Author Topic: Dry January 2019  (Read 10690 times)

Kim

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Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #50 on: 15 January, 2019, 06:21:06 pm »
What's happening in February? It must be the month of something? Come on. Otherwise, they'll be a gap before Let's Lube Up for Lent. I wouldn't Instagram that though, probably against a policy.

Off the top of my head, LGBT history month.  Probably the awareness month for an assortment of medical conditions, as most months are.

Oh look, Wikipedia has a list!

Which leads me to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_food_months

So in answer to your original question, and frankly who cares if someone just *added* it to Wikipedia:  February is National Donut Month

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #51 on: 15 January, 2019, 06:27:21 pm »
August is funny.
Quote
Get Acquainted with Kiwifruit Month
So pleased to meet you, Mr Kiwifruit.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #52 on: 15 January, 2019, 06:31:52 pm »
Excellent. Anyone remember when Homer got sent to Hell and his eternal torment was that he had to eat doughnuts forever (obviously, that's the eternal bit). Hell, of course, ran out of doughnuts because Homer had eaten them all.

Reminds me, a friend of mine sometimes tries to put me off when we're presenting on a panel with RDS (randomly, depraved statistics) about the audience. She once whispered 'statistically speaking, 4.7% of the men in the audience are wearing women's underwear.' My rejoinder was that '2 % probably had a buttplug inserted."

So, anyway, those were two concepts I didn't want anywhere near the interior of my skull when I stood up to speak because they're impossible to remove. Well, not without the help of a clever Italian doctor and home-made medical contraption.

As you were.

CrazyEnglishTriathlete

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Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #53 on: 15 January, 2019, 09:46:59 pm »
Have been reducing my meat intake and increase other sources of protein, primarily beans.   Have been getting in touch with my inner Mongo.
Eddington Numbers 130 (imperial), 182 (metric) 571 (furlongs)  114 (nautical miles)

Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #54 on: 18 January, 2019, 11:37:31 am »
6th visit to the pub in Jan last night, still avoiding booze, don't find it a problem to watch others drink.

According to the tracker app that's 98 units avoided and £98 saved (I'd been tracking my drinking for a while and 40 units/week is roughly about right if a little to the upper end of the scale. £40 is a mixture of London pub pint prices of £4/£5 a pint and much cheaper cans at home. I don't drink wine or spirits.)

First drink will be ~11am on 17th Feb once I'm through security at Gatwick airport. Only one or two as I've got a three and a half hour drive at the other end of the flight.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

whosatthewheel

Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #55 on: 18 January, 2019, 11:53:26 am »
6th visit to the pub in Jan last night, still avoiding booze, don't find it a problem to watch others drink.

According to the tracker app that's 98 units avoided and £98 saved

So that means that in your average visit you would clock 16 units or 8 pints????

Bloody hell...  :o :o

Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #56 on: 18 January, 2019, 12:17:42 pm »
No, as some (much) of my drinking was at home. The tracker just prorates the weekly figures you'd entered into the app.

A 'bad' week might have been:-

Mon: Dry
Tue: Two pints in the pub after 5-a-side (5 units)
Wed: A couple of cans at home (4 units)
Thu: 6 pints in the pub after 5-a-side (12 units)
Fri: A couple of cans at home (4 units)
Sat: Watching football with wife and daughter. Pre-match pint in a pub, post match beers along with some food (10 units in total)
Sun: A couple of cans at home (4 units)

So that's 39 units.

I know this is bad for many reason (number of units, only one day off, completely unnecessary home drinking, etc). I don't need to be told that, but I did say it was the upper end of it.

More recently I had cut out the drinking at home and the Tue/Thu post 5-a-side pub trips had dropped to ~14 units in total (it helped that the Thursday night pub had a 3.3% "Session Lager".) But that would creep up to ~20 units if there was a night out with Mrs GB or friends/family.

Part of the reason I'm doing it is to recalibrate my booze usage. I'll still go to the pub after playing football but, when I'm back drinking again, instead of 6 pints of lager I might have 3 and substitute soft drinks for the others (especially if I'm going to be running 11.5km in to work the next morning just ~9 hours after leaving the pub). The drinking at home shouldn't return either as I'll have proved to my brain that it's just not necessary.

I've had my time in the past of drinking a silly number of pints (I think I marked my 19th, 20th and 21st birthdays at Uni with a day of drinking involving a pint per year of age) but those days are long gone. As was the week that a housemate and I aimed for a unit per hour for a week (168 units in a week).

I guess it's easy for those people who haven't had a tumultuous relationship with booze to be shocked by these kinds of figures.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

whosatthewheel

Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #57 on: 18 January, 2019, 12:56:36 pm »
you can alternate beer with alcohol free beer. It's not too bad... but it's very fizzy, so if you are a fan of ale, no luck

Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #58 on: 18 January, 2019, 01:09:49 pm »
I find Alcohol free lager absolutely awful. I haven't found one that isn't far too sweet and sickly[1].

