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What can we just "get on"
Nice pic TJ.
Lovely pic.
I sincerely doubt if anyone on this forum drinks anywhere near as much as I do. I know I should drink less (for health) but I bloody love it.
There are few things in life I enjoy more than a decent beer. Luckily I now drink quality rather than quantity. Going out on the P1ss is pretty rare for me these days, partly because I can no longer do it...it wipes me out for days after, but also partly because I don't have many mates who haven't succumbed to being under the thumb of their dictatorial other halves (i'm lucky, my wife gives me a free pass out whenever I like really as long as I don't abuse). But I must admit to enjoying going out for a good session all the more now I do it so infrequently,
I do meet up with mates after work down the local for a few most weeks but that is about it in terms of routine drinking, but it also doubles up as a good therapy...there is no better therapy in life than having beer with mates down the pub - i'm very lucky in that regard. I don't drink at home during the week...i'm definitely a social drinker. So a much healthier lifestyle these days..better quality beer and less of it is the key I think...I can't abide the mass produced chemical packed beers these days...I don't suffer a hang over when drinking strong real ales, but if I have a couple of pints of Peroni or San Miguel or any other similar slop than that and the next day it's like I've been stuck in the head with a pick axe and force fed laxitives. Its as far from real beer than Coke. In fact these days if that muck is the only option i'll tend to have a G&T.
Yet I find myself at moments like now, we’re I’ve had a head bangingly stressful day at work and just fancy a cold beer after the kids are in bed. I’m stressing myself out thinking “I shouldn’t but”…
If you are drinking because you enjoy the feeling on a night out etc. that is one thing
if you feel you need to self medicate with alcohol to relieve something else then that is not so much a good thing
it can be for many people an addictive substance and if you are using it to “cope” or to mask something else this increases the chance of dependencey
I've not had a drink thus far in 2018, my last drink being on NYE. I didn't drink much before. Can't say I feel any different, but I can't say I miss it either. I'm not sure if I'll drink again, it's just not part of my life and not something I think about too much.
I am much more likely to go to a pub and not drink alcohol. I very rarely drink at home - possibly 10 cans of beer a year
I put it down to studying when all my mates were out drinking/socialising so I don't associate alcohol with having a good time
Don't get me wrong I love a cold beer on a sunny day and I have no problem with others in my company drinking themselves into oblivion
I'm often rehearsing/gigging in a band situation where is positively a necessity for some people to have a drink or several and I will be completely sober.
Such is life
I like beer. Life gets in the way so I can't really afford a hangover and I can't stand the feeling of being hungover now anyway. So now I reckon I have between 2 and 5 nice beers spread over a week. Generally after a cycle or something like that, it's like a treat to myself.
Occasionally I think maybe I could cut it out then think, no.
The times recently when I have had to consciously cut down was when doing a lot of travelling for work. Easy to get into the habit of having a few drinks every night when away from home in a crappy place with not much else but a pub.
Life's short. If you want a drink have a drink. Same goes for life's other "naughties" like butter, sugar, red meat and Jeffrey Archer novels etc. Well maybe not that last one.
On the other hand, if you're pouring whisky on your cornflakes in the morning it's maybe time to cut back a bit.
Oh, and don't listen too much to the "I only ever have a small sherry on my birthday" comments. I'm sure some folk do, but it's generally accepted that most folk are drinking a good bit more than they admit to.
Occasionally I think maybe I could cut it out then think, no
See, this is partly where I am. I don’t see why I should suck all enjoyment out of my life as long as its not habitual.
My last marriage ended in divorce because I realised that my ex-wife was an abusive alcoholic. After I realised that, I became very anti-alcohol and, on the occasion that I did have a beer (like when I was away with the Army or a long way from home on my own) had a severe amount of self loathing about it.
That is less of a problem now. lI can have a beer or a glass of wine and rarely drink otherwise. I commute to work in the city, so being hungover raises the risks for me substantially.
In my days of yoof, I was awful at pacing myself, I would drink pints like squash. Never really got into spirits, besides Baileys-esque drinks, but as I got older I used to like having a glass of merlot when I got home from work... Which later developed into two, pretty much everyday.
