[Closed] Anyone stopped drinking alcohol?

There must be some decent no-alcohol lagers by now surely ?

I got pretty drunk and had a horrendous hang over last friday so have stopped since, have been meaning to quit for a while - but now I cant stop thinking a joint at the weekend would be better for me????? I't wouldn't give me a beer belly - but it might make me slow on the bike, anyone toke and ride?

Been straightedge for about 25 years now. I find it quite easy.

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😛

About 13 years ago B

Thing is I had an advantage over you, I can't bloody stand the taste of the stuff!

Funnily enough I was a proper straight edger when I was around 18. Youth Crew!

I don't drink and haven't done for a few years, doesn't make a blind bit of difference to my life, I don't understand why it should be a big deal...

As above, it all tastes horrible. Much rather have a glass of juice etc than an alcoholic drink of some sort.

If I was going to have some sort of intoxicant, I'd much rather have a few lines, though I don't really even bother with that anymore.

I've stopped drinking Monday-Thursday which has been quite easy.

Recover from what? It's interesting to know how much alcohol has a grip on ya till it's taken away!

I stopped about a minute ago....

nah, didn't like it. Best get another 🙂

I've stopped drinking Monday-Thursday which has been quite easy.

Yes, that's my rule*. "School nights" are no booze nights.

* caveats apply 😉

I used to drink scrumpy literally every waking hour for quite a number of years.. with bottles of spirits if finaces allowed..
predictably it got to my stomach and started causing problems.. so I switched to blackcurrant and soda so that I could continue with the drinking scene..

no problemo.. until you realise that very drunk people are actually fairly boring company..

I stayed dry and changed the company.. now I just drink when I feel like it..

bavaria wheat beer alco free 0 percent in aldi at the mo. 1.99 for 8 x 330ml cans. Reccommended. Tasty!

Been t-total for around 7 years - I retired at the top of my game! Still find it odd that if you give up smoking people praise you're will power and resolve; give up drinking and you get asked if you're an alcholic. Did find I missed out on impromtu socials to start with took a while for mates to get they're heads round stopping drinking didnt mean I'd stopped going out.

People will always try to get you to just have one.

Dont miss being drunk do miss fine post ride ale by a log fire during an autumn storm.

Ginger beer just doesnt come in large enough bottles.

Drugs are not for losers BTW. Unless you like literature, music, comedy, films, or any kind of cultural input!

gotta lot of respect for that oldagepredator.

I stopped drinking alcohol last May to try and get fitter, I lost 2.5 stone in 4 months by diverting my drinking time to biking time and eating less.

Since Christmas I started drinking again and have put the weight back on. I find that I am an all or nothing drinker, if there is a 4 pack in the fridge the other three are getting lonely after the first one has been drunk, so they all go.

I found that the first couple of weeks of quiting were the worst, as soon as I quit drinking there were birthdays and parties galore. My alternative tipple is either lime cordial or Red Bull light (not too many or you can't sleep!!)

My best rewards were the loss of weight and improved speed on the bike. I was riding to work a couple of times a week and my time was improving each week which helped me stay focused.

I have just stopped drinking again (day 2) with a plan to knock it on the head for good.

Good luck with staying off the booze. 🙂

and putting a few down me, which will no doubt put delay my recovery and my return to riding bikes uphill

uplift days is your answer

interesting ibaa. I toy with the idea of giving up the booze completely.

I drink sometimes, I don't drink sometimes. Not really something I think about. I did, however, drink copious amounts as a youngster and did some silly things.

Gave up booze for 2 months for fitness reasons. Not long, but my point was it was made a lot easier with the satisfaction of getting up the next morning nice and early after a social, feeling great while looking at all the hang overs around you.

I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.

I gave it up about 3 years ago for 6 months and found that I enjoyed it too much to give it up completely, so I am back drinking again, but just have to be careful not to overdo it.

You don't have to stop going out if you stop drinking. Of course as above you might find your piss-head mates aren't as fun. Just hang out with people who don't get so wrecked instead 🙂

Its strange resisting the temptation...

