I am giving up beer for 30 days

[ArizonaGoalie]

Day 23: my buddy is upset that I won't be drinking at his 4th of July gathering. It is only 5 days early, but I'm going to stay on track and do all 30. We can drink anytime.

7 to go!

Great work!

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

Enjoying my time off the wagon....

Hit a brewery last Saturday, a new one here in San Diego called Cellar 3. It's owned by Green Flash and they specialize in barrel aged brews and sours. They also feature some Green Flash beers as well as three Alpine beers.

Wife is a big fan of sours, so she was quite happy. It's a really nice tasting room with a great patio. I enjoyed the Citra session ale on nitro.

This week is my first week of 'no drinking during the week, weekends only'. So far so good. Felt like drinking a beer tonight so we went for a walk instead.

Looking forward to Friday night!

For those of you on the wagon, keep it up!

 

[beersk]

You know what's weird and kind of sad... the last 4 or 5 days I didn't have my lines hooked up in my kegerator because I cleaned them and decided to leave them unhooked. Last night, I hooked them up because a homebrewing friend came over to pick up some grain he needed so he could try samples. I kind of enjoyed not having them hooked up and not having the option to drink beer on tap. Isn't that strange? I didn't feel like drinking as much without the option and that felt good. Not sure how to interpret that or what to do about that. Makes me ponder ditching the tap setup and beergunning everything into bottles. But tap beer is so cool... just difficult to not want to drink more than one when it's on tap and bottles are a pain in the ass to deal with.

 

[dstranger99]

Enjoying my time off the wagon....

Hit a brewery last Saturday, a new one here in San Diego called Cellar 3. It's owned by Green Flash and they specialize in barrel aged brews and sours. They also feature some Green Flash beers as well as three Alpine beers.

Wife is a big fan of sours, so she was quite happy. It's a really nice tasting room with a great patio. I enjoyed the Citra session ale on nitro.

This week is my first week of 'no drinking during the week, weekends only'. So far so good. Felt like drinking a beer tonight so we went for a walk instead.

Looking forward to Friday night!

For those of you on the wagon, keep it up!

When I looked at your first post, I noticed you were only drinking 1 beer per day... That would do no harm anyway? Well, aside from calories.

 

[fsr_racer]

So, my time is up. By making more changes to my daily routine than just cutting out beer I managed to drop 20lbs. I quit drinking coffee, which was probably harder than beer. Avoided the Twizzlers on my bosses desk, as well as the pastries people always bring into the break room, which was made easier by not going back there to fill the coffee cup. I also cut out the weekend indulgences, pizza, hot dogs, pancakes, etc... I look forward to continuing with some of these modifications, but not all.

What have I learned? Stay busy. When I am most tempted to break is when I'm bored, which has been a lot the past couple weeks. It has rained almost every single day, most days just long enough to discourage me from doing anything outside.

Good luck to those who have a few days left, or are just taking the plunge. Make it a learning experience.

 

[beersk]

What have I learned? Stay busy. When I am most tempted to break is when I'm bored, which has been a lot the past couple weeks. It has rained almost every single day, most days just long enough to discourage me from doing anything outside.

This is hard I think. Staying busy sucks. I like relaxing. But you're right, I drink most often when I'm bored. I spent the last several years drinking too much because of that very reason. Lately I'm trying to change that. I think realizing that drinking when I'm bored is the first step to cutting that out. Just having 1 instead of 3 or 4. It's tough when the kegerator is staring right at me all the time. Unfortunately there's nowhere I can really move it to.

 

[brewcat]

You know what's weird and kind of sad... the last 4 or 5 days I didn't have my lines hooked up in my kegerator because I cleaned them and decided to leave them unhooked. Last night, I hooked them up because a homebrewing friend came over to pick up some grain he needed so he could try samples. I kind of enjoyed not having them hooked up and not having the option to drink beer on tap. Isn't that strange? I didn't feel like drinking as much without the option and that felt good. Not sure how to interpret that or what to do about that. Makes me ponder ditching the tap setup and beergunning everything into bottles. But tap beer is so cool... just difficult to not want to drink more than one when it's on tap and bottles are a pain in the ass to deal with.

I like my tap because I can have a half beer to finish the night instead of opening a full bottle.

 

[fsr_racer]

This is hard I think. Staying busy sucks. I like relaxing. But you're right, I drink most often when I'm bored. I spent the last several years drinking too much because of that very reason. Lately I'm trying to change that. I think realizing that drinking when I'm bored is the first step to cutting that out. Just having 1 instead of 3 or 4. It's tough when the kegerator is staring right at me all the time. Unfortunately there's nowhere I can really move it to.

That has a bit to do with why I haven't bought one and moved to kegging. I can put one or two bottles in the fridge to be enjoyed after work, but having 5gal of 2-3 different styles on tap... That's just too tempting.

