Reducing Beer Intake – Any Tips?

Sounds daft, but if I’m fancying a beer on an evening a bowl of cornflakes or rice crispies works as a distraction, try it!

That’s not daft, that’s complete berserk!

I might try it though. A Saturday afternoon session eating bowls of different cereals in a very British manner of mixing drinks, with a lairy drinking cornflake song at the end, and a semi-naked dance up the street with Frosties boxes on my head. Sounds like milky fun.

It is completely disproportionate to the number of teetotallers I know in real life.

I don’t know any teetotallers in real life. 😂

I’ve got no problem with people highlighting the dangers of drinking, it’s a useful reminder. But I do get a little riled when they are exaggerated or not put into a greater context along side the benefits. That goes for any drug. We’re all adults, and all capable of making decisions about what we consume. I wish some people would remember that sometimes.

It’s really good to have alternative drinks in the house. My go tos are soda or tonic water with angostura bitters (I know there is alcohol in them but a dash of bitters is fine by me). Or roibos tea as an evening drink without caffeine.

The other thing that has helped me a lot is early morning rides and needing to be fresh for them.

Linked to that, wearing a Garmin watch the whole time has really shown me the impact of even a couple of beers. Resting heart rate is 47-50 in the morning after no alcohol or 55-57 after two beers. Similarly Garmin’s body battery score is way better after no booze and decent sleep. I find it very hard to ignore that direct evidence of the health benefits of less drinking – more so than general health advice.

I think one of the biggest influences for me is the environment – if I’m around people or occasions where drinking is mandatory / expected I’ll join in and that can set off a habit of having some beers in the house. I’m lucky that my close family don’t really drink and work these days doesn’t involve any such occasions. I think when people talk about stopping it can be hard to accept that it might involve taking a hard look at life in general and not just swapping beer for soda water and carrying on.

I completely disagree with the point above that people need to remember the benefits of alcohol. Generally these are benefits of doing fun and social things. In our society drink is so engrained that most events have booze involved but it’s not what causes them to be fun or social. The violence, babies with fetal alcohol syndrome, acute liver disease, heart disease, cancer etc. It just doesn’t stack up for me. I’m not a prohibitionist but I think the alcohol industry gets an easy ride considering the societal harm and individual health risk.

– is the number of teetotallers who leap on it to tell us all the dangers of drinking. It is completely disproportionate to the number of teetotallers I know in real life. I wonder if this says something about this forum, or about people who don’t drink?

Posted 1 day ago

Im not teetotal

The violence, babies with fetal alcohol syndrome, acute liver disease, heart disease, cancer etc.

You do realise millions of people manage to consume alcohol without any of the above problems? And I can definitely remember many (too many to remember in fact) occasions where I had lots of fun drinking. If it wasn’t fun people wouldn’t do it.

Get a distracting indoor hobby that you can’t really do at once you’ve had a few.

Guitar is good, as are video games that require a bit of concentration.
Chasing lap times on Gran Turismo is a good one – and a reminder of how even one beer can affect your driving.
Your tea consumption may rise dramatically.

– is the number of teetotallers who leap on it to tell us all the dangers of drinking. It is completely disproportionate to the number of teetotallers I know in real life. I wonder if this says something about this forum, or about people who don’t drink?

Posted 1 day ago

Im not teetotal

I know. I took you to the pub a few weeks ago. A beer was also the first thing you asked for after you’d got off the bike and cooled down a bit. 😀

I don’t know any teetotallers in real life.

I know a few, maybe 10(?), one of them is the most sanctimonious individual i know when it comes to the dangers of the devil drink.

He’s also a fully signed up antivaxxer, actually believes what the tarot tells him, has a 15 joint a day habit, a penchant for LSD/MDMA and keeps flipping between militant vegan and hardcore raw food/fruit diet zealot.
I’d rather not know him to be quite honest. Thankfully he thinks i’m sort sort of carnivorous borderline nazi so tends to avoid me.

