[Drinking] Alcoholic/like a beer or two too much?

[Pretty pink fairy]

Five pints During the Watford game, ended up at the wrong station on the way home ?

Regards
DF

 

[MJsGhost]

One of the big things for me is seeing the direct correlation between my resting heart rate (according to my Fitbit) and the days/periods where I do or don’t have a drink (not big amounts either - usually 1 or 2 330ml cans)

The drops are 3 or 4 day abstinences:
View attachment 140297


June 2020 for me was almost completely dry:
View attachment 140298

With life being tricky at the moment for a number of reasons, I’ve got into the bad habit of having a can or two every night unless I make a concerted effort not to.

No beer currently in the house though, so unless I start on the wine or spirits (psychologically easier for me), today should be day 3 dry.

After a dry Friday, the resting heart rate continues to plummet…

 

[METALMICKY]

Just watch Nicholas Cage in ' Leaving Las Vegas ' a brilliant film that would hope might warn some people off drinking to excess.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

A few years ago the thought of a Friday evening at home without a few beers was completely unimaginable and frankly, pretty horrifying. But I have just started my third year AF (apart from a minor lapse about 18 months ago) and I honestly don’t even think about - or indeed miss - drinking these days.

I always said I wasn’t stopping drinking altogether but just that I ‘wouldn’t have a drink today.’ But it’s just rolled and rolled to the point where I really can’t see myself drinking again. I do occasionally find myself think a cold beer or a nice glass of red would be nice, but not enough to tempt me. The health benefits have been extraordinary but then I used packing up booze as a reason to spend far more time in the gym and have shed a growing beer gut (my waist measurement is back to what it was in my early 20s) and packed on a decent additional amount of lean muscle.

If you think all of this makes me sound very dull and not a little smug then you’d probably be right, to be fair. Anyway, cutting out booze entirely isn’t for everyone - but even if you are thinking of just cutting back a bit then I’m sure you’ll feel the benefits.

I'm entirely with you on this. I stopped (as I have always done) in January and then just carried on. I haven't given up booze, but just don't choose to have one today. I can't see a time when I would drink again, but it's not verboten or against my values, I just don't. It seems to work for me.

And always, I'd recommend the Alcohol Free Experiment to anyone. And it's free - https://learn.thisnakedmind.com/the-alcohol-experiment-registration

 

[Half Time Pies]

I guess it varies from person to person but in my experience, for anyone looking to cut out booze for a while, the above post by [MENTION=36757]Happy Exile[/MENTION] is excellent advice and will almost certainly help you to quit temporarily and probably lead you to stopping drinking altogether - if that is what you want.

To be perfectly honest, I was quite afraid at the prospect of stopping altogether as I felt I would be missing something I really enjoyed and it would leave a huge, empty hole in my life and routine. Good day? Have a beer! Bad day? Have a beer! Wednesday night? Ah, Thursday tomorrow - that’s almost the weekend… have a beer! Monday evening? Oh god, time to reward myself for getting through the start of the week. Have a b….well, you get the picture.

So how do you break a cycle like that? Well, for me, telling myself that I can tomorrow but just not today helped to remove the fear factor. Even as I write this I know that if I want to, I can have a beer tomorrow. But I probably won’t.

One day at a time.

The one day at a time thing never worked for me and it doesn't for a lot of people, certainly in the longer term. I found at some point I had to realise that I had no control over alcohol and the only option was total abstinence, before that I tried loads of things, not drinking at the weekend, only drinking lager. only in the pub, at the football or on special occasions, I cut down and gave up for many periods.

I believed that if I had a period without drinking that it meant that I had it back under control, however even after a whole year of not touching a drop I was pretty much back to square one after my first session back! Ive known people be 20 years sober and then something goes wrong in their life and they are back on it like that 20 years has counted for zero. For me the process of accepting that drink just wasnt for me, and telling people that I am a non-drinker, was a watershed moment, it made it easier in many ways because my mates stopped pestering me to have a drink and I no longer felt that I had to hide the fact that I was a teetotaller, I could then just get on with my life, relax and start to enjoy myself in social situations again.

 

[e77]

A combination of having some things to do when I got back, it only being a flying visit and not selling beer in the away end meant I didn't drink today and although the result helped it was no worse a day for it.