Tried and loved low alcohol cider, but I've got to steer clear of sugar and wheat at the moment so can't even enjoy that 🙁

Don't miss the hangovers or the price of pints but do miss getting slowly pissed with mates and talking more shite than normal.

sounds sensible ho-hum

i have been off the booze since october.........and caffeine.
dont feel any differant to be honest tho.
not a big drinker either before i stopped.
i will be having a few pints next weekend tho.........cant ****ing wait too.

Jesus. Why torture yourself? Everything in moderation. I don't like getting shit faced anymore but why give up a glass of wine with a meal, post ride pint or nice evening whisky?

You can go out, drink, and not get pissed you know!

Nice Gigondas tonight, 2 glasses won't kill me (hopefully).

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy - Benjamin Franklin

I stopped drink and drugs at 21( I was caining it at the time). Woke up one morning and stopped, that was 15 years ago. It did impact socially and I dont get invited out where a session is likely anymore. Does not bother me. I cant go into pubs anymore as the smell of booze makes me feel sick! that and I've never eaten meat or fish! Flip, realized how boring that makes me sound!

I was tee total for nearly ten years while xc racing, after spending the previous ten years mostly pissed.

I now enjoy alcohol again, probably too much 😉

I'm a bit of an all or nothing kind of guy.

I quit for 7 months last year, then started up again---found I was quickly back to the same level as before.
Quit again 5 weeks ago and hope to stay that way. I do miss my Jack Daniels and wine with a meal, but overall I feel better, lost some weight and sleep much better.
Like some said, the first few days is the hardest and it just keeps getting easier the longer you go.

I pledged a year with no beer on new years eve, & I haven't touched a drop. Only miss it a bit.

Stopped drinking in the first year of uni', so about 9 years ago now. Main reasoning was my consumption was ridiculous, even by student standards. Not to mention the money I could be spending on bikes and going riding. As an added bonus, girls looked just as good the morning after as they did when you met them the night before rather than transforming into horrendous monsters whilst you sleep.

oldagepredator has it pretty well summed up. People will encourage you to drink, but they get used to it. Really not an issue anymore, people know that I won't have a drink, the same as I won't eat jaffa cakes.

what graham said.

oh, and oldagedpredator, fentiman's ginger beer comes in 750ml bottles as well as the 250ml ones. that's plenty big enough!

bushwacked, i was about to suggest that erdinger alkoholfrei is by far the best alcohol free beer i have ever had, but it's a wheat beer so sadly your follow-up info rules that out for you i'm afraid.

but yeah, if you go out be prepared for your mates to make more of a big deal of you not drinking than you do yourself (and also be prepared for them to be not funny when they're steaming and you're sober!)

Seems as though those who give it up are incapable of drinking in moderation, that is a pint while out for an evening ride or a Sunday afternoon ride, or a couple of pints of an evening with a couple of mates. Why does drinking alcohol have to mean getting totally hammered? I love the taste of a good pint or a single malt, but I drink it because of the flavour; getting shitfaced isn't part of the agenda, and I truly fail to understand the mindset that says it is. As for alcohol-free or low alcohol lagers, there is no such thing as a decent one, it's the alcohol gives the flavour, take that away, and all you've got is insanely overpriced coloured water.
Off down the pub in a little while for a couple of pints of proper quality ale that tastes wonderful. Mmmmmmm.

Cheers feel a bit more normal now.

So, if you go down the pub you just on the soft drinks?

Been completely alcohol free for a bit over a month now, and before then it was very rarely that I drank. Nothing changed really, I just finally decided it's not worth the disadvantages. If I do drink again though, it will only be binging. But right now I feel fast and healthy, and I don't really miss it. Although I guess I miss the memories it creates.

As for the drugs is for losers thing, I don't quite agree with that, but the people who seem to either spend every day intoxicated or recovering don't really have much else going on in their lives. I definitely drink more when I'm injured, gets you through the boredom. So I think if you're struggling to stay off drink, just ride more, or pick up a new hobby or something.

