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Beauty & Style Boozeless Months

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Total_Juddshanks

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At the risk of general board opprobrium, has anyone else tried this?

At the start of February me and mate agreed to stay of the alcohol for a month for no other reason than we were curious if we could do it. I am on day 12 of a month without sweet sweet liquor, and I am already noticing some interesting, and basically very positive differences to my life- curious if it is all in my head or other people have had similar experiences.

To be clear, I am a moderate-heavy drinker, who might typically have 2 or 3 on a few nights a week, and then get relatively hammered on friday nights.

pros
- sleeping way better, getting a solid 6-8 hours and waking up early and feeling ready to go.
- feel more relaxed during the day- not losing my temper or snapping at people so much.
- find myself wanting to exercise more.

cons
-find myself avoiding social gatherings where i know people will be drinking.
-actually eating a lot of rubbish, not drinking makes you feel like you need to fill the void with something.
 
Yeah, I regularly do it. Not really a big drinker anymore. Bought myself a couple of beers to have with dinner last weekend, but before that, the last time I had a drink was Christmas. I think it's a positive experience for everyone to do occasionally.

The main thing that turned me off drinking was the knowledge that a beer is between 120-150 calories, remembering that 300 calories is a healthy meal portion. Having a beer with dinner instantly bumps anything you're eating from a healthy intake to unhealthy. A latte is around 100 and I'd rather have one of those on the weekend than a beer.
 
I am yet to do it. Also, our biggest cricket club function falls in Feb. Can't stay sober during and 'all you can drink' function.
 
I'm not a very big drinker - a lot of weeks I don't drink anything, and when I do it's usually pretty moderate - so I've never really bothered with a 'dry month' because I can't see it making a whole lot of difference to my lifestyle. I have a few mates (heavy drinkers) who do it every February, and to be honest I can't really see the point. They just go back to exactly the same habits afterwards.

I can see the point in doing it once if you're a regular drinker, because like the OP says, you apparently experience quite a difference and lets you reevaluate your drinking habits. But the people who treat it as an annual detox... what are they actually getting out of it?
 

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I actually find the whole thing about Feb-fast, dry July, Octsober, etc to be a con. you are either serious or you are not. I'm a heavy drinker, 30-40 standard drinks in a week (was 20-30 per day when younger) I will do for a couple of weeks at various times of the year more purely as a detox. During this time I won't change my social habits, just drink some soft.

For me having to do it in this manner is a bit like a New Year's resolution to quit smoking, you do it because you feel the pressure too.
 
Caesar said:
I'm not a very big drinker - a lot of weeks I don't drink anything, and when I do it's usually pretty moderate - so I've never really bothered with a 'dry month' because I can't see it making a whole lot of difference to my lifestyle. I have a few mates (heavy drinkers) who do it every February, and to be honest I can't really see the point. They just go back to exactly the same habits afterwards.

I can see the point in doing it once if you're a regular drinker, because like the OP says, you apparently experience quite a difference and lets you reevaluate your drinking habits. But the people who treat it as an annual detox... what are they actually getting out of it?
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I would class myself as a former heavy drinker (6+ drinks every day), now a moderate drinker (-6 drinks every second day). I gave up booze for a month last year just to prove to myself that I'm not an alcoholic. Honestly, I didn't miss drinking for the most part and could have gone dry for a lot longer than that but Xmas was coming up and I didn't want to be left out of the festivities when everyone else was enjoying a drink or few. I'm drinking regularly again but only about half of what I was for the previous 5 years or so. So I guess what I got out of it, was pulling the reins in a bit and to not let an enjoyable habit get out of hand.
 
The fact that these things (Octsober, Dry July etc.) even exist is a pretty sad indictment on our society in my opinion. A month without booze so you can feel better about yourself and tell your mates how tough it was. Then on the 1st you write yourself off and the cycle begins again.

If you really want to take a bit of time off the piss just do it. You don't need to justify your actions to anybody. It really grinds my gears that people will always have to find an excuse to answer the 'why aren't you drinking?' question at social gatherings that wont bring reprisal.
 
My mum tried to go sober in January, but she admitted to breaking it a few times. She decided to go again in February, but i suspect she has/will break it again.

I don't understand how people can't go without drinking for a period of time. Surely if it is that hard to do it, then it indicates that they have a problem, and it is really important to reassess, or perhaps get help. (note: i'm not really a drinker myself, certainly not with any regularity)
 
A few years back I went 6 weeks without a drink and the main reasons I did it was
1: to see if I could
2: was the year most of may mates turned 30 so there was a lot of big nights that year

There was a 6 week gap in late may to the end of june that was free. I didn't find it that hard and lost a bit of weight, not that I am overweight.
 
i stopped drinking for about 8 months when i quit smoking about 5 years ago which wasn't too difficult. I also regularly go weeks without drinking, currently i haven't had a drink in 3 weeks.

