Quitting drinking

[ScrabbleGirl]

So, yesterday I made the decision to stop drinking. I don't think I have a problem or anything, I have the odd glass of wine mid week and rarely binge on weekends, but when it happens, I always have the horrible feeling of regret and annoyance that I've wasted the whole of the next day hungover, when I could have been being productive. 

 

I'm just wondering how people who have quit/cut down considerably have found it? I go to a pub quiz once a week and haven't had a pint there for ages, so I'm sure that'll be fine, and all my friends are supportive people. I guess I'm just interested in your quitting stories, tips etc. 

[WizardTrip]

I've never fully quit, but I have gone through periods of cutting back heavily. I have a lot of friends that love to drink. I love to drink. But a little over a year ago I added up all the calories I was consuming during a single week from alcohol alone and the result was insanely high. So I made a drastic change in how much I drank, and that is honestly what started my weight loss and desire to get into better shape.

 

Of course, over the holiday's with parties and pub crawls, it's about time to cut back again.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

My whole group has cut back as a whole.  It used to be a binge drinking night once a weekend.  But, over the last year, the major pushers these events have gotten full time jobs and don't really try to do it as much and it's down to once every 1-2 months. Even then I don't go most of the time. Like you I feel like I waste the next day hung over, or even just not waking up and moving until noon cuts a weekend day in half.

 

I won't cut it all out though.  I like the taste of beer and it's an acceptable vice to have a beer with dinner each night. I've been hardcore on and off about cutting it out completely with the rest of my paleo cahnges, but I am coming to the realization that it's not what I really want and doesn't fit into the life I have or want.  80/20 will be fine for me, so drinking a ton only once in a while and having a few a week won't be too detrimental as long as I'm good in other aspects.

[blindasutsutsu]

So...I quit for almost 2 years. While it was hard for me at first I think having supportive people around you is really key. For me it boiled down to not having it in  the  house, and not putting myself in situations where I  would feel the pressure to drink. If I went to a party/out to the bars with friends I made sure I was the DD (that way even the ones that wanted to give me crap couldn't cause I was their ride home), if there was something going on at my house (I had roommates at the time) I just made other plans for the night. Not sure if that helps at all but yeah hope it does.

 

Good Luck! 

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Oh yeah, I volunteer to DD all the time when we go out, makes a great excuse not to drink much.

[joeyb]

I haven't cut out drinking altogether, but I have cut back significantly. Just not having beer in my fridge was the biggest thing. I also usually have to drive because I'm by myself or my is with me and wants to drink, so that limits how much I can drink when I go out. What it boils down to is if you put yourself in the right situations, it won't even be difficult.

[Savychacha]

Last January my husband and I decided to stop drinking until April. Over the holidays we had been indulging too much, and figured that a clean and sober start to the year would be great. That's when I also went Paleo, and started lifting weights. I did have 2 glasses of wine at the end of April, but continued on only drinking every once in a while. To be honest, doing that four months was easy. The longer I was away from alcohol, the more adamant I was about not drinking it. And I never woke up hung over or feeling useless, which was total motivation.

 

Fast forward to this year and I would say that I drink maybe once a month. I don't drink until I'm wasted, but a nice happy buzz instead. I find that as long as I stick to wine, or champagne I usually don't end up hung over. If I'm not drinking either of those though I'm a dedicated whiskey/bourbon drinker...which can get messy sometimes. 

 

I just try to make good choices. My husband and I tend to help each other in this respect too. After shoveling for 5 hours the other day, he really wanted some beer. I talked him out of it though, because adding a hang over to the inevitable sore body he would have didn't sound as appealing as a few beers. 

 

I have to admit though, the longer I go without the easier it gets. I think that tends to be the case for a lot of things though. Good luck!

[Wolverine]

Just made the decision to cut back yesterday, actually!  Didn't have my normal glass or two of wine last night with dinner and was pleasantly surprised with how much more food I could eat with all those extra calories.

[Pyth]

I drank my last beer Dec 30th 2012. I was a fairly heavy drinker before, 3 beers a night was my usual through the week. The odd night I'd have 6. Weekends the sky was generally the limit. Polishing off a two four over the course of the day Saturday was not unusual. 

 

I must sound like a huge boozehound, but let me give a bit of context. Brewing was a huge hobby of mine. I have a room in my house that is well, a brewery. I make dozens of different kinds of beer and have 100s of bottles and a dozen or so kegs of beer. I drank that much because I was a beer and brewing fan. Not because I was a slimey alcoholic that couldn't functions without booze.

