Quitting or cutting back usually requires a lifestyle change. It seems hard at first, but it's easy once the initial steps are taken and a renewed sense of control takes over. In addition to the health benefits, it's a relief to not worry about suffering through another hazy day or being ordered to perform stupid human tricks to keep from being arrested for OWI. AA can be an option if it gets bad, but doesn't work for everyone. You've got to really deep down want this.

For me, I had to find something else to do. I'd still stop by the bar for a soda, and it helped to always have an excuse in mind for when it was time to leave. Once you declare you're done drinking like you used to, there's a little pushback, but it's relatively brief and your family and real friends get over it. I indulged in my hobbies to occupy my time, and my family are not big drinkers so I'm pretty lucky there.

Sure, it was a little lonely at first, but it helped me to find myself and get things straightened out. It did take a while, but life took a turn for the better and I haven't regretted a thing. I've got an awesome family, great friends and am enjoying life to its fullest.

Personally, I don't bother with the NA beers, but there's tons of beverages out there that fill the gap between water and sugar/caffeine laced sodas.

Well said Tully. It depends if you want it or not.

I do not like not feeling well and as you get older, you realize there isn't all the time in the world for us.

Same reason I smoke cigars. For the taste. It’s definitely not for everyone.

Ready to watch some election returns!

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Spindrift is great!

I have noticed that I crave sweets now more than ever. Weed just makes me lazy. I’m not a fan of the feeling it give me… yes, lifestyle change definitely. I feel odd around drinkers at a social event.

If weed makes you lazy, you were probably smoking Indica. Try a Sativa strain if you want to feel productive.

One week without drinking for me and I'm sleeping better, have much more energy and feel like I lost a couple of pounds. Fingers crossed this continues.

which part about being around drinks is odd?
I know when I go out and the people that push drinks or to look the part, i'll get a soda water w/ lime, or cranberry/sprite in a low/high ball glass so it looks like a drink. The other odd feeling I would get is people drinking act different and that is sometimes annoying to someone not drinking? but depends who you are around I suppose.

Stick to it, Buddy. It's so worth it.

Thank you;

Someone mentioned the Reddit forum r/stopdrinking and it's been a huge help. This thread has too.

Day 4, thanks to all for the inspiration

Did well last night. Usually I'm in up to 8 on election night.

Only had one lite before dinner, and then switched to tea which worked fine.

I was also worried about last night. Watched the election results for hours and would normally drink to excess while arguing with the TV over the results.

Settled for a hot cup of tea instead.

thats so weird I also drank tea last night, what the hell is going on here????

I've been sober for almost a year and have also noticed that my sweet tooth is out of control, especially the last few months. I could totally eat a bag of halloween candy in one sitting and still want more.

When I stopped for a while, I had the same issue. Your body craves sugar to replace the "high" it used to get from alcohol.

Me too.

I had the craving - and almost stopped for a supply, but quickly drove past. Once I eat, the craving goes away. So watched the returns a bit, played some pinball, drank tea and switched to a movie.

Felt great today.

How funny...once I eat the craving leaves too. I thought I was the only one that experiences that.

I’ve been eating Tate’s cookies a sleeve at a time. But haven’t had a beer in 14 days. I’ll kick the sugar eventually.

Get a shit ton of dark chocolate. Coca is actually good for you, it's the sugar and dairy that f's it up.

Find 85% or higher. It's a nice stop gap.

Stopped drinking on Nov. 1st. Trying to live healthier. Have worked from home since the pandemic and I'm taking in far more calories than what I'm burning.

I agree, usually have 85%+ coco chocolate chips on hand and will just grab a handful when i feel the sweets need.
Costco also has or had, this coconut flake dark chocolate covered stuff....that was good.

found bananas worked

I haven't had a drink since October 4th. The first few days were long but after that it has been smooth sailing. To get through the first few days I played tennis during the day at some point intensely and ate a big steak potatoes dinner around 5 and then again around 9. There is science to the exercise thing: https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(21)00690-2. Obviously don't overdo it and hurt yourself. Just thought I'd share what worked for me. Good luck to all!

five years no booze... never again

I absolutely still crave sweets though. Its not so bad to give into a pint of ice cream once a week.

Had pinball tourney last night, and I had a few heineken na's... woke up with just a dry/scratchy throat. I do have some food allergies, but has anyone had weird things when waking up after drinking na beers?

I did that. You get a gut without a buzz

Gonna try that.

You clearly have not seen my stomach.

Shout out to my friend Bryan at Portal Pinball. I sheepishly brought 3 of my own NA beers to the tournament tonight. Not only did he let me bring them in, he put them in the cooler for me! I left a nice tip for the bar staff. I had a bad competition night, but still had a great time. I’m really trying to prove to myself that I can play just as well without a few strong beers. I’ll get there with more sober practice, I think.

I once read that caffeine doesn’t give you energy, it just borrows from your future energy. You boost now, crash later.

Man does that apply to booze. The high is never worth the low.

I’ve contemplated laying off the 1 cup of coffee every morning. I don’t really NEED it. I haven’t researched caffeine that much. Would be worth trying for a couple weeks. I usually do 1 coffee a day and a soda once a day most days.

