[Drinking] Dry January [and beyond...]

[BN9 BHA]

1) I need to cut down
2) I need to lose weight
3) I need to cut spending
4) It would make my wife very very happy

Those are all good reasons to cut down or stop but I have one big issue, I want to go out and socialise. I never ever drink indoors and I can go 3-5 days without drinking. So, does anyone have any ideas on how to get over the social aspect? For me, it is not a case of going out and not drinking, it will not happen, certainly not at first anyway.

1) Don't drink as much when you go out.
2) You can do this without cutting out the drinking.
3) see number 1
4) If you wasn't enjoying yourself Nothing new there with women......

Go out, drinking and enjoy yourself. Maybe don't drink as much and limit your drinking to just the weekend.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

1) I need to cut down
2) I need to lose weight
3) I need to cut spending
4) It would make my wife very very happy

Those are all good reasons to cut down or stop but I have one big issue, I want to go out and socialise. I never ever drink indoors and I can go 3-5 days without drinking. So, does anyone have any ideas on how to get over the social aspect? For me, it is not a case of going out and not drinking, it will not happen, certainly not at first anyway.

Go out for meals instead? Less pressure to drink. I have just been for dinner with a friend and I only drank fizzy water.

 

[BN9 BHA]

Go out for meals instead? Less pressure to drink. I have just been for dinner with a friend and I only drank fizzy water.

I think your advice is far better than mine HT.

 

[Perkino]

New Year's Day has just been spent with my wife's siblings and their families...obviously not a dry January for me!

I don't really drink much and mainly at home whilst watching the football on the tele, we do have some beers and wine leftover from Christmas so we will drink those up and then maybe 1 or 2 drinks per week

 

[Badger]

I drink way less than I used to, before I moved to Canada. If I go out I'll usually have one or two beers with the occasional exception (last night, for instance). I honestly can't remember the last time I was drunk and woke up with a hangover. I feel great and I'm now the fittest I've ever been with the motivation to go out running and train for races.

It's my birthday next week, so I'll be able having a couple of drinks then. That will be my last for a month, as I'm doing a marathon on 9th February.

 

[The Wookiee]

That’s day 1 out of the way !!

 

[London Irish]

I did dry March last year simply because I was travelling and catching up with friends in Jan and Feb and didn’t want my small concerns to impinge a catch-up. But the month was fine, trying out a lot of weird and mostly horrible tasting non alcoholic beers. Eventually I found some non alco cider I liked and that was fine.

The impact had some lasting influence, these days I mostly put up with the ribbing you inevitably get and just have shandy pints. I can even do a run if you get home after a game if you’ve only done a couple, something I tried in the past having drunk more alcohol and just found my body saying f*ck off mate

 

[London Irish]

1) I need to cut down
2) I need to lose weight
3) I need to cut spending
4) It would make my wife very very happy

Those are all good reasons to cut down or stop but I have one big issue, I want to go out and socialise. I never ever drink indoors and I can go 3-5 days without drinking. So, does anyone have any ideas on how to get over the social aspect? For me, it is not a case of going out and not drinking, it will not happen, certainly not at first anyway.

The classic way is to order a soft drink or orange juice in between every pint. I tried that but the shift was too much between drinks so didn’t work for me, made you hate OJ. Ordering shandy works for me, halving the amount of alcohol screwing up your brain is a big bonus, weight loss wise of course it’s no different. No alternative on that one to just doing exercise, it’s the only thing that works on suppressing the cravings for you to put bad crap in your body. None of us have the will power without those naturally generated chemicals. Cost wise alas whatever you do eat well eat badly drink well drink badly all costs money, so no answer on that one except Spoons eternally

 

[sydney]

finished the sesh 9 a.m yesterday morning , as a result the house is alcohol free apart from qtr bottle of gin and a bottle of Amarula which is mrs.syds pressie so off limits.

i am going to give it a go from now , alcohol free for as long as i can do it......motives are weight loss and to complete my 100% recovery from cancer , final results 8th of Jan also time to start looking after the body ......a lifetime of jiggerypokery is definitely taking its toll and at 52 i think most are looking down the barrel of the slow demise which is only accelerated by guzzling alcohol week after week.

 

[OzMike]

I only really drink on Friday nights now and have managed to cut down on the binging that night by booking in work for the following day.

