Shi*! No Oktoberfest either. Too many good beers available starting then.

Surpassed Six Freakin Months (and counting), never would have guessed.

Now into month 15. Feeling incredible

Is it that noticeable?

Personally depends on if you're dependent or not. First few weeks for me were hell, I hit a year on 8/29/20 and I feel like a million bucks. Stomach isnt a mess all the time anymore, sleep like I'm supposed to, more focused. The only side effect from me not drinking is im a dick in crowds because I cant relax like I used to, but now even that is comical. One of my buddies at league pointed it out and now its a running joke. I quit drinking to support my wife with her addiction battles and now that Im so far removed Im just staying off the sauce for good.

I just got through "sober October". I did have a couple drinks of port with my family around day 26 to toast my mom's passing. Other then the couple shots of port, a full month without booze is that longest I've gone in years....... like 30 years, and I'm only 51. Things were getting a little out of hand during the early days of Covid so I figured I'd find out who the boss was. Me or the booze.

Prior to sober October I couldn't loose weight no matter what I did. During the month of October, I dropped 15 pounds in 30 days without even trying. Went from 220 down to 205 and I'm still dropping the pounds. Hope to get my 6'1" frame down to 195 which would be nuts. I haven't weighed that in 15 years. Amazing what dropping a couple thousand empty calories a day can do for your weight. My bumb knee feels a ton better when I'm on the ice playing hockey 5 times a week and the aches and pains have greatly subsided. Obviously no hangovers, which is pretty sweet.

I had a couple drinks yesterday and I kinda didn't like how it felt so I've decided that there's gonna be no booze during the week and I'll limit my intake on the weekend. Probably just stick to craft beer, vodka or expensive scotch as opposed to "anything that's available"

Never thought I could do a 31 day stint but once I got through the first 10 days, it wasn't that bad. I'm pretty damn proud of myself.

QSS

Also stopped chewing my nails and the "explosive" shits have virtually disappeared.

Must be something to it, right?

QSS

I stopped drinking a little over three years ago. I was a nightly vodka drinker and once I got into my 30s hangovers where getting worse and it was effecting my, sleep, health, and productivity working from home. I did not have classic withdrawal but PAWS sucked for a while. Completely over it now and I can safely say I will never drink again. That shit is really bad for you.

Gonna start drinking again tonight watching election results.

You're not going to see results tonight, so it might be a nice bender!

Well, eight months was a good run, then life got in the way. Was going strong with zero desire for booze, even after returning to work after a long IOD injury and back surgery, then my wife got some shitty health news. After that, and spending day after day meeting with doctor after doctor etc I say F it. Other than losing twenty pounds, I didn't notice much from removing booze from my diet. After starting up again I quickly realized the difference, bloating, "bubble guts", feel like crap in the morning etc. but screw it, beats a coke habit

Sadly, we are back. Maybe not as bad as it was...no certainly not as bad as it was...but things are not as good now as when we were not drinking. Certainly hard to wrap your head around our propensity for self-destructive behavior. Alcohol isn't evil inherently. I think it simply helps the evil inside of us come out much more naturally. Additionally, I noticed in my own life and in the lives of my family, alcohol becomes more of a self-medicating issue to deal with the ever-present and real stresses of life. I think we think alcohol helps us deal with stress but in the end it simply adds more stress to our lives.

That said, it will certainly be hard not to throw a few back tonight watching the election crap. I fear I will need the medication.

Do what I'm going to do. Workout, then play some pinball and ignore it. Stress puts an incredible amount of burden on the body and alcohol makes it far worse.

I don't drink nearly as much as I used to, but still throw a few back now and then. It's difficult and I empthasize with all of you that struggle, but one thing that "QuickSilverShelby" stated earlier is so true.

..."so I figured I'd find out who the boss was. Me or the booze."

Stress is a Fu$ker and if you have GI issues, it will tear you in two. Then add on a career that is inherently high stress, and a significant other diagnosed with a bad condition. Stress becomes the boss of you, even when you think you have it under control. I'm currently enjoying my DBL IPA's after a sh#tty day at work ...may play a little ST pro in a bit..

I can now see why older people grasp on to nature so much. Trees, flowers, birds, etc. There is something natural in it all and they won't disappoint you like people (or your own weakness)will always do. Add the stress of life and illness, and it's a great mental and physical soothing/stress relief. It works.

My favorite stress reliever is working out like gangbusters. I do enjoy nature... but there’s something special about the trance like buzz you fall into when you push yourself physically

Raising your heart rate for a period of time releases all sorts of chemicals in your body, which accounts for that "buzz" feeling. It lasts for hours, even a full day.

I've yet begun to fight/drink!!!!
No one likes a quitter!
I'm 6 foot 7 so it takes alot to get me wrecked.
Congrats to those who need to quit. But Booze is lovely.

Message from the Freeeek Kingdom.

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BrewDog is making some amazing nonalcoholic beers. So glad they worked with Lamb Of God to make their ghost walker beer!

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20 years ago.

Lately I've been trying to do the weekend warrior thing for the most part and stay off it during the week, it works most weeks. But yeah those weeks were full of anxiety and inspiration at the same time. It has definitely made me cut back I'm not getting sloshed like I used too

I stopped a few years back. No reason except it got boring and hangovers suck. I'll still have a beer on occasion if I'm out with friends but I find I really don't like it anymore.

