I am giving up beer for 30 days

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Pyg said:
And I think this is one of the reason that AA is sometimes called a cult. They will tell you, me and anyone that "you" have an issue. That the only way to address that issue is to join the program and follow "the Big Book". That the only way to a better life is to follow the steps and advice of DR Bob. And if you leave you are done for. I would have failed that test when I was in high school and any time over the last 20 years and I have never had a "problem".
Homebrewers are lucky people, we create and drink our creations. We are chasing flavors. Just not sucking down MGD's!
But we have also managed our hobby into our lifestyles. I for one have had to start exercising more to compensate for my beer consumption!

I have had this conversation with a few AA people and explained that I enjoy beer, I enjoy being able to try different ones. Different flavors, hops etc....
I want to catch a buzz, I drink a couple glasses of black velvet, neat!!!

But you will never convince them.

But here is some light reading to make us feel better about those who think we have a "problem"
http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-cult_a0.html

http://www.positiveatheism.org/rw/ofcourse.htm
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/03/the-irrationality-of-alcoholics-anonymous/386255/
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This is pretty interesting. I just posted in the "How often do you brew" thread that I have cut back on my beer consumption quite a bit, just to prove to myself I didn't have a problem. I enjoy the taste of beer so much and brewing my own, where it was always around, I was drinking at least a couple every day. It really wasn't difficult, once I got over the taste craving.

It's also what kind of solidified my thoughts that I didn't really have a problem. If I'm ever out of beer, I don't then turn to whiskey or wine and drink that instead. Don't get me wrong, I'll drink a glass of wine or whiskey no problem, but I've never found myself just sucking back any kind of booze to get a buzz going because the beer wasn't handy.

That being said, by most criteria of by my co-worker in AA, I had a serious problem. Even though, unless it was a social occasion, I usually stopped drinking as soon as I would feel the affects of the alcohol moving in. And the beer I brew, that was usually after 2 or sometimes even 1 beer.
 
I'll wait till December to try this whole no drinking for weeks at a time thing. Don't think I've done that since 2nd year College. A baby is a damn good motivator, I probably wont even have energy to handle a beer. I'd be asleep half way into it...and who wants to waste a beer like that?
 
beersk said:
I find that drinking too much affects me mentally more than physically. It just makes me unmotivated, depressed, and a bit irritable.
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A lot of that is probably because alcohol wrecks your sleep. One cause of this is rebound from the sedative effect, caused by a rise in glutamate level in the brain. If I drink too much, I typically pass out as soon as I go to bed but then wake up maybe 4-5 a.m. and can't get back to sleep. There's nothing like sleep deprivation to make you feel bad tempered and depressed the next day. (Remember never to judge yourself when you're hungover or ill or sleep-deprived.)

beersk said:
Homebrewing is just so f*cking cool. Moderation and self control is what life is all about and one of the hardest things to do.
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Agreed. You just need some system for imposing control if you've got 4 months supply of beer under the stairs, as I have. That's why apps like alcodroid or keeping records are handy. If I felt I couldn't keep tabs on what I drink, I would stop brewing altogether and probably stop drinking.
 
DAY 10 - NO BEER:

Oh my...10 days without beer. I've turned a corner from wanting a beer or habitually reaching for a beer to no longer thinking about it. Don't get me wrong, I still love beer. I have at least six cases (maybe 8) of homebrew in the garage, including my annual summer saison that I haven't even tried yet.

Busy day at the office and playing hockey tonight, so an easy day off the sauce.

20 days left my friends......:ban:
 
My routine after Thursday night hockey is to stop at the convenience store and get a 16oz can of Sierra Nevada. Missed it tonight....on to Day 11...
 
Good luck all the power to you...
I'm thinking of doing the same thing since SWMBO has me in a diet to lose 20lbs. It would go much faster without beer. But damn that's tough....
 
I have done this previously, and may have to consider doing it again...

It also occurred to me...all this not drinking and brewing at the same time...might actually be a way to get a pipeline up and running again!
 
ArizonaGoalie said:
DAY 10 - NO BEER:

Oh my...10 days without beer. I've turned a corner from wanting a beer or habitually reaching for a beer to no longer thinking about it. Don't get me wrong, I still love beer. I have at least six cases (maybe 8) of homebrew in the garage, including my annual summer saison that I haven't even tried yet.

Busy day at the office and playing hockey tonight, so an easy day off the sauce.

20 days left my friends......:ban:
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Way to go, AG!

We're 1/3 of the way there. I think when this experiment is over I may restrict myself to Friday-Saturday only for beer & wine.

I've got two Saisons bubbling away in fermenters making the house smell great. One might be drinkable in a month.
 
Dixon9717 said:
Good luck all the power to you...
I'm thinking of doing the same thing since SWMBO has me in a diet to lose 20lbs. It would go much faster without beer. But damn that's tough....
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A couple years ago I lost 25lbs while still drinking beer. It took a few months, but my secret was the MyFitnessPal app which allowed me to count calories. If I knew I wanted to drink beer that day, I made sure to go on a run, hike, or long walk to buy calories.

