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Anyone here quit drinking? (1 Viewer)

Otis

Otis

Footballguy
I've been a pretty big drinker since college.  I've never considered myself an alcoholic, but probably under some strict AA definition I am (many of us probably are--some of you savages drink way more than I do).  I met Mrs. O out partying and we were like peas in a pod, and since we got married we'd gotten into a pretty good habit of boozing almost nightly.  Sometimes a couple glasses of wine, sometimes more, sometimes I switch to scotch, all of that on top of a beer I drank on the train on the way home.

In any event, lately I've been thinking that for my overall health--and to lose that 20lbs I've been wanting to shed for some time--my best bet is probably drinking.  I suspect if I give it up I'll have a clearer mind, more energy, better sleep, and I'll lose weight quickly.  I believe this is right because I've given up drinking for a few weeks at a time here and there, and once I get through the first few restless nights and generally crappy feeling (withdrawal?), I sleep better than I have in months, I'm more productive and have more energy at work, etc.  As for the weight loss thing, after being at my heaviest weight all time as a senior in college, I basically gave up drinking (I distinctly remember drinking ginger ale in bars, and actually not even wanting to drink), and I was down to my lowest weight and best health ever.  I felt amazing, physically and mentally.  It caused me to also eat better and to exercise more.

In any event, at the suggestion of a fellow FBG I read this Alan Car "Easy Way" book:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/easy-way-to-stop-drinking-allen-carr/1100318764/2674018056298

It's some terrible writing and he makes some awful assumptions, but it's a bit of a mind trick and I think partly worked.  I finished it a few days ago, and since that time have been at family meals out etc. where I would normally give myself "just one drink," but I've gone for something else instead.  I actually don't even have an urge to drink anymore.  Kind of hard to explain, but I think some of the book set in.  

I was skeptical about giving up drinking completely, but I'm starting to think I can.  We have a big BBQ at the house today with a bunch of my wife's friends and their husbands, and normally in a social function like this I would drink myself into a stupor.  In fact, I had some anxiety initially about going through today without drinking at least something.  But I'm actually good with it now and looking forward to drinking some ginger ale or flavored seltzer or something.  If I make it through today, I can make it through anything.

Not sure I'll give up permanently, but I would like to at least take a break for a month or few months and see where it leads.  The real challenge I think will be work events, and in particular dinners with clients and the like.  But I'll worry about that when the first one comes.

In the meantime, anyone else here give up drinking?  Why?  How do you feel?  Missing it?  Or who has tried to quit and failed?

Whatcha got?

 
Gave it up for months last year (along with sodas) and I ate better and worked out.  Lost 60 lbs. and then started all my old habits back - put half (or more) back on.  I think the key is moderation, not abstinence for someone like you.  I'm going the route of one cheat day until I get back down to where I was (180). 

 
I quit drinking early this AM, but I'm sure I'll start back sometime today. 

But on a serious note, I don't fault anyone for giving it up and it's never a bad decision. Good luck. 

 
You and your wife are both alcoholics and you should both seek help now before it starts to affect your children.

 
I don't want to quit drinking entirely. But I've decided to cut back precipitously. So what I've done is identify events where I know I want to drink and stay on the wagon between them. After New Years I committed to staying on until the GF's birthday. After that I committed to staying on until I went to Kentucky for the Bourbon Trail. Now I'm on until Memorial Day weekend. After that it will be 4th of July.

It really hasn't been that hard. I feel great in between. And if anything, I think I actually enjoy drinking on those occasions more since I wasn't ####-faced the weekends in between.

 
I didn't "quit", but I started disliking the feeling of being buzzed all night. I went from 15-20 on an average weekend to about 2-3. I mostly only drink when we go out to eat now. I do enjoy a nice beer or two with a meal out.

While it wasn't hard addiction-wise (I'm pretty non-addictive in general), It was tough at first socially. It seemed that most social stuff, even just having friends over for dinner, revolved around drinking. And like you mention, socially, I could easily imbibe until I was pretty sloshed. In fact, that was normal. This is what kind of started me on the path to reduce my intake - there were too many Friday and Sat nights where I'd find myself heavily buzzed at 11pm, wife went to sleep (she can go to sleep buzzed - I can't), and I'm too buzzed to enjoy anything - reading /  movie / videogame / etc. It's one thing to have a heavy buzz on at a party or a bar when you are thirty - it's another when you're 48, at home, and everyone else is asleep. It started to really suck. 

So for me, the key was not liking the buzz anymore, and I stopped chasing it / letting the drinks pour each other. I can have two drinks, feel that slight buzz and say "ok, that's it". For me this is easy. I know for others, this may not be do-able. Don't know if that helps or not, but not enjoying being buzzed was my catalyst. 

I dropped an easy ten pounds, and I sleep better than ever. There's no downside to it.

