Dry January 2014

[Butterfly]

I don't drink enough to make it worthwhile (normally about 11 units a week evenly spread)

That's rather a lot! It would definitely be worthwhile managing without for a month. I have drunk less than that this year and about that last year when I wasn't/didn't know I was pregnant or breastfeeding. 

[hellymedic]

I don't drink enough to make it worthwhile (normally about 11 units a week evenly spread)

That's rather a lot! It would definitely be worthwhile managing without for a month. I have drunk less than that this year and about that last year when I wasn't/didn't know I was pregnant or breastfeeding.

You are not alone; I think I have about 4-10 units per year. I'm lucky for me drinking or not drinking is neither here nor there.
I am fortunate.

[Butterfly]

I think one of the major problems this country has with drinking is that 11 or so units per week is considered low.

[jsabine]

I think one of the major problems this country has with drinking is that 11 or so units per week is considered low.

Is it? Putting it in nice middle-class terms, that's a little more than a bottle of wine, or about four pints of moderately strong beer, or half a dozen gins-and-tonic.

If I go out with friends or colleagues one evening for a pint and a half, then share a bottle of wine with my wife over dinner one night, then go out for a bike ride on Saturday and have a pint with my lunch or a beer when I get back, then I'll have hit 11 units for the week without really thinking about it.

Is it really possible to consider that consumption to be anything other than moderate?

[crowriver]

I'll be another one who's in this by default.

I suppose I'll have a glass of something at Christmas, and another on Hogmanay. That'll probably be it until my birthday in March. So a dry January will be no problem.

Good luck to those who are regular drinkers.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

I gave up drinking about a month ago to combat the winter blues and it seems to have helped, so will have a few between Christmas and New Years Eve and then happy to go dry in January.  Will probably keep going until Easter.

I give up alcohol every Lent and it usually coincides with about a 2kg weight drop. But absention in November/December has so far yielded about a 1kg weight gain so I am reckoning that the big factors in my weight are the miles ridden and the amount of comfort eating rather than the booze.

[shyumu]

I am absolutely not in by default... But count me in now.  I have a lot of business travel coming up and it would be sensible to keep myself on the carbonated water for the duration.  Also, my weight goals will appreciate the kick start a dry January can give.

[hellymedic]

I have not had a dry December! Christmas, my nephew's Bar Mitzvah and Sainsbury's Special Offers put paid to that!
TBH I am more concerned about the sugar/calorie content of Rekorderlig/Kopparberg fruit ciders alcopops.
When they're gone, they're gone and won't be restocked.

[nightrider]

I have decided to start dry January on the 2nd.I hope to cellibrate New years day with a bike ride and then go to a family party in the afternoon and have a few drinks then.In for the rest of January though

[citoyen]

I'm not in.

However, I recognise that I have been drinking rather too much over the last couple of months, specifically in the form of casual solo drinking (eg unwinding with a bottle or two of beer when I get home from work) and it would be very good for me to cut out that kind of thing, so I shall promise to restrict my drinking to genuine social occasions (and to restrict "social occasions" to a strict maximum of one a week, and to drink more moderately at those social occasions).

Good luck to Chris and anyone else who is going completely dry.

[hellymedic]

I have decided to start dry January on the 2nd.I hope to cellibrate New years day with a bike ride and then go to a family party in the afternoon and have a few drinks then.In for the rest of January though

That make sense! I may toast the New Year in.

I will not drink alcohol when we visit David's Dad next weekend.
Looks like David's giving the WOLAS (West of London Astronomical Society) Annual Meal on 27 January a miss so temptation won't arise there.

[citoyen]

Gout free for a year now!

Excellent!

That really should be all the incentive you need. 

By losing weight (part of which was down to cutting down the drinking), I got to a point where I no longer relied on Omeprazole to sleep in comfort. Lately, having slipped off the wagon somewhat, I've started to suffer a recurrence of the symptoms for which I was taking it, which is a bit of a wake-up call. Really need to do something about that.

[Feline]

I don't drink enough to make it worthwhile (normally about 11 units a week evenly spread)

I drink much less than 11 units a month!

Since January contains New Year's Day and both of our birthdays, I'm not sure I want to pick it as my dry month.

Mr Smith's birthday is the 24th. We generally find some other way to celebrate.

I think it demonstrates how central alcohol is to us if we can't contemplate celebrations without it.

