I'm in.. New relationship as of September and we'd fallen into the trap of opening a bottle of wine every evening or just going to the pub, so we're both going for it. So far I don't feel any better, not sleeping any better and havent lost any weight. Hopefully it's a blip...
Either:
It's only a week in
or What have you replaced the alcoholic beverages with?
Example: Replacing a bottle of wine a night (circa 600kcal) with say 5 cans (140kcal per can) of full sugar coke is counter productive on the weight loss front!
Expectation management and all that. You may not feel any better, you may not sleep any better and you may not lose any weight. But giving your liver a rest is a good thing, and more importantly, it's good to look at the hold booze has over you/us. So doing a month for that reason is a good thing. It's good to stand back and see the reaction. Treat it like a lab test - just do it and be honest about what comes up, or doesn't, as the case my be.
Although not strictly doing dry January [but as good as, won't be drinking much at all], I recently did 4 months on the wagon from Aug 30th to Dec 25th - mainly due to blood pressure issues and the possible onset of AFib [not quite sure what's going on yet, things are in process]. I decided to stop for 4 months not because beer is the root cause of these health concerns, but I just wanted it out of the way for a while to see if BP regulated at all. That's without doubt the longest I've gone without beer since I was 16. Do I feel any better after 4 months? A bit. But not massively. Am I sleeping any better? Alcohol definitely affects my sleep, so that has improved, but again only a bit, not massively. And I lost a bit of weight, which I've now regained [but weight has never really been a concern]. So in a way, I am a tad disappointed. But that disappointment comes from expectations being dashed [where did they come from in the first place?], and not being content to go with whatever arose during the period. But it's easy to lose sight of the achievement - I proved to myself that I can stop for 4 months, and if I have to stop for health reasons in the future, then, no problem, I know I can do it. That, in itself, feels kind of empowering.
But for me personally, by far the biggest ramification of not drinking is the effect it started to have on my social life. I love pubs, I love beer and it's the loss of that environment that was a constant reality. I don't drink in the flat [mainly because self-control would go walkabouts], all my drinking has mainly happened in pubs with other people. That's where the loss was felt. If this was to continue it would be like staring a whole new life. And as for the low/no alcohol stuff. It's kind of tolerable on a really, really good day, but for the most part - forget it. Junk juice. I won't be drinking much of that stuff.
I packed up the fags about 20 years ago, after years of repeated attempts. Best thing I ever did. But the reality is, I know deep down that to arrive at that same decisive, clear-cut feeling about alcohol [especially good beer] looks a long way off at the moment. So it's a case of trying to maintain a sense of self-awareness about consumption and general management of the situation. We'll see.
Anyway, back to the thread, rambling on a bit - good luck everybody. Stay clean
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