 

[Bozza]

I’m going to give it a bash too, starting a day late however. There was 1/3 of a bottle of white in the fridge yesterday and I didn’t want to just pour it away.

I think I last did this in 2017 when I made it to mid-March before I relented and that first glass of wine was possibly the best drink I’ve ever had.

 

[knocky1]

I try this every year. The one year I (mostly) succeeded I was mainly dry from Jan to April, took up running, lost quite a bit of weight and did my first ever 10k.

Since then I have lasted 10 - 20 days. Typically football or a meal out will scupper it.

This year I am going to go from Jan to April again if I can. I've been given a head start in that I couldn't drink last night and I want to be at minimum possible weight for Brighton Marathon in April.

I'll be with you on that one but starting next Wednesday.
Managed January 7th to March 18th last year at which point I was handed a pint of Harvey's in the Lewes Brewery at the end of the Moyleman Marathon. That was it and drank steadily till November 15th when I managed another month off before playing catch up for 2 weeks............

I'll happily lose to the GB running machine in the BM again if I can reach the start line without a drink!

 

[Birdie Boy]

1) Don't drink as much when you go out.
2) You can do this without cutting out the drinking.
3) see number 1
4) If you wasn't enjoying yourself Nothing new there with women......

Go out, drinking and enjoy yourself. Maybe don't drink as much and limit your drinking to just the weekend.

Yeah, I'm going to try and just do weekend's, rather than cutting right out. This month is easier as well with only 1 home game.

 

[Birdie Boy]

Go out for meals instead? Less pressure to drink. I have just been for dinner with a friend and I only drank fizzy water.

That sounds a good idea, the missus will be happy with that as well.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

I'm doing this, did it last year too. Fell off the said wagon twice, the important thing is not to see that as the end and failure, merely a blip over 31 days.

Fairly determined to see the 31 days through but also make some longer term changes to days off, drinking at home etc.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

I've also got some business events to go to this month so have already nominated myself as designated driver to remove the need to drink straightaway rather the approach thinking maybe I'll have sacked it by then etc!

 

[Knocky's Nose]

Just signed up to this thanks to another member posting a link. I'm going to give it a go. I need to. Alcohol has become part of my daily (well, nightly) routine, and it can't be doing me any good at all.

https://www.alcoholexperiment.com/

 

[BLOCK F]

Will be 71 later in the year and the old body can no longer take the welly it used to.
Got to lose weight and give the liver a rest. I am going to try and have virtually no booze for about 3 months and also cut down substantially on the grub, so if I appear to be a grumpy old git in future 'NSC discussions' please forgive me; you'll know why.

 

[Dumseagull]

Ive decided to go for dry January this year, for a number of reasons, all of which are hard to admit, but this forum gives a certain amount of anonymity...

1. i have been suffering from Anxiety and depression and its come to a head recently, i don't think alcohol helps at all.
2. i have been using alcohol as a daily tool to relax me, rather than a social/recreational use.
3. when i go out drinking lately i can't seam to control how much i drink.
4. my brother has just survived cancer, so i though starting out with January using the "Dryathlon" for cancer research would help.
5. and probably most importantly, i became a father for the first time 6 months ago, i want to be fit and healthy for my little girl.

I am posting the link below to my Dryathlon page, i'm not asking for donations as such, it just feels like i have to stick to it if i've posted it on lots of social media etc.

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/gaz-takes-on-dryathlon

 

[Bry Nylon]

Ive decided to go for dry January this year, for a number of reasons, all of which are hard to admit, but this forum gives a certain amount of anonymity...

1. i have been suffering from Anxiety and depression and its come to a head recently, i don't think alcohol helps at all.
2. i have been using alcohol as a daily tool to relax me, rather than a social/recreational use.
3. when i go out drinking lately i can't seam to control how much i drink.
4. my brother has just survived cancer, so i though starting out with January using the "Dryathlon" for cancer research would help.
5. and probably most importantly, i became a father for the first time 6 months ago, i want to be fit and healthy for my little girl.

I am posting the link below to my Dryathlon page, i'm not asking for donations as such, it just feels like i have to stick to it if i've posted it on lots of social media etc.

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/gaz-takes-on-dryathlon

I was all ready to post one of my usual flippant replies ...and then I got to reason number 5.

So instead, in all sincerity, I just want to say congratulations and good luck to you.