 

That said, quitting was fairly easy for me. I just stopped. I don't go to bars anymore, I don't make beer anymore. Though I may well take that hobby up again some day. It's been a passion of mine for years. I gave away most of the booze in my house. I still have 5 gallons of hard pink lemonade I made and 5 gallons of Apfelwine sitting in storage. It's been aging for 2 years, I can't bear to part with it now haha.

 

But yeah, I found it easy as can be to give up booze. I had given up cigarettes a month before that. That was way more difficult.

[ellisd012]

I drank my last beer Dec 30th 2012. I was a fairly heavy drinker before, 3 beers a night was my usual through the week. The odd night I'd have 6. Weekends the sky was generally the limit. Polishing off a two four over the course of the day Saturday was not unusual. 

 

I must sound like a huge boozehound, but let me give a bit of context. Brewing was a huge hobby of mine. I have a room in my house that is well, a brewery. I make dozens of different kinds of beer and have 100s of bottles and a dozen or so kegs of beer. I drank that much because I was a beer and brewing fan. Not because I was a slimey alcoholic that couldn't functions without booze.

 

 

Why would you call someone with a chronic illness 'slimey'? I'm glad that it has been easy for you to stop drinking for 6 weeks now, but it is not so easy for an  alcoholic to stay sober just like that *snap*. Please try to have some compassion for sick folks whom you don't understand. Alcohol has a different effect on some people and it may not be so easy to just stop.

 

ScrabbleGirl, if you are not addicted to alcohol and you don't want to drink, then you will likely succeed in quitting. Most moderate/social drinkers don't have an issue when they want to quit. Good luck!

[Zorch]

So, yesterday I made the decision to stop drinking. I don't think I have a problem or anything, I have the odd glass of wine mid week and rarely binge on weekends, but when it happens, I always have the horrible feeling of regret and annoyance that I've wasted the whole of the next day hungover, when I could have been being productive. 

 

I'm just wondering how people who have quit/cut down considerably have found it? I go to a pub quiz once a week and haven't had a pint there for ages, so I'm sure that'll be fine, and all my friends are supportive people. I guess I'm just interested in your quitting stories, tips etc. 

 

I think you're on track for success, simply because you have the support of your friends, which makes this far easier.  Personally it's the opposite for me - I drink very little except when out with/offered a beer by friends..

 

CoreyD's suggestion to volunteer to DD is an excellent one - it's an effective way to commit to not drinking for the night, and being a responsible/good friend at the same time.

[ScrabbleGirl]

No one wants me to volunteer to be a DD, I don't have a license!

 

Thanks for the support guys, I'm going to a pub quiz tonight so we'll see...

[KillerGriller]

I've been dry as part of the current 6-week challenge and found it easy at times and difficult at others.  The biggest thing I found was finding and controlling your triggers; for me it was most difficult to skip the post hockey beers with my buddies, or the Sunday afternoon working around the house drinks, but everyone is different.

 

I agree with the general trend in here, removing yourself from temptation makes it so much easier.  Get it out of the house, and explaining your motivations to your friends really helps.  Once my friends understood what/why it was much easier to order a gingerale without issue.  Ellis has a good point too, everyone is different and will find quitting to be a different experience, we should be supporting those out there struggling with quitting or addiction.

[ScrabbleGirl]

Yeah, I really don't have an addiction, but have a great amount of respect for people dealing with that. I am friends with a lot of high functioning alcoholics. It's pretty scary the amount they put away. 

 

Tonight was the pub quiz that I go to every wednesday. No booze. No issues. We came second though. 

[Pyth]

Why would you call someone with a chronic illness 'slimey'? I'm glad that it has been easy for you to stop drinking for 6 weeks now, but it is not so easy for an  alcoholic to stay sober just like that *snap*. Please try to have some compassion for sick folks whom you don't understand. Alcohol has a different effect on some people and it may not be so easy to just stop.

 

ScrabbleGirl, if you are not addicted to alcohol and you don't want to drink, then you will likely succeed in quitting. Most moderate/social drinkers don't have an issue when they want to quit. Good luck!

 

Poor choice of words, I didn't mean to say all people with alcohol issues were slimey. Just that I in particular wasn't a slimey sot of alcoholic. But yeah, really poorly worded. I apologize.

[Evicious]

Substituting shots for beers helped me cut back quite a bit. Fewer calories, faster buzz, and I felt a lot thirstier much sooner, which prompted me to drink water every 3 shots or so without really thinking about it.... which in turn kept the number of shots I took down.... which meant I didn't go to bed hammered.... which meant I woke up the next morning without a hangover. After a couple of weeks of that, I've lost a lot of interest in even getting drunk. Now I might have a shot or two to catch a buzz, but more often I prefer to have a cup of tea to help me sleep. It's like I'm accidentally sober...?