Even when i do drink it is usually one night a week when im out with mates and on the very rare occasion when i drink alone its usually just one sherry or campari

Saying all that i do enjoy getting on the piss
 
I'm not a huge drinker so I've never felt the need. If I wanted to I'm sure I could go a lot longer than a month. None of my mates who have tried it have lasted, although one girl on my Facebook does it twice a year and constantly spams her status about how difficult her life is. FFS have a cruiser and shut up you alcoholic twatwaffle.
 
I stopped drinking after I got my p's, wanted to be the responsible one and just sort of never started drinking again after realising I didn't miss it...
 

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Meh I enjoy a drink I mean really enjoy a drink, that said sometimes I won't have a drop for 3 or even 4 months.

Personally don't notice the difference between drinking grog and not but then again outside of September through march i rarely binge drink, and when I do I rarely get hangovers.

Maybe it's because I exercise regularly, I don't know but to me an absence of grog doesn't seem to improve my lifestyle.
 
In the past 15 years I've only gone without a drink for a month once, when I quit smoking (now back on the darts). Noticed my stomach got noticably smaller (I'm not a fat guy either), had more energy, my skin was better, my teeth were whiter (some of this was due to quitting smoking obviously).

But its such a huge part of my social life, I became a total recluse during that month. Sometimes I really wish I lived somewhere like Singapore, where alcohol was still legal but so heavily taxed that you can't justify drinking a whole lot in one night, or multiple times a week.

Lack of self control, I know. But my family are huge drinkers, and I'd actually put myself somewhere towards the lower end for what is considered 'normal' in my family.
 
I've never done a specified 'boozeless month', but I've never really felt the need to. Sure, I like drinking my beers, and I brew my own, but even despite this I can easily go a couple of weeks without drinking any beer without an actual conscious decision to do this...

weed on the other hand..... I am constantly pushing myself to have a couple of weeks/month off the stuff... am not so good at this...
 
Isn't it funny how people have their achilles heel with substances. Cigarettes and Weed, I can take or leave. Never had a huge problem getting off one or the other. Barely any withdrawals at all. But Alcohol, I just get this huge urge that comes over me when I get home from work to relax with a drink. I'll literally stress out about it if there's no booze in the house.
 
LouisCK said:
Isn't it funny how people have their achilles heel with substances. Cigarettes and Weed, I can take or leave. Never had a huge problem getting off one or the other. Barely any withdrawals at all. But Alcohol, I just get this huge urge that comes over me when I get home from work to relax with a drink. I'll literally stress out about it if there's no booze in the house.
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Time to check yourself in.
 

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I am currently in a no drinking phase, but that's not because it's February, or anything like that. I'm just not drinking until I go to Sydney, which is coincidentally, next week. Also, the last drink I had was the weekend before I went back to work for the year (I am a swimming teacher, so I get all school holidays off). It hasn't been difficult at all. In saying that, I am a pretty light drinker, only enjoying it when I head out with mates, or on the weekend watching some sport with the family. So, it hasn't really been a huge change to my life, I guess.
 
I went 7 weeks without piss last year due to trying to fix a health issue (gout). Lost a bunch of weight and started exercising more/had more motivation to do things. Also saved a shitload of money. It was a good experience.

Had a drink at a festival one night and now I'm back on it like old times.

I'll probably try to get off it again sometime in the future.
 
LouisCK said:
Sometimes I really wish I lived somewhere like Singapore, where alcohol was still legal but so heavily taxed that you can't justify drinking a whole lot in one night, or multiple times a week.
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From experience I would disagree on both. While booze here is taxed higher than in Oz, it is not to the point of being prohibitive.
And keep in mind that while alcohol here is heavily taxed, income is not, so you'd have more to spend on booze here for an equivalent salary back home.

Malaysia is probably worse than here, as being a Muslim state they tend to tax booze to the max.
 
Never done it, and would probably struggle, to be honest.

Will have a beer or wine with dinner a couple times a week, maybe 2-4 drinks on a Friday & Sunday (a pre/during/post dinner number, usually(, and usually have a heavier night or arvo on a Saturday (never getting tanked, really, but drinking at a moderate pace over a decent period of time: probably 5-8 drinks, I'd guess). Does look pretty heavy when put down in writing.
 
Went a long time without drinking when I was saving for my holiday, could be around people drinking no worries, I just couldn't stand going clubbing. It was the healthiest I ever felt, didn't do it for any particular reason, I'm a binge drinker, if I go out I'll have over 15 drinks a night if not a fair bit more, but during the week I never crave a quiet drink.

The break made me realise one thing though, drinking isn't that great, going round mates places the day after to hear them whinge about their pain and hear their failed pick up stories or how much they spent, not once did I get envious lol. Then I went on holiday, drank almost everyday excessively for 2 months.... what was the question again?
 

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