Replace it with something.

Exercise. Or seltzer.

Life it meant to be lived.

If its not causing problems, then enjoy your cocktails

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:14 drinks a week is going to be roughly 3000 calories. Alcohol is almost all sugar. It's a lot to inflict on your body.

You have to ask if the brief dopamine hit is worth the physical toll. Alcohol is extremely toxic. Two drinks a day is not problematic, but it does come with a significant cost

No it’s not a Negroni is about 100 calories and a wine 125.

That’s about 1600 calories in a week. Less than a pumpkin spice latte a day.

A shot of gin has about 100 calories in it, and most people mixing their own drinks will put more than a shot in even if it’s not 2 full shots. Plus Campari isn’t calorie free. So despite what sources online say, a Negroni is going to have more than 100 calories in it.

I mean, I know that even "healthy drinking" (one drink per day for women, or two for men) can have adverse health effects. That said, it's my vice too. I have chronic fatigue that feels like oxygen starvation a lot of the time, or like gravity is 5x too heavy. But when I'm drinking my glass of wine at night, I don't feel it. And so I'm just not willing to give up my few hours of not feeling so horrible.

I add a lot of ice to make my glass go further. It's really like I have two half-glasses of wine. Some days I may be drinking up to two drinks, but the average is somewhere in the middle. I know it's not the best thing for me, but I also think the risks are moderate at the level I am drinking. I never drink more than two glasses because with my health issues, I will feel like absolute sh!t if I do. Even going to a restaurant and having "restaurant pours" of wine will make me sick if I have a full two drinks.

So that's my calculus, right or wrong. I think it's important to know how much you're actually drinking, i.e., is your glass of wine actually more like 2 drinks because it was a heavy pour? But the good news is you gave it up for a month, so you know that you can stop if you choose.

res if it makes you an alcoholic? Alcohol is a known carcinogen.

Stop drinking so much. Your kids need a healthy mom.

https://www.cancervic.org.au/cancer-information/preventing-cancer/limit-alcohol/how-alcohol-causes-cancer#:~:text=Alcohol%20is%20a%20known%20carcinogen,people%27s%20risk%20of%20stomach%20cancer.

Yeah it's a problem if you're sad without alcohol.

The recommendation is 7 drinks a week. So having 2 drinks a night or even 4 drinks a night is not a problem. Having 2 drinks a night, every night, is a problem. So, you can have nights when you drink and nights when you don't. You can have more drinks on a given night, but then go easy for a couple of days. The point is moderation. Either moderated to one a night regularly or 2-3 heavier drinking nights a week and then a few days off.

You aren't an alcoholic, but if you don't change the pattern, you are on the path to becoming one. Better to address this now, when it is under your control rather than later when you are under its control.

I think the fact that you say that cutting back has made you "miserable" is a worrying sign.

That sounds like you have a mental or physical connection between alcohol and relieving misery. It also sounds like alcohol is taking up a lot of mental space.

A healthy relationship with alcohol, if one exists, is where you can take it or leave it. Where it's no big deal to have a drink or two on occasion but it's also no big deal to go without. For some people that is easily achievable; for others, not drinking at all feels more achievable than moderation (especially after getting over the initial transition hurdle).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:14 drinks a week is going to be roughly 3000 calories. Alcohol is almost all sugar. It's a lot to inflict on your body.

You have to ask if the brief dopamine hit is worth the physical toll. Alcohol is extremely toxic. Two drinks a day is not problematic, but it does come with a significant cost

No it’s not a Negroni is about 100 calories and a wine 125.

That’s about 1600 calories in a week. Less than a pumpkin spice latte a day.

Yeah, really curious about the overlap between women squawking about the sugar content of booze and those who have daily Starbucks habits.

Sugar craving are so common for non drinkers they just think they have a sweet tooth.

They are literally hundreds of articles about it.

https://www.insider.com/why-sugar-cravings-dry-january-how-to-deal-2022-1?amp

Here’s just one.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend read and participated in the Naked Mind and has been alcohol free for over a year. Has lost about 20 lbs too. I bought the book but have yet to get past the first chapter.