 
Christo said:
I don't want to quit drinking entirely. But I've decided to cut back precipitously. So what I've done is identify events where I know I want to drink and stay on the wagon between them. After New Years I committed to staying on until the GF's birthday. After that I committed to staying on until I went to Kentucky for the Bourbon Trail. Now I'm on until Memorial Day weekend. After that it will be 4th of July.

It really hasn't been that hard. I feel great in between. And if anything, I think I actually enjoy drinking on those occasions more since I wasn't ####-faced the weekends in between.
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We've tried this, but inevitably old habits seem to always start to trickle back in.  We start with a glass or two of wine on Friday night.  Then Saturday night.  Then Thursday nights feel like the weekend.  Before we know it we're drinking more nights per week than not.

The concept in this book is basically that as long as you continue to view drinking as something you want to do, you'll always want to do it, and you'll always eventually slide back into old routines.  The point of the book is that it's not about willpower at all, but rather seeing alcohol for what it is -- a poison that harms your body, wastes your money, and makes you fat and feel like garbage -- so that you don't even WANT to have it.

That's the concept anyway.  I'm sure I'll be knee-deep in Coronaritas within a week.  But so far, I'm good without it. :shrug:

 
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Yes I quit over 2 years ago.  I have had a few drinking days in that time but I can count then on one hand.  I was a functioning alcoholic in that I would only drink on the weekends, never if I had to work the next day.  My weekends were all about drinking.  I would start on Friday after work and stop when I passed out on Saturday night.  It gets old.  The hangovers just became unbearable for me.  They started causing me immense anxiety.  Now I do everything I can to not drink.  I have not lost weight but I feel so much better.

 
The hard part is replacing the time with something productive or interesting. Quitting isn't hard. You'll find you have quite a sweet tooth. 

I suggest regular exercise

 
Would never not drink unless I had to stop for some reason. 

For me it's just like eating a lot of red meat or desserts -- don't have to have them but try to somewhat limit their consumption, but if I go to a steakhouse or a place know for desserts I'm having them. 

 
Yes.  A wife with end stage liver disease helped the process.  She cannot drink, so I gave it up.  Didn't drink that much to begin with so it wasn't that difficult.

 
I am a pretty heavy beer drinker and have been for a while. About 75 days ago I decided to make a change and (as I said in the other fitness thread) I cut my intake by 90%-95%, counted my steps and watched my diet. In the first 60 days, I lost 19 pounds.

A week--ten days ago I started to go through some drama with my 16 year old daughter and as many of us drinkers do, my coping mechanism was to put down 10-12 beers a night. Guess what? I am 5 almost 6 pounds heavier weighing in this morning.  

I just share that story to show you the amount of empty calories alcohol has. In 60 days---I lost 19 pounds!! That is significant.

I am going to try and get back with the program Monday, but I still don't know what I am going to use as my coping tool.

 
Typical drinking week for me in my 20's would be 5 or 6 cases of beer at home, 2 fifths at home, usually scotch and tequila, and maybe 20 to 30 drinks in bars, usually mixed, but some beers.

Typical week now is no alcohol whatsoever. I occasionally drink on vacations, or during holidays but in moderation.  A handful of times in the last 20 years I imbibed like the younger me.  The capacity seems mostly intact, though the price in hangovers has increased markedly. 

I made no effort to quit.  I did decide that I never wanted to be that guy that is explaining a DUI to my boss, and most particularly I did not want to be that guy that is in an emergency room with my child, sick or injured through no action or inaction on my part, but the nosey, do-gooder, nurse or doctor calls the cops and social services just to be extra careful when they smell alcohol on me.  That thought pattern changed my behavior drastically.  I just figured reducing my intoxication markedly was part of being a good husband and father.

 
Edibles will be legal all over soon. No hangover, sleep great.

Honestly, I wish i could drink every night.  No idea how people do that and function. Even one beer at dinner and I sleep like crap. I curbed my drinking to only include fun social events. Poker games, bbq's, watching big games with the fellas. Stuff like that. Stopped keeping booze of any kind in the house.  Getting old sucks.  I think i went about 12 weeks last year with no booze and by month 2 was sleeping perfectly.  Had the thought then that sleeping great trumps booze.  One bender and you have to go back to the beginning.  I don't see a time when I abstain completely but for sure drink about 50-60% less than I used to and it's seemingly less every year. Like someone else wrote the hangovers are brutal now.  One time a few years ago felt like I should go to the ER. I remember the time I could go out until 2-3 in the morning, wake up the next day with a mild headache and dry mouth and head to work, feeling fine by lunch.  Ah, youth.

 
Courtjester said:
I am a pretty heavy beer drinker and have been for a while. About 75 days ago I decided to make a change and (as I said in the other fitness thread) I cut my intake by 90%-95%, counted my steps and watched my diet. In the first 60 days, I lost 19 pounds.