One of the first things I stopped doing was biting my nails after I stopped drinking. I am in my 7th year of not drinking and drugging

this place is pretty good as well

https://athleticbrewing.com/collections/beer?utm_medium=google&utm_source=cpc&utm_campaign={campaign}&utm_term=usa&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyN-DBhCDARIsAFOELTkZGcNITl5HLCpmueovn18N2lkq-yQCV7ncOQdVY33s11oGfTvkuo0aAgyvEALw_wcB

I stopped drinking at 25, and picked up a 5-year chip a few years before I got married. I should have kept it going, I was in great shape then. I’ve been a pretty heavy beer/wine drinker since then, and I know it’s time to stop again. I’m getting too old for this, and I won’t be able to afford the habit when I retire. I took a week off last month, and it was hard. I need to give it 90 days, and start cycling or jogging after work instead of chugging. I’ll report back if I have any success with it.

I had not realized how expensive drinking had got lately. My buddy spends $100 on IPA for one night of drinking at home. His wife drinks $60 a bottle pinot.

It’s about $7-10 a day for me, but that’s still $2-3k a year. Not in the retirement budget, for sure. Although the less I drink, the longer I’ll live, so the money has to stretch out over more years. Good problem to have.

Ouch!

I’m riding the pine with a blood clot but I’ll get back in the game soon enough

Alright you talked me into it! Going to try a couple of their flavors. I'm not a fruity or IPA kind of person so that limits my options somewhat.

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My longest stint (as I probably posted above) was either 60 days or 90 days. I can't remember which. Probably can't remember because I've helped myself to beer, scotch and whiskey between now and then (and I probably posted in the respective threads here on pinside)

I usually alternate my months and a bit overdue for a dry month so I'm going to kick things off mid month and try some of that N/A beer.

One of my customers is trying to cut back so we're going to get each other motivated. Fortunately alcohol hasn't negatively impacted either of our lives but just going to make sure we aren't behind the 8 ball health wise down the road.

I suspect they are outliers. I also suspect they would fail a blind taste test with cheaper examples

I have a few of the athletics too. I feel like some of them are a little sweeter for my liking. They are good though.
This is my favorite at the moment.

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Also this from Well-being is great

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I really need to stop again, but don't see it happening soon (Too much life F'n it up). Lost the beer belly with my eight month dry spell last year, it has returned. I did find that the body can't process the heavy "Hazy" IPA's anymore after taking a break. I feel like absolute crap the next day. If it's not Hazy as hell, no issues (problem is, that's all I used to drink). Switched to Summer Shandy's for now, problem is I could drink a case and not feel anything, so it's kinda like, what's the point? I may quit again after this summer, if life allows, who knows..

I got drunk in 1987 for the first and only time. Never drank since.

A good friend of mine is in the hospital - organs shutting down from drinking. He's under 50.

That's no way to go out.

Sorry to hear man. A guy I work with passed away from drinking recently, he was in his early 30's.

My sister lost her husband due to alcohol abuse. He was only 25 when his liver shut down.

This is an interesting thread, I have enjoyed reading about everyone's individual journey. My father was an alcoholic, best thing my mother did was get away from that. Wife has never had more than one drink (usually 1/2 a drink) occasionally and has never even been close to drunk (which I confess I kinda wonder what kind of drunk she might be). I started early (high school) but after a crazy bachelor party night decided I would not be like my father. Still have a drink now and again, hard cider or maybe an old fashion, but rarely more than 1/2 a week (or month). On those few occasions (once a year?) I do have too many, I am a happy drunk, so not so bad to be around. I am thankful I did not inherit the disease from my father. Guess I funneled addictive behavior into pinballs!

To give anyone a little motivation.

I’m on day 3 of my break and while it is a little more difficult to FALL asleep, I’m actually staying asleep better and getting better quality sleep. Melatonin helps.

Keep in mind I’m a relatively lightweight so I don’t drink much to begin with, two maybe 3 at most in a night.

I no longer drink after surviving a stroke and three brain surgeries. I had to stop.

I drank first somewhere around 12. I skipped school with a buddy. we tried his parents liquor, I could not stop drinking it. I should have known then.

The silver lining is that I do not even miss it. It was a strange gift that was given to me.

The desire to drink like a was like a black hole in the center of my heart. Most of my life, I spent trying to fill the hole. ( I realize)

Somewhere, after all of the pain of living through what I have gone through. The black hole is gone. The need to fill it, gone completely.

No infinite black hole that requires filling anymore.

It’s a new part of my life without liqueur. Now I get to watch the others drink.

Please drink responsibly!

Alcohol by scorpion child.

Sorry to hear of this. What people don't realize is that when you drink, it is poison. The liver is what processes liquids as well as all of the other toxins, so every time you drink, your liver malfunctions, so the kidney's have to pick up the work - which is why you urinate so quickly and often when drinking.

That is how it was explained to me recently by a MD. It really destroys the body. Lucky for us - the liver is the only organ than regenerates literally - but that only goes so far.

Then you have people that take Tylenol for a hangover which is like so fucking bad; yikes.

I try to keep it under a case a week. I just had to lose some Corvis weight so went a month or 2 without drinking, felt good.
I also always try to go alcohol free every February sans Super Bowl.