Just wondering how many on here having given up drinking for a period of time and what effects it had on you (positive or negative)?

I’ve often packed in for a month after New Year. When I go back to it it still gets me pissed.

you can’t get drunk if you go teetotal!

Packed it in for two or three months at a time, not particularly for health reasons (as I don’t drink that much anyhow) but more for training / fitness and diet regime. I didn’t notice any difference really, but again, this is probably due to the fact that I don’t drink much anyhow.

What affected my life most was giving up binge drinking a good few years ago. I lost quite a few mates, but then realised that they weren’t particularly good mates if partying and binge drinking was the only social situation that I saw them in. So I guess that is one good thing.

I hit 2 years teetotal today-ish.

Not quite sure why I am abstaining, it’s just kind of a thing I do now.

Also quit caffeine, so trying to get a drink that isn’t lemonade at pubs/cafes/restaurants is a hoot.

Might go vegan just to really paint myself into a corner 😀

Other than the odd 1/2 Guinness once or twice a year been off the drink since 2000/2001 and feel fine for it – don’t feel I’ve missed out on anything.

Gave up for three months, lost a bit of weight and began sleeping loooooooooooads better! 🙂

Just give it up, ffs. if you aren’t an alcoholic, this shouldn’t even be a question. What’s difficult about it?

I really struggle to see the difficulty in “giving up alochol”. And I’m pretty certain I could drink 99% of you lightweights under the table! 😆

* downs 10th pint! * 😆

When imdont drink i lose wait, feel much better in the morning, and it saves money. On the negative side, i can only drinkmtwo drinks before my enjoyment is ruined and thenafter effects of just one pint feels like a vesuvian hangover.

Did you even read the OP’s question, seosamh77?

No, of course you didn’t. As you just wanted to sound awesome on the internet.

When imdont drink i lose wait, feel much better in the morning, and it saves money. On the negative side, i can only drinkmtwo drinks before my enjoyment is ruined and thenafter effects of just one pint feels like a vesuvian hangover.

How many drinks have you had this evening, mate? 😉

I am awesome, do you have evidence to the contrary? 😆

Kryton57 – Member
When imdont drink i lose wait,

12 pints? 😆

I finished reading Allen Carrs Easyway to Control Alcohol a few weeks ago and suffice to say I haven’t felt like I needed or wanted a drink since. My temper isn’t as short, I’m far more relaxed, I wake up in the morning feeling ready for the day ahead and actually look forward to Monday mornings and don’t dread going in to work. I’ve more money in my pocket (or bank). I felt the need to do something about my drinking when we took advantage of 25% of 6 bottles of wine at Sainsburys. We bought 18 and they were gone in 10 days, plus extra beers as a starter (or finisher). Hell, I even got up and danced at our works do (and did the macarena for the first time!) I always used the excuse that I needed a drink to get me on the dance floor, when the truth was whether drunk or sober I’ve still dance like a ****.

No more stupid arguments with my wife about the littlest things when we’d had a few either. Plus there are no arguments about who’s going to drive on a night out!

After giving up smoking on May 16th 1999 (Never smoked again after watching the premier of the Phantom Menace! I can honestly say it’s the best thing I’ve done.

I’ve given up a few times for weeks/months at a time.
Feel little or no different & still don’t sleep well. The only difference is I have more £££’s.

Sleep better. Ride better. Less hunger for crap the following day. And lungs work better generally.

But by Christ it’s boring. Nothing nicer that a nice red. Fell off wagon for xmas, clambering back on for new year.

I’ve been struggling with a series of strange symptoms including a sudden intolerance of alcohol since early September. I’ve got a kidney infection at the moment which refuses to go away after four courses of antibiotics. Health reasons aside, in all honesty I can’t say I’ve missed it greatly.

It’s far easier than you think..

That is all

I hate the stuff, I can easily sink a couple of bottles of red over an evening, get up at 8ish and go for a 3 hour ride.
It’s not as good as it sounds, I hate the bloody stuff.

I’ve stopped for the odd day or two. Harmless or even a net benefit in moderation. Why worry.

If alcohol is causing temper, sleep, or other issues either you are drinking too much or you are one of those people it doesn’t agree with.

http://health.spectator.co.uk/the-great-alcohol-cover-up-how-public-health-bodies-hid-the-truth-about-drinking/

family, bikes, beer. 3 things i will never give up.

I’ve stopped for the odd day or two.

That isn’t really stopping! 😀

I had to give up when put on meds. It was easy as I didn’t drink much anyway.

I don’t miss it and I’m happy to do the driving. However some pubs have little choice of alternatives. I like Blue Becks or similar, and there’s a pleasant alcohol-free cider in some places.

In answer to the question, positive effects IME include better sleep, weight loss, no hangovers and several hundred quid a month better off. It’s probably good for the liver too. Negatives: not enjoying the taste of good wine, beer, gin or whisky.

How many drinks have you had this evening, mate?