What is the disadvantage of drinking sensibly?

Certain alcoholic drinks are good for you in moderation.

we drink to remember
we drink to forget
.
beer is just too nice to pass up, and there are so many nice beers in the world that I haven't tried yet, I will continue my search for the ultimate pint
.
I've made more friends through alcohol than I have without, plus the only way to really get to know your workmates is to get pissed with them 😀

Certain alcoholic drinks are good for you in moderation.

That's a messed up statement though. It's not the alcohol that makes them good. Alcohol is a poison. I know if I cut it out completely I feel better, mentally and physically - it may just be a placebo effect, but it works all the same.

I've started drinking more ever since work started pushing on the pressure.. Really need to stop drinking tbh.

I'm only 24, and been in my job 8 months in a mid - higher management position (For a company with over 500k employees), and i had to deliver something from 10 sites today. Talk about getting put under pressure, had the CEO of the company phoning me asking where the work was and moaning for the first time even though i delivered today when the deadline is tuesday next week.

Still, sat here with a couple of bottles of hobgoblin, and i rekon a nightcap of some Jamesons is in order later on.

Anto, you want to be careful there. Burnout on the horizon 🙂

Not a pub goer, so at home I usually stop once the bottle of wine is finished 😀 . these darned bottles seem to be getting smaller though !!!

It is not a messed up statement, it is a true statement. Red wine, real ale, stout etc are rich in antioxidants. Drink it in moderation and the alcohol doesn't matter. Drink it in excess it will.

My mrs's gran had a whisky every morning and she lived for a long time. Alcohol kept her blood nice and thin.

IMO a lot of people should give up drinking, especially those who can't differentiate from having a drink and getting drunk.

Alcohol is a poison.

mmmmm, tasty tasty poison

I gave up in my second year of university nine years ago. I wasn't drinking too much, but there were medical reasons. It is fascinating to see people's reaction when I tell them (so +1 oldagedpredator). At university friends just couldn't understand it, but then they couldn't understand the idea of just having a couple. Nowadays people's reactions are a great filter for who to spend time with and who to avoid at all costs. It's also interesting to see how people act when you're sober and they are pished.

The most annoying thing is the the price some pubs charge for soft drinks, and the lack of non-sugar filled drinks. Fentiments Ginger beer is ok, but too sweet after one bottle.

a dram of whisky in it will balance out the sugariness

Alcohol is a poison.

mmmmm, tasty tasty poison

That's kind of why I stopped, managed to loose the ability to process it whilst retaining an otherwise perfectly functioning set of internal organs. It happend over about 2 months when the hangovers ramped spectacularly. The doc never fully explained it other than saying I seemed to have lost the relevent enzymes.

The my body doesnt process alcohol statement usual gets people going ah ha see you were an alcholic. Erm no couple of quiet pints with mates couple of times a week and a weekend session does not make you an alcholic.

Of course now I'm in the pythonesque - only a true alcholic would deny they are an alcholic situation

Yes, just now.

As a women, I don't have the problem where drinkers around me think I'm odd and encourage me to have just one.

I don't miss drink, however it is getting expensive to have soft drinks now when out socialising as mentioned above.

Hang on in there bushwacked, it takes strong will, but you have to think of your health (I've had experience of this).

I used to be a typical 'binge' drinker - none all week then quite a few over the weekend. Gave up completely overnight when going through IVF so didn't drink for around 6 months. Didn't lose any weight or feel any better for it. Now we have the twins I don't really drink heavily at all but have a couple of beers most nights.

When I was off the beer I still went out with my friends as before but normally just drank lime and soda all night. There were a couple of occasions when I thought being drunk seemed a bit odd as a spectator.

Seems as though those who give it up are incapable of drinking in moderation, that is a pint while out for an evening ride or a Sunday afternoon ride, or a couple of pints of an evening with a couple of mates. Why does drinking alcohol have to mean getting totally hammered?

What a ridiculous statement! Why on earth would you tar everyone who doesn't drink with the same brush for no substantiated reason?

