I’ve been doing rather a lot of it lately and things have been spinning out of control. I’ve reached a point where I simply cannot continue recreational boozing anymore and I need to break habits, however I’m finding it very difficult to do so. It’s frustrating, I quit smoking 16 years ago without too much effort, but this is harder to get to grips with. It doesn’t help that most of my social life revolves around pubs, bars and beer festivals.

What do I do next?

Have a beer and contemplate your predicament

That’s called a recursive loop and it’s about as much help as having a handbrake on a canoe.

I sympathise!

I’ve recently had to cut down due to doc’s recommendations (nothing life-threatening, more lifestyle based).

Step 1: Don’t drink at home.
Step 2: Find an alternative beverage. For me it’s diet coke. Not as good as beer, but it becomes something to look forward to in the evenings.
Step 3: Set yourself a reasonable weekly limit, and be very strict about it (5 pints for me, down from probably 20+ typically). Plan the week and plan what you’re going to drink and when.

When you are out with mates start the night with a long, cold soft drink and take your time over it. You can easily make it last the first two turbo rounds. If it’s a bit of a sesh consider double-rounding (one drink lasts two rounds) or alternating alcoholic with non-alcoholic. It’s weird at first but soon where a pint might have gone down in 20 minutes you’ll find it’s second nature for it to last 45.

Your mates will comment. You will suck it up like a man.

Your belly will shrink.

You can easily make it last the first two turbo rounds. If it’s a bit of a sesh consider double-rounding (one drink lasts two rounds) or alternating alcoholic with non-alcoholic.

Could also try drinking halves in that situation. Plus side to that is you can pretend you’re a giant.

i am in a similar disituation i quit smoking 12 years ago and most of my life revolves around situations where drink is involved.sounds like you have just slipped into a habit like anything else(well thats what i have convinced myself)the only time i didn’t have a drink at night was when i was feeling ill.anyhow i stopped last friday night so have done a week now and am off to a BBQ tomorrow which will test my nerve.have no intention of giving up but am trying to abstain for a while and even after a week i do feel a difference and i am sleeping better.give it a go whats the worst that could happen

The usual advice is to change your social habits, so they don’t revolve around drinking (easier said than done obviously); don’t think of it as stopping drinking for good, just that you are not going to have a drink today; if it’s the taste you’re craving go for sour drinks like lime and soda.
Not sure what accepted wisdom is on drinking stuff like Becks Blue as a substitute though.

get your missus to hide some empty cans round the house, then draw you a map.

Pretend to be a pirate searching for treasure.
after a few hunts returning empty cans you will be disheartened enough to not worry about booze anymore

sounds to simple (and possibly boring) but I just avoid the pub.

I kind of missed the banter at first, then realised that most of the people i was chatting with were knobs anyway.

I also stepped up training/cycling/running etc with my spare time.

I must be boring with my anecdotes of training regimes and healthy foods, and lack of booze to make me ‘interesting’ ..but am I happier? You bet.
And 30kg lighter.

Plus, I still get to drink what I like at special occasions. And im a cheap date now. bingo bango.

get your missus to hide some empty cans round the house, then draw you a map.

Pretend to be a pirate searching for treasure.
after a few hunts returning empty cans you will be disheartened enough to not worry about booze anymore
Wrecker likes this.

I had a similar problem in that the only time I ever saw my friends was when getting pissed or taking narcs but I kind of got a bit sick of it and started to opt out after I discovered mtbing, as I knew I wouldn’t be able to go the next day if I got smashed.

The funny thing is after I started to cut down and avoid the odd night out it seemed to rub off on a few others and now a few of us have started to meet-up to do stuff that doesn’t involve the pub or getting leathered etc. It’s hard at first especially if you’re the kind of person who is usually always involved (or ring-leading such behaviour) but after a while your mates get used to it & now if everyone’s going out and I don’t fancy it I just say I’m off out on my bike tomorrow and no one really hassles me.

I still go out and get pissed etc but I do prefer it now as something on occasion rather than all the time just out of habit. I pretty much never drink in the week now.

Thanks all.

I need a wake up call…I’ve always enjoyed a drink, it started out as a social lubricant more than anything else and it grew from there. I’ve a lovely partner and stepkids and I don’t want them seeing me drinking to excess at home. I’ve almost quit a few times before, lost the weight, upped the fitness and then relapsed when life throws up the inevitable. The idea of switching to soft drinks appeals.

