Giving Up The Booze

I think i am at the point in life where booze does me more harm than good.

I am not a heavy drinker by any stretch. I mostly try and avoid drinking during the week, but come the weekend i will go through a 10 pack of cider or lager. Again, not a massive amount compared to some and generally it is a few cans in the evening, to unwind and kick back.

The problems arise if i have more than this and ultimately get drunk. I turn in to a bit of a dickhead. Usually if i do drink to what i call excess is due to a social occasion, so friends and family (my wife) get to experience me being a plonker and generally being a bit abrasive, abusive and generally not very nice. I’m opinionated at the best of times, so you can imagine how this pans out.

As far as i can tell, i have two options.

Option 1 is i knock it on the head completely. this will alleviate the issues of when i have one too many, plus the health and financial benefits that comes with it.

Option 2 would be to limit myself to say 3 drinks on any given occasion, allowing me to ‘enjoy’ a beer, but not take me past the point of nice bloke and into the realms of complete nobber. But there is still the risk that 3 becomes more and we end up back at square one.

So…. has anyone given up booze or changed their drinking habits. May i ask the inspiration why and how did you or are you finding it?

And what do you drink instead? Have you gone for zero alcohol beers? Or discovered a new world of kombucha, fizzy pops and cordials?

Any advice and feedback always appreciated.

If you can cut down but not out then that might work. You can only drink 10 cans if you have them in so don’t buy more than a couple at a time.

Also, work out what you enjoy about drinking. Is it the taste, the refreshing drink or the feeling from alcohol. For me it’s mostly the first two and low alcohol beers mostly satisfy that.

I’ve stopped drinking on a school night. But wouldn’t give up my weekend pub visits as this is where I meet my mates. Drink makes me less agresssive.

@scotroutes – thats a bloody good point. As i am not the sort of person to run out and then go and get more. So that could defo be a good starting point. And i am the same as you as from what i get from drinking a beer or cider.

@Caher – i do most of my socialising whilst riding as all my close mates ride bikes. i pretty much only go to the actual pub once or twice a month… plus i am so tight i cant stand paying £6 for a pint.

You can only drink 10 cans if you have them in so don’t buy more than a couple at a time

That’s what I do as well.  In general it works in that I never try to have more than 2 in any one evening but if I do it is limited to whatever is left of the last 4 pack.  I can’t have more than that in the house without risking a mess

If not beer then an alcohol free beer or a random selection of interesting looking cans from the supermarket.  I don’t really like any of them much but the variety helps

Setting a limit when going out to the pub doesn’t usually work for me. All too easy to have one “for the road” (I don’t mean driving). That one can easily lead to several more as I get a proper taste for it and different people I know turn up etc.

Have you gone for zero alcohol beers?

IMO modern ones are very good. You might find that stopping altogether is actually easier than trying to strictly control it.

Think of it like cycling single speed – once the options are removed what is left becomes much easier to do than expected.

I stopped drinking way back, not because drinking any significant issues but because I just didn’t feel it was making a useful contribution to my life. I barely think about it and I don’t miss it at all – other than very occasionally when eating French cheese with a French baguette and thoughts of a full-bodied French red wine enter my mind.

In contrast despite giving up smoking years ago I still miss fags everyday and fully expect to for the rest of my life.

Yeah I basically don’t drink any more but I never say Im teatotal. For me that takes off any pressure when I do actually fancy a beer, or a glass of wine etc. It seems to work for me, I can have a drink guilt free but at the same time I just don’t drink very much.

My alcohol tolerance has also dropped massively and that is a big incentive. A single beer bottle is my limit now, but with a meal it’s really enjoyable. I might have the odd dram but likewise it’s very much more enjoyable to sip and savour

I’d say don’t try to just stop, wind it down slowly and before you know it you’ll be happy with similar levels

I’ve not quit for those reasons but significantly cut my booze intake as part of a conscious effort to get the weight in check. [If you are also carrying extra weight it may actually be easier to “quit the calories” than “quit the drink”]. People seem to be very appreciative of a designated driver.

One of my mates is like this.

The other week another one of my mates punched him hard enough to knock him out, just to shut him up as he was being so annoying. It wasn’t malicious, just a functional KO for everyones benefit, not least his own.

Have you not got anyone who can do that for you when you start to get a bit much?

I’ve pretty much given it up. Ex-wife was an alcoholic – and that brought a world of pain.

I can’t tell you what to do, but I’m just saying that she would have described her drinking much as you have until it just got worse to the point where I had to leave with the kids. She tried to cut down for a while, but it never worked, just came back worse.

