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I refer again to The Guardian article that I’ve mentioned several times on different threads, “the truth about booze”. Once you have that first drink then control is largely taken from you by the alcohol hence the inability to stop at “just the couple”.
Also made it through the weekend without any major cravings. There were a couple of moments while eating when I thought to myself that a glass of wine or beer would go great with this, but nothing I couldn't handle.
Apparently not drinking is doable but being able to stop once started is not possible.
the inability to stop at “just the couple”
And, yet, I know loads of people that can do that. Mrs mogrim, for example, will have a decent size Aperol at lunchtime, and then stop. Sometimes she might have a second. But it never goes beyond that.
Still standing and yet still still being social, which is, I believe, the key for me. I quit for 5 months 3 years ago but isolated myself to an extent and then when booze was reintroduced shock horror had the same habits.
This year been to football ST holder and whilst there was the urge i had an AF and was ok
Mums birthday meals out and show in london - AF again
Friends 50th - - AF again and out as soon as the same storys were told
Gym going well - Far more productive - Finding time I thought i never had (I did i just had a beer in hand)
And Had a great weekend being 100% Present with my son.
Easy so far - enjoying the clarity
Well done all
My biggest problem when I've had a drink is that my self control when it comes to food goes out the window, not doing dry January but try to limit going to the pub to once a week and I don't drink at home.
Still standing here too. Trip to the pub and drank their local AF beer (0.5% counts in my book) and a 60th party over the weekend where they had a Dry Jan table!
I even made gravy with some red wine for lunch yestrday and didn't have a glass in the process, and assuming all the alcohol would have steamed off by the time it hit the plate.
Sleep/HRV consistently good, except the early morning when EpicJnr was back to school, and that was down to reduced duration rather than quality.
Planning to keep going beyond Jan as well as things stand at the moment
13 days in - won't do this again.
My partner took advantage of the Ryanair seat sale at the weekend (£50 East Mids - Malaga return) so we're off to see her parents on the 1st March, which has now given me a new target to aim for. Seeing as it's my birthday while we're there I doubt my dry Jan/Feb will go into March.
13 days in and I honestly don't feel any better than I would from having 2 days off the booze.
Still going, finding it strangely easy so far but have been in a good place exercise wise recently with lots of motivation to get out for rides or runs, especially early, so maybe it's taking my mind off it.
Seems a shame that my very fancy port-finish Ardbeg that I got for Christmas us going untouched so far...
Weight has stayed exactly the same, but then it usually does, takes an heroic effort to budge it one way or the other 🙄
Sleep hasn't been brilliant to be honest, I guess replacing a glass of wine or s whisky with lots of fizzy water or cups of tea is always going to result in getting up to pee more often...
Well yes, and if you're drinking normal tea it has plenty of caffeine in it!
As per bloody usual, 2 weeks in and no notable benefits, but seem to wake most mornings with what feels like a hangover. I knew this was coming and so assuming it’s dehydration, have tried to drink more water before bed. No difference other than waking in the morning with a really full bladder.
Gah. On the plus side, I’ve gone from 20 ciders a month to zero and probably the same in crisps.
Well yes, and if you’re drinking normal tea it has plenty of caffeine in it!
Ha, no, I'm very aware, don't touch caffeine after lunch, this is turmeric tea.
Actually legs felt pretty heroic yesterday despite slightly higher than average mileage in the past few days, I was putting it down to having re-fitted normal tyres after riding heavy ice spikes for a few rides, or could have been the massive glass of beetroot that I drank 3 hours prior...
Well yes, and if you’re drinking normal tea it has plenty of caffeine in it!
I recently whinged at my better half when she added Decaf teabags to our shopping trolley. Only to be informed we'd be drinking that blend for 3 years!
I'm making an effort to drink a lot more water. The only effect I can measure is the number of night time toilet breaks!
I am sure I read that the way caffeine is broken-down in tea is different to coffee so whilst it does have caffeine in it, the effects of it are negligible.
Or, I may have dreamed that up but I can't be bothered googling it.
seem to wake most mornings with what feels like a hangover. I knew this was coming and so assuming it’s dehydration, have tried to drink more water before bed. No difference other than waking in the morning with a really full bladder.