But then I was put on meds for a while just over 10 years ago, which wasn't supposed to be mixed with booze and the habit has been pretty much broken since. I might have a glass of wine or two less than a handful of times a year these days, but when I do, just as before I can drink a glass or two far too quickly and have a stonking hangover within a couple of hours!
I like a good beer. And a good red wine. I enjoy getting pissed every now and then, but I absolutely cannot function properly the next day beyond probably 4 beers & the hangover is fierce, which is amusing.
I don't drink much at all any more. If you averaged it out, probably a pint a week, for the above reason - I like to do things at the weekend, get outside etc, and feeling like crap, moping around stops me, so I don't bother.
In the politest possible way as well, you're a (middle aged?) guy racing regional XC races (maybe nationals, sorry not paid a massive amount of attention), you arn't going to be the next Nino, do you not think you should be able to enjoy yourself with the things you like every once in a while? A couple of beers every now & then is not going to If I applied the worry & stress to life, training & riding my bike you seem to, I don't think I would ever ride. It sounds like hell.
Put the drinking in reverse this year, like a lot of ye by the sounds of it. Going for the Holy Grail of cutting right down, rather than complete abstinence, but whatever works. I do like the ale but it's a habit - like if you want a drink because you're stressed AF, or it's a social occasion, after a ride etc etc they're all good(ish) reasons. But just quaffing beer and red wine for no real motivating reason - I think most of us know the balance of that equation.
I come from an Irish family that is pickled in alcohol, frankly speaking - at least on the male side. But God in his mercy denied me the whiskey gene - I think I'd be in trouble by now if I liked the spirits.
4 young kids
they dont respect hangovers !
I have 2 or 3 beers or maybe a bottle of wine with the wife on a friday &/or saturday, & only once the kids are in bed
my family drink a lot & are overweight & rarely exercise, that depresses me
we have 'Thirsty Thursday' every week after work, but I have the convenient excuse of getting home for the kids & once they are in bed I go for a nightride!
Tired legs on a Friday are much better than everyone else moping around work with a hangover
I used to smoke a lot of weed, but havent had any since my son was born 8 years ago!
Don’t drink in the week normally as can’t be bothered. 2 pint Tuesday every couple of weeks though when ride to the pub to meet a mate and have a chat and a burger. Was on everything except roller skates in my 20’s and loved it, had a complete ball partying and travelling the world. When the downers kicked in I stopped. Will be bladdered on Saturday as out for sisters birthday I’m not stressing or thinking about it. If I was I’d quit.
Now you see, this is where I'm having an issues. I'm 30 mins away from a nice quiet hotel that has a bar and a river view. Its screaming "pint!" after work.
With Christmas Parties on the 7th & 14th I'd originally made it a goal to have nothing in between. I have zero will power.
Sigh.
Thanks for posting,I'm off to the pub...Cheers
If it helps, a couple of weeks ago I had a bad nights sleep and what I thought was an asthma attack, so went to the doctors following day. The doctor examined me, took my blood pressure twice and declared my liver was damaged and I’d need blood tests. He also said any chest pains, wheezing etc to call 999.
Now I like a beer and briefly it crossed my mind ‘what if I can’t drink any more??’ I then realised what a hold alcohol has on me, despite not being a big drinker these days.
So I waited for the results, worried like hell about all those one more beers and lock ins, why wasn’t I more sensible when I was younger etc.
Results came back as absolutely fine, my blood pressure has returned to normal and was probably high due to lack of sleep/oxygen.
But I’m still sat here thinking, I’m home early I could pop to the pub for a pint.
I'm not sure if that put me off or encouraged me Jamesoz 😀
Sorry just being honest, must admit despite the Gp (in my opinion) creating unnecessary stress, which wouldn’t have helped the high blood pressure. Before that misdiagnosis I would have gone to the pub, rather than sitting here thinking about it and drinking tea instead
I'm a beer fan. And a wine fan and a whisky fan too. Ironically, I have a fair few whiskies in the house, but can go weeks without even looking at them. Wine bottles, however, are viewed as single-serving containers. And I don't reckon I can ever have a single beer (unless I'm driving of course).