I just couldn't stand the stuff, the taste, the way even one or two made me feel, anything about it basically! Plenty of people do drink to excess far too often, and I know lots of them, but I wasn't one of them for sure.

At university friends just couldn't understand it, but then they couldn't understand the idea of just having a couple. Nowadays people's reactions are a great filter for who to spend time with and who to avoid at all costs. It's also interesting to see how people act when you're sober and they are pished.

Oddly I had more acceptance at uni (on the whole, some exceptions though to be fair) than since I've left uni and entered "the real world". I find the most accepting people usually are guys who drink LOTS. They accept me mainly cos they wish that they could have a good time without drinking, so in a way they're envious. The strangest thing I've found though is on the whole, women are very distrustful of men that don't drink. I've been chatted up by girls before that as soon as they found out I don't drink, have upped and left!

Peoples reactions are a great filter, and on the whole, you find the more interesting people (or certainly ones with hobbies, such as riding bikes for example) don't care and accept me for who I am, and that it's generally people with very little in their life to speak of that don't want to know me just cos I don't drink.

I've made more friends through alcohol than I have without, plus the only way to really get to know your workmates is to get pissed with them

If you really believe that, then more fool you.

Almost entirely. Down to 1 pint of ale on a Friday in the pub with friends.

RealMan - Member
Certain alcoholic drinks are good for you in moderation.

That's a messed up statement though. It's not the alcohol that makes them good. Alcohol is a poison.

Small amounts of alcohol have be shown by a number of studies to have health benefits. Only very small amounts though ~1 unit a day.

Gave up completely about twenty years ago. Never had a drink problem but I do often completely make up a story of alcohol dependence when anybody asks as this is the easiest way to stop them keep repeating "oh go on, one won't hurt" over and over and over again.

Like the OP also have been pretty much off booze to help recovery for the last fortnight (I admit I had a pint today, but it was stretched over a couple of hours and it did taste good). I haven't missed it at all which was a bit of a surprise, haven't been bothered at all when Mrs O has had a glass of wine with dinner, but then again I have been in some fairly significant pain so I suppose that's it.

If you really believe that, then more fool you.

oh lighten up, here, have a drink 😉

alcohol breaks down barriers, greases the wheels and helps people relax.
for some it's a social lubricant

Inebriated people are usually either highly irritating or just tragic.I can be both while stone cold sober..... so don't bother wasting my money.

Lost out to my lack of will power and had my first taste of beer last night, tried two sips and didn't like it. Looks like cider will be the way forward when I do start drinking again.

One month teetotal so far due to medication and got at least another 8 months to go. I've missed it on the odd occasion like if I've gone out for a meal.

I'm not drinking between sips at the moment.

Would only go teetotal for medical reasons.

on the whole, you find the more interesting people drink, take drugs, enjoy getting off their faces

Amen to that.

on the whole, you find the more interesting people drink, take drugs, enjoy getting off their faces

As a teetotaller, I am not sure I agree with that. A lot of interesting people drink, but then again a lot of people drink anyway. Druggies - interesting? I dunno. There's a lot of good literature around written by people off their faces, but a lot that wasn't.

Some people drink, some people don't.

so what?

I drink cider - it must count towards my 5 a day 😉

I do try to abstain in the week though.... sometimes!

My other half had to lay off the booze for a month once for medical reasons and found cobra non alcoholic lager the best and I think becks blue is alright too. He got a lot of 'why bother trying to substitute', the answer being that all soft drinks are sickly sweet and only one or two a go are bearable and he's not a tonic or soda water fan so just made a change really. That was two years or so ago and We've cut down on our booze consumption massively, can take it or leave it now. Havent been drunk for a long while apart from one big mishap nearly a year ago, boy did I suffer. Haven't touched that brand of cider since. Tis a bit boring giving up booze to start with but you soon get used to it, I doubt you'll go back to old drinking habits once you can hit the bottle again. I'm still the only girl in my group who prefers a G&T without the G!!!

