Forum menu
I’ve got Covid so not drinking at the moment and was toying with some time off the booze anyway, so I’m in.
A very positive, nope.
After this last year!?!
No way
I'm doing bender til December.
I'm going to give it a go....
Starting today, Saturday, need to save money, give my body a chance to get better,loose some weight and get fitter.
October is off season for me so I’ve been cracking on with a week of debauchery. As of today though I’m reigning it back a bit. I start winter training second week in November, so will go booze free then with Christmas Eve and the joy of Christmas Port etc to lookward to as my target to reach.
3rd day already 😁
Always seems like a great idea, for some people.
I'm urging people to "stop being a **** 2022". I know lots who should be signing up for this one.
Nah. I never drink enough to be even slightly woozy, so effectively sober. After being on my feet for the best part of a ten hour day, and recently in shitty weather, having a can with my evening meal just helps end the day.
Well I was toying with this idea. I'm not a massive drinker but like a beer / wine at the weekend with my evening meal. Volume does tend to creep up since I last had a dry period back in early 2020... A little reset does no harm once in a while eh?
One weekend down, four to go...
I’m in.
I had a thread about it, somewhere over ———> there
But I’ll hop on this one.
I think having something cold and fizzy on hand is half the battle for me.
Going good so far 😀
I have to laugh how half the posts on these threads are from smug arses saying things like "no, I hardly drink anyway".
Would you butt into a similar conversation at work to declare that you don't have a problem with alcohol?
Purely incidentally, in my experience of taking medical histories it seems that “hardly drinking at all” actually involves a range of between 2 and 60 units a week…
Just saying🍺 🙂
Well, as the OP, I failed on day 1
Went to a local Manfords comedy club night on Friday (absolutely brilliant, best one yet) and decided couldn't do the first night off booze as a night out.
Me and the Mrs decided Sunday was to be day 1
Then ended up meeting the daughters new boyfriend over a few pints at the pub on Sunday
Had some stressful stuff to do yesterday and there was a beer in the fridge, so that set the tone.
Today is the day!
^^ yeah just crack on with it now I reckon. Any 30 odd days off the booze is going to be Good Thing so I don’t suppose it matters which 30 odd days?
^^ yeah just crack on with it now I reckon. Any 30 odd days off the booze is going to be Good Thing so I don’t suppose it matters which 30 odd days?
Once I get started, I'll probably do till Christmas, hence not being overly fussed about a late start
Once I get started, I’ll probably do till Christmas, hence not being overly fussed about a late start
Fairy muff. Sounds good!
Has anyone else tried the AF Guiness? I was pleasantly surprised …
How are we doing?
Who’s still in?
FYI I was very pleasantly surprised by AF Leffe Blonde - really does actually taste quite a lot like the real thing.
Has anyone else tried the AF Guiness? I was pleasantly surprised …
I've been looking for it but none of my local shops have it in stock. Good to know it's worth searching out. Had a Ghost Ship last week. It was just about OK.
(FWIW I'm not doing SO but it was a week into the month before I had alcohol anyway).
I’m not doing Sober October as such, but I’m 18 days into not drinking. Biggest test so far was last night as I was at a friends wedding reception. They had alcohol free Peroni which was ok and other than being very self conscious when dancing with the Mrs I didn’t miss not having a beer.
I’m finding having alcohol free beers has really helped. I wouldn’t say they taste good, but in my head I’m still having a beer in the pub or of an evening without the downsides of the alcohol.
I've cut back big style. Over the last 4 weeks I've not had a drop except a couple of weekends ago when my little sister and her husband came to stay and we had a good drink. Not calling it sober October as such, but hopefully that means it's something more sustainable long term. My main problem is the Mrs isn't quite so keen as me. I've agreed to dinner and a few drinks in the pub later, but insisting on a booze at home ban. Got to say I really enjoy Infinite Session IPA and Brooklyn alcohol free lager. Simply not missing the real stuff.
