Adventures in sobriety

So...I am taking a break from booze. A month to start, maybe two or more. Been two days now.

I have basically been drinking regularly for the last 25 years...probably 10-20 drinks a week. My capacity for alcohol is strong so I don't get drunk very often..and I rarely, if ever, drink alone. I have never considered myself an alcoholic but I am sure that I am by many standards...and I think stopping cold turkey will be tough. But I quit smoking around 4 years ago after 20 years of heavy puffing so I think I can handle it. Also, I am alpha as phuck.

The problem is I have to lose some weight...my goal is to drop at least 10kg in the next year. I am nearly 45 and I am worried about my health. I, thankfully, have a lot to live for.

In this thread...let's see if I can pull this off.

good luck.. but you're alpha as phuck so you don't need luck.

good luck Eric. I do this from time to time as well - normally just a couple of weeks, and it's not easy. It's the social part of it that I found most awkward. Like...all your friends are drinking, so the waitress goes around the table 'vodka, vodka, Heineken, long island ice tea, whiskey, diet pepsi, HUH?' so you need a ready made excuse (doing it for a bet is a good one, antibiotics isn't bad either). There is also a difference between 'having a drink' and drinking. Like...a glass of wine with dinner to me isn't drinking...but technically, that's a breach, so your friends split the bottle and you sit there feeling lame with your water again. I also had a client call a three day strategy seminar while I was on a no-drink-kick. A lot of French people, and at the end, they celebrated it with champagne...it was super hard to say no to that. It would have been frowned upon too - anti-team-spirit sort of thing...so I took it and broke the rule. But you do get one amazing realisation. When everyone except you is hammered, something dawns on you....you look around and think 'my god...my friends aren't funny at all' Anyhow, good luck man, keep the thread posted with the trials and tribulations of drinking OJ all the time (hint - put it in a short glass, tell people there's vodka in it...works with Coke too )

My alcohol consumption has slowly and consistently decreased after school to a point where I think I have an average of one drink a week. I now get drunk after 2 drinks like a teenager.

Good luck Alter. And don't drink OJ all the time - that's not going to help you with the weight loss.

The biggest incentive for me to take a break from drinking would be to increase my savings rate from zero to at least $500 a month. I'd also be able to shop more often. Oh and meet quality women.

Wow, writing that just made me consider this seriously.

Originally Posted by Jodum5

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The biggest incentive for me to take a break from drinking would be to increase my savings rate from zero to at least $500 a month. I'd also be able to shop more often. Oh and meet quality women.

Wow, writing that just made me consider this seriously.

actually the upshot to sobriety is you go bars where all the women are hammered and the men are stumbling drunken fools...and you are suddenly the funniest, wittiest man in the room to these girls. Well...I am anyhow....you...maybe notsomuch

Originally Posted by gdl203

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My alcohol consumption has slowly and consistently decreased after school to a point where I think I have an average of one drink a week. I now get drunk after 2 drinks like a teenager.

ya, but when we were kids, we would bounce back from hangovers by like lunchtime. Now they kill days.

Good luck Alter. And don't drink OJ all the time - that's not going to help you with the weight loss.

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ya, see this is tough too. You can't go out for after work drinks and order water. It just...well...you just can't. And all the things you can order are not going to help with the weight loss. Still, almost anything is better than beer in that regard.

(diet) Coke with a wedge of lime is great camouflage.

You can definitely do it!

I know first hand.

It is generally easier to quit with support systems. 12 Step programs are the most popular but they are not the only support systems out there. I am absolutely sure there are on line boards dedicated to quitting alcohol and other things too, these days.

And it is possible to just quit cold turkey as you have alluded to. I have seen it a lot but it is generally more difficult to quit that way.

Did you gain the weight after you gave up smoking? That is common too. I have gained weight and there is really no reason for it.

Good luck. You absolutely can quit if you want to. Filling the place that alcohol supplied in your life would be very helpful too.

Originally Posted by acidboy

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good luck.. but you're alpha as phuck so you don't need luck.

Ex-phucking-actly!

Originally Posted by Matt

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It's the social part of it that I found most awkward.


Yea...I am guessing this is going to be the hardest part...my work and social life is full of drinking occasions and I am usually at the center of it. Thankfully, the wife is off booze at the moment so it should be easier to drink less at home.

Originally Posted by gdl203

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My alcohol consumption has slowly and consistently decreased after school to a point where I think I have an average of one drink a week. I now get drunk after 2 drinks like a teenager.

Good luck Alter. And don't drink OJ all the time - that's not going to help you with the weight loss.

That is my goal...to get back to being able to enjoy a glass of wine with a nice meal or a cold beer at the beach instead of the full bottle of wine and the case of beer.

Originally Posted by Jodum5

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Wow, writing that just made me consider this seriously.

Yea..the money aspect helps too. C'mon Jodum...join the adventure! Just one month...I challenge thee!

Originally Posted by Matt

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ya, see this is tough too. You can't go out for after work drinks and order water. It just...well...you just can't. And all the things you can order are not going to help with the weight loss. Still, almost anything is better than beer in that regard.

This is where living in Japan is great. So many people that need to drink for social reasons but don't have a strong capacity to drink. There is a recent boom in fake beers that have no alcohol or calories. So it is easy to have a beer-like drink in front of you..and they taste a lot better than those near-beers that are available in the US, etc. I had one of the Suntory ones tonight.

I gave up alcohol recently as well; it has been about a week. My main problem was that I knew so many bartenders/bar owners that I pretty much never had to pay for anything. I turn my back and my beer that was almost empty is full to the brim. Cocktails always are pretty much straight alcohol.

Finally realized that it was going to kill me eventually last week. I had no recollection of the previous night; I awoke at a friends house missing my coat, and apparently I blacked out, did a line of coke, and ate several heart shaped pills offered to me some old man. Good friend of mine thought I was going to die; he said my eyes rolled into the back of my head.

I'm not getting drunk for 2 weeks. After 2-3 weeks of almost drunk everyday and a conversation with 2 different people about a drinking problem, I'm demonstrating I don't have a problem. It sucks

Originally Posted by Matt

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actually the upshot to sobriety is you go bars where all the women are hammered and the men are stumbling drunken fools...and you are suddenly the funniest, wittiest man in the room to these girls. Well...I am anyhow....you...maybe notsomuch

Yeah, but when I drink, I am the funniest, wittiest guy in the whole room. Probably the best-looking one too.

good luck, like greg, I have pretty much given up drinking, aside from the small amounts of wine and the occasional drink. I actually have gone with half soda half diet coke or diet gingerale with ice when I need to drink socially - it looks a lot like a scotch. but it really does help with the weight loss.

Originally Posted by rnoldh

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It is generally easier to quit with support systems...
Good luck. You absolutely can quit if you want to. Filling the place that alcohol supplied in your life would be very helpful too.

Woah there! We're talking about suspending drinking activities not ending them completely.

I don't drink much on my own. Sure sometimes, a drink or three while watching tv during the week or if home on weekends but I don't get lit. It's the partying aspect. So far this week I haven't gone out so haven't spent any money but last week... Out tuesday (friend back in town) + Thurs (bachelor party) + Friday (NYE) + Saturday (Wedding) = ~$400 in drinking. Maybe I should start with cutting out the shots and sticking to two nights a week? Yes, I prefer this plan.

But this sounds like a very good challenge. Maybe when planning a trip to Europe and looking to save money before hand I'll pursue it.