Duggan is right though, it’s far easier to day “not tonight gents, I’m off out early tomorrow” than to say “I’m quitting for a while”.

The root of it all is that sometimes I need to escape from being in my own head.

I enjoy a drink but have cut down for a different reason than it being out of control, I cut down because Its the prime reason I put on weight and I now appreciate the odd pint and glass of wine all the more, its a case of priorities, so if you understand you have an issue with drink then your halfway there to doing something about it. Cut down on your drinking try and replace it with something else like riding your bike more going to the gym.

Alternate between beer and not beer (pint followed by pint of diet coke/OJ/water etc followed by pint)?

Non alcoholic beer? Though I appreciate it can be more refreshing if it is poured over ones head, as opposed to down ones gullett.

Main thing is that you know you want to cut down/stop so that will be like a little voice teling you not to say ‘Same again please barkeep..’

How much is too much? Drink most nights at home, lunch and dinner at weekends. Never binge though. Thinking about cutting back..

Edit: ok every night. i’m in denial

How many units is the 750ml bottle of Duvel I’m drinking?

I think one or two beers a day is better than none in the week, than like 25 at the weekend.

Though if you’re having one or two in the week every day and then 25 at the weekend I suppose this doesn’t count 🙂

I’ve had to do a similiar thing in the last 2 months , After going to the docs to see about High Blood pressure he did some tests. He found with a liver test early damage done over the last 10 years of mostly drinking in the house. Working shifts I felt i deserved the chance to unwind with a bottle of wine and a few beers . Do this 3 times a week and you have triple your weekly limit of alcohol.
Im only 2 months in but have found It surprisingly easy to stop , I can still have a few i fI want to and will continue to have a drink if out socially. The good points for me have been losing a bit of weight , going to bed earlier , not posting SO MUCH shite on FB and generally feeling better.
I have substituted Drink for Ice cream and fruit strangely and now drink more tea. I do hanker after going to the pub for the odd pint when Im out walking the dog but have never actually bothered doing so. Im only 40 and the thought of a knackered liver in the next 5 years If I had kept doing what I was doing Is pretty frightening. Where I would have normally started drinking about 9 ish I quite often just jump on my bike for an hour and come in and have a cuppa.

Good luck PJM.

How many units is the 750ml bottle of Duvel I’m drinking?

I’m guessing six to eight if it’s 9% or so

I gave up drinking last August because I was feeling like the negatives were outweighing the positives.

I was a reasonably heavy social drinker, typical for a 30 year old with a busy social life I guess. I didn’t see myself as having a problem but I also knew I was drinking too much much as quite a few people with my profile do. I could go a week or two without drinking naturally but then if I was in the habit, stressed, holiday season, etc then I might drink every night for a week.

I wanted to give it a break, but was never really committed to doing it. would always crack when say in a sunny beer garden and justify it to myself!

So I decided to read a book for alcoholics, they find it hardest to quit so I figured they would have the best method of stopping! Also a work colleague had read the smoking version and I liked the sounds of how it worked. It was the Easyway book by Allen Carr and it was incredibly cheesy, a bit annoying, and very powerful. It tackles things by giving a solid logical argument against all the main reasons for drinking. You only stop drinking when you’ve finished reading it and you have a ceremonial last drop.

I will probably drink again at some point, but I liked the clarity this gave me and my quality of life has definitely changed and improved for the time being. I’ve now got a real understanding of drinking, why I like it, what effect it has on me and others. I’d try that if I were you, it’s pretty cheap on Amazon, etc.

Drink very expensive booze – tastes great but you drink less of it.

Once again, thanks all. It’s Friday and I really ought to be heading to the gym but I’m having a night off. It’s day four without a beer and I’m sat here thinking “What the heck do I do now?”.

The rest of the family are off to Morrisons to do the weekly shop. I daren’t go just in case I stop by the real ale aisle and pick up a couple of bargains.

Ah well, the bikes are beckoning. Bike #2 needs the new fork seals which arrived today to be fitted so I might just get on with an oily job.

Cheers all.

Im at the point in the evening when Im getting bored which would normally mean sparking open a can , So Im off out on the road bike.

I quit cold 3 months ago. It was that or a divorce, so I chose life (pukes up!)
It’s hard to gauge how bad a drink problem is if you see so many other people getting hammerred all week, but you have to be honest with yourself.

Also, It’s ridiculous that booze, that is responsible for so much death and destruction, is the acceptable drug of choice, when a humble plant that has so many practical, medicinal and therapeutic benefits is still illegal in the UK. Not just illegal, but if you mention using it to most people, you get labelled as a ‘druggy’.