[Michael_Blacksmith]

I think stress really took care of drinking for me! I started to notice that when I would drink, even one beer, and by beer I mean craft brew/real beer, my stomach feels like I just drank a bunch of acid and I feel sick. When I do fight through it I just don't have a good time and feel horrible to the point were is really stops being fun so I just don't do it. 

 

That and I can't afford a day to recover from feeling hungover

[KillerGriller]

Yeah, I really don't have an addiction, but have a great amount of respect for people dealing with that. I am friends with a lot of high functioning alcoholics. It's pretty scary the amount they put away. 

 

Tonight was the pub quiz that I go to every wednesday. No booze. No issues. We came second though. 

awesome, keep that momentum

[CalvinHobbes]

Yeah, I really don't have an addiction, but have a great amount of respect for people dealing with that. I am friends with a lot of high functioning alcoholics. It's pretty scary the amount they put away. 

 

Tonight was the pub quiz that I go to every wednesday. No booze. No issues. We came second though. 

 

Only second? What a waste Sounds like a good time without alcohol or issues! Great job.

 

I have a lot of high-functioning alcoholic friends. I didn't notice it until I spent a weekend at another friend's house and they were drinking nonstop...I'd wake up and they would be drinking, I'd go to sleep and they'd be drinking. My 6-pack lasted all weekend, their 30s lasted a night at most.

[erawka]

I've cut down a lot since college. I had three drinks the other night (celebrating the new job!!) and I have been regretting it for a full 48 hours. My tolerance for all things sugar-laden has dropped drastically, though, and alcohol is sugar's party-lovin' cousin. Needless to say, both fall in the "acceptable vice" category for me, but only in small amounts. 

 

That said, my strategies for avoiding peer pressure go like this:

 

Me: Soda water with lemon, please. 

Friend: Come on... really?

Me: Yep. I can't really hold my liquor so well any more. 

Friend: (some kinda peer pressure BS)

Me: (in a half-joking tone) Stop trying to bully me into drinking. 

 

I'm not usually so blunt or serious with my friends, so the warning shot of honesty + semi-serious tone usually goes over okay without ruffling too many feathers. If they persist, I'll just tell them that alcohol makes me feel like crap because I've become a total lightweight, and I like it that way. Most of my friends are chill, though. Gentle teasing about my lightweight status is far superior to booze pushing. 

[Eats-Own-Tail]

i used to drink alot as a teenager. then when i was 20 i cut out everything bad and got really healthy.

 

i havent drunk seriously since then, but on new years eve i drank alot of gin and tonic.

 

but a few years ago i started smoking. that was stupid of me. its really hard to give up.

 

i am adamant tho that i will not buy any more tobacco. what helps for me is thinking of the cost of it, and what i could buy instead.

 

i guess if i drank, and i wanted to quit, i would use the same approach.

[Mony]

When I tried to cut out booze, I caught a LOT of flak from friends and acquaintances who seem to think it's impossible to socialize without a drink in my hand. (Or rather, it's impossible for them to socialize comfortably...)

I do enjoy the occassional glass of wine (I'm allergic to gluten, so I don't drink beer) on a weekend evening, but it is counterproductive to my fitness goals. So I've actually replaced it with non-alcoholic wine. There is a brand sold at BevMo called "Ariel". It's about 45 calories per 8oz glass. It's real wine that has had the alcohol removed after fermentation. The CabSav isn't the most delicious thing in the world (kind of sweet and chocolately, not really my style), but the Chard is pretty close to the real thing. Close enough to make me feel like I'm treating myself, but not destroying my meal/diet plan.

Just a thought if you are looking for a way to wean yourself off alcohol. A glass of non-alc wine is also handy for shutting up the annoying party acquaintances who seem to think I need to drink to have fun. Looks and smells like the real thing, so they leave me alone.

Anyone else getting criticism for going booze-free at social events?

[Pyth]

Wouldn't non-alc wine also be known as 'grape juice'?

[Mony]

Wouldn't non-alc wine also be known as 'grape juice'?

Fancy pants grape juice, I believe. Tastes like wine. Close enough for me.

[cracked_belle]

alcoholism runs in both sides of my family.  I also live in the heart of Cajun Country, where beer is its own food group.  like seriously, souther Louisiana loves our liquor.  we have drive-thru daiquiri and liquor shops (which surprised me to learn that it's a local thing; I grew up thinking that it was like that all over the nation).

 

my drinking has gotten way out of hand recently.  drinking just about every night.  as such, this next Challenge will feature a Goal of drinking only thrice a week.  eep!