What I’ve found from not drinking at social times is that I still have a good time with the newer alco-free beers. A lot of what I thought was the good mood from getting tipsy seems to have been just from the good mood of being with friends having a laugh – obviously it never goes beyond that stage as after 2-3 beers the alcohol would normally be obvious. It’s great being able to go out, have a cheap night then drive home.

One of my mates is like this

Sounds like the dynamics in my ancient mates from my teen years when we meet up in my home town. None of my old mates ride bikes.

Been off the booze since June 1st. As I was regularly drinking too much on a school night. With there being more drinking than non-drinking days.

Said we’d drink on pre-booked occasions. One of which was this weekend up in Northumberland, with family. Did have a beer at the pub on the beach which was very tasty.

Generally not missed drinking though. At home I do tend to drink alcohol free or low alcohol beer, as water gets a bit tedious/boring and I’m not massively into sweet drinks.

For AF Infinite Session are good as well as Adnams Ghost Ship. Certainly hits the taste and psychological spot.

Brewdog were good, but as their CEO is a cock and the company is a bit contrived I don’t drink their stuff anymore.

I don’t drink and stopped about four years ago. I stopped because I didn’t know when to stop and couldn’t stop myself from having several rather than one. I knew that if I let it continue I’d be heading down a long and dangerous road so decided to just stop drinking there and then.

I have several friends who don’t drink which makes it easier, but then I’ve never been much of a person to go to a pub. The first four weeks are probably the hardest, it only gets easier from there on.

I have diet Coke or lemonade instead of alcohol. I miss it very occasionally but it passes!

I’m sorry for you op. I’m very much in the happy drunk camp. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be wired the other way. I wonder why we are predisposed to how how we will react and if it could be estimated by other aspects of our personalities.

I’m no big drinker but I do need to watch myself from a health perspective as I can easily get into a habit of the weekend after work drink becoming a Thursday too, then every day, then 2 or 3 every day. I met a bloke with a malt collection running to 60 bottles – there is just no way I’d be capable of doing that. I moderate by buying in moderation.

I had a long dry period in my mid 20’s. It helped kick the habit of going out Fri/Sat nights and having no hangover free weekends to relax or ride bikes. I went back to drinking, but only the odd drink, so where you’re drinking 5 cans on a Saturday night, I’m having 1 bottle. And not every weekend, only if I actually feel like it.

Worked for me.

Also have a variety of drinks in the house, coke zero, alcohol free beers, upto Belgian quads. Then pick the drink to suit my mood.

I had a mate who was a **** on the drink. He stopped after a couple of friendship ending incidents. He was a much better human being thereafter.

A lot of good comments already.

About 10-11 years ago, I found things getting out of control. In my case just too much daily drinking after work rather than getting properly drunk. I’d put out the recycling and think how bad it looked, then again the week after and so on.

I gave up for a year and it sort of worked to reset my drinking. Now I’m much more take it for leave it, and drink 1-2 days a week if that and less when I do.

What a lot of people don’t mention is how well you sleep and how good you feel in the mornings! That was a revelation.

It’s worth going cold turkey for a couple of months, experience how an alcohol free life feels. I did Dry January last year but ended up extending it up to the end of March as my mental and physical health improved massively. Had one big night out at the start of that April and the hangover felt horrendous so ended up wondering how I’d done it in the past. Since then I’ve only had the odd one or two drinks a month. Totally lost the taste and feel for alcohol.

The first four weeks are probably the hardest, it only gets easier from there on.

This is very true. For me the first two weeks were difficult. It would get to the evening and I’d be craving a beer, especially after a hard day at work. As a distraction, I got into artisanal teas (very STW I know) and would make myself a brew when I got the craving. I would also demolish a couple of packs of chewing gum a day as another distraction.

I am not a ‘big’ drinker or social drinker (never got to a pub) but I have been drinking too much at home the last 2 years. Never been drunk in that time but was having 2 cans (occasionally 3) nearly every night. It was a habit and the weight was piling on. I then got covid about 3 months ago and couldn’t get out to buy any drink for a week, which became 2. I then said to myself that I had broken the habit and would only drink a craft bottle or two a few times a week.  After about 2 weeks of this I asked myself why was I drinking and decided to give it a break as I was feeling less tired and losing a bit weight etc  and was generally liking how I was feeling  when off the drink. I have now been 6 or 7 weeks without (not really counting) no plan or aim and I might have a drink if I fancy it (there are 3 bottles sitting at home for weeks) and I have not said I am going tea total or anything but honestly not missing it just now. I am drinking gallons of Robinsons Orange Barley Water now. I guess its different for everyone.