Good luck to you and thanks for the support!!!
 
I guess this is day 10, 11? And I should really say 11-1, since I had a skip day for a wedding.

Yesterday I managed to brew without drinking anything. This weekend will be tough, as all weekends are. My friend has her art up at a bar for First Friday tonight, and then tomorrow is my anniversary, fancy dinner and all.

Can I say this... sobriety is kind of weird. I don't drink excessively, but I do find myself drinking at most social engagements, because that's just what happens. Is there a social world where people don't drink? I can never find it.
 
Charles1968 said:
A lot of that is probably because alcohol wrecks your sleep. One cause of this is rebound from the sedative effect, caused by a rise in glutamate level in the brain. If I drink too much, I typically pass out as soon as I go to bed but then wake up maybe 4-5 a.m. and can't get back to sleep. There's nothing like sleep deprivation to make you feel bad tempered and depressed the next day. (Remember never to judge yourself when you're hungover or ill or sleep-deprived.)



Agreed. You just need some system for imposing control if you've got 4 months supply of beer under the stairs, as I have. That's why apps like alcodroid or keeping records are handy. If I felt I couldn't keep tabs on what I drink, I would stop brewing altogether and probably stop drinking.
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Yes, I'm sure the quality of sleep affects me mentally the most. I find that if I don't drink anything that I feel better the next day, regardless of the amount of sleep I get. I'm getting older and wiser I guess.

I have my weeks where I drink too much though and it brings me down. This week is one of those weeks...
 
I'm thinking of doing the same thing. My weight is up, energy is down, sleep is lackluster at best, motivation to exercise is dwindling.
 
Thanks for the good advice ArizonaGolie. Two years ago I lost 40lbs in 4 months. For awhile I wasn't drinking anything, then I decided just Saturdays I would indulge, then be a good boy the rest of the week. It worked, then after a vacation to Hawaii and drinking everyday and eating whatever I wanted I couldn't get back on track and kept drinking pretty much daily. Working the midnight shift didn't help and I put 20lb back on. I think limiting to Saturday drinking again will work but man that's a loooong six days.........

Kudos to OP for doing what we all should do once in awhile......
 
biochemedic said:
I have done this previously, and may have to consider doing it again...

It also occurred to me...all this not drinking and brewing at the same time...might actually be a way to get a pipeline up and running again!
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That is what I have decided to do. And I'm not necessarily planning on 30 days. I have four brews going, but nothing will really be ready for another two or three weeks. Just decided to not buy beer for awhile.

On day 5 for me. I have a porter sitting in the fridge that I want to try in a meatloaf recipe, so I may have 8 ounces on Sunday.
 
beersk said:
Yes, I'm sure the quality of sleep affects me mentally the most. I find that if I don't drink anything that I feel better the next day, regardless of the amount of sleep I get. I'm getting older and wiser I guess.

I have my weeks where I drink too much though and it brings me down. This week is one of those weeks...
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Best way to beat depression in my experience is exercise or sport. Something about physical activity switches your brain into a different gear. My brother has taken this to an extreme and is a military exercise fanatic. I'm not that bad but I do cycle every day and it makes me feel great.
 
SatanPrinceOfDarkness said:
Is there a social world where people don't drink? I can never find it.
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A couple of years ago I listed to the artist Damien Hirst on Desert Island Discs (UK radio show, also a podcast) talking about giving up alcohol altogether in middle age - he was pretty much an alcoholic. He said that after decades of drinking socially, he had to completely re-learn his social skills from scratch as a sober person. Personally I find socialising sober a bit of a chore in the evenings, but lunches are a different matter - I seem to have loads of energy at that time of day and always happy to meet a friend for something to eat or coffee without feeling the need for a beer.
 
Charles1968 said:
Best way to beat depression in my experience is exercise or sport. Something about physical activity switches your brain into a different gear. My brother has taken this to an extreme and is a military exercise fanatic. I'm not that bad but I do cycle every day and it makes me feel great.
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Well, I agree. I ride a bike for transportation, about 10 miles a day if I'm just going to and from work. Otherwise, I'll go on rides after work, usually in the 20 mile range. Depression runs in the family, so I guess I'm more prone to it. The riding helps, but it doesn't help as much as is commonly quoted.
 
DAY 11 - NO BEER:

Friday night - craving a pint so badly. A nice milk stout, clean pale ale, or piney IPA would hit the spot. Alas, no cerveza for me. Instead, enjoyed a big banana nut muffin for dessert after a fantastic turkey avocado sandwich for dinner. The thought occurred to me today - what if I just have a glass of wine or a Makers Mark and Coke tonight as a reward - but I stayed on the wagon.

Brewing and bottling tomorrow - a chocolate stout with raspberry liqueur soaked raspberries and my Sam Adams Summer Ale clone respectively.

Belmont Stakes tomorrow. Go American Pharoah!!!!

19 days left.....
 