 

[bbohanon]

Congrats to those who took the challenge!
Drinking is great in moderation..If you think you may have a drinking problem, you probably do and its not a good sign especially if you have a spouse and kids depending on you being able to coherently function.

I drink more on the weekends than the weekdays personally..Usually I will only have 2 max on the weekdays and even on the weekends I keep it to a 6-er between Sat-Sun.

Keeps me healthy physically and mentally, the wife and kids happy and my brewing hobby able to continue on without becoming a family intervention type of deal.

I will also say having my beer/kegerator and brewing shed outside of the house helps reduce any temptation...Plus I give more of it away to happy family members and friends/co-workers than I drink to be honest which makes me happier than drinking it myself.

 

[beersk]

I like my tap because I can have a half beer to finish the night instead of opening a full bottle.

Yeah, it is pretty awesome to have that option. Self control is hard! I just want to get drunk and eat chicken fingers.

That has a bit to do with why I haven't bought one and moved to kegging. I can put one or two bottles in the fridge to be enjoyed after work, but having 5gal of 2-3 different styles on tap... That's just too tempting.

That's a pretty good idea. The only real downside I can see to that is if you have someone over spontaneously. I guess you could quick chill beer down in the freezer...
But, I don't want to go back to bottle conditioning. Such a pain...

That's it. I'm quitting brewing.





















Just kidding! Gawd, that's a stupid idea...

 

[fsr_racer]

That's it. I'm quitting brewing.

Can I have you kegerator?

 

[Rhumbline]

Today was a day that reminded me that I am weak and fallible. I'd taken the day off to extend the holiday weekend but ended up being called into work to deal with an issue.

Left the office, after spending all morning resisting the urge to choke a b!tch, who genuinely needed it, and had to stop off for my first bag of chips in at least six weeks. That meant a six pack to accompany it.

Since I didn't end the day cuffed and stuffed in the back of a patrol car I'm calling a win.

It's a marathon, not a sprint...
Pete

 

[jaydlaw]

Today was a day that reminded me that I am weak and fallible. I'd taken the day off to extend the holiday weekend but ended up being called into work to deal with an issue.

Left the office, after spending all morning resisting the urge to choke a b!tch, who genuinely needed it, and had to stop off for my first bag of chips in at least six weeks. That meant a six pack to accompany it.

Since I didn't end the day cuffed and stuffed in the back of a patrol car I'm calling a win.

It's a marathon, not a sprint...
Pete

Funny
my bday was a few days ago, and i had some pizza. i stopped eating carbs (except beer) a couple of months ago, but it was my birthday afterall. and there was the birthday cake and ice cream.

my calorie count wasn't too high on the days that i cheated, and i am back on the salad tip today. I told myself that i was going to stay on this diet until the end of the year (no bread, potatoes, rice, cake, soda). When i do go over, it usually due to the occasional friday happy hour, or some weekend event (like a cookout). I don't feel as though i am harming myself too much when i go over, even if i happen to take in 1600 calories it is still much less than the 2000+ that i used to eat. i decided not to weigh myself in the interim because i'll just start feeling myself and begin to slack on my diet. I was previously on the first notch of one of my belts, now i am on the 5th. I believe that they are an inch apart. so that's 4 inches lost.

 

[Scriv]

Day 24: uneventful day, walk with my daughter, hit the gym, made dinner.

6 days left!

 

[beersk]

Can I have you kegerator?

Hehe, NO! Although it is a pretty nice kegerator... It actually has 3 taps now. I have a couple low profile kegs that I put on the compressor hump. Works out pretty nice.

 

[Scriv]

Day 25: picked up some brews for a cabin trip next week. Weight is down, and I'm sore from the gym. I'm looking forward to being done with this!

5 to go.

Edit: anybody into coffee? We have this thing called a Toddy that makes excellent cold brewed coffee. The process takes 24 hours (basically you're steeping the grounds and making a coffee concentrate) but it's some of the best tasting coffee I've had.

 

[A2HB]

Hit 15 days with no alcohol, half way there!

I think about drinking a cold beer

Every.single.day.

 

[naturebrew]

Today was a day that reminded me that I am weak and fallible. I'd taken the day off to extend the holiday weekend but ended up being called into work to deal with an issue.

Left the office, after spending all morning resisting the urge to choke a b!tch, who genuinely needed it, and had to stop off for my first bag of chips in at least six weeks. That meant a six pack to accompany it.

Since I didn't end the day cuffed and stuffed in the back of a patrol car I'm calling a win.

It's a marathon, not a sprint...
Pete

I guess the difference this time is you see this as abnormal for you, since you have been working towards a healthy lifestyle. I am taking for granted the thought that you may have done this more routinely in the past. This is definitely a win, now you can look at other ways to manage stress. My routine used to be 1 hour in the gym, great stress reliever, now I run or walk. The nice thing with this type of workout is it can be done pretty much anywhere/anytime and gives me an opportunity to reflect on what stressed me out and how to deal with it. It is a marathon after all and like the 30 day challenge you just completed, your self awareness of other positive changes you can make can be achieved with time and effort, well done.

