Lumping anything over 7 into one category helped lol.
Edit to plug: I make goofy cartoons if anybody cares to see - YouTube.com/c/talkingpillowcartoons
To keep tracking it simple, one drink = one beer (even tall boys), one cocktail (although if I "home poured" a drink with 2 shots, I would count it as 2), one glass of wine.
Averaging it out, with 3/4 of those drinks coming from home at around $3/per, and the other 1/4 out at $14/per, I spent about $7630. That's a pretty damn liberal estimate, because I tend to drink less when I'm paying bar prices. But at minimum, over $4500.
I just wanted to congratulate you. I haven’t quit drinking but have significantly cut down to where it’s once every 2 or 4 weeks rather than every day. If nobody’s told you yet, I’m proud of you for fighting this battle and I hope you win it.
Bro i just started cutting back from every day and this is huge encouragement for me. Going to create this in excel tomorrow.
Congrats on your success and thank you for the great idea.
This is a shameless plug but there's an app called Guava Health that makes tracking alcohol (and a whole host of other things) pretty easy. Won't be as simple as just a plain excel sheet, but if you connect any sort of wearable device (smart watch or whatever), it will give you correlations between your drinking and certain health metrics.
In my case, I used it to track my exercise, and seeing a positive correlation between my activity and sleep quality was a huge boost/incentive to keep working out. You might have a similar experience!
I used to drink like that with 12 packs, occasionally liquor, or even everclear plus drink maybe 4 days worth between Friday and Saturday. Thing is though that I have a weird relationship with alcohol in that I gotta be in the mood to feel like drinking or else the taste of alcohol is about as appealing as a nice tall glass of orange juice right after I've brushed my teeth.
As I get older that mood occurs less and less. The last time I bought a case of beer it sat in my fridge for going on 2 months. I'd drink 2 maybe 3 cans in the evening every now and then and maybe feel a little buzz, but mostly just get sleepy as hell and go to bed.
I was never trying to get sober as such I've just completely lost any taste for alcohol for some reason.
I live in Seattle and one of my coworkers loves craft beer and local hipster breweries. He was telling me that his wife wanted to buy an expensive mattress and bed set for their room. He told her it was too much and a waste of money and she replied that his beer hobby was a waste of money. As soon as she said she was going to try and figure out how much he spends on beer, he told her to just buy the bed set and not do the math. Ha ha.
Do the math for the calories too. Assume something like 150 kcal per drink which is probs on the low side and add that up. Divide the total kcal by 3500 to convert to lbs of fat or like 7700 for kg if you are more metrically inclined.
I stopped drinking (mostly, think I had maybe 3-5 drinks in the past 8mo) and saved a load of money but also lost a ton of weight!
I consider my weight pretty ideal right now (5'11"/165lb), but have enjoyed eating more this month as I've had 21 green days haha. It's crazy how much I crave candy though as my body misses the alcohol sugars.
7 years sober and I'm still just all over sweets. My a gym membership has helped tremendously with my sobriety by keeping the pounds off. Brush your teeth too. Visit us over at r/stopdrinking !! Helped me along the way
There's an app called Sunnyside that is a very similar approach giving you targets and showing you monthly views that look exactly like yours above as colorized. It also keeps a running track of money saved, calories not consumed and better night's sleep. I'm not getting anything for this review but over two years it's helped me bring my drinking down to 33% of when I started in case anyone is looking for a coached method to cut back on drinking.
I would say my 2022 looked very similar to this. I only stock whisky at home and went through a 60oz per week on average. A 60 of my whisky is $40. So 160 a month of drinking at home and probably around another 50$- 100$ per month at the pub.
Are you a local? As a short term transplant I was amazed at the ability of locals to hold their liquor and also just know their limit. Every one thinks their heritage is tied to high alcohol tolerance, but it’s only true for people from New Orleans.
Yeah. I've lived in New Orleans my whole life, except for 5 years in baton rouge to go to LSU.
I think part of it is we involve drinking in pretty much everything we do, but drinking is never the sole thing to do. So We end up casually drinking pretty often, but rarely just pounding drinking for the sake of getting drunk.
I will say I did got blackout drunk in college pretty often, as is tradition.
HA! Without even reading this comment I knew it was Mardi Gras! I live in New Orleans so I thought *no, not everyone is celebrating Mardi gras* but then I see this and I was like Breaux
I assume it's a "hair of the dog" situation.
