I actually like to enjoy the taste/experience of different beers. I might pop down to Booths (nice huge selection!) on a Saturday and buy 3-4 new beers for the week ahead.

Sounds like the OP just buys a crate of Fosters… and probably drinks due to boredom….

Until April I drank every night for 15yrs, just a beer or two but always one big night a week. I got a red wine habit which became a half bottle every night. I was doing a stressful job and I think I was using it to relax. Doctor told me to cut down and I did some reading on the consequences.

It doesn’t matter if you feel drunk or not it’s what it is doing to your liver and heart. Bit worried by some of the bravado above, dont we have a responsibility to our family and friends? Any doctor will tell you 3-4 bottles of wine every week is too much for any woman.

OP; admit you do the same as her, apologise for being blunt and address the reason she feels the need to drink so much. Changing your own habits will help her change her own.

The problem is not the drinking but the reason for her wanting to drink that much. The drinking is only a symptom.

Back to my beer and cashews (it’s only a stubby), good luck with this.

We just stopped drinking in the week (see post above on “why do you drink?”) and I agree it makes a remarkable improvement on sleep patterns. Very easy to do in fact so long as you make the rule absolute. Made bu*ger all difference to weight for me though – still as fat as a pig.

My mum drinks 2 x 1L bottles of Vodka a week since the old man died… well, actually for the last few years when he was here too LOL. I know she’s got a problem.. SHE knows she’s got a problem… but doesn’t really wanna do anything about it.

Me, i drink once or twice a year…. 🙂 i’m a saint me

I would ignore any sanctimonious crap and the bravado – you did the right thing and good for you. So bravo not bravado – well done and good luck to you both

Yup facing upto the issue is a true feeling of self worth.

If you are happy with the outcome, stick with it. If not, change it.

Best of luck sonny.

I agree it makes a remarkable improvement on sleep patterns.

What is it with that? I was drinking to help relax and get to sleep, I give up and I’m getting 7-8hrs straight which I never got before.

I might drink a couple of ciders during a week, possibly share a bottle of wine with the missus aswell/instead. On the odd occasion i polish off a bottle of wine in one sitting, which just about gets me feeling light headed.

I thought i had a bit of a problem, but that seems fairly light consumption, compared to the OP and his GF.

As for why you sleep better without alcohol, theirs loads of studies out showing the true effects of alcohol. Its a depressant etc. One of them being that whilst its may help you fall asleep, its prevents you from falling into deep sleep or some such thing.

bigsi – might be best to go through the recycling together and add up the numbers of units you’ve both drunk since the last collection? Then add on stuff drunk outside the house.

It’s a ‘scientific’ way of assessing what’s happened and also puts you in the spotloight as much as her?

I’ve always found the easiest way to see of seeing if drinking/eating chocolate/etc is a ‘problem’ is to stop doing it for 2 weeks.

If it’s hard to not do it then it’s probably a problem.

Think how much more spare cash you’d have, instead of wasting it on drink?

Between the two of you, you’re probably clocking up a fair amount…

i’ve never seen the attraction in drinking at home, i’m no lightweight but I can go for weeks without a drop passing my lips and it don’t bother me at all. I see people rolling into work the next morning who stink of drink, they’ve probably driven over the limit and look like their head is about to burst but feel that they don’t have a problem.

until they get stopped for drink driving the next morning and then it suddenly becomes a debate about ‘was it worth it?’……….

Some interesting stuff there guys. Thanks. 🙂

Just to clarify i don’t drink pints & its not a case of buying in a case of Stella. I mainly drink 330ml bottles of craft beer which on average costs £3-£4 per bottle. If i have 2 bottles thats 3.3 units so if I’m drinking 3 of these 4 times a week then thats 19.8 units a week at most.

Do i feel the need to drink. No. I enjoy what i drink & do it to savour rather than get drunk. Do i drink more than i should. Yes. In an ideal world i wouldn’t drink at all but long & short of it is that i enjoy trying different beers. I don’t enjoy getting smashed. 😉

We had a chat about it last night & i explained my point of view & things seem ok now but we’ll see tonight whether she reaches for the Mint tea or vino 😕

Cheers 😉 😆

Funnily enough, my girlfriend has started getting on at me recently about how much I drink. I might have taken her a bit more seriously if she had been able to actually explain what she was worried about, like did my character change when I drink or does she think it’s affecting my ability to do stuff the next day. All she could do was make vague statements about being worried about my health.