The rest just quietly get on with it, couple of ex alcoholics, someone with *serious* dietary restrictions, people who just don’t like being drunk, or don’t like the taste.

I’m not a prohibitionist but I think the alcohol industry gets an easy ride considering the societal harm and individual health risk.

I suspect at some point soon it has the potential to become the next cigarette industry sort of thing.

I just stopped drinking so much because i was an insufferable prick when i was drunk. So i’ve been drunk about once a year for the last 5 or 6 years, and despite always having beer/alcohol in the house i’ve not had a drink since last weekend, and i only had one with a meal.

I have not read all of this thread but can I suggest that if you don’t already do it you should take up running. I expect you really will feel pretty bad if you run after a refreshment, and the uphills will be especially miserable if your drink frequently. You will remember this misery on every run and it will put you off the drink.

You will also feel miserable while making the decision to actually go and run and whilst getting ready but you feel fabulous afterwards and have the endorphin power rush that will make you feel strong enough to not need a drink when you get home.

Quick progress update after 7 days. Went from 6 out of 7 days with a drink (not excessive drinking just one or two) down to 2 days. Even managed a Saturday night with no problem but the biggest fail was Sunday. Had an invite to the pub with daughter and her boyfriend which initially I turned down due to housework requirements. Started pondering my decision, daughter is off to uni for the first time in 10 days so maybe I should take the opportunity to have a beer with her I thought. Then she messaged to say the boyfriends dad was going, and boom I was there. 3 pints later I got home and put Hardline on the TV, picked up the iron, and carried on where i left off. Suddenly the thought of a whisky drifted past me and I grabbed it, and then another because it was soooo nice.

Moral of this story is simply that I have no self control once I have had a drink, but I have can do without quite easily. I used all of the tips given on here. No ABV beer in the house, loads of tonic, ice, and cordial plus some AF beer. I now have type 2 diabetes due to the sugar in the soft drinks but my liver is thanking me

OP I reckon if we all kept a log on here of what we consumed you’d suddenly realise that you have lots of self control 🙂

Maybe we should? Not sure if it would reduce or increase everyone’s consumption though?

It’s great to hear that will power and just not having beer in the house works for so many, but it’s not going to work for everyone.

There are apps for everything these days, including cutting down alcohol consumption. I work in this area and one of the best I’ve seen is the Daybreak app from Hello Sunday Morning. Might be worth a look for anyone who feels like they’d like a bit of support from others going through something similar but don’t feel like AA is for them. I’m in Australia so it’s based here but don’t see why it wouldn’t work for you wherever you are in the world. https://hellosundaymorning.org/

@mrpaul. I am using the Reframe app and to your point on willpower, it has an article yesterday explaining why you can’t rely on it. This is a quote from it “ Remove “willpower” from the equation.

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Willpower has no place in drinking less — it makes us feel guilty, ashamed, and frustrated with ourselves. Instead, we can focus on building up our tools and reducing our mental fatigue to regain our control successfully.”

Came to find this to see how you were getting on. Few pub pints washed down at home with a few more beverages, never a problem in a million years.

Good on ya

@keefezza, This week has been the same. Home brew and homemade pizza night at a friends on Friday and then quiz night at the pub Sunday. I enjoyed both evenings but I have to say I am enjoying the following day less and less. Next week I am racing Fri/Sun so going to see if I can go cold Turkey for the week.

Thanks for checking in 🙂

Well 2 weeks in and there is good and bad news. Cutting down has been easier than expected but last weeks dry week was a big fat fail. Dropping daughter at uni for the first time saw me reach for a few beers on returning home. This highlights to me that there are strong triggers that are the next to try and conquer. And then after 2 races sandwiching the uni drop I decided, in my wisdom, that the way to celebrate was with a bottle of Cava and a beer. FFS! So emotional situations either good or bad need another thing to associate with. This is longer battle I feel.