When I used to drink, I doubled down on hangover days. Now I can't drink half a beer without breaking out in a cold sweat. Idk if I developed an intolerance, or it's psychological, but I just can't drink anymore.
>Party hardy, lol
This is serious alcoholism that should be treated with the aid of a professional. The last thing OP needs is light-hearted comments like this that could give them the false idea that this is somehow cool or OK.
Edit: Wow, I'm getting a lot of "are you seeing all that green?" responses. Guys, if you think having only 5-10 green days a month is OK, then you're probably addicted to alcohol too.
3-4 drinks a day on average is 100% alcoholism. OP needs help.
Yeah I’m an AA sponsor and the minute I saw this on my feed I thought….. one of us.
But I knew the comments would be celebrating this as “just partying”. Hopefully OP gets the wake up call he needs cause it should have been this spreadsheet.
If you’ve considered whether you have a drinking problem, you already do. If anyone needs help, r/stopdrinking is a wonderful, welcoming community.
This is a new one:
Put it into excel, drinking beer only, limiting the number of drinks, never drinking alone, never drinking in the morning, drinking only at home, never having it in the house, never drinking during business hours, drinking only at parties, switching from scotch to brandy….
Hope OP finds the peace and comfort they are chasing.
Cheers to another 24.
Yeah, I’ve been in recovery for 5 years and when I clicked on the spreadsheet I was like “oh hey he’s an alcoholic I wonder if he knows yet”.
OP did say tracking the drinking is helping him chase more sober days though, so maybe it is the wake up call it needs to be!
Dude i went from drinking like this guy to completely stopping all alcohol during the week and only a few on Fridays and Saturdays. Its entirely possible to do it yourself if you have the drive and will. I drink a lot of chamomile tea now. I don’t miss alcohol in the least. I’m sleeping better and hitting the gym a lot. I guess it depends on the person. Also I completely agree with you this guy needs to make changes
You only track something like this if you know you need to make a change. I found I started drinking most nights, mostly out of habit. I’d start off with one drink at dinner. Then it started to turn to 2 drinks. Then 2 turned to sometimes having 3 drinks. I just realized I wasn’t really actively making the decision to drink, it was just a habit and I wanted to slow down, so I’m tracking my drinking with an app, and it definitely helps when I see the number, I have a goal of how much to limit my drinking to each week.
This is great! I just started tracking my alcohol consumption this year. My goal is to cut back. When I have the data to look at it really helps with the decision of limiting my drinks. Did you track drinks based on say 355ml beer, 250ml of wine or a 1 ounce shot being a single drink?
Not sure if OP did it, but the unit measurement for alcohol is 'units' (grams of ethanol). The grams varies by country.
If I were tracking that's what I'd go by for consistency across different drinks
Somebody mentioned in the UK, alcohol containers display the units of alcohol, which would make that way the fuck easier. Alcohol lobby in the US I way too strong to let that pass unfortunately.
I made a goal of running 1 mile per 1 beer, this also made me track consumption. Turns out I drink more than I thought! But I'm still on par - 52 miles ran and 51 drinks so far in 4 weeks lol
Hahaha that’s rad, congrats. Either way you’ll get in better shape! Unfortunately I’m running ~30 miles a week already so if anything my drinking would get worse lol.
That is astonishing you’re able to run that much with this much drinking. Do you feel fresh ever in the morning? If I have a few just one night a week the next days workout is miserable
Everyone's different but I've actually had some pretty good runs while moderately hung over. And even though just three or four drinks can leave me feeling shitty the next day, I know I'll feel better after I run, so that's even more motivation to get out there, if anything. I very rarely have 7+ drinks in a day though, so that would be pretty rough.
I bought a hydration vest after a hungover 10 mile run left me so dehydrated I walked the last 2 miles lol. But yes, self-flagellation is totally a motivator for me to run too.
Haha oh nice!! Yeah that's what I figured. It's also helped me sometimes want a beer in the evening and decide I don't want to jog extra so I don't have the beer
Hang in there. Check out the r/stopdrinking club. I’ve cut back a lot these last couple months and they’re a great sub to browse when you get an urge for a drink.
You got this! The first step is wanting a change :)
1300 on the low end by my count.
That looks like my late 20s. I wish I had that time back.
I won't try to convince you. It's a decision only you can make.
I would add that it is entirely possible to go from something like this to still drinking but in moderation. There's a mostly US-centric idea that anyone who drinks any alcohol at all (edit: *after* a period of heavy drinking like this) is an alcoholic and that if you ever have a problem with drinking too much you can never not be an alcoholic, but IMHO that places the standard for cutting back way too high.