On holiday recently, I managed probably 23 days of (social, mostly moderate) drinking in a row and did wonder if perhaps I might think about cutting down - but then, I'm fitter than I've been for years, rarely get hangovers and it doesn't get in the way of work. I don't go out drinking that much, but if I do, then I'm out until the lights come on. And I appear to be a cheery, reasonably sensible drunk, which my partner has complimented me about, as her ex definitely wasn't. 🙂
I think the answer is to just not have any/much beer and wine in the house...
I often feel like the odd one out with my friends who seem to do an awful lot of drinking at home. I'll drink at parties and pubs, and enjoy getting wasted every now and again, but other than that I can take or leave booze. Ditto for other substances, tbh - I guess I just don't have a very addictive personality.
JP
I started recording what I drink on a phone app about a month ago. Not really shocked by what it tells me, it's about what I expected. I'm curious to know though how much I was drinking before as it's definitely reduced my intake. I have a dilemma though. I went out with an old mate recently who is effectively a non-drinker. He was bladdered after 4 pints. That's not my idea of a good night out to be honest as I'm well over getting really pissed. Trouble is you can't be a moderate drinker* and someone who doesn't get w*nkered after a few pints with no hangover at the same time.
*much as I like to think I doubt this will ever happen.
For the 10 years after we got together the wife and I drank so much our back teeth were floating then quite suddenly when we got to our late 20's we just about packed in over a period of a few months.
Now nearly 50 we have the odd drink socially with friends , very rarely more than 2/3 at any one time. We always have quite a bit in the house (currently 7 different spirits,28 bottles of wine,5 bottles of beer) but the draw we once had has all but gone.
We enjoy a drink but can take it or leave it.
At the moment we're barely talking.
Consumption is rarer than sex, swimming, cycling or even running, and does less for me than any of them.
Hours on the bike should exceed units consumed per week. I can take alcohol or leave it. I like the taste and love nice beers. But I don’t drink to relax or get drunk. I exercise instead.
I drink too much. Too regularly, rarely have an evening without a beer. I don't do pints and pints; just a couple of bottles each night, a bit more Fri / Sat night. I know it's too much
Kryton - TBH, sounds like your relationship with alcohol is just fine. A few nights a week, not to excess. Sounds fine to me
Saturday morning was awesome, usually wake up after works Xmas night out as rough as a badger, drove this time, fresh as paint in the morning.
5 months now since last beers, it's the future. 😊
We have a love hate relationship .
I too have a love/hate relationship. My problem has always been no off switch - I'm always up for another. I've now discovered PistonHead Flat Tire 0.5% which I really like the flavour of. Now, I'll generally have one of those and stop. Sometimes I'll feel like a proper drink (e.g. my reward to myself after having my hand operated on) and that may end up with me drinking a bottle of red fine or 4 beers but the following day I regret it and go back to the Flat Tire.
O.p. leading club ride?
Haven't drunk for years. Can't stand the taste of pretty much all alcoholic drinks. Not really an ideological or health thing.
It’s psychological effect is amazing. Got through dry January barely thinking about booze. Could have had a beer or two with the Rugby this afternoon but decided recovery from this mornings training and alchohols effect on that should take precedence for the 1-6hr magic window.
NowI’m thinking that after 8pm a tot of fine rum would be nice.
Defiantly over thinking it, but I can’t seem to help it! Part of me says staying Dry is a moral victory and does not wan to concede.
Quaff’able.
4 young kids
they dont respect hangovers !
Reminds me of seeing Mark Steel a few years ago (Mart Theatre, Skipton, best venue ever) - he recounted a story of getting home pissed in the early hours and finding his young child sat on the stairs: "ah daddy, great, we can play!"
7 months now, no interest in it now, just gets in the way, got past the stage of even thinking about having one.
I love lager. But one is too many and 2 is not enough.
It has cost me a lot over my life but at the moment I have swapped it for orange and soda.
If I could stay in and not go out that would be fine, but since the old office closed and I now work from the house I would go mad if I didn't spent time with other people.
