Improved health and lifestyle from quitting drinking

this was always hard for me… drinking has become so normalized in my family and friend groups.

We always know when some one is pregnant because they are the only one not drinking

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One thing I found surprising was how little most people care about other people’s drinking. I thought I’d have to explain not drinking a lot more than I actually have.

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I was the opposite. I was really frustrated about how much I did have to explain it.

its been 3 years, and somehow I am still explaining it.

Prob because Im the first person in my family/friend circle to actually quit drinking for more than like a week. everyone is just waiting for me to go ‘back to normal’ drinking.

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it’s surprising how much people care about whether other people drink.

“Do a shot with me”

How about fuck off, you do you, I’ll do me.

“Hey, look mister, we serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast.”

One of my favorite lines from It’s a Wonderful Life. Congrats to those reducing their alcohol consumption.

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I haven’t been 0 alcohol since my previous post, but I’ve had very little. Had a couple of slip-ups. Not messy wasted drunk, just shouldn’t have had any and it turned into too much… One day at a time.

I did get blood test results back, my liver enzymes have gone from elevated to normal levels, so that’s good! I think my blood pressure is noticeably reduced.

No real weight loss yet, but I’ve been eating more candy and ice cream. Might be because alcohol isn’t putting junk calories into my body, I’m more hungry, or might be due to a prescription steroid I’m on right now. I’m also smoking more weed before bed and have a bad habit of muchie snacking between pot and sleep. (Not that I’m getting fucked up on weed - like 5-10mg of a gummy and one medium bowl of flower, usually around 10 PM, sometimes more like 8:30.) I try to use a small bowl for whatever I’m eating to portion it out but sometimes give in and grab more.

Beginning yesterday I’m doing 2 gentle miles on the treadmill per day after a winter of not exercising, and want to start running outdoors again soon.

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I was kind of expecting to lose weight when I stopped drinking, but didn’t, I probably traded a bit of muscle for fat, so you may be unknowingly doing that as well.

It can be useful to think about what your triggers to drink are to help deal with them better (known things are easier than unknown). People, places, things, that make you think about it. Honestly early on I found that hard because I was thinking about it a lot, but that got better over time for me.

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damn that’d fuck me up

I might not know dosing properly and stated that wrong…

I have packs of 4 gummies, package says 100mg, I take a quarter or less of 1 gummy before bed so I figured that’s around 6 mg maybe? I’m inexperienced with proper dosing of cannabis so with a new product I take a very small amount to start and adjust from there until the product is gone (and I buy a couple months’ worth or so of the same thing at one time).

Whatever the dosage, it puts me in a place where I’m not going to drive but am still functional, but fall asleep pretty easily.

100 mg is usually split into 10 gummies. 25 mg gimmies are quite a large dose…

You must have some tolerance for THC. Most newbies I know would be in a corner shaking from 5 mg the first time.

Hmm, I don’t know what to say then. I recently had a friend over who’d never tried weed and he took what I believe was about 5 mg, and he just enjoyed the movie we were watching and ate some candy, then decided to go to bed around 1 AM. He was zoned in but perfectly conscious and talking, and felt fine the next morning.

Well, I’m certainly glad you guys are having a blast!

People get turned off to THC when the first experience is too traumatic.

Just FYI I highly recommend Naltrexone for anybody seriously planning to get off of alcohol. Google it, ask your doctor.

You should be in a mindset where you’re really going to commit and should already be minimizing or eliminating alcohol. But it’s helpful in making it not particularly enjoyable. I want to drink out of long-ingrained habit, but when I do it’s only slightly enjoyable, and not worth drinking too much and feeling bad the next day.

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this is great. sounds like you are taking this seriously and being honest with yourself.

I actually gained about 20 lbs since I quit drinking. but that was because I have gastro issues and alcohol was making it painful for me to eat. I was one of those dangerously thin alcoholics. Many of my friends legit thought I had a coke habit or something.

as for gummies, I know others that really benefit from some kind of thc in the evening to calm anxiety and settle for sleep. Sleep is an underrated part of recovery.

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so much this. my default for so long was ‘get drunk, not be sober’. but being drunk wasnt that enjoyable after the initial fun buzz turned into ‘well, might as well get wasted now’.

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Thanks. I’m not sure when my last alcohol was, maybe 4 days? But it’s 23 days I’m counting for myself as it’s a personal decision, and I didn’t go on a bender.

My mood is all weird, but I think improving. I was starting to get annoyed at my partner for taking forever to speak their sentences, just kind of constantly irritated. Also generally bored and disinterested in things, but to be fair some of those things were drunken time-wasters, such as online competitive video games. (Not saying video games are a total waste, but the “just another 20-minute match” type.)

I’m starting to see a mental changeover, but can tell I’ve a ways to go before my brain chemicals chill out. I’ve been way more productive and accurate at work and am finally sleeping properly.

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If I had to describe my first month in one word - boring. everything seemed so turned down, with no intensity when sober.

my brain kinda felt like it was just waiting to go back to normal during this time. Like it was just taking a break. It took a looong time to switch from ‘this is a break from alcohol’ to ‘this is my life now’

I think I fell off the wagon. Ouch.

stress got to me.

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Don’t beat yourself up for falling off, use it to learn your triggers better and move on.

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Best of luck getting back on it.