 

[BN9 BHA]

My youngest son turned 18 last week, he came to the Seaford v Peacehaven match today and I bought him a pint, I had a can of Coke.
We have been to a pub in Newhaven many times before getting the train to the Amex, I’ve had a few pints and him soft drinks , just seemed very odd the other way around today

 

[MJsGhost]

After a dry Friday, the resting heart rate continues to plummet…

View attachment 140310

This is what happens when the wife opens a bottle of red on Saturday evening… (she’s breast feeding so had half a glass, but poured me a large one without asking if I wanted it or not)



It’s empty now, so a dry Mon-Fri will see my heart rate drop again.

 

[knocky1]

Year 2 of making changes to a daily bottle of wine drinking routine.

Last year reached 192 days not drinking. Most of them in a block from Jan to June. Was happy with that.

This year went alcohol free till July but then drank solid to end of October. Dry November going well and fairly buzzing today. 211 days not drinking, 223 by December. Not sure about December but have 10 days pencilled in.

Next year will be a big non drinking block at the beginning of the year followed by keeping 10 days Alcohol free every summer month. Aim will be to go 240+ days without.

A fine balance but a semblance of control. My addiction to drinking tempered by my new addiction to not drinking.

 

[Bry Nylon]

...my new addiction to not drinking.

Nice phrase! I am going to have to borrow that.

Sometimes I find it hard explaining to people why I don't want 'just the one.' Partly it's because I genuinely don't, anymore, and partly it's because (I now realise), I've become addicted to not drinking. But that isn't always an easy concept for people to understand. So I just say, "maybe later. Have you got a diet coke?"

 

[essbee1]

Year 2 of making changes to a daily bottle of wine drinking routine.

Last year reached 192 days not drinking. Most of them in a block from Jan to June. Was happy with that.

This year went alcohol free till July but then drank solid to end of October. Dry November going well and fairly buzzing today. 211 days not drinking, 223 by December. Not sure about December but have 10 days pencilled in.

Next year will be a big non drinking block at the beginning of the year followed by keeping 10 days Alcohol free every summer month. Aim will be to go 240+ days without.

A fine balance but a semblance of control. My addiction to drinking tempered by my new addiction to not drinking.

Good work knocky. It becomes addictive to me to try and beat my month on month drink days - so I know exactly what you mean
by buzzing. It's quite fun beating yourself, if you pardon the expression.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Nice phrase! I am going to have to borrow that.

Sometimes I find it hard explaining to people why I don't want 'just the one.' Partly it's because I genuinely don't, anymore, and partly it's because (I now realise), I've become addicted to not drinking. But that isn't always an easy concept for people to understand. So I just say, "maybe later. Have you got a diet coke?"

Of course, we are now heading into the "but you'll have one because it's Christmas" season where some people seem to struggle with the idea of you not wanting a drink.

 

[zamora the merrier]

Year 2 of making changes to a daily bottle of wine drinking routine.

Last year reached 192 days not drinking. Most of them in a block from Jan to June. Was happy with that.

This year went alcohol free till July but then drank solid to end of October. Dry November going well and fairly buzzing today. 211 days not drinking, 223 by December. Not sure about December but have 10 days pencilled in.

Next year will be a big non drinking block at the beginning of the year followed by keeping 10 days Alcohol free every summer month. Aim will be to go 240+ days without.

A fine balance but a semblance of control. My addiction to drinking tempered by my new addiction to not drinking.

Ahh someone else who counts drinking v non drinking days! I'm slightly different in that I don't do blocks of full on drinking or not drinking but try to ensure I have at least 4 days a week off it. Problems comes in December and holiday periods I am on for for 200+ a year (non drinking)which I will do but I could and should do better

 

[Durlston]

I might have a Harveys beer with my Christmas lunch but that will be about it.

I've only had one bottle of Becks in a pub (mid-October) after being teetotal for just over two years. I used to have a problem with a craving for cocaine once I'd had about four pints. Those days are long gone, thank God.

 

[Questions]

I still get those cravings after a couple of drinks as well. I’m able to resist making that call nowadays easy enough though.. Keep up the good work mate

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Good luck to all those trying to reduce / avoid alcohol this festive season.

One downside is that not being rat-arsed is one less excuse for those trying to give the Brentford game a miss!

 

[DJ NOBO]

It may have been said before but Adnams Ghost Ship is a delight

 

[Justice]

Peroni 0.0% very close to the real thing of anyone much better than the previous version.

 

[Quinney]

Peroni 0.0% very close to the real thing of anyone much better than the previous version.

Heineken 0.0% is also not bad. I’ve drunk worse “normal lagers”.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Peroni 0.0% very close to the real thing of anyone much better than the previous version.

It took a lot of time to get it right. It will be on draft soon