I'm very lucky, in that I can take or leave booze, it's just not a big deal to me. I am unlikely to find doing without even remotely difficult. I do appreciate that this is not the case for everyone, and will be doing everything I can to assist those for whom it isn't so straightforward.

I could celebrate without it, but I don't want to
I will happily celebrate someone else's birthday in one of the other months of the year without it instead. I gave up wine for lent last year although did drink a bit of lager instead. I won't be picking a month that is stressful for this challenge, and one where I am not suffering for lack of daylight will be much easier.
Giving up wine does enable me to shed a whole bunch of weight very quickly, so I might do it in April/May as I am gearing up to one of the longer and hillier rides to help with that.

[hellymedic]

David has gone on the Lewisham/Southwark New Year's Eve ride so I'm home alone.
I don't drink alone, ever.
So that's a dry New Year for me.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

[AAO]

Happy New Year 

I used to like the occasional drink or three up until I had my heart attack. My wife and I don't have alcohol in the house, wine with a meal for example, just isn't us - never has been. However, I really enjoyed going to my village pub, smoking, having 3 or 4 pints, talking/gossiping and playing dominoes with the local farmers followed by a peaceful walk home along my lane feeling mellow - idyllic. Once I gave up smoking and pubs became non-smoking and antiseptic (in my view) going for a drink seemed pointless and I lost the habit.
Alcohol, therefore, hasn't touched my lips for well over 6 years and I am a de facto Puritan  . I don't miss it nearly as much as I would miss caffeine, which I absolutely refuse to give up.

[crowriver]

Happy New Year folks!

Well I have my first (and hopefully only) hangover of the year. Not that I indulged to excess last night, but attending two Hogmanay parties and being plied with numerous flutes of champagne* at both was maybe what did it. Otherwise I stuck to tap water all evening apart from one can of cola - maybe that's the cause of the hangover 

Anyway it's been about a year since I experienced a hangover and this unwelcome fog of affliction is welcome only in one sense: as a motivation to not drink again for some time.

* IIRC about seven in total.

[hellymedic]

I have had almost no hangovers so that would never have deterred me from drinking.
David faffed so much he left the house too late to meet the Southwark cyclists.
I drank low-cal hot chocolate with decaf instant coffee for added mocha indulgence.

Happy New Year!

[Moultonaught]

I'm in. Not a big drinker but my cider consumption 'to unwind' has crept up in recent months, so a dry Jan for me seems sensible, also giving up chocolate and the evil cola than I'm all too fond of... hopefully some weight loss we will be a handy bi-product.

[Tewdric]

I think one of the major problems this country has with drinking is that 11 or so units per week is considered low.

Is it? Putting it in nice middle-class terms, that's a little more than a bottle of wine, or about four pints of moderately strong beer, or half a dozen gins-and-tonic.

If I go out with friends or colleagues one evening for a pint and a half, then share a bottle of wine with my wife over dinner one night, then go out for a bike ride on Saturday and have a pint with my lunch or a beer when I get back, then I'll have hit 11 units for the week without really thinking about it.

Is it really possible to consider that consumption to be anything other than moderate?

It strikes me as very moderate - a glass of wine a day, which many informed sources tell us does more good than harm.

[nightrider]

I did this last year and I found the first ten days the hardest.The thing I have found is that I have drank less in 2013 than in the last 30 years.Still enjoy a drink and have drank too much on about 4 occasions,which is if you know me a big improvement.Doing my first Audax this year on Sunday and I like a pint after.Bugger.

[citoyen]

Note that Butterfly is a) tiny, and b) not a regular drinker, so those 11 units will affect her more than they'd affect the average male yacfer.

[hellymedic]

I did this last year and I found the first ten days the hardest.The thing I have found is that I have drank less in 2013 than in the last 30 years.Still enjoy a drink and have drank too much on about 4 occasions,which is if you know me a big improvement.Doing my first Audax this year on Sunday and I like a pint after.Bugger.

Be warned that alcohol hits the brane very fast after a long ride and you may feel tipsy after a single drink.

Good luck with your first Audax. I hope you enjoy it!

[shyumu]

Early afternoon on the 1st.... so far so good.

[Bledlow]

I thought at first this was a weather forecast, & was feeling cheerful.

[IanDG]

Not going to be completely dry as I have a few social functions in the diary, but Mrs W and myself have decided that we wont be drinking at home during January (I may have a few beers tomorrow evening though as I have been working/on-call since 9am Monday morning and don't finish until 9am tomorrow - so I saw the new year in with a cup of tea!)