^^ good work all.
I’m finding having alcohol free beers has really helped.
Yeah, this makes quite a surprising different for me actually. I’ve come to realise that a big part of my habit was having something cold and fizzy as a reward at the end of the day.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised as to how a half decent AF beer still feels like a reward (the leffe blonde one in particular).
There’s probably lots of psychology around reward that I should probably address but I figure one step at a time …
I'm pretty much teetotal. Not really done any sort of serious drinking since my mate passed away, pretty much as a result of his alcoholism. When he was alive and we'd go off camping, it would be sharing a bottle of brandy neat each day of the weekend.
Though not entirely abstaining from it now, each morning i put about a tablespoon of rum in to my morning coffee most mornings.
I've slipped a bit, however I'm know finding soda water and lime more palatable than my usual tipple. Don't drink so much of it, mixed with a herbal tea sleeping better.
Not a challenge at all, may be the way forward.
Not a challenge at all, may be the way forward.
I too have found it surprisingly easy. I don't know if I could say I'll never drink again unless I really didn't have a choice. Mainly because it's just what I've done for so long. After a ride, go to the pub. Sunny Friday after work, go to the pub etc etc. Without the motivation of not destroying my liver it'd be very easy to go back to alcohol.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised as to how a half decent AF beer still feels like a reward (the leffe blonde one in particular).
The thing I've found with a lot of the AF beers is they are quite sweet and fruity which I'm not that keen on. I'd rather they had hardly any taste like the Birra Morreti and Heinekken AF versions than something like the Punk AF, Brooklyn or Ghost ship. I've stuck the Guinness AF on the shopping list for this week already as that seems to be popular. Any others worth trying that have a fruity sweet taste?
Not really started yet tbh for various reasons - mostly Mrs STR putting no effort in 🤣
Massively cut down though and have the odd thing coming up where I'll probably want a pint, so will probably do November and December properly
I have stopped smoking though - gone from 30 odd roll ups a day to zero. On day 4 now and coping ok, can get half way through the morning before I slap a patch on
^^ good work on the not smoking though; I imagine that’s much much harder than avoiding alcohol.
Who else is in still? Just over half way… I still feel a bit hard done by, not being able to have a weekend glass of wine but it never was one glass so that’s why I need to do it I guess?
I'm still in, I've not really been bothered by it, so far. It's a bit of a shame I'm off it this weekend, though, the wife's away for the weekend, I could have been in bed, shitfaced, by now! 🙂
More or less still in. I have been drinking the drop bear non alcoholic beers which are really nice - especially their stout. I had a small bottle of normal beer yesterday and was tempted to pack it in today but stuck to non-alcoholic.
Well done STR
Anyone noticed any changes?
I am saving a fortune in petrol by not having to do the bottle runs.
Also far less explosive decompression in the mornings. Used to come out the arse like a flock of startled starlings and need a jet wash to remove it, now I barely need toilet roll.
I’m still in. Not been too bad so far. Of the now 26 days alcohol free I think there’s only been one day when I’ve really fancied a few beers, which was weirdly a couple of days ago rather than near the start. The AF beers have definitely helped as I’ve been drinking them post ride and kind of gives me the same sense of satisfaction that normal beer did.
Changes I’ve noticed,
I’m spending way less. I’d spend pretty much £8 a day on 4 of the 660ml bottles of beer.
My weight. I’ve dropped 7.5kg in those 25 days
And the best one for me is that I’m sleeping way better. I’m not waking every couple of hours and then waking at 4am and not being able to get back to sleep. Pretty much sleep through until the alarm goes off. Took a good 2 weeks for that to kick in though.
What are we calling AF beers? I stopped in the Summer after doing a couple of beers and a bottle of wine solo became the norm on a weekend evening, 4 months to the day just passed, AF beers are getting me though but these can range from 0.0% to 0.5% so I always feel a bit of a fake if I say I've not been drinking for a while - I'm counting anything under 1% as AF tbh. But after a day painting etc squash just won't cut it!