I have had this ever since I was about 14. I call it 'not being a morning person'. Quitting caffeine helps somewhat, and Long COVID has made it way, way worse.
But some people are just not built to get up at 7am or even 8am, and I am one of them.
Still going here and not been close to breaking although I'd have happily had a few beers at the weekend. Interestingly my main vice is usually red wine but I've not missed that at all.
Sleeping better, feeling less tired in the day but ready for bed earlier at night. Not lost much weight but defo less bloated.
Roll up roll up for some more sick absistence sendz.
I'm still in.
Eldest back to uni tomorrow so we wnt out for
1. some kebabs. Drank some lime and mint drink, don't know what it's called but it was very nice)
2. A trip to the pub. Had a very decent range of AF stuff on. Had a nice stout, I don't know what it was called.
Just saw someone call Dry January "Millennial Lent", so thought I should share that here.
I've not touched alcohol all this week. Snacking's reduced as well. I think I'm going to keep at this.
Well I've binned it and had a couple of whiskies. Not proud of that but not ashamed either.
Still going here. It's been easy to not drink this week as I had a septoplasty and endoscopic sinus surgery on Monday, fun times lol
Yeah still going here so far. Completed an exam on Thursday but just had a AF Moretti with some food in the pub afterwards. Though, it sounds strange to say, but I have some minor ongoing stressful things hanging over me at the moment and so I feel like I can't really relax until I get them off my plate so the real test will be whenever that happens I think.
I was going to go out for a meal tonight with my wife which would maybe have broke my resistance but she's now realised she's double-booked and is at a pottery class instead (or something) so the meal has been moved to the afternoon- which seems much easier for abstaining purposes.
So, still going but partly through luck and happenchance.
I must say I don't really feel different in myself but have had other stresses to deal with so not sure if its a fair comparison.
I'm doing an intermittent one this year, but going to try and extend beyond Jan. Started 4th, had a lot on 8th and 9th as I l was on a trip with mates. Other than that I'm doing well.....really enjoying not drinking at home (we drink most nights).
We've been varying degrees of ill (wife really ill) for much of it thus far, so health benefits are hard to quantify.
Still going here. Woken up feeling slightly hungover for the last 7 days, it's particularly bad this morning ?
Not really lost much more than a kilo in weight either!
Really finding the NA beers is ticking a nice psychological box. Loving no hangover Saturday or Sunday, so much more productive.
The local Guinness 0.0% shortage isn't helping me, no-one has had it in stock for a week 😥
I made use of my Strava Lucky Saint 25% code this weekend (first time I've ever used a Strava Challange code)...
24 beers for 30 quid....
I've done the same, hopefully it'll see me through to the end of the month and bit beyond.
I fell off the wagon on Saturday. Went out for dinner, had a bottle of wine. Woke up on Sunday with a proper hangover. Previously I’d be able to drink a bottle of wine and pretty much be unaffected.
Going to try and last into mid Feb with no more drinking. The weight is very slowly starting to shift.
Still quite pleased with lasting 17 days without any alcohol.
Nearly in to the home straight, not really missing it here, and planning to keep it going into February a bit at least. Sleep is settled into a better pattern, weight coming down a bit as snacking reducing over past 4 or 5 days. All good so far..
I enjoyed the initial very dramatic weight loss (probably because about 2kg of it was just water retention from nightly beer and crisps over Christmas!) and am now just starting to notice a sustained downward trend, albeit very slow. Is nice to see <90kg on the scales more consistently, even if only 89.9kg 🙄
It's good though, I'm not consciously calorie counting, mostly just trying to avoid heavily processed stuff and not snacking. Tempted to keep going until at least March 2nd for my one and only CX race of the season, not that a couple of kg is going to make a difference plodding around a muddy field! 😆
I made use of my Strava Lucky Saint 25% code this weekend (first time I’ve ever used a Strava Challange code)…
Doesn't seem much of a deal - a box of x4 Lucky Saint is less than a fiver in Tesco (with a Clubcard).
The new Hazy IPA is damn good though.
How’s everyone doing? Reckon I’m going to carry on and see what happens.
I didn’t aim for Dry January, but to change my relationship with alcohol permanently. I’ve gone from a small drink almost every night at dinner, to one/two a week as a treat at the weekends. 4 drinks so far in January, usually with a special meal. I’ve also dramatically cut down on the associated snacks, so only 6 (small) packets of crisps across the whole of January including lunches and no large bags at all.