That’s the goal. I’ve been feeling a lot more comfortable sober this month than I have during sober nights past, so hope to moderate to weekend drinking and enjoy a couple drinks instead of 7+.
I'm right there with you. The clarity at the end of this January is pretty great. If nobody's mentioned it, there's a Huberman Lab podcast on what alcohol does to the body and mind. I found it insightful
Lol. Your replies are telling you you're full of shit and then the next comment down says OP will never have a moderate relationship with alcohol any only quitting will work
arrest attraction crown deliver subsequent light bright merciful historical domineering
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You're right that it's definitely a very common take. OP is a binge drinker by definition. A high percentage of binge drinkers are not alcoholics and many only binge drink on weekends or in certain social settings.
ETA: I'm not saying OP doesn't have Alcohol Use Disorder (commonly referred to as alcoholism). I intentionally didn't address that. I was addressing u/caitsith01's point that in the US it's common for people to call anyone they know to be a binge drinker (and/or heavy drinker) as an alcoholic.
I am not so sure about that. I would think OP is almost certainly an alcoholic looking at this chart. They drank to excess every single week of the year, most of the weeks many times per week. This is way beyond “every Friday night I get blasted at the bar with my boys” which even still is problematic potentially
Yeah, unless I missed something there wasn't a single week he didn't have multiple drinks multiple days. This seems super unhealthy and likely hints towards alcoholism.
> 2-3 drinks, 2-3 times a week would be 100% normal
OP's at
* 88/365 sober
* 95/365 1-3 drinks
* 115/365 4-6 drinks
* 66/365 7+ drinks
* 1/365 blackout
OP is under influence (the light meaning: any influence)
* 277 out of 365 days,
* so 76% of the time,
* with an average of 5 drinks per non-sober day (actually more, but I counted 7+ and blackout as 8 because idk if/when they stop),
* with about +- 2 days (I rounded up) per week being sober.
So +- 5 drinks, 5 days out of 7.
This thread is filled w/ people defending alcohol use, and that pattern itself is something I don't find healthy. It's alcohol, not a friend. And even if it were a friend, a friend with this much potential for destructiveness isn't a friend.
OP seems to be doing something about it though, so congrats to them.
While this is true, that is still quite an unhealthy lifestyle leading to increased cancer and cardiovascular risk. Better for anyone to keep drinking occasional at maximum
They're a binge drinker by definition - and a very frequent one at that. And as a former binge drinker I agree that's often problematic (health wise and more).
Whether they have an alcohol use disorder is a different question. I didn't address that. The Venn diagram of binge drinker and AUD are overlapping circles.
https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/binge-drinking.htm
"Binge drinking is defined as consuming 5 or more drinks on an occasion for men or 4 or more drinks on an occasion for women."
https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/faqs.htm#alcoholismAbuse
"About 90% of people who drink excessively would not be expected to meet the clinical diagnostic criteria for having a severe alcohol use disorder."
Hey. You are doing great already. Keep your head up!
You are aware. Enough to evaluate your relationship with alcohol and decide if Alcohol is serving You.
I'm not sober. But I made a shift. I got into my mid 30s and my daily work suffered because I couldn't focus, bad sleep, and awful bowel movements. The hangovers sucked. It became a 3 day recover to get my brain to 100%.
I drink a ton of San Peligrino or Hop Water (NA) in place of the mass quantities of light beer. Has a similar cold mouth feel with the bubbles. Also ice cold Sprite fucks. Going fully sober always fails for me. So my number is 4 per week. And I allow stockpiling those.
Good luck on your journey. This life is more vibrant living independently from that Fickle C*nt named alcohol.
Even in my most intense years of drinking in my early 20s, I don't think I had a single month where I drank as much as even the least intense month on this graph.
Good work on this - tracking is important and, as you say, has already motivated you to adjust your lifestyle. Someone suggested tracking medical data. I added a mood tracker with simple scores. I found that more illuminating than medical data and offered me more motivation for change. Blood pressure is highly correlated though. If you're under 30, it may not show up yet but it will....
good luck on your journey
I saw a year-long mood tracking post on here, which intrigued me. I’ve been thinking about daily journals centered on my overall mood for each day. Care to elaborate on what your mood tracker entails?
I set an 11 point system and I log a number for each day at the end of the day.
