I am going to go 31 days without beer...

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ArizonaGoalie

ArizonaGoalie

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It's time for a reset again. I'm going to go the entire month of January without any beer or alcohol.

As a homebrewer and craft beer aficionado, it will NOT be easy. I also live in San Diego, home of 120+ craft breweries. We love to lounge in a local tasting room on an average Saturday....

I'm not an alcoholic or suffering from any health problems, just want to kickstart my 2017 and clean out the system. I will be posting daily in this thread to keep myself accountable.

Any and all support welcome. Thank you my brewing brothers and sisters!
 
I always stop drinking for month or so every year, it's good for you. The first week is the hardest! Keep busy and just stay positive the time will fly by in no time. Good luck
 
Always a good idea to exercise your personal will power, but you've got me wondering......

What are you going to drink on Feb 1st ? :D
 
Congratulations! I too regularly give up drinking for a month once or twice through out the year to just reset. I took all of August and October off this past year...August because my son was born so there wasn't even time to think about drinking and October well the month just got away from me I guess LoL

Good luck!
 
This honestly sounds like a terrible idea. I can understand it if you need to prove to yourself that you can put the drink down but for no other reason than just to do it....not for me. Life is too short to needlessly deprive yourself of of the things you love.
 
GPP33 said:
This honestly sounds like a terrible idea. I can understand it if you need to prove to yourself that you can put the drink down but for no other reason than just to do it....not for me. Life is too short to needlessly deprive yourself of of the things you love.
Click to expand...

Exactly. And if you deprive yourself of the good stuff you just end up living longer, which doesn't help your situation either!
 
I do think it is healthy to put a lid on the habits every so often just to make sure you are in control of the habit and not the other way around. I have taken a 2-month break from alcohol a few times but didn't save any money or lose any weight so the benefits of doing so were limited.

I have been off the coffee for the last month and haven't had any cravings. Haven't decided if I'm going to make coffee a weekend / special occasion thing rather than a twice daily thing. Have actually noticed the savings not having to buy beans in our weekly shop, about $35 per month, and I found a use for the leftover half pack of beans in a coffee stout :rockin:
 
I felt this way during my first year of home brewing when I had to drink 6 beers a day just to make keg space for the next beer. During that phase it was always fun to be making something new, which meant finishing off something old. After a year of pouring beers non-stop from 5pm-bed, it was like ya ok this is excessive, but i never felt like it was something i couldn't stop.
 
ArizonaGoalie said:
It's time for a reset again. I'm going to go the entire month of January without any beer or alcohol.



As a homebrewer and craft beer aficionado, it will NOT be easy. I also live in San Diego, home of 120+ craft breweries. We love to lounge in a local tasting room on an average Saturday....



I'm not an alcoholic or suffering from any health problems, just want to kickstart my 2017 and clean out the system. I will be posting daily in this thread to keep myself accountable.



Any and all support welcome. Thank you my brewing brothers and sisters!
Click to expand...


I remember you doing this last year. I won't be joining you, but good job by you, you're a better man than I. Good luck!
 
Senormac said:
Always a good idea to exercise your personal will power, but you've got me wondering......

What are you going to drink on Feb 1st ? :D
Click to expand...

At some point between January 15-31, I'll get a hankering for a particular style and/or specific beer. Usually it's something hoppy. Top five favorites, with odds on what my first beer back will be:

Green Flash Tangerine Soul Style IPA
2:1
Second Chance Seize the IPA
4:1
Stone Ruination
5:2
Ballast Point Pineapple Sculpin
7:2
AleSmith X
even
 
GPP33 said:
This honestly sounds like a terrible idea. I can understand it if you need to prove to yourself that you can put the drink down but for no other reason than just to do it....not for me. Life is too short to needlessly deprive yourself of of the things you love.
Click to expand...

I agree. It's a terrible idea. Painful.

My work is taking me to the Dominican Republic in early February, followed by a week-long trip to Kauai in late Feb for personal time. I've gotten soft, and a month off drinking will not only help me generate momentum, it will make my gratitude for beer all the more stronger :)
 
I don't drink during the week, so I don't really see the use of any longer enforced dry time :D
I've stopped smoking and don't really do massive nights out anymore, that's enough "healthy living" for me.
 
Well, seeing that I am Polish (beer is inherent) and I will be 70 this year, a little too late to worry about it so, party on. :mug::mug: but I do be wise about it.
 
On January 1, 2015, I swore off alcohol for 90 days as I wanted to get in shape and lose 50 lbs. it was tough, but I did it, the worst part was when we went out to eat at one of our favorite places that had good beer selections, but I struggled through it. The cool thing was, when the 90 days was up, it was like my entire system had been reset, my tastes for beers was different (that was when I really started to appreciate stouts and porters), and it took a LOT less of whatever beer I was drinking to satisfy my thirst. My beer drinking and appreciation is way better off for it still to this day.
 
From a health perspective, abstinence is not the best way to control healthy drinking. Keeping drinking to a small per day quantity is the optimal way to drink. One month off a year does not help if you pound it the other 11.
 
Sadu said:
I do think it is healthy to put a lid on the habits every so often just to make sure you are in control of the habit and not the other way around. I have taken a 2-month break from alcohol a few times but didn't save any money or lose any weight so the benefits of doing so were limited.