A week--ten days ago I started to go through some drama with my 16 year old daughter and as many of us drinkers do, my coping mechanism was to put down 10-12 beers a night. Guess what? I am 5 almost 6 pounds heavier weighing in this morning.  

I just share that story to show you the amount of empty calories alcohol has. In 60 days---I lost 19 pounds!! That is significant.

I am going to try and get back with the program Monday, but I still don't know what I am going to use as my coping tool.
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If you were younger I would recommend furious masturbation.  Now, a couple of deep breaths and a walk around the block.

 
Courtjester said:
I am a pretty heavy beer drinker and have been for a while. About 75 days ago I decided to make a change and (as I said in the other fitness thread) I cut my intake by 90%-95%, counted my steps and watched my diet. In the first 60 days, I lost 19 pounds.

A week--ten days ago I started to go through some drama with my 16 year old daughter and as many of us drinkers do, my coping mechanism was to put down 10-12 beers a night. Guess what? I am 5 almost 6 pounds heavier weighing in this morning.  

I just share that story to show you the amount of empty calories alcohol has. In 60 days---I lost 19 pounds!! That is significant.

I am going to try and get back with the program Monday, but I still don't know what I am going to use as my coping tool.
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Try the book I linked above. It's an interesting perspective on it all. 

 
I joined a gym and now have that as my after work activity to put off starting drinking until 7 instead of starting at 5. That seems to be helping reduce the amount consumed.  I quit for a month when I was 23 just to see if I could.  

 
I have cut back a lot from where I was a few years ago. The key for me has been working out hard. If I have too many drinks, the next day I feel lethargic and can't get a good workout in. So now I find myself wanting to not drink or keep it to one or two so I can have the energy I need the next day. 

 
I do feel terrible today. Nasty headache. Like I'm hungover. Can't tell if it's cutting the alcohol or that I've cut calories and carbs the past few days.  Almost like the flu. 

Ah booze. 

 
Otis said:
I do feel terrible today. Nasty headache. Like I'm hungover. Can't tell if it's cutting the alcohol or that I've cut calories and carbs the past few days.  Almost like the flu. 

Ah booze. 
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Yeah you definitely have a problem. I was a pretty steady drinker and never felt worse after not drinking. Maybe don't try and cut booze and so many carbs/calories at the same time.

 
Otis said:
I do feel terrible today. Nasty headache. Like I'm hungover. Can't tell if it's cutting the alcohol or that I've cut calories and carbs the past few days.  Almost like the flu. 

Ah booze. 
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Maybe you should just have one stiff drink now to take the edge off

 
in college i drank nightly. a lot. not a whole bunch different than everyone else.. but maybe more than a lot of people. 

coming from a long line of proud alcoholics i realized that at some point it had to stop. once i got a real job i peeled it back to weekends.. maybe Thursday, too, since it was $1 burger night.

then in my mid-20s i stopped completely for a few years. realized that it was now or never for me. i had to break from it to get control of my life. around the time that i felt comfortable with my station in life i started having 1 or 2 on a Friday after working my second job. sometimes i'll have a few on Saturdays. that's it. 

what you said about better sleep, losing weight, clearer head, more energy. all true. 

take a break for a few weeks.. if after a few weeks you want to have a scotch, don't kill yourself about it. it's possible to drink and not be a gutter alcoholic. just harder for some than others. and if after a few weeks you find that you don't miss it.. don't feel like less of a man about it. just don't drink :shrug:

glllll gb Otis

 
Otis said:
I do feel terrible today. Nasty headache. Like I'm hungover. Can't tell if it's cutting the alcohol or that I've cut calories and carbs the past few days.  Almost like the flu. 

Ah booze. 
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The only thing I've ever had headaches from was caffeine withdrawal.  It would be scary to get that from booze.

In terms of drinking levels, we've got a lot in common.  I've always been able to stop on a dime and find it very easy to NOT drink after going just a day or two without...  Conversely, if I pick it back up, the odds of me having a few beers goes up considerably if I had them the night before.

The amount of calories avoided is substantial.  Of course, you could always switch to Whisky, etc and avoid a lot of calories too but sometimes you just need to give your body a break.

Avoid the booze, drink plenty of H2O and get a little exercise and you can feel amazing.  Makes you wonder why you ever go back.

 
I've been sober in AA for 20 years.  Went to my first meeting when I was 19 after a DWI.  Took me 5 years to go to my second; since then I have not drank or used any mind-altering substances.  It's the best thing that ever happened to me, and the life that I have today is beyond my wildest dreams in any number of ways.  What I have gained from getting sober has far outstripped what I gave up.