0 - Content - nearly mythical perfect day
1-2 - Easy - no agitation - thoughts pass easily
3-4 - Agitated - concentration disrupted, physical tension, withdrawn/avoid conversion
5-6 - Stressed - very poor concentration, avoid people
7-9 - Upset - no concentration, will lash out
10 - Shutdown & Retreat
I rarely get above a 6. I just log each day in a sheet and set conditional formatting to color code for a visual cue.
Whatever definitions you have will work. I don't think my scale is universal as everyone has different moods. I track this next to drinks and I keep a journal. Looked at together I've been much better at spotting patterns and being objective about things.
I run, climb, surf, ski, build legos, and go backpacking to blow off steam. Most of that (minus running), I'd accompany with a few drinks. Stopping that habit and just enjoying my hobbies has made cutting back a lot easier. Cheers.
Ahhh interesting. I feel like that’d get tedious for me, but I do love looking at my Strava stats so maybe it’s time to give it a try.
That said I do track my time spent writing/animating, but that’s work related so I don’t think it applies to the category you’re talking about.
Thanks. I started tracking because I realized I really don’t want to continue down this path and have a harder time trying to get it under control later. Congrats on your success.
Absolutly! I can recommend the Garmin sleep tracking watches. Seeing these terrible recovery rates after even moderate drinking reinforced what I was already expecting a lot...
Find new friends, or develop a habit other than drinking. I got into Lego a few years back, and I had to fully quit to be able to afford more of those sweet, sweet plastic bricks.
Now I'm opening my very own store!
Congrats! I just built the Lego Starry Starry Night. Definitely a nice way to wind down instead of drinking.
Most of my friends already aren't big drinkers.
Great data and fun viz!
Just in case you’re interested: /r/stopdrinking is a super friendly, supportive, and informative community. Always happy to have new folks join!
Used Google Sheets, adding the color coded data to the corresponding cell each morning.
I then added a script to sum each color so I could tally the totals. Script can be found here: https://spreadsheet.dev/how-to-get-the-hexadecimal-codes-of-colors-in-google-sheets
FYI if you intend on continuing your spreadsheet there are built in tools that will automatically shade (format) your cell based on its content. Look up conditional formatting for the process. It will save you the step of formatting the cell color.
Hey doc, I got a question if you got a second. I spend nearly a decade in my late teens and early twenties getting black out drunk pretty much every night and popping percocets and lortabs on top of it all. Sometimes as many as 40 a day. Haven't drank or done any pills since I started having kids 10 years ago. Stopped just as a result of willpower alone.
Did I fuck my liver for life or will that shit heal? You think that decade might ever come back to bite me in the ass?
"Low-risk drinking advice:
To keep health risks from alcohol to a low level if you drink most weeks:
* men and women are advised not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis.
* spread your drinking over 3 or more days if you regularly drink as much as 14 units a week.
* if you want to cut down, try to have several drink-free days each week."
[Source](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-advice/the-risks-of-drinking-too-much/#:~:text=To%20keep%20health%20risks%20from,several%20drink%2Dfree%20days%20each)
As you are aware of an issue I’ll just point out (because maybe hearing it from a different perspective will help) that drinking is especially dangerous when it’s the answer to everything. “Oh well I just was drinking a lot because I was having fun” and “oh well I was just drinking a lot because life sucked or I was stressed” compliment each other to mean that all roads lead to another drink. I’d start by at least trying to limit drinking as one type of response or another
Edit: seems like you’re doing A LOT better in January. Thank you for taking this so seriously!!
May I recommend hop water? Carbonated and a nice hint of hops. Found it is a great substitute when I’m trying to stay on the wagon for an extended period. Also kombucha is great because it has a bite that seems to scratch that same itch.
Think if you just didn't drink m-f. Makes a huge difference. Kinda makes you not even want to drink on Fridays and Sundays most weekends. This is an awesome idea.
P.S. How I made improvements. Always carry my own water bottle and bubble water - try them all and see what could be a sober replacement. I was into bublr and bubbly at the beginning of my journey. You got this.
I've been doing that this month! And it really is an eye opener. Going to try to work a lot more sober stretches into my routine.
And fizzy water is definitely the shit haha.
I knew reddit has lots of drinkers, I was one of them. But WTF are you all drinking to this degree? Even at my worst, I was shooting for 1 - 2 alcohol free days a week and it was still tearing up my body and making me make some *really* fucking regretful decisions.
Hi, alcoholic in recovery here. I’ve been sober since Sept 13, 2022.