As it was, I felt incredibly patronised. I’m in my thirties, I have a good job, I’m fitter than the majority of health obsessed people, and most importantly I’m an adult who is able to make my own choices.

I almost broke up with her over it and tbh I’m still thinking about it. I don’t need someone in my life who is trying to control me.

Anyway, if you do feel the need to bring it up then make sure you are specific about what is concerning you, don’t just spout the crap that you have heard about recommended limits.

I don’t need someone in my life who is trying to control me.

never have children 🙂

All she could do was make vague statements about being worried about my health.

How awful for you to have someone close to you care about your health in some vague way…

bruce – seriously? i dont know how long you’ve been with her and all but you’re willing to chuck it all because, wait for it,,,

you feel patronised??

oh.

I have no real idea how much better my health is since I radically reduced my drinking, but I sleep better, I spend less, and it’s a lot easier to move the recycling box on bin day. All good news from my point of view.

You’re being a bit vague nickf, and for that reason I’m off…

When I was really pissed at the weekend, I apparently told mrs cider she drinks way too much 😆

‘It’s all down to the cost’ I said ‘the more you drink, the less I can’ 😉

bigsi – now you may be being scrupulously honest but its well known that people badly underestimate their own alcohol consumption generally. craft beer 2x 330 ml only 3 units? what beer (especially at that price) You really don’t drink more than 3 bottles on any night? couple of glasses of wine with sat dinner?

even so you admit to 20 units a week, she is having 30 ish

I do feel like this is a bit of “don’t do as I do – do as I say”.

Be mightly careful

How awful for you to have someone close to you care about your health in some vague way…

Personally I think she is too stressed about work and spends too many hours in the office which may be as harmful as drinking too much, if not more so. I’ve mentioned it to her but I don’t go on about it because it’s her life and her health.

bruce – seriously? i dont know how long you’ve been with her and all but you’re willing to chuck it all because, wait for it,,,

you feel patronised??

oh.

Been with her about 3 months. I don’t take it as a good sign when someone is starting to try to control what I’m doing this early on.

don’t just spout the crap that you have heard about recommended limits.

The most sensible advice on this thread, by a very long shot.

Am trying to think of ‘Craft’ beer that comes in 330ml’s ..Budweiser?
Maybe some of the Belgium fruit / lambic beers do, but some of those are 7 -8 %
Just try stopping drinking anything Sun – Wed . Then its thirsty Thursday so some booze is allowed.
Cutting down ABV’s is a good way to reduce units .
Have a large selection of soft drinks available to replace the booze. Not Tesco Orange squash , Coppela Apple juice for example .
Will help with weight control, sleeping , skin appearence ( for her ) and metabloic rate.

Sorry, what’s a “craft beer”?

A microbrewery or craft brewer is a brewery which produces a limited amount of beer, and is associated by consumers with innovation and uniqueness

I’d never heard the phrase either

Ah, thanks for that. Looks like it’s what the Americans call a microbrewery.

I think I quite like that.

Its what i do for a living
Nice Treacle Stout anyone?
Not you Si….

Do you charge £3 or £4 a bottle as well?

I’m in the wrong game!

Nope
£2.20 individually , 6 for £11 at Hampshire Farmers markets mostly.
Free at some BTmtb rides

TJ – It’s mainly imported stuff from USA, Denmark etc hence the price. If its a higher ABV then i tend to stick to one or two. Don’t drink wine as a rule.

Singletrackmind – Not even the one? Which brewery? Odell, Anchor, Southern Tier, Stone etc all do 330ml. Have a look at http://www.mybrewerytap.com for a nice range.

Oh & btw its a tea night tonight 😀 😉

A girl that went to school with my wife and is now 45 collapsed and died about a week ago – she would drink a bottle a night regularly.

Left a husband and a little girl.

If I’ve got it, I drink it. Especially a nice red wine, or a beer, or some of the Mrs’ nasty left over Rose…

Your MEDIAN isn’t zero

Yes it is: more than half the weeks of the year, my weekly consumption is zero, hence a median of zero (the MODE is also zero). MAX is about six to eight units in 24 hours. I don’t get to the highest recommended weekly level, even on holiday.