I have a house to do up and twins under 2 years so not drinking has definitely allowed me to get more done on the house and be in a better place for the boys, my weight yo-yo's a bit but it's not as jumpy as it was nailing 1000cals fri/sat on the booze.
Not sure I'll be AF forever but I reckon I can make it till Xmas
The Brooklyn larger AF are my current fave, quite hoppy but a nice difference to the Lidl pilsner I usually go for, not sure what happened to the Lidl AF wheatbeer, that was a nice change.
Good luck to the people who are in this month!
Well…. It’s not going well.
When I thought I’d give this a go I forgot that it also coincides with my workload going absolutely insane on bonkers deadlines to get Christmas marketing stuff to print
I reckon I’ve doubled my usual alcohol intake due to the stress 😃
^^ Yep, I think that's the biggerest challenge; not drinking when there's an "event".
Who's in still?
Well…. It’s not going well.
When I thought I’d give this a go I forgot that it also coincides with my workload going absolutely insane on bonkers deadlines to get Christmas marketing stuff to print
I'm off the wagon too mate.
Work, house selling & other stress factors have led me into temptation.
Still reduced my boozing compared to normal though and gonna try to do a dry week at least.
I'm not, I don't want to offend alcoholics.
Who’s in still?
Me.
Now 31 days without alcohol. Quite an achievement for me, honestly don't think I've ever been this long without any alcohol since I started drinking around 28 years ago.
^^ Good work
I'm only 21 days in but likewise (excepting previous sober octobers) it's probably the longest I've ever gone without it.
I do find it **much** easier if I have something alcohol free and fizzy to hand. If I have nothing at all in the house I find it harder not to give in and drive to Ye Olde Booze Shoppe
Agree, I've had a wedding reception and a few pub visits in that 31 days and if it wasn't for the option of alcohol free beers being available then it would have been a lot tougher.
I've still not found an AF beer that I really like, some are just less rubbish than others and I seem to prefer the ones with little to no taste as the alternative seems to be fruity tasting ones.
I think the people in the local garage shop assumed I was dead or in prison as when I visited the other day they seemed pleased to see me as well as surprised I didn't have my usual 4 x 660ml bottles of Stella/BM/Staropramen
Yep, they do vary a lot (AF beers) - I'm a real fan of the AF Leffe Blonde but appreciate it's not to everyone's taste. Erdinger Blue also not bad, and the Brewdog thingies ok too.
How long would 4*660ml beers last you, if you don't mind my asking?
It's quite shocking how easily the units stack up, for a "moderate" drinker like myself..
How long would 4*660ml beers last you, if you don’t mind my asking?
Well that would be an evening's consumption. I would sometimes drink more on a Friday or Saturday.
It did dawn on me at one point that a while back I'd drink 2 of those an evening and that would be enough, then it was 3 and then 4. Before I stopped I reckon if it wasn't for the embarrassment of heading back to the shop I'd have easily done 6 a night. I should say that I didn't drink every evening but when I did it would be a minimum of 4.
ah ok, I'd be weeing literally every second of the night if I did that.
My problem was/is wine - a stressful day and I'd buy a bottle which would go within a couple of hours. If you do that a few times a week it's 30-40 units without trying and that's entering proper systemic damage levels rather than just increased risk of X levels :-/
Who’s still clinging on?
I must admit that I feel a bit short changed that the 1st is on Monday. That wouldn’t be a great day to crack open a bottle on?
I might just try to push this thing a bit longer but my willpower is pretty rubbish without a firm goal ..
I'm still in, but we're going away for the weekend, so I'm calling time on it today.
Well done to all of you who are still holding out.
Cheers.
Who’s still clinging on?
I’m still in and will definitely see out this weekend. Think I might try and keep it going through November, but my birthday is towards the end of Nov and my wife was talking about taking me away for the weekend so not sure I’ll make it through that weekend without a beer or 2.