I read somewhere that coffee is one of the best ways to help the liver, just googled it https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC54407

Coffee isn't so bad, caffeine in tea is even better. It's a bit complicated as there are various impacts (parkinson's, liver function, arterial harding, diabetes etc), but most of the time it's choosing the right coffee and eliminating what is added (sugar, milk, etc).

Here are a bunch of easy to digest articles/videos

https://nutritionfacts.org/?s=coffee

Maybe that's why I start nodding off while soldering around 3pm... Sometimes I have to go do something more stimulating or go run/walk around for a minute.

The trick is once a week. If I had a freezer stocked full of ice cream I'd be fat. Same with gummy bears and stuff like that. If its in the house makes the self control a lot harder. Out of sight out of mind I suppose.

Definitely dump the soda

Welp, said to myself Friday that I was going to quit until Thanksgiving, then until Christmas, then stop for a few months.... Crappy shift at work, then run to Walmart to get pancake mix that the wife forgot...box leaks all over my uniform. Get home and try and take out the trash quick, full kitchen trash bag splits in half, trash everywhere..then I find a mystery black bag on the lawn, it contained a shitty diaper(which my thumb went into). Just cracked a dbl IPA...I'll try this again tomorrow, definitely going to be hard tho with life's little joys that always seem to pop up... O, and just stepped on a Lego, might as well been a landmine.

Haha man, I can feel that day by reading your post. Brutal. Tomorrow is a new day! I read somewhere that it’s a lot tougher to think about long term quitting. It’s better to think about not drinking today and that’s it. Then do the same tomorrow. But I’d be cracking open a cold one after thumbing a stranger’s shit diaper for sure

Of course I had to investigate what was inside...I'm a moron

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43 years old and never drank, not even once, due to a promise I made to myself when I was 9 years old. My grandpa was a WWII and Vietnam hero who withered away due to his post-military drinking (he was literally 105 lbs when he passed away due to complications due to his drinking when he was only in his 50’s).

Glad it works for you. I had a chance to try this over the weekend and it tasted pretty stanky to me...I even check the date cause it was so bad. I was hoping since I like bud lite, it would be close. I love beer but, don't always need the alcohol.

Ha! There are definitely better NA beers to be sure, but for the price i was pleasantly surprised. Give the NA Guinness a look...its very close IMO.

I drank for the effect (nightly vodka binge!). NA beer seems pointless to me and just playing with fire. When I was still dealing with PAWS i had beer cheese almost get me once. Something in my brain popped when I had the first taste... booze!

I will say I almost stopped at UDF for a pint of ice cream but I drove right by and just got chipotle. I am going to treat myself to a single pudding cup instead

I know the feeling. My weakness are the banana muffins at Kwik Trip here in WI. They taste so good, so I maybe have 1 a week or so. I feel guilty though after eating it.

Sometimes I get one, sometimes I walk right past.

Then I see the bottles of booze behind the counter - ugh.

I think the thing that throws people about Bud Zero is it seems like it would be lighter than Bud light but that’s not the case it is a NA “Budweiser”

This weekend at Northfield Casino my wife and I ordered Heineken Zeros at Kosar’s and hers was awful. We poured it in a glass and it was brown and tasted like death while mine was gold and fine. So sometimes you can still get a skunked NA.

32 years old, Quit drinking in December 2021 as I had been under some high stress for years for work and it finally caught up that I got high blood pressure. With a baby added into the mix in 2021 as well I found myself making more poor choices with lifestyle like working late, ordering late night pizza, etc. wasn’t a massive booze Hound but enjoyed my mixed drinks and tasty IPAs.

Fast forward started to feel shittier and shittier in 2022 and after 8 months of telling doctors something didn’t feel right and countless tests, I was diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis (among other things prior that didn’t make sense)

Fast forward about 6 weeks after diagnosis with no improvement, I had a 3rd pancreatic biopsy and it came back positive for cancer.

After some extremely fast back paddling by a few of the doctors, and one apology for accusing me of lieing about being sober in 2022, I’m now on my 3rd round of chemo.

My point of sharing is that alcohol/weed/vices are NOT the devil , but rather my advise from my personal experience, try to go a few months sober. Feel healthy, feel good and understand your body. If you feel it’s interfering in any way shape or form with your health (mental or physical), listen to your body.

I hope everyday that my choice of taking steps to destress, embracing my family, and eventually not drinking while Diving all in to my Arcade/Pool/GoldenTee/Pinball hobby and listening to my body might give me a chance to save my life or extend it.

I am forever grateful I found this community and by no means am looking for any pity. Feels good to actually share this.

I will, I was hoping that since both were rice based, they would be alike.

Great post. I also had a medical issue (not as serious as yours) that led doctors to tell me to cut off caffeine and alcohol back in August 2019. I made a commitment that day and stuck to it. A recent check had my doc tell me I could try a drink every now and again, but So far I’ve kept rolling forward. Why? Because I feel so damn good.

I had no idea how much alcohol was hammering away at me.

Great advice from you … but I’d add, I think you really need to give it 6-8 months before your body really lets go sets a new path forward.

Anyhow, get better!

I sometimes wonder how much of my life I could remember if I wasn’t Drinking.

Well I failed at not drinking until Thanksgiving. I had a beer and shared a bottle of wine with the Wife Saturday night. Had 3 beers Sunday evening and 3 Monday watching the game. That’s actually really good for me. I was definitely wanting a drink but didn’t feel the need to drink excessively.