I’m a pretty light drinker, usually nothing in the week and I don’t suffer from nobber syndrome when I overdo it but I do suffer absolutely horrendous hangovers so it’s rare I have more than 4 pints or equivalent. It’s a good motivator having the following day ruined 🙂

For years I’ve drunk lime and soda, oj and lemonade or coke instead. Boring but it has never really worried me until Covid ruined coke for me. It’s the one thing that after losing my sense of taste I didn’t enjoy after it came back anywhere near as much.

Recently I’ve been having more of an experiment around the zero% (usually it’s technically<0.5%) lagers and beers. There’s some complete turds out there but also some quite decent ones. What I would say is this is one of those opinions are like earholes things. Everybody has two. You just have to try a few and don’t assume because you like the full fat that you will like the “diet” version.

For example I really don’t like Peroni much at all, I like the alco-free one quite a lot.

So…. has anyone given up booze or changed their drinking habits.

Yes, i’m an obnoxious and abrasive winker when i’m drunk. Loud, bad language and generally not pleasant to be around, so i now offer to drive (one drink, early on to show willing, then nothing for the rest of the night), expensive whiskeys, so two or three is my entire budget for the night! (and TBH, drinking whiskey/whisky is more about taste etc than getting pissed anyway), or just taking control and having 2 or 3 and stopping.

I had one too many on friday and realised i was getting loud, so i stopped. It’s much easier to do now.

I always have plenty in stock, usually new or interesting beers, so actually tasting them is part of the point of drinking them. Never sit down with the intention of getting pissed either.

(By bad language, i mean *really* offensive, spent most of my youth/20’s around and about with hardcore trade unionists and “professional” working mens club drinkers. Also, my dear old mum probably swears more than 90% of the users of this forum.)

Order a mixed 48 pack of Brewdog AF. By the end of the box your taste will have changed & you’ll feel better for it.

Then try Big Drop beers and there’s no turning back 😜👍

For me its 2 pint limit cos after the third i get thisty and can become an arse. Works for me

I sort of got trapped by becoming a freelance beer writer 10+ years ago. But i’d already made a commitment to only drink at weekends before that. While I don’t really write about beer any more, I do host a monthly beer tasting at a local pub/offy which also functions as pretty much my only social outlet (excepting 10% of my bike rides as i usually ride alone).

To make it harder I took up brewing and now rarely don’t have a keg of my own beer in the fridge. Drinking at home I make it a rule to usually only have max 2 pints on Friday and Sunday and possibly 3 on Saturday. It does mean i tend to brew a bit stronger than I should though.

I’m not a dick when i’m drinking – i think i got most of that out of me before I was of legal drinking age – but i’m a pretty bad back seat driver according to Mrs Reeksy.

I did a dry month once before a big event – I honestly couldn’t tell the difference.

2.5 years off it now.

I struggle with moderation, so I find it really difficult to have 2 or 3 drinks, it’s all or nothing with me, so I choose nothing.

Also, thinking back, while I’ve had some very enjoyable nights out on the booze, nothing good and lasting has ever come from me getting drunk. Stories the following day of the stupid shit ive said or done, people I’ve pissed off etc were becoming tiresome (rarely anything malicious, more just trying to be funny and spectacularly missing.)

thanks for all the replies folks, has given me some great ideas for change.

I think my first port of call will be to try some alcohol free options, as i do enjoy the satisfaction of digging into a cold one.

As i drink for the flavour rather than the need to get drunk.

Also its nice to hear i am not alone in being a right cod piece when one too many are consumed.

So again, thank you all for sharing your experiences and life choices.

6 months booze free tomorrow, best thing I ever did.

Yeah, just sack it off. The benefits of not drinking far outweigh the benefits of drinking.

Abstinence is much easier than moderation. I think I’m nearly 3 years alcohol free now and definitely wouldn’t go back. My life is much better without it. I also wasn’t a big drinker.

Instead of wasting Friday night in the pub and Saturday morning in bed, I go sailing on Friday night and can get up and ride at 7am.

This is worth a listen:

Is it Time for a Tactical Break from Alcohol? With Andy Ramage (Re-Release)

Heineken Zero and Erdinger is what I normally drink.

Some really great pointers mentioned already.

What doesn’t appear to have been mentioned are the non existent health benefits. (Everyone rolls eyeballs!)