Other bad news is that I have put on weight. It is either the soft drinks I am consuming in pints with ice when I get the beer urge, tonic water, ginger ale etc. or I am being less strict with my food because I see that as a way to treat myself rather than alcohol. Overall the health benefits of drinking less alcohol probably outweigh the small weight gain, but longer term that would become another issue.

Documenting here in effort to keep myself honest. It isn’t going as well as the first week suggested it might but it isn’t bad. I am down to 3 days (only 2 so far this week but did have a midweek fail) on average so heading in the right direction. Due to the weight increase I have gone back to calorie counting and committed to the MTB Fitness 12 week plan again to add some structure to my exercise. A few interesting observations:
1. I am finding it a lot easier to forgo the excess food than I am alcohol
2. When I crave a sweet snack (I don’t have a sweet tooth so not often) I am wise to ignore it because as soon as that sugar hits my lips I want more
3. There is a pattern emerging: Alcohol, I have one, and I want more. Sugar: I have one biscuit and I want the whole pack
4. It appears to be beer that is the challenge, I don’t find myself reaching for a single malt (which I really like) and I could buy gin as I like that, but I don’t. Beer on the other hand, as Homer would say “MMMMMMMmmmmm Beeeeer” but only nice beer (to me) like hazy IPA’s, weiss beir, and maybe a craft pilsner/lager. There have been 2 cans of John Smiths and 2 cans of Thatchers blood orange cider in the cupboard for weeks untouched, abd I have no desire to consume them
5. I was reading an article on the Reframe App which stated a craving generally only lasts for 20 minutes so distract yourself for 20 mins. This is true, and works even better if you throw in a pint of iced tonic water. It does require willpower though
6. Having beer in the house at all (apart from the crap stuff mentioned in point 4) is a no go. I failed to pause my Beer52 subscription and it arrived yesterday, 4 small cans went last night.

That’s enough navel-gazing for now, back in a week or so.

Reducing beer intake? Cider?

Refrain when the month rhymes with sober and the other month when it never rains.

Came to find this to see how you were getting on. Few pub pints washed down at home with a few more beverages, never a problem in a million years.

I suppose its a problem if you think it is 🤷‍♂️ but the quantities of drink your describing are pretty low compared to what I drink and most people I know who are regular drinkers. Stop beating your self up OP your being a bit hard on yourself IMHO.

@oldenough, It is more the feeling of “needing” a beer and the fact I was starting to edge towards 5 nights a week that was the concern, that on top of the weight I was putting on. Earlier this year I was 12st 5lbs, still 7lbs heavier than an ideal weight but I was fine with it (I have been 14st in the past) but on return from holiday and over the following few weeks I had edged up to 13st 4lbs. It wasn’t making me happy and beer was the cause of the weight increase either directly through consumption or indirectly by making poor food choices.

So what I am saying is that for me personally I was drinking too much, and I was feeling a need for a drink, this is what I wanted to stop.

Was just about to ask what I think you’ve already answered (and may have done elsewhere in the thread).

Correct me if I’m wrong, ultimate goal is to work towards removing the “need” to drink booze?

What do you hope to replace it with, no drink at all? replacing the “need” with a “want”?

Good to see you’re coming back on here to keep track and push yourself towards your goal. I’m doing it on the 100 days of exercise so I know it works better than not having to answer to anyone but yourself, in a weird way.

Correct me if I’m wrong, ultimate goal is to work towards removing the “need” to drink booze?

Pretty much this @keefezza. I want to get to the point where a drink is something I have when I go out not when I am at home for medicinal reasons

What do you hope to replace it with, no drink at all? replacing the “need” with a “want”?

I hope I don’t need to replace it with anything, just remove the slight dependence I have when things get tough or rewards are due (It is amazing what I can find to reward myself for)

Seems like you are well on your way, may take some time to slowly ween yourself out the habit. Keep it up 😃