I’ve not noticed any real change in sleep, weight or…well, anything really, but hey ho. My HR, BFP and BMI were all good to begin with, so perhaps to be expected.
Cutting down on crisps deserves recognition. Tasty little buggers.
I’m still going, finding it relatively easy. Been just over 4 weeks now as gave up the day after Boxing Day. I do feel better and feel like the weight is starting to come off. Hoping to make it permanent as I’ve been trying to quit for years, I wasn’t a huge drinker but nearing the big 50 and even a few drinks these days seem to really affect me negatively.
Dry since the 1st and doing pretty well with it and being social .
swaped to af mainly Guinness and seems to be doing the trick .
ive 2 months to go but have a free token just in case something happens.
sleep better but still feel tired ( training more) and battery still recharging ... lost a bit of weight but diet not fantastic lots of eating out .(to work on that month 2)
dealing with work stress and load much better
this will be a long term change for me - I can still drink but will learn there are other options... I sure as shite don't miss the hangover
I've caved this week, an evening by myself in Newcastle so checked out a couple of craft beer pubs.
Have to say I didn't massively enjoy the pints, but unsurprisingly it's broken a seal of sorts and I cracked open the nice bottle of red I had sitting around this weekend ('to cook with' I told myself :roll:)
I need to experiment though because even after this very light drinking I noticed I wad feeling weirdly anxious the next couple of days, don't know if it's just a side effect of reintroducing alcohol after a couple of weeks off. Hope to get back on the waggon next week.
Still going here, and really feeling the benefit this week I think. Went to the craft pub on Friday and had 4 pints of their AF/LF 0.5%, and felt a bit skonky the next morning. But no temptation to have real beer.
Only downside is with friends over for dinner and mrs epic all drinking, hearing the same damn story for the third time gets a bit dull. Had to tell them to bugger off home when they started for the 4th time
Was all good till thu night, however have had a couple of gins, half bottle of red and a whisky, over the last 3 nights. Enjoyed them at the time, but crappy sleeps have reset my resolve. Habit has been cracked though, so looking forward to a few dry weeks till my birthday in February, then will have the odd one here or there, but not as part of my routine.
Ceilidh at Glenmore Lodge last night and I was on the Guinness 0.0. Normally, I wouldn't get on the floor without a wee "loosener" but I just thought WTF and cracked on with the dancing. Just as well really, as the band really needed a few experienced folk to help out with the moves.
We had a couple of friends over midweek though and, when asked what they wanted to drink, one asked for a white wine and the other a red. That means there's two partial bottles left and I hate waste so we'll be slowly working out way through them. However, the idea of using them for cooking is a good one. I might buy some venison today.
Had the four day dry-o-torium while away in Alicante. Just beer, no cocktails or wine. Enjoyed a fresh, cold beer in the sunshine and by the sea. Had no more than three (large beers) in a day. Did very much enjoy them tho. Sleep score and HRV headed back towards but not at previous averages.
Back Friday and back on moist-Jan. Shall make up the four days so Feb 4th finish for me. Then it'll be sticking to a beer after midweek / weekend riding and a few on a Friday night. Well that's the plan. But it is every Feb!
Still going here, had some Brooklyn 0.4% (might have been called Special Effects or something like that) with a meal out on Friday.
I deliberately declined to go to a gig with my mates on sat night on the basis I knew that would end my dry run for sure. Probably a bit counter-productive and missing the point really (going out but not drinking would presumably be more in the spirit of the challenge) but I’m kind of all-in now for this month.
I don’t feel any different but it’s nice to know all the exercise im doing is properly “banked” with a good nights sleep and not negated with 6 pints of lager several hours afterwards. Also it’s much easier to schedule my sessions when I don’t have to accommodate hangovers.
I won’t carry on teetotal and am going to see Todd Terje (DJ) at Manchester Cathedral on Friday with some mates so will call stumps then. For sure I don’t miss feeling rotten on a Sunday afternoon though and am definitely going to reduce my intake after this and be way more mindful of my consumption.
In many ways I would not mind being teetotal at all but realistically a huge part of my social life would probably just disappear (rightly or wrongly) so will aim to just reduce intake for now I think.