Sorry for going off on a tangent there. I feel your pain though dude. 🙂

Duvel

Mmm, used to drink that for brekkie in Belgium during Euro 2000. Those were the days …

It doesn’t help that most of my social life revolves around pubs, bars and beer festivals.

That right there is your slippery slope if you’re not careful, you can find pubs just about any town where all the clientelle are alcoholics, some of them will travel a fair old way to drink there. Problem drinkers crave the company of other problems drinkers. Surrounding yourself with drinkers, even if you talk about wanting to stop drinking, is a commitment to stay drunk.

when a humble plant that has so many practical, medicinal and therapeutic benefits is still illegal in the UK. Not just illegal, but if you mention using it to most people, you get labelled as a ‘druggy’.

thats because its users use it as an intoxicating recreational drug, not for any of its actual or imagined theraputic qualities, those qualities are just a self congratulatory talking point. Hemroid Cream has medicinal and theraputic qualities but it doesn’t also get you stoned. (and god knows I’ve tried)

Tough the first couple of weeks out mate. It’s much, much easier after that. I occasionally get the temptation again, but it’s not worth it. Giving up booze was the best thing I ever did. You’ll feel progressivly healthier and brighter the more time passes too.

I am trying to lay off the booze midweek .I have only just started this regime and the other half tells me Friday is a week night (sips coke).I came to this decision having looked at my gut and accidently having 9 pints on a Monday night after a 3.30 am finish from a party Saturday night as well .I am also trying to get fit for the 3 peaks cx as well so this is my incentive

I only partake of herbs once in a blue moon by the way. I was just musing on the injustice of that situation.

That’s a good point maccruiskeen. I went out with a colleague on Monday with the express aim of getting wasted. We carried on until the small hours after demolishing a bottle of grouse I threw in the towel at 3am and I fell asleep on the sofa. I was awoken at seven to seem him having wandered downstairs for a whizz, finishing off the whisky in one gulp. I made it into work that day, he didn’t.

He’s a good guy and he’s been battling his own dependence issues for a while now. By keeping his company I’ve been taking advantage of that to help me feel good about my own dependence issue.

As for smoking weed, well it burns my throat, the high doesn’t last long and the taste in my mouth the next morning is like I’ve been toe-sucking Paula Radcliffe after a marathon. I don’t actually like smoking, I wish I could get that way with alcohol.

Like smoking its addictive.
Sounds like its time to take back control and give up.

sounds to simple (and possibly boring) but I just avoid the pub.

This worked for me too, although the arrival of Baby Boxfish helped somewhat…

In order for me to break a habit, I have to remove myself from situations where I’m likely to ‘partake’. At least until I’m confident I have the self-control!

People talk about cannabis being a gateway drug. It’s nothing compared to booze.

Try just not drinking in the week.

Wake up call? My brother is currently in an induced coma in intensive care after nearly drinking himself to death. He is 37. 9 months ago he appeared in control.

But the fact that you are concerned about it probably means its not a big problem for you.

People talk about cannabis being a gateway drug. It’s nothing compared to booze.

How many people die from Maijuana a year? None. Nobody ever has. EVER. As for it being a gateway drug, that sounds like something rammed down people’s throats by the Daily Mail.

This isn’t the time or place for that kind of argument though. Moving on..

I broke my collarbone six weeks back and have been drinking far more heavily than usual ever since. I just don’t have the imagination to know what else to do with my spare time! Cannot wait to get back on my bike after my next trip to the hospital. I guess my problem is that it seems far easier to socialise around alcohol than not. I obviously need another way to avoid boredom than by going to the pub. Don’t know what it is though and I still love drinking.

take up crack?

Thank God/Vishnu/Satan for the internet!

I quit 1yr ago after just having enought of feeling sick and tired after boozing and finding it hard work enjoying MTBing
then found out that I had a liver infection, it is all cleared up now thankfully but its amazing how some times the body says to stop but the mind is lacking, this is where your love for your self and bikes should come in.

If you are trying to stop drinking full stop then replace it with More biking or learning a subject of interest.
Also be prepared for a few week of depression when quiting out right and do your best to keep busy leisurely.
GOOD LUCK

How many people die from Maijuana a year? None. Nobody ever has. EVER. As for it being a gateway drug, that sounds like something rammed down people’s throats by the Daily Mail.

are you also a tobacco smoker?