Cutting Down Alcohol Thread

CuppaTea

A disappointing 5/18. Too many sod it days. However I should be able to offset some of that this weekend.

AnnieG

Hello
6/15 for me today please. I went for a (very short and very slow) run today too.
Pollyanna I like orange squash with fizzy water, or hot squash if I'm feeling a bit under the weather.

maggiem

4/15 and 4SNC for tonight. Thank you Shaggy.

Green_Karen

Can't believe it's got to the end of the WDC before I am posting so 5/5 WDC please
10/30 Jan
Can I put myself in for 2 for the weekend challenge please Shaggy?

GlendaSugarbean

11/25 and 5/5 for me today Shaggy

In other news, DH has had a few AF days this week, completely unprompted by me. I didn't want to make a big deal of it but I am very impressed, this is the longest AF he has had in a year or so. I can't take any credit for it though - if I suggest any changes he tends to do the opposite so I have learned to keep my mouth shut!

Wanna_Bee_Free

maman wrote: »

I took me months, years even to declare early. Well done!:T
Because I didn't trust myself I used to leave posting until just before I went to bed. No longer.:D

Ahh, wise and sensible Maman your comment is perfectly timed as I am crawling back on to say I didn’t keep my promised AFD on Wednesday. I was in the mood to succumb to temptation and my OH put it in front of me. I was out last night and didn’t see the point in being AF as I’d ruined my SNC the night before. That kind of perfectionist thinking doesn’t help me. I am only 2 shy of my December total of 6 so just need to put it behind me by Monday.

I have achieved 3/5 SNC and I’m still on 4/14. Shaggy, if you do a SNC next week please put me down for 4.
Seriously thought about not fessing up but don’t see the point in that.
I want to get to 150 days this year as I haven’t earned a banana (or equivalent badge) on the annual challenge yet.

cathybird

Morning all, 10/21 for me today please.

Honey_Bear

GlendaSugarbean wrote: »

I have my annual squish and screen later this morning. Also need to book in for asthma checkup and another appointment - all the medical stuff seems to come at once!

I hope they all go smoothly and the results are all clear.

sukeyboo wrote: »

Why is it I can manage to stay AF easily in the week but weekends are a whole new ball game? :eek:

Because the weekends are for relaxing, and we associate booze with relaxing and therefore having a good time. (Wrongly in my case, and a few other people's but it's a hard association to break.)

pollyanna24 wrote: »

I seriously need something to occupy myself. I usually just settle in to catch up on TV with a glass (bottle) of prosecco and I don't want to do that. I know if I do, it will be just through habit and "treating myself at the end of the week" as I seem to have midweek cracked (most of the time).

And besides doing Dry Jan just to say I have done it, I am mindful of my health and also the ridiculous amount of crisps and chocolate that jump into my mouth once the bottle of fizz is open!

I know people suggest going out, but I have nowhere to go as usually I am housebound with my children, haha.

I am going to do my best and at least this weekend, I am focusing on not drinking (although I managed last week when I had my children) when normally I just don't even think anything about opening the bottle.

So I will go for 2 this weekend please, but has anybody got some super duper drink I can substitute for alcohol please? I don't want to go down the route of alcohol free wine or beer as I think it semi defeats the object as one of (not the main one) the reasons I am giving Dry January a go is to lose weight and AF beer I should imagine is just as bad as the regular stuff.

You're struggling with something that creeps up on us without us realising, and it's a habit that's been in place for years so it will take a concerted effort to break it. If you've associated having that glass of Proseco with relaxing at the end of the day / week , then effecively by cutting it out your're not allowing yourself what has felt like your hard earned reward. That's about denial, and it becomes the only thought in your mind which means it's even harder to get past.

You are the only person who can work out what you'd like to look forward to instead. I heartily agree with you if you're someone who associates alochol-free drinks with not doing this properly. It worked for me, but you need to find what works for you. I read, and still do, and it got me through because my favourite thing was reading in bed, so I went to bed early. It might be a long, hot bath, or making yourself a chcolate cake, or doing a puzzle, or researching something on the internet, or taking up zumba or skydiving, but whatever it is, it needs to be active.

Watching TV is passive, and that's why it's so tempting to have a glass of wine with it - you're bored and looking for further stimulation.

And again, drinking something else is a matter of choice and taste. If you can't decide what you'd enjoy, use the internet to research other possibilities - long, cool drinks, hot chocolate, flavoured waters, green tea, whatever, only you can decide what you want to look forward to. We all use different things and find them by a process of elimination.

I used tomato juice for a while, ice, and with a huge slug of Worcester sauce, but I could only manage a couple of those in an evening. Mind you, the vitamin C content did me the world of good.

rosy10 wrote: »

I do find giving up alcohol quite difficult, far more than kicking the cigarettes, (year 2000 for those). Just shows what another 18 years of habit has done to the wiring of my brain!

I'm beginning to think they're related. Taking a slug of booze may be a replacement activity for taking drag on a cigarette. I certainly drank a lot more heavily when I gave up smoking.


11/31 please, Shaggy.

Arkers

Good afternoon everyone.
11 please Shaggy
Arkers x

PriceySOS

8 please, Shaggy, ta