No need to use it though, I'm happy to alternate between beer and just plain tap water.

1. Becks Blue, Heineken 0.0, Bavarian Alcohol free, Cobra 0.0%, Saino's Czech alcohol free, etc. All the same.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #59 on: 18 January, 2019, 01:46:31 pm »
There's lots of evidence that drinking every day, even when it isn't breakfast, does have something wrong with it. Moderation isn't often the answer when you have an addiction. We don't need alcohol and chastising people who are spending some time without is not helpful. Have you posted on the stop smoking thread that the occasional cigarette is OK?
There's a sliding scale of alcohol dependency and just like never-smokers telling smokers that the physical addiction is gone in 48 hours, the 'moderate drinkers' should zip it in the face of people who are trying to make radical changes in the short term to make smaller, but important changes in the long term.

Even if you're aware you have a problem, changing behaviour is hard, so well done GB for sticking to it.

Kim

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Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #60 on: 18 January, 2019, 02:22:35 pm »
Even if you're aware you have a problem, changing behaviour is hard, so well done GB for sticking to it.

This.  In spades.

(A never-drinker who isn't entitled to an opinion, but is trying to be supportive.)

rob

Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #61 on: 18 January, 2019, 02:46:01 pm »
When I stopped I did a 50 day cold turkey stint.   I can't remember why but I read somewhere that 50 days was the test.

Of course I then got leathered for 10 days straight - it was Christmas party season.   For me giving up completely was the only option.   I have been asked if I wouldn't mind the odd glass of wine but 1) I don't really fancy it and 2) it could only lead to bad things.

Anyway it seems there's plenty of support for GB on here, so keep at it.

ian

Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #62 on: 18 January, 2019, 02:48:43 pm »
I think the evidence on drinking regularly is mixed (unlike cigarettes, of which any are bad) but same old story as with diet and anything else, moderation etc.

I'm not sure anyone is being chastised, if you want do Dry January (or any other month), fantastic, go ahead.

Chris S

Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #63 on: 18 January, 2019, 03:09:36 pm »
I think the evidence on drinking regularly is mixed (unlike cigarettes, of which any are bad) but same old story as with diet and anything else, moderation etc.

(my bold)

You think people who have a problem with moderation don't know this? That doesn't make moderation any easier - or even possible; as Rob's experience illustrates perfectly, some folk just have to abstain, my #1 son was the same.

I couldn't moderate my smoking - I was a career smoker for 25 years and the only answer was to stop completely - no way on earth could I switch to "social smoking". I'm a useless drunk; being an emitophobe, I'm self-limiting in my consumption, but I can still drink a bottle of wine a day night1 without any problem; and boom - that's 80 units a week, and suddenly I'm getting that look from the doctor.

I like doing Dry January, and those around me like me doing it too.  :thumbsup:

1 Didn't want to convey the wrong impression there...

whosatthewheel

Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #64 on: 18 January, 2019, 03:16:55 pm »
As above, nobody is criticising Dry January per se. My impression, looking at social media, is that many treat it as an advent calendar, counting the days until it's over and they can binge, before going back to the usual routine... which makes it a waste of time, no different from joining the gym and going for a couple of weeks and then never again.

tiermat

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Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #65 on: 18 January, 2019, 03:25:59 pm »
For various reasons I am giving it a more than half arsed go, this year.

For various reasons I am feeling much better for it and am now planning a calendar where I have 8 weeks when I can drink, though in moderation (my drink got badly out of hand at the back end of last year) followed by 4 weeks dry, rinse repeat across the year.

Keep at it, GB, I know of many (mainly work colleagues) that have been beaten by silly things (relationships, work).
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #66 on: 18 January, 2019, 03:30:15 pm »
There's nothing wrong with Dry Janaury. If you think you've been hitting the booze a bit too much, then stop for a month. All is good. If you're a full on alcoholic, you know and you need to quit for good....
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #67 on: 18 January, 2019, 03:39:56 pm »
For every *huge number* of January Gym Joiners, some stick.

Even if you never go again, those 2 weeks are better than never going in the first place. You're more likely to try again in Lent. June. September. Whenever.

(I quit my gym in December :) )

We're past half way, Dry January-ers. Keep up the good work :thumbsup:

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #68 on: 18 January, 2019, 03:50:09 pm »
People like teh Kim and me do Dry January by default.

We can only offer support and best wishes to those for whom it's an effort.

FWIW I think rob has the correct way to tackle his drinking for himself.

Not every drinker needs total abstinence.

Some do.

It can be tough, very tough.

Keep at it!

Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #69 on: 18 January, 2019, 03:59:47 pm »
1. Becks Blue, Heineken 0.0, Bavarian Alcohol free, Cobra 0.0%, Saino's Czech alcohol free, etc. All the same.
Of all those, I find the Cobra almost bearable.  Though maybe that's just because it's like regular Cobra, and that's not exactly great. Then again, I'm not one for lager.
I actually like Nanny State (bottles, not tried can or draught).  Sure, it's Brewdog, so it's got a stupid name, but it actually tastes like beer. On the other hand, if you discover that beer isn't worth it without the alcohol component, then that's great, in some ways it makes it easier to not drink.
Keep it up - it's hard to do something different to what you are used to, especially if it's a routine you've had for a long time, and it's socially accepted (like drinking after football).

I've been on dry January by accident - I don't drink much and I've not had any social thing to go to where booze would have been normalised. I've also discovered that if you don't drink very often then even a couple of pints gives you the hangover from hell, so I'd rather avoid that (unless it's a genuine night out).

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #70 on: 18 January, 2019, 04:03:44 pm »
I guess it's easy for those people who haven't had a tumultuous relationship with booze to be shocked by these kinds of figures.
Yes-no. While your 39 units a week would be at least a couple of months for me, I reckon everyone has a potential addiction or at least "tumultuous relationship" within them. It might not be a substance like alcohol, it might be an activity like gambling or even something which in itself is beneficial but triggers some switch within you to take it to excess.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

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Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #71 on: 18 January, 2019, 04:07:04 pm »
I guess it's easy for those people who haven't had a tumultuous relationship with booze to be shocked by these kinds of figures.
Yes-no. While your 39 units a week would be at least a couple of months for me, I reckon everyone has a potential addiction or at least "tumultuous relationship" within them. It might not be a substance like alcohol, it might be an activity like gambling or even something which in itself is beneficial but triggers some switch within you to take it to excess.

How else would you explain audax?  ;D

Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #72 on: 18 January, 2019, 04:31:48 pm »
Of all those, I find the Cobra almost bearable.  Though maybe that's just because it's like regular Cobra, and that's not exactly great. Then again, I'm not one for lager.
I actually like Nanny State (bottles, not tried can or draught).  Sure, it's Brewdog, so it's got a stupid name, but it actually tastes like beer. On the other hand, if you discover that beer isn't worth it without the alcohol component, then that's great, in some ways it makes it easier to not drink.

We've kind of done this before but I personally take Dry January to mean no booze and the 0.5% beers still contain enough booze for me to consider them booze.

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-facts/alcoholic-drinks-units/alcoholic-and-non-alcoholic-beers/ gives a summary of the various legal definitions for labelling in the UK:-

Quote
Alcohol-free beer = no more than 0.05% ABV
De-alcoholised beer = no more than 0.5% ABV
Low-alcohol beer = no more than 1.2% ABV
Alcoholic beer = contains more than 1.2% ABV

Nanny State falls in the De-alcoholised beer category, so it's more than 0.05%

(And we've done the 'but Orange Juice contains booze, bread contains booze, bananas are 1% ABV, anything that contains yeast will probably contain booze' bit upthread, but there's a big hypocrisy, for my own Dry January at least, in choosing to do abstinence and then actively choosing to drink extra/new stuff that kind of goes against the spirit of Dry January. My food intake will remain the same, so my morning glass of OJ will probably contain some booze, the bread I usually eat will probably contain some, but that's a whole world of difference to suddenly upping that to 6 pints of OJ a day.)

That being said, in terms of reducing intake post Dry-January, those kinds of beers (<1.2%) are interesting. I've got a book club evening on the 1st March and it makes it considerably easier if one of us is driving, so I'll look to take a bunch of cans of 0.5% lager (Sainsbury's used to stock a vaguely palatable 0.5% lager although I can't remember the brand, some proto-dutch sounding name IIRC). Even 8 cans of that would still be below half the drink drive limit (and the majority of that alcohol would be processed by the time I got in the car anyway). This is an every-2-months event where I would happily consume somewhere between 16-20 units usually (and not driving obviously), so planning for 2 is a considerable change.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #73 on: 18 January, 2019, 04:53:08 pm »
I guess it's easy for those people who haven't had a tumultuous relationship with booze to be shocked by these kinds of figures.
Yes-no. While your 39 units a week would be at least a couple of months for me, I reckon everyone has a potential addiction or at least "tumultuous relationship" within them. It might not be a substance like alcohol, it might be an activity like gambling or even something which in itself is beneficial but triggers some switch within you to take it to excess.

How else would you explain audax?  ;D

Indeed.

I didn't find it particularly difficult to stop when I couldn't ride though.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Dry January 2019
« Reply #74 on: 18 January, 2019, 05:14:37 pm »
I don't think folk are all equally likely to become addicts, though we all have the potential for addiction, given a suitable environment.
I am fortunate in having avoided most common addictions. I've come from a stable, non-addicted family, which must be the best start.

I decided to shun tobacco and drugs before I was 13 so have never touched these, apart from the occasional spliff.
Gambling has never attracted me as I seldom won anything.
Though I have had fairly massive social binges, I've never had a drinking habit. This is almost pure luck.

My only weakness is sugar/carbohydrate but I think I'm fairly moderate with that.

I am lucky...