[i]We've cut down on our booze consumption massively[/i]

so have we. Used to drink pretty much every weekend, wasn't doing us any good, now we go some weekends without anything. Last night got very drunk though. First time in ages.

Looks like cider will be the way forward when I do start drinking again.

Zider drinkin', not much thinkin'

Bye bye braincells! 😉

LOL sorry, couldn't resist...

Never had a drink problem but I do often completely make up a story of alcohol dependence when anybody asks as this is the easiest way to stop them keep repeating "oh go on, one won't hurt" over and over and over again.

Must admit I've told people this before when it's been easier just to get them off my back, only a couple of times mind. And only to people I know I'm never likely to see again. That or I'm on medication at the moment, so can't drink a drop.

oh lighten up, here, have a drink

alcohol breaks down barriers, greases the wheels and helps people relax.
for some it's a social lubricant

For some people, one or two drinks does relax them and make them easier to chat to agreed. Some people don't naturally converse with others unless they've had some alcohol, but I find that a bit sad really as it's kind of a social dependancy on Alcohol.

Inebriated people are usually either highly irritating or just tragic.I can be both while stone cold sober..... so don't bother wasting my money.

Haha, likewise here. And plenty of others I know are like that too, and THEN they get drunk too! 😕

on the whole, you find the more interesting people drink, take drugs, enjoy getting off their faces

Hahaha, what total and utter crap! It makes no odds whatsoever as to how "interesting" a person is what substances they choose to put in their body in their recreational time. All the people I know that drink lots and take a lot of drugs, are pretty far from the most interesting people I know I'd say! The only things they have to share with other people are some (most they can't remember) of the stories of being wasted and stupid things happening to them (sometimes funny yes, other times just tragic). People who use drugs and alcohol a lot tend not to have many interesting things going on in their lives I've found, hence the need for some kind of mental stimulation!

Spend some time (sober) around a load of pissheads and serial drug users, you'll see what I mean...

molly - Team Molgrips insists on drinking for SITS 😈

Not going to happen!

We'll just have to drug you instead....

Stopped drinking a while back.No reason other than I was getting bored with it.Started to drink alcohol free wheat beer which is identical almost imo to the real thing.
So I figured it wasn`t really getting alcohol but just having a drink that I enjoyed.
Major plus points are I have lost weight and I am fitter to ride more than I was before.
Been buying the beer from [url= http://www.alcoholfree.co.uk/index.php?cPath=2_12&osCsid=c5b42b761003c19afe2899785a722391 ]here.[/url]

Gave up 10 months ago after a combination of total loss of tolerance and erratic behaviour whilst drunk.

Don't miss it; in fact I've had better nights since I've given up as I'm not taken over by my evil twin brother!!

Lost weight, feel fitter, no hangover.

I drink Bavaria Wheat beer or regular 0% if I need the taste.

My life is far from dull; alcohol, however was starting to take the shine off things. Time to move on 🙂

the same as I won't eat jaffa cakes.

I'm 55 and in the last 2 years at least 7 people roughly my age (some of them my old school friends) have died in my community of 4000 inhabitants as a direct result of alcoholism. It's a sobering thought, but I'm still having the odd tipple!

I don't drink, never had and probably never will. Smell of the stuff is enough to make me sick (stuff being beer and wine).

Same here.

Juan - where've you been?

37, drink like a fish and 'smoke 8) ' on occasions as do A LOT of people i know and ride with.
we do a local (2hrs) ride about 3 nights a week and a 4/5hr ride in the peaks/lakes or wales twice a month minimum, all year round.

lifes to short, why make it any longer.

lifes to short

Life is too short to do stuff you don't want to do - ie drink.

And anyway you answered your own question. Life's TOO short, so it needs making longer no?

been out of here a bit, as I have a [s]sh1te[/s] new job, and a lot on this forum was depressing me.
So I post on the odd thread now, but only if I have something sensible to say.

juan - Member

People who think a unit a day is good for them are just deluded.

Including all the scientists and medics who have actually studied and published the evidence?

http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?q=alcohol+j+curve

Juan - where've you been?