She must have been drinking a ton to lose 20 lbs.

DP: I assume this weightloss came from the decreased appetite due to not drinking, along with the additional calories + sugar that alcohol provides.

Interesting most people that stop drinking end up, adding a sweet in the evening so it all evens out.

That is true in some cases, but also you don't feel like crap so you are more active and make better food choices throughout the day. You don't even realize how crappy you have been feeling until you stop. So many women think its normal to feel tired/fatigued in their 40s+ but in some cases its due to the alcohol.

Those people are not stopping at 2 drinks over 4 hours.

Anonymous wrote:Dear OP, I’d ask yourself if you would feel proud of yourself looking at yourself from afar. Does the idea of two drinks a night every night fit in with a life that makes sense to you? Does it fit with your values? If it does, maybe don’t worry about it. If you feel like you are lying to yourself when you say “ya, I’m ok with this.” Then there’s your answer. There are a million reasons people start drinking, but almost all stop because they decide enough is enough.

I’m still working on lowering my intake because I want to live a long healthy life and see my grandkids some day. I’ve been experimenting with various fancy sodas and seltzers from MOMs like ginger beer and zero alcohol wines. Some are good, some are meh…but all of them feel “special” and like a “treat”… and aren’t the sort of thing I’d drink all day. So I figure the sugar is better than the alcohol in the grand scheme.

Omggg what even is this shit. Does drinking seltzer every night fit in with YOUR values? What? Values have nothing to do with drinking seltzer? Same for alcohol.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:14 drinks a week is going to be roughly 3000 calories. Alcohol is almost all sugar. It's a lot to inflict on your body.

You have to ask if the brief dopamine hit is worth the physical toll. Alcohol is extremely toxic. Two drinks a day is not problematic, but it does come with a significant cost

No it’s not a Negroni is about 100 calories and a wine 125.

That’s about 1600 calories in a week. Less than a pumpkin spice latte a day.

Yeah, really curious about the overlap between women squawking about the sugar content of booze and those who have daily Starbucks habits.

Dear OP, I’d ask yourself if you would feel proud of yourself looking at yourself from afar. Does the idea of two drinks a night every night fit in with a life that makes sense to you? Does it fit with your values? If it does, maybe don’t worry about it. If you feel like you are lying to yourself when you say “ya, I’m ok with this.” Then there’s your answer. There are a million reasons people start drinking, but almost all stop because they decide enough is enough.

I’m still working on lowering my intake because I want to live a long healthy life and see my grandkids some day. I’ve been experimenting with various fancy sodas and seltzers from MOMs like ginger beer and zero alcohol wines. Some are good, some are meh…but all of them feel “special” and like a “treat”… and aren’t the sort of thing I’d drink all day. So I figure the sugar is better than the alcohol in the grand scheme.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend read and participated in the Naked Mind and has been alcohol free for over a year. Has lost about 20 lbs too. I bought the book but have yet to get past the first chapter.

She must have been drinking a ton to lose 20 lbs.

DP: I assume this weightloss came from the decreased appetite due to not drinking, along with the additional calories + sugar that alcohol provides.

Interesting most people that stop drinking end up, adding a sweet in the evening so it all evens out.

That is true in some cases, but also you don't feel like crap so you are more active and make better food choices throughout the day. You don't even realize how crappy you have been feeling until you stop. So many women think its normal to feel tired/fatigued in their 40s+ but in some cases its due to the alcohol.

Anonymous wrote:14 drinks a week is going to be roughly 3000 calories. Alcohol is almost all sugar. It's a lot to inflict on your body.

You have to ask if the brief dopamine hit is worth the physical toll. Alcohol is extremely toxic. Two drinks a day is not problematic, but it does come with a significant cost

No it’s not a Negroni is about 100 calories and a wine 125.

That’s about 1600 calories in a week. Less than a pumpkin spice latte a day.