I’ve been off the sauce since Xmas last. Always been a drinker up til then but like a lot of folk, the last 2 years haven’t helped and just carried on regardless without realising the toll that it was taking. Never really drunk but topped up to the same level every day!

Its very insidious how the excess of drinking crept up on me without knowing, with the end result of high blood pressure and all its associated issues.

I would say that since giving it up the realisation has hit home that viewing the world through rose tinted glasses that drinking at that level and assuming all is is well, or any for that does more harm than good and doesn’t benefit anyone! Especially those closest to us, as described in detail by others above.

Suffice to say, things are improving slowly but hopefully careful management will reap rewards.

Sleep is hugely improved, the action before shut eye, blimey!!

We’ll see!

@boredmarriedwithkids @geomickb – thanks for sharing, this is all fuelling me towards giving up alcohol.

My wife’s friend has a husband who drinks everyday. He is a functioning alcoholic. Its such a tragedy. Although fair play to him, he did manage to drink 72 cans of Fosters in 48 hours once.

I tend to find more of my unfiltered natural thoughts come out after drink. So to me it sounds like you potentially need to deal with whatever gives you this bitterness and anger first. The drink may well not be making you say those things, it just opens the gates for it to come out. That’s how I was in my 20’s anyway, emotional maturity came late and was hard work.

Some of us are just mean deep down 😉

@toby1 – very much so, the filters are disengaged, the tongue is no longer bitten and i say whatever i want. This is something that very much needs addressing too and i am currently in the throws of getting some help with that.

I am unfortunately a ‘glass half empty’ kind of guy and there are many things that get me down/angry/disappointed. I have made small steps already in addressing these, removing myself from potential sources of disappointment and overall and attempting to be more zen.

It sounds like the removal of alcohol wont solve these issues, but will very much help along the way.

I am thankfully in a very good relationship with my wife and kids, have great friends around me and a decent support network, so i am hoping with a bit of work, removing some catalysts, i can become a better person….. wish me luck!

I have found that as I’ve aged, although I’m not really a “big drinker”, I am quite a habitual one. So I can easily get into the habit of having a beer in the evening every night, more at the weekend. This hasn’t had dramatic bad effects, but I think it does have an insidious low-level impact on my mood and health.

So over time I have settled on a basic rule of thumb where I, at a minimum, have two consecutive booze-free nights a week. This can wax and wane (I tend to drink more in the winter), but having at least those two “nights off” helps reset the clock and prevent habit creeping in.

I also find having small children helps with sobriety* as there is no such thing as a lie-in any more. It’s got to be a worthwhile binge in order to be worth the grind the next day. Weddings, birthday parties, Christmas: maybe have a bit of a drink. Friday evening watching crappy comedy shows when you’re knackered after a week at work: not so much 😀

* I don’t advocate procurement of small children purely as a drinking-reduction strategy. They have benefits and drawbacks and should be carefully considered on their own merits.

@v7fmp – a good friend of mine is a functioning alcoholic, if you were to meet him for the first time you would never know!

His life is a book/litany (failed marriage, kids don’t want to know, etc. etc.) of everything that is wrong with the booze if it takes hold and can/will screw your life up. He is the first to admit that there is no thin line between thinking you are managing it and not, alcohol serves no purpose whatsoever! Its a social problem that we all think is acceptable but really is it? He accepts that he will die on his own in some place where there will be no help and no one will mourn his passing! Sad really!

You’ve beaten me to it. Alcohol un-inhibits your normal behaviour so focus on changing your mindset as you are.
Can’t hurt to drink a bit less at the weekend. Being tee-total is probably too hard and setting you for a fall and it doesnt sound like you’re an alcoholic?

When you start to notice your behaviour changing ease up on the booze and have a think about it.

Also try doing different things with your spare time to break up habits.

Again, not a massive amount compared to some and generally it is a few cans in the evening

A few cans in reality is too much, and a sign you are drinking too much.

I very rarely drink these days, dont miss it at all.

“I also find having small children helps with sobriety”.

This 100%. It’s much easier to be the dad that I want to be, now that I am AF.

Yeah, how many is a “few” 2 or 3, or half a dozen?

Sunday was the first time i had been hungover in quite a while, which was also a good reminder of why i dont drink to excess too often (along with the disappointment in my wife’s face that i have been a div), as already being enlisted in the ‘children helps with sobriety’ scheme, my 5 year old still demanded the same level of care and attention as if i wasnt hanging out of my backside.

Good discussion thus far, some interesting insights.

The question is, what do i do with the 4 Ciders in the fridge… the last supper? Or pour them away?