 

[beersk]

Day 25: picked up some brews for a cabin trip next week. Weight is down, and I'm sore from the gym. I'm looking forward to being done with this!

5 to go.

Edit: anybody into coffee? We have this thing called a Toddy that makes excellent cold brewed coffee. The process takes 24 hours (basically you're steeping the grounds and making a coffee concentrate) but it's some of the best tasting coffee I've had.

I dig it, but I don't do it with a Toddy, just a French press. I don't bother much with filtering, it's not that big of a deal. How much does it make at a time?

I'm feeling very shameful today. Last couple days I drank a bunch and ate WAY too much. Feels like crap. I may do a fast today to cleanse myself a bit. I think I'll drink some coffee though, now that you mention it. Since I have the day off, I thought about going to the coffee haus and reading with a java cooler.

 

[Scriv]

I dig it, but I don't do it with a Toddy, just a French press. I don't bother much with filtering, it's not that big of a deal. How much does it make at a time?

I'm feeling very shameful today. Last couple days I drank a bunch and ate WAY too much. Feels like crap. I may do a fast today to cleanse myself a bit. I think I'll drink some coffee though, now that you mention it. Since I have the day off, I thought about going to the coffee haus and reading with a java cooler.

It makes about 6.5 cups of jet black coffee concentrate. We mostly mix it with milk or almond milk and ice for a cold drink, but you can heat it and make traditional cups of coffee too. The decanter lasts us about a week, 2 adults with 1-2 drinks per day.

If you do get one be sure and steep for 24 hours, the directions say 12-24 but the full 24 hours makes it very strong and flavorful.

And don't beat yourself up, brush it off and start again!

 

[beersk]

It makes about 6.5 cups of jet black coffee concentrate. We mostly mix it with milk or almond milk and ice for a cold drink, but you can heat it and make traditional cups of coffee too. The decanter lasts us about a week, 2 adults with 1-2 drinks per day.

If you do get one be sure and steep for 24 hours, the directions say 12-24 but the full 24 hours makes it very strong and flavorful.

And don't beat yourself up, brush it off and start again!

Thanks, man. Cheers and happy Independence! I may break my 24 hour fast tonight with a beer, maybe around midnight.

 

[Scriv]

Man, this evening is going to be rough. I'm headed to my friends 4th gathering, and we usually knock quite a few back. I wish I had started this just a few days earlier!

 

[jaydlaw]

Man, this evening is going to be rough. I'm headed to my friends 4th gathering, and we usually knock quite a few back. I wish I had started this just a few days earlier!

Show up late and leave early.

 

[Scriv]

Day 26: made it through with no beer!

4 days left

 

[hunter_le five]

26 seconds

4 seconds left

 

[Scriv]

Day 27: Happy 4th! No beer today, bbq with the in-laws and they rarely drink so no temptation.

3 days to go.

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

Happy 4th to my brewing bros and sis's.

I'm in the AZ, northern AZ, cool temps, rain, and enjoying Four Peaks Kilt Lifter and Hop Knot IPA. Both absolutely delicious.

Brought a case of my Sam Adams Summer Ale clone, which I actually prefer over SA (tried them side by side).

Will be in Flagstaff, AZ, in the next few days for a walking brewery/brewpub crawl. Most excited about Lumberyard Brewing and their IPA. One of my all time faves.

Enjoying my time off the wagon. I'm on vacation, so taking a few liberties, but will be back on track in a week.

Cheers!!!

 

[Scriv]

Day 28: I'm getting antsy now, looking forward to a cold one. Getting ready for a week in the cabin with the in-law family. It'll be nice getting out of the house, I'm getting cabin fever!

2 to go.

Seems like I'm the only one left on a hiatus.

 

[Firewalker11]

Day 25: picked up some brews for a cabin trip next week. Weight is down, and I'm sore from the gym. I'm looking forward to being done with this!

5 to go.

Edit: anybody into coffee? We have this thing called a Toddy that makes excellent cold brewed coffee. The process takes 24 hours (basically you're steeping the grounds and making a coffee concentrate) but it's some of the best tasting coffee I've had.

The local lunch box diner uses the commercial Toddy and they get 2.5 gallons per batch. Really low acid and almost sweet tasting after filtering. I get a "growler" (750ml) once a week for the same price the pound of coffee grounds would cost me to make it myself.

Yummy stuff!

 

[Scriv]

Day 29: hit the gym, haven't done back squats in awhile, legs are like jello! Looking forward to getting to the cabin on Thursday, a little r&r is needed.

1 more day.