I may have rushed my response… 😀

Allen Carrs Easyway to Control Alcohol

Oh my god, this is a thing? If the guy can stop me from smoking then maybe there is light at the end of my wine tunnel…

Longest I’ve ever gone was 3 weeks a few years ago after a stomach inflammation. In all honestly giving up coffee was worse. However giving up alcohol has a massive effect on your social life. I have zero tolerance for pissed people if I’m not one of them. My mates are pretty sensible and level headed, but even a few pints makes them intolerable company if I’m not also partaking. For that reason alone giving up is just not feasible. That’s what I tell myself anyway 🙂

Each year passed 40 I’ve been able to drink less, now 2 pints is enough 🙂

just counting what i have drunk over xmas.

xmas eve, 1 pint of yorkshire blonde
xmas day, 2 x bottles belgium beer 2 x glasses of rioja
boxing day, 2 x bottles belgium beer 1 x jura

poor effort from me.

Jamie – Member
I hit 2 years teetotal today-ish.

Not quite sure why I am abstaining, it’s just kind of a thing I do now.

Also quit caffeine, so trying to get a drink that isn’t lemonade at pubs/cafes/restaurants is a hoot.

Might go vegan just to really paint myself into a corner

Buy fatbike.
Grow beard.

Not much difference when not had a drink for a month or two. No weight loss, no money saved really, sleep better though.

Like a nice beer or two not been hammered for long enough.

Have given up for a few months at a time, generally felt a bit better, zero hangovers obviously, wallet heavier. It’s pretty easy for me to give up if I am not going out inc for meals. I struggle with being in a pub / restaurant without a beer or glass of wine with food.

I gave up about 12 years ago, it just happened without me really noticing. It agreed with me less each year so by choice I did not drink on week nights and wanting to cycle at the weekends then most weekend were also off limits. Before I knew it the best part of a year had passed by.

The main benefit for me was sleep and feeling more alive in the mornings. Now even a one small low strength beer will give me a hangover.

With the benefit of hindsight I wish I had given up 20 years earlier.

I drink like a fish, as does my wife and pretty much every single one of my mates. In recent months its got out of hand and I’m stopping for a while too.
First few nights I’m irritable and tired through the day, after 3 or 4 days I feel better but still don’t sleep well, although sleep improves after a week or two. The weight drops off too, although I’m a pretty active/fit bloke the booze does keep my wight on the heavier side of where I like to be.

I like the idea of stopping…. but the social side of it would be a problem as I’d alienate myself from my mates and I actually like most of what I drink. I suspect I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to strike a balance.

I’ve been practically tee-total for years.

I have the odd big for me night (equiv. to a bottle of wine/3-4 pints) that’s 3-4 times a year maybe and a beer/glass of wine maybe once a month (but often longer).

I think there’s a fair few people who think I’m a bit odd as not drinking never bothers me in that I’ll go to a boozy function and drink fizzy water or lime and soda. There are other reasons they think I’m odd too I’m sure.

I get big benefits imo because my system really seems to hate alcohol. A day long hangover off a pint and a half of medium strength ale wouldn’t be exceptional for me. Half a pint with dinner in November had me feeling like puking for half the next day. I wasn’t always like that (much more “normal” consumption in my 20’s).

I think that’s a long winded way of saying I’m similar to GJP.

I have a drink 2 or 3 days a week. It wouldn’t bother me to stop. I certainly don’t spend “several hundred quid a month” on it. That’s just scary.

of stopping…. but the social side of it would be a problem as I’d alienate myself from my mates

I had exactly the same fear myself, actually found that it was not a problem when the time came! 🙂

The key to social drinking is to only drink with people who themselves drink sensibly.
I used to hang out with some binge drinkers and accordingly I started binge drinking too (without really noticing it). One has cut down due to health reasons, the other has stopped completely after his mrs threatened to leave him, so now I hang out with a couple of old geezers once a week, who stick to 3 pints per session and I’m starting to do the same thing…my issue like a lot of people is I then start to relax and sometimes I go off to another pub and it ends up as a session. I also like being in pubs.
Alcohol – a cheap form of transcendence.

a cheap form of transcendence.

500 quid a month says otherwise. 😯

This is week 11. I found myself drinking more than normal, lots of craft strong ipas Friday Saturday and a couple on a Sunday. So I made the decision to give up. It felt like a habit was starting again, and didn’t want to go down that road.

First two weeks were hard, similar pangs of need as giving up smoking, looking longingly at beer sections in shops.

Had a wobble week 10 when passing my usual people watching bar, but didn’t break.

I don’t know how long this is going go on for. I will be disappointed if I slip.

At most I’ll have a couple of pints in the pub with a mate on a Friday and Saturday evening, and sometimes one on a Sunday afternoon after a walk, if there’s a pub handy at the end.

I am awesome, do you have evidence to the contrary

Yeah, you’re not Surfmatt, so it’s clearly not possible.