I have been off the coffee for the last month and haven't had any cravings. Haven't decided if I'm going to make coffee a weekend / special occasion thing rather than a twice daily thing. Have actually noticed the savings not having to buy beans in our weekly shop, about $35 per month, and I found a use for the leftover half pack of beans in a coffee stout :rockin:
Click to expand...

I do one beer a day on a normal day. I only do coffee 3 days a week on my way to the bowling alley. Not hooked on anything except the wife. :tank:
 
31 days? Remember, seven days without beer makes one weak
;-)

Stefan

ArizonaGoalie said:
It's time for a reset again. I'm going to go the entire month of January without any beer or alcohol.

As a homebrewer and craft beer aficionado, it will NOT be easy. I also live in San Diego, home of 120+ craft breweries. We love to lounge in a local tasting room on an average Saturday....

I'm not an alcoholic or suffering from any health problems, just want to kickstart my 2017 and clean out the system. I will be posting daily in this thread to keep myself accountable.

Any and all support welcome. Thank you my brewing brothers and sisters!
Click to expand...
 
I did the "Whole 30" diet last January. No alcohol, dairy, sugar, artificial ingredients etc.
The no alcohol part wasn't bad, but not having creme in my coffee was tough.
I lost 30#s and only gained 10 back.
Doing it again this year!
 
DAY 1 of 31....

Fairly easy to skip a brew today. Went on a 7.5 mile hike, watched football, caught up on some projects. Had some cheesecake when the slight urge arose for the suds.

Tomorrow will be more difficult. Going to a SoCal burger joint that specializes in offering a great selection of local craft. Must resist temptation...

Cheers everyone - happy new year!
 
schematix said:
I'm picking up the slack for you tonight.

Good luck on your goal!

P.S. Cheesecake sounds good. Wife just finished the last piece of a peppermint bark cheesecake i made just before the xmas. Wish she had left it for me. Not that I needed it, but it was damn good.

View attachment 382850
Click to expand...

That looks phenomenal! And thanks for picking up the slack.
 
Double update for the last two days:

Day 2 of 31
Trip to LA to watch a Clippers game. End of the holiday weekend, last day off. Ate dinner at Hopdoddy's in Tustin, CA, with a nice beer selection. However, I avoided it, which turned out to be easy. I was driving, long drive, and with my 17 y/o son. Even at the game, the Staples Center had a few brews worth drinking, but I stayed strong.

Did have a Wetzel sinful cinnamon pretzel tho....

3/31
Wrapping up the day. Instead of an after dinner beer, had an after dinner decaf coffee and made it mocha style with probiotic hot chocolate mix. Still feeling like a cleanse is in order, so I'm not really craving any suds. I think this week will be easy....it's Friday and Saturday I'm dreading.

Thanks for reading and the moral support.
 
I'm currently recording some of the hardest music of my life which is happening on my off time from my very demanding carpentry job. Most I'll be able to squeeze in is the odd beer at the end of a very long day which screws up my sleeping patterns.

This will take about a month so I'm in the same boat as you albeit forcibly!
 
ArizonaGoalie said:
It's time for a reset again. I'm going to go the entire month of January without any beer or alcohol.



As a homebrewer and craft beer aficionado, it will NOT be easy. I also live in San Diego, home of 120+ craft breweries. We love to lounge in a local tasting room on an average Saturday....



I'm not an alcoholic or suffering from any health problems, just want to kickstart my 2017 and clean out the system. I will be posting daily in this thread to keep myself accountable.



Any and all support welcome. Thank you my brewing brothers and sisters!
Click to expand...


WHAT??!! WAIT A MINUTE!!

They have goalies in Arizona?
 
Drank a sixpack yesterday as I put a batch going, planning that the next beer I drink is from that batch (5-6weeks). I loooove beer so it will be hard as fook but I gotta lose some weight & other health benefits as well as save monies.
 
sky4meplease said:
WHAT??!! WAIT A MINUTE!!

They have goalies in Arizona?
Click to expand...

It's all relative, man. ;)

On day 2 of picking up the slack for Arizona. Plans are for a half glass of homebrew Pale right after work, and then a full glass of Right Brian Naughty Girl Stout after dinner while on the computer.

LOL!

JK

Probably be reversed.
 
Day 4 of 31

Felt easy, although an after dinner beer urge hit me so I did a circuit workout.

How's this for making it tough...a fellow beer aficionado gifted me a 2016 bottle of Goose Bourbon County Stout. Mother of mercy. I'm looking at this as a blessing, not a curse. A gift for being a good boy. And while I will be tempted to drink it in February, I think aging it until next Christmas might be in order.

Thanks for the support everyone. On to day 5....
 
im doing something equally as awful. cutting myself down to 1 soda... a week from 1-2 a day :\ This is going to blow. No real reason for it either. Just want to do it.
 
ArizonaGoalie said:
Day 4 of 31

Felt easy, although an after dinner beer urge hit me so I did a circuit workout.

How's this for making it tough...a fellow beer aficionado gifted me a 2016 bottle of Goose Bourbon County Stout. Mother of mercy. I'm looking at this as a blessing, not a curse. A gift for being a good boy. And while I will be tempted to drink it in February, I think aging it until next Christmas might be in order.

Thanks for the support everyone. On to day 5....
Click to expand...

Something that can sit and age while you do your thing.
 

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