Edit: Work done for the day, so off for a quick blast on the bike and another orange juice at the local.
7 months now, no interest in it now, just gets in the way, got past the stage of even thinking about having one.
I'd always assumed your username came from having emptied it so quickly.
Are you sure you're fae Ayrshire? 😉
I used to really, really ‘like a drink’. I was having 4 cans at home a couple of weeknights, then going hard all weekend every weekend. I got to 152kg. I realised to lose weight I’d need to stop boozing, so I stopped drinking in the house and went out less and less at weekend.
I’ve now got to the point where I can go a month without having a beer at all and without even thinking about it. I’d rather be feeling good on a Sunday morning so I can cycle/train than have a drink on a Saturday. I still drink; probably everything six weeks or so I’ll have a big night out and I can now go and have a meal and have 3 pints, which before would have been a meal with 5 pints then a session afterwards.
103kg now and can have booze in the house that goes out of date as I forget to drink it.
Like a lot of you my relationship has been pretty awful, one's too many and ten's not enough(ALL my relatives have dependency issues, I'm doomed lol)...
After my 50th last summer I knew I had to make a change, especially as out in Tenerife for my birthday, on the day before it I went biking from above Vilaflor to El Medano (about 1600m to sea level) with my Slovenian mate who lives out there down some well ropey barrancos, but I had had a heavy night before the trip and that morning had to have several "hairs of the dog" just to sort myself out(kill the anxiety) and do the ride which, in hindsight, I was lucky to come out of without injury as I was in effect still pi55ed....the missus, who was asleep when we left, went mental when I got back and I told her I'd been drinking before it...As did my mate Alan who I mentioned it to later...
I've since tapered it off and had my last drink mid December, and I'm feeling stronger, more positive, more focused and the sometimes crippling anxiety that now always accompanies a hangover has gone completely. I know lots of folk who "suffer" anxiety but who can't make the link and see how drinking exacerbates it. I too have done 3 months sober before but this time seems very different, maybe now I'm 50 I'm faced with "how much quality time" do I have left (mid life crisis finally!!)and I'd rather spend my money on bike and kayaking stuff than booze... (I worked in a distillery as an operator between 2012 and 2017 and mgmt were always giving us free whisky....Dracula and blood bank springs to mind). Looking forward to a year of bikepacking... the missus is still drinking which makes it harder but I just head for the man cave when she does..
I'm lucky enough to never have developed enough of a liking to the taste to be prepared to put up with the aftereffects. Occasional few beers out in town when we get a pass, occasional glass of wine, don't miss it if I don't have it. Haven't touched any since Christmas.
Biscuits, on the other hand...
I last drank on nye. I feel a different person for it. My sleep is no longer broken. I’m much less anxious about work. I’m fitter, happier and feel healthier. I just ask myself why do we do it to ourselves? I was in Edale for 9am today. Seeing those snow capped views is way better than ‘having fun’ - because society tells us we should be - on a Saturday night. Don’t miss it at all!
Some interesting points of view. I've just done a really hard ride and posted some PB's after a weeks hard training from which I should have been tired and not posting PB's at all.
This has made me think - in all the time my training has been better - basically since Christmas - I haven't been drinking. I know of some of the science based on damage to recovery and of course the morning after effect on workouts so perhaps my month of good results comes from abstinence.
Anyway - about the time nobeerinthefridge posted my 6 hrs had passed and I sipped on 1/2 glass of presecco, with the full intent of moving on to some Mount Gay XO. I finished the Prosecco, looked at Mrs K and said "Do you know want, I really don't want it" and went out to make a cup of tea.
I didn't drink much or to excess really anyway, but because I should be on my knees athletically today and am not, and because in my head now all I have is "alcohol is basically poison, I'm pretty sure I'm actually done with it. Maybe I'll report back in a few months and see if that holds true...
I have this in open all the time on my phone as a useful reminder:
https://thisnakedmind.com/6-reasons-i-dont-drink-alcohol/
I had 3 beers last week watching Liverpool v Leicester, I may have one tonight with burgers, but I've just done 65km Zwift ride so feel ok about it, especially after 50km yesterday too