Tips to reduce alcohol intake

[Anonymous]

Just stop or AA. Those are your two options.

[Anonymous]

Get pregnant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just stop or AA. Those are your two options.

They aren't, no.

Naltrexone has kept me sober for 18 months now. It's a goddamned miracle drug for me.

It should be more widely prescribed than it is; I doubt I'm a medical outlier.

I attended AA for seven years.

Naltrexone did in a month what AA couldn't do in all that time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just stop or AA. Those are your two options.

They aren't, no.

Naltrexone has kept me sober for 18 months now. It's a goddamned miracle drug for me.

It should be more widely prescribed than it is; I doubt I'm a medical outlier.

I attended AA for seven years.

Naltrexone did in a month what AA couldn't do in all that time.

Who prescribed it in dc?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just stop or AA. Those are your two options.

They aren't, no.

Naltrexone has kept me sober for 18 months now. It's a goddamned miracle drug for me.

It should be more widely prescribed than it is; I doubt I'm a medical outlier.

I attended AA for seven years.

Naltrexone did in a month what AA couldn't do in all that time.

Who prescribed it in dc?

My GP. You don't need to go to a specialty clinic or anything like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. You all have drinking problems! Really. This is not normal. Get help if you can't stop.

Maybe from your perspective. If you grew up in a diplomatic family or a european family, one or two glasses is not abnormal a few days a week 10, yes.

From my perspective, though, you have the issue.

[Anonymous]

OP, I was like you. And I didn't "have a problem," and it's unlikely you do either.

I resorted to a weekly quota. "This week, I will drink 7 drinks." So, I'd keep track -- if I had two glasses of wine on a Friday night, I'd need to skip my drink another night. I very gradually worked down that number (to around 5), from around 10ish. And I tried to be realistic -- if I knew that I was going to be at the in-laws, for example, my quota that week would be a little higher.

For me, the priority was to get more comfortable with alcohol-free nights -- I wanted more of those in a week than nights I was drinking. For you, the priority might be to go from 2-1 drinks a night, or whatever. There are still nights when I'll have 3! Or days when I have 4 (like, a picnic plus a baseball game or whatever). But that means that for the rest of the week I have nothing.

And, FWIW, the first week does suck. And just because it sucks doesn't mean you're an alcoholic. All the comments about "replacement" or whatever are good for some people, but for me I just needed to get through the moment of craving, which I generally did by distracting myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I, too, love my wine and used to drink everyday. But earlier this year I decided to really get serious about losing weight as I still had about 30 lbs of baby weight left (gained 60 total). I found I really just had to cut it out all together. The first week or two without it was really hard but after that I didn't even think about it anymore. After about 6 weeks of being sober, I started to allow myself drinks on one weekend day (usually Sat). Or if I had drinks earlier in the week with coworkers or something, then I would skip the weekend day.

But the key for me was to try to push off the drinking until after DS was asleep. Because if I started early in the day, then I'd just keep wanting to drink more. If I wait until he's asleep to get started (after 8-8:30) then I know I'll only be able to drink so much before I end up getting sleepy anyway.

Now since I'm close to my weight goal and its summer, I've eased back a little and will have drinks maybe twice a week (no more than 3). But if I do, I try to fit an extra workout in or be a little extra diligent in my diet for the next few days afterwards.

Also I love diet ginger ale. That's pretty much my go to soft drink. Perrier's good, too.

I am a PP (the one with the quota), and weight was a powerful motivator for me too.

[Anonymous]

I only drink out at a restaurant and then only one drink because I have to drive. I don't keep alcohol in the house. My father was an alcoholic so drinking at home reminds me of him.

[Anonymous]

OP here. These are great tips. Thank you.
I have not been drinking this past week, which has been easy enough and I feel fine. I did two weeks of no alcohol and sugar.

I see lots of ideas I can try when I return to a regular schedule next week.

I think it is the cue part and I will try distraction, other activities or drinks and having a set limit per week.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Hot herbal tea every night during the week.

[Anonymous]

Stay hydrated. Replace the cue of drinking wine from a wine glass to seltzer or a mineral water in a wine glass, but be as creative as you need to be to really enjoy the experience; a lot of habits are rooted in rituals of experience, so really taste the water with meyer lemon, or make cucumber water, etc ; avoid foods that "go" with wine ( i had to cut back on cheeses)

I was doing this for weight loss, not out of concern for my drinking. It was fun. I will do it again. I do enjoy wine though, so for me its a sort of cleanse period " dry january" etc, a couple times a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. You all have drinking problems! Really. This is not normal. Get help if you can't stop.

Maybe from your perspective. If you grew up in a diplomatic family or a european family, one or two glasses is not abnormal a few days a week 10, yes.

From my perspective, though, you have the issue.

Yep the Europeans are drunks. They have some of the worst alcoholic rates in the world.

[Anonymous]

I replaced my nightly wine with diet tonic water with lime. Super refreshing in the summertime.

[Anonymous]

I second the recommendation to use a wine glass for flavored seltzer or another calorie-free drink. I did this when pregnant whenever we had company and others were drinking. I sometimes continue doing that now when I'm trying to avoid wine. I like the ritual, so the drink still feels special and fills that 'void' but without ruining my day if i'm having a higher calorie meal or something.