans of strongbow - drank one, chucked out the other one.

I’m not surprised. If strongbow was the only booze on offer, I’d probably go dry as well.

Agreed. Strongbow is pish.


Actually if it was the only thing on offer I probably would drink it, which I'd say reinforces that I have a bit of a drink issue!

I've consumed plenty of it over the years....

[TameRacingDriver]

Strongbow is vile and I would 100% be teetotal if thats all there was to offer. Problem for me when I was younger though was I had a taste for things like Westons Organic / Perry which was 8+ % and sold by the half litre by places like 'spoons for under £3 a bottle - that period was not good for my liver.

[Mobile Chicane]

Dr Interceptor said:

Drew106 said:

wormus said:

guindilias said:

Nearly teetotal now - clearing out my house and found two cans of strongbow - drank one, chucked out the other one.

I’m not surprised. If strongbow was the only booze on offer, I’d probably go dry as well.

Agreed. Strongbow is pish.


Actually if it was the only thing on offer I probably would drink it, which I'd say reinforces that I have a bit of a drink issue!

I've consumed plenty of it over the years....

Me too!

It is (or was) my drink of choice for sitting in the garden when it's Satan's nut sack hot out.

[J4CKO]

johnwilliams77 said:

J4CKO said:

Have done a couple of weeks with no booze, I did dry January as well but this is me wanting to lose some weight before going away at the end of July.

Am aiming for 2000 cals a day and no booze until we go as I struggle to lose weight if I still have alcohol, I dont drink vat amounts and not every day but can put it away, once I have decided on a no booze policy I find it easy to adhere to.

I look forward to that Friday night, end of the week beer and normally can be pissed off, if for some reason I cant have any but I just accept it and dont really think about it when I have said I am not drinking at all.

Weight isnt dropping off but feel slimmer, doing a lot of weight training so I think that makes it a bit more difficult to lose weight, pants are definitely looser and getting some definition coming back.

I will go back to having a drink, I love alcohol but I am happy that I can just take or leave it, its a good check to see if you can do without.

Got 80 odd days before we go, want to drop 2 stone by then.

Measure bf%, not weight.

Scales say 29.8 % Body Fat as of this morning but not sure how accurate that is, i dont use the Athlete setting despite doing a fair a bit of gym stuff.

After a couple of weeks of limiting calories, no booze and stepping up the exercise a bit, definitely feel better, down by 5 pounds or so 16.7 this morning, was 16.12, so on my way, pissed off at myself for letting it get there.

231 pounds, if I lose 2 stone, should put me under 20 percent BF, probably a tall order in 84 days but will give it a go, previous best was 14.8 and I felt pretty slim at that weight, also fairly sure since then I have gained muscle, which sounds like a bloke excuse but I don't think you can lift weights three or four times a week with any intensity and not gain at least some muscle, can tell as I can lift more.

I am better with a goal other than just lose weight, drink less beer. Main aim is to get in the clothes I bought two years back to go away

[J4CKO]

FocusRS3 said:

J4CKO said:

Have done a couple of weeks with no booze, I did dry January as well but this is me wanting to lose some weight before going away at the end of July.

Am aiming for 2000 cals a day and no booze until we go as I struggle to lose weight if I still have alcohol, I dont drink vat amounts and not every day but can put it away, once I have decided on a no booze policy I find it easy to adhere to.

I look forward to that Friday night, end of the week beer and normally can be pissed off, if for some reason I cant have any but I just accept it and dont really think about it when I have said I am not drinking at all.

Weight isnt dropping off but feel slimmer, doing a lot of weight training so I think that makes it a bit more difficult to lose weight, pants are definitely looser and getting some definition coming back.

I will go back to having a drink, I love alcohol but I am happy that I can just take or leave it, its a good check to see if you can do without.

Got 80 odd days before we go, want to drop 2 stone by then.

Drank on holiday every night last week but nothing since.

Screws with my sleep so badly and mostly feel tired and hungover the next day when I have to work.

Weekends only now for me unless I have to go out from work but I did have some non alcoholic beers a few weeks back and enjoyed being sober but still ‘drinking’ at the same time.

Maybe that’s the way forward for some

I do love a drink but am not bothered at the moment, the reality of not drinking is so much better than the horror I sometimes have at the thought of going a Friday without a few beers, get more done Saturday, sleep better, spend less.

the thought of going until the end of July isnt bothering me one iota, I sort of change modes, once a few days are past, you sort of then have made a start and want to keep it going, the desire to sustain that momentum is greater than having a drink.

[EvoDelta]

br d said:

I'm very interested to hear from those who took a long break and then went back. Did you "reset" as a poster above said? Can you really have a better relationship with alcohol or does it always inevitably creep back to the old levels?

Yep, it worked great. I was on holiday the week after Easter, so had a drink everyday, but nothing crazy, and not drinking to get drunk. Far more relaxed with no ill effects the following day.

This week I've not had a drink since the weekend, and my first will be a glass of wine with the missus tomorrow evening (even though I have the day off tomorrow!).

[LordGrover]

br d said:

I'm very interested to hear from those who took a long break and then went back. Did you "reset" as a poster above said? Can you really have a better relationship with alcohol or does it always inevitably creep back to the old levels?

Not for me.
Rather the opposite. I think it's three times now I've successfully 'quit' for extended periods, until that day when I think it's cracked and I can become a 'normal' drinker again. Clearly the first few weeks I can keep it sensible and reasonable; couple of pints once or twice a week, but within weeks, maybe months I was always back to where I was and worse.
Clearly not everyone's the same - but it really could be the start of a slippery slide to oblivion.
'Regular' drinkers think I'm over-egging it and that I'm talking about extremes, they may be right, but it's simply not worth the risk. If you can function fine or more likely better without the booze then why start again?