ArizonaGoalie said:
DAY 11 - NO BEER:

Friday night - craving a pint so badly. A nice milk stout, clean pale ale, or piney IPA would hit the spot. Alas, no cerveza for me. Instead, enjoyed a big banana nut muffin for dessert after a fantastic turkey avocado sandwich for dinner. The thought occurred to me today - what if I just have a glass of wine or a Makers Mark and Coke tonight as a reward - but I stayed on the wagon.

Brewing and bottling tomorrow - a chocolate stout with raspberry liqueur soaked raspberries and my Sam Adams Summer Ale clone respectively.

Belmont Stakes tomorrow. Go American Pharoah!!!!

19 days left.....
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Yesterday was a tough one here as well. I went shopping and while in the produce section, everything I looked at reminded me that it could be used in a delicious salsa. That would mean a mountain of tortilla chips and a few cold brews to wash it all down.

Bottling day would be hard for me also.

Remember folks, this isn't a temperance campaign, it's more of a vacation from alcohol. Just like a vacation from work recharges the batteries and resets the circuit breakers, this along with the diet is meant to restore things to a more neutral position.
 
ArizonaGoalie said:
DAY 11 - NO BEER:

Friday night - craving a pint so badly. A nice milk stout, clean pale ale, or piney IPA would hit the spot. Alas, no cerveza for me. Instead, enjoyed a big banana nut muffin for dessert after a fantastic turkey avocado sandwich for dinner. The thought occurred to me today - what if I just have a glass of wine or a Makers Mark and Coke tonight as a reward - but I stayed on the wagon.

Brewing and bottling tomorrow - a chocolate stout with raspberry liqueur soaked raspberries and my Sam Adams Summer Ale clone respectively.

Belmont Stakes tomorrow. Go American Pharoah!!!!

19 days left.....
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stay strong were almost to the half way point. Another weekend is bound to bring more challenges. I find the week is a tad easier probably just because work eats up so much of the day.
 
This is a great idea, and I'm glad that those of you taking up the chore have stuck with it!

Last spring, I went to the doctor for a physical and found out that I weighed 15 lbs more than I expected. I didn't check my weight before that for fear of what I'd see, so I was blissfully unaware that I'd packed on the lbs like I did. My wife and I were in great shape a few years ago as we geared up for our wedding, but we both lost the plot when we bought a house and got a dog, and our weights went up slowly over time until that slap in the face last year.

We decided to start going to the gym, and I gave up weekday drinking along with it. Talk about hard...I could barely get to that first Friday after the decision was made to really go for it. I can only imagine what 30 days off the sauce would be like!

I dropped 26 lbs in three months and have kept most of it off since then (the holidays last year saw me pack on a few lbs). I still generally only drink on Fridays and Saturdays, but I have given in and drank a few beers during the week from time to time as a treat/indulgence in weakness.

I don't have any plans to stop drinking for an extended time, but I do understand the cravings and that they get easier to control the further along you go. Good luck to all of you!
 
I'm going through a bit of an involuntary dry patch. Had acl surgery yesterday so no beer since Tuesday and probably for another 2 weeks or so. Not too bad yet, but I'm sure I'll miss those 1-2 a night before it's over. Have a Wee Heavy that should be ready when I am so will look forward to that.
 
DAY 12 - NO BEER:

Productive little Saturday to keep my mind off beer....

Started with a 3.5 mile hike in the early a.m., moved to some tennis around noon, then some killer homemade pizza followed by game 2 of the stanley cup finals.

Beer did cross my mind more than a few times today, but I held strong. Even stopped by a local tap house/bottle shop to buy a gift of Three Philosophers for a friend. The tap list looked mighty inviting, but I resisted. Oh man is that first beer going to be sweet in a few weeks.

18 days left....
 
ArizonaGoalie said:
DAY 12 - NO BEER:

Productive little Saturday to keep my mind off beer....

Started with a 3.5 mile hike in the early a.m., moved to some tennis around noon, then some killer homemade pizza followed by game 2 of the stanley cup finals.

Beer did cross my mind more than a few times today, but I held strong. Even stopped by a local tap house/bottle shop to buy a gift of Three Philosophers for a friend. The tap list looked mighty inviting, but I resisted. Oh man is that first beer going to be sweet in a few weeks.

18 days left....
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I feel your pain, made it through saturday with only minor thoughts of having a beer. however i got off work early today and am grilling on a beautiful sunday afternoon. I have to admit a nice cold ipa sounds amazing right now. But i picked a few iced tea's and am holding strong. Have a great sunday everyone.
 
Another day down.

The no beer part is easier than the no snack part. Went for a short hike yesterday but I need to do it in the morning, not at noon in the Florida heat.
 
DAY 13 - NO BEER: (late post)

Bottled my Sam Adams summer ale clone. Smelled great. Had a playoff hockey game in the early evening, so beer was easy to resist. However, we won, and normally I would have a pint or two after a big win. I had some pop tarts instead :)

17 days left.....
 

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