At the end of the day, it's not how just much you drink but how you feel about yourself related to your drinking.  If you think you may have a problem, take a month off and see what happens.  Don't make a big deal about it, no need to shout it from the rooftops, just commit to yourself.  

 
elbowrm said:
I've been sober in AA for 20 years.  Went to my first meeting when I was 19 after a DWI.  Took me 5 years to go to my second; since then I have not drank or used any mind-altering substances.  It's the best thing that ever happened to me, and the life that I have today is beyond my wildest dreams in any number of ways.  What I have gained from getting sober has far outstripped what I gave up.

At the end of the day, it's not how just much you drink but how you feel about yourself related to your drinking.  If you think you may have a problem, take a month off and see what happens.  Don't make a big deal about it, no need to shout it from the rooftops, just commit to yourself.  
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I'll drink to that!

 
I think it comes down to whether people are comfortable non-drinkers or uncomfortable non-drinkers.  For me, that's been the biggest benefit of AA - learning to live comfortably in the world as a sober person.  After all, I drank and used drugs for a reason.  Now, there are people I have known for years, some fairly well, who hadn't even realized I don't drink until I said something about it.  

 
Good move, you shouldn't be drinking nightly. However, what a bad day to start this. BBQ with wife's friends?  If there were ever a time to drink....

 
Otis said:
I'll admit, I used to think people who didn't drink were weird.
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The only ones who are weird are the ones who "quit" without ever really doing it.  I knew one like that in college.  A 20 year old saying he "gave it up" after a night of 2 schnapps sips. Weirdo.

 
Willie Neslon said:
The only ones who are weird are the ones who "quit" without ever really doing it.  I knew one like that in college.  A 20 year old saying he "gave it up" after a night of 2 schnapps sips. Weirdo.
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Alcohol is a highly over-rated drug.

 
Doctor Detroit said:
More likely it is because of dehydration.

Drink one glass of water for every alcoholic beverage and no headache. 
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If he has stopped drinking, this won't help him at all. However, if was drinking as much as he said, he likely has been perpetual dehydrated. That's terrible for your heakth.

 
Ditkaless Wonders said:
Typical drinking week for me in my 20's would be 5 or 6 cases of beer at home, 2 fifths at home, usually scotch and tequila, and maybe 20 to 30 drinks in bars, usually mixed, but some beers.

Typical week now is no alcohol whatsoever. I occasionally drink on vacations, or during holidays but in moderation.  A handful of times in the last 20 years I imbibed like the younger me.  The capacity seems mostly intact, though the price in hangovers has increased markedly. 

I made no effort to quit.  I did decide that I never wanted to be that guy that is explaining a DUI to my boss, and most particularly I did not want to be that guy that is in an emergency room with my child, sick or injured through no action or inaction on my part, but the nosey, do-gooder, nurse or doctor calls the cops and social services just to be extra careful when they smell alcohol on me.  That thought pattern changed my behavior drastically.  I just figured reducing my intoxication markedly was part of being a good husband and father.
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Well said.  Good for you.

 
One thing about drinking for me is that I never gained weight from it.  I should say since I quit I have not lost weight.  I have drank an enormous amount of beer in my life, all those calories didnt seem to affect me in the weight department.  Now when I quit dipping, I gained a bunch of weight cuz I could not stop eating (I have since gone back to chewing, quit for 3 years). 

Like someone else mentioned above, alcohol is an over-rated drug.  I come from a long lineage of heavy drinkers.  Our family reunions and get-togethers when I was a kid were extremely alcohol-filled.  The bar never closed at my Uncle's house, and I mean he had a full bar.  He was wealthy.  The thing is, this sort of behavior is ingrained into you from a very young age.  At least in my family it was for sure.  I sort of felt like it was my destiny in a way.  I definitely took the torch and ran with it for over 35 years.  I never had a DUI (although I could have gotten 100's of them), never lost a job due to alcohol, drank my way through college (wow those were some fun years), got married, two kids and never once did it feel like my drinking was affecting anything, if you looked at it from the outside.  Looking back, I know my drinking caused many problems that I did not realize at the time.  I was always the happy drunk, the life of the party, etc.  I never was an angry drunk or anywhere close to that.  I was just like my Dad and several of my uncles, we were all the same guy essentially, just weird.

My mom committed suicide when I was a kid and it was mostly because of my dad's drinking.  Fast forward 40 years, I'm divorced, and I was the one attempting to end my life.  I should have died that night because I had enough alcohol and narcotics in me to kill 10 horses.  Alcohol is a life-wrecker, a family-wrecker, it has huge consequences for people that cant control it, and for those people close to them.

Anyway, sorry for the TL:DR, dont want to bring the thread to a downer or make it about me.  I applaud anyone who has the self-awareness to realize it may be a problem and to do something about it. 

 
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