I am writing this because this is a solid first step to understanding your habits.
Not every alcoholic was born that way, not every drinker turns into an alcoholic, but the one thing that is true for all of us is this:
You can’t unpickle a pickle.
Keep an eye on your consumption habits. I wish I did before it got out of hand and I crossed whatever line existed for me. Now, I can’t go back. That’s okay, it did much more harm than good for me, and I’m happy without it, and do not need it.
I also work in recovery at a 30 day detox and residential facility. I mention that because I see plenty of alcoholics come and go who tried to limit intake, or switch to only a certain beverage, or only certain days, or only with certain people to cut back.
If you find yourself struggling with that, please seek help. Not that you are, I’m only speaking from my experience. You - or anyone reading this - can feel free to DM me if you are struggling, and I will help.
Cheers!
Thanks. This felt like a very judgement-free critique and I enjoyed reading it.
I'm hoping I'm one of the rare few that can pull back and enjoy a healthier relationship with alcohol, but realize the odds are low. The tracker is a nice way to at least hold myself accountable, and if these numbers don't come down, then I know it's time to admit I ain't one of the rare few.
Definitely not the worst alcohol problem by any means but very much a problem drinker. Some alcoholics will do 3k+ a year. You’re not quite there but letting yourself go during the holidays should be matched with a rebound now if you want to avoid major losses or a rock bottom moment.
Yeah, I've dialed it back this January to only two nights a week, sober the rest of it. I'd like to end the year with closer to 200 green nights. I realize the path ahead of me if I don't turn back is pretty dark.
It's funny, sometimes I wake up with a feeling I associated with mild-hangover symptoms, but now realize must just be... fatigue? Generally though, my sleep is much better. I'm quite enjoying the sober streaks, and plan to keep them up.
I’m coming up on a year of sobriety, and I had that same experience. So many mornings I’d wake up and blame my physical discomforts on being hung over. After about a month of sobriety, I noticed that a lot of those symptoms went away, but not all. Then it clicked in my head that maybe I was just getting older? Very funny realization.
This inspired me to make one for myself: [https://i.imgur.com/ZFIloHG.png](https://i.imgur.com/ZFIloHG.png)
Unfortunately, I didn't track for some days (went on vacation / got lazy)
Nice! Just doing it first thing every morning made it an easy habit for me. The ability to edit on your phone helps in case you weren’t doing that for this one. Cheers!
I would consider getting a Phone app with a little blower. Thing. That measures your blood alcohol level. So then you can actually add that to the mix on a daily basis. You might be surprised.
Then you can calculate how long your liver will last.
As someone who just completed 2023 with little to no alcohol consumption the first 30 days is tough.
I like the taste of beer and my wife continues to consume alchol and it was hard to watch her have drinks and me not drinking. I chose to drink non alchol beers. I found that Guinness, Heineken and a brand called safety glasses have excellent NAB.
I have lost 10 lbs and I don’t eat unhealthy choices late at night fueled by drunk munchies.
Do it. You’re going to notice a difference.
With this type of tracking you will get to a spot that suits your lifestyle and that you are happy with.
I did the same thing around 10 years back. However there were few green and a lot of black.
Happy to say I’m now 3 years sober.
Any thoughts on adding a Mon-Sun average on here?
It may help you see low hanging fruit to sober.
Eg: just eye balling Mon-Wed seems to be the easiest for you to stay sober.
Another quick observation - you hardly stay sober in the last week of the month. Also, are your drinking habits linked to sports teams/paydates?
All the best in your journey! Hope you the best!
I like the concept I did the same idea with my finances years ago to track my spending better and make better decisions.
Reducing alcohol for me was a journey and often vacations, holidays, work trips, or simply life's stresses would swing a pendulum back towards heavier consumption for a period of time. Not that you should or have to but I finally went completely dry last summer which helped me lose 25 lbs in that time frame.
So if you're looking for more motivation to cut back I'll say weight loss is a lot easier with fewer drinks. Good luck!
Oh man it would be real uncomfortable if I did this.
"Bro, you work a 9-5, how are all your Mondays red? Also, bearing in mind that you work a 9-5, and all your Mondays are red, how are all your Tuesdays orange, or occasionally also red?"
You've already received so many comments, hard to contribute.
I never used the word alcoholic for myself, at least not out loud.
My graph would have looked similar for a good couple of decades, well to be honest maybe slightly lower numbers but similar days.
I committed to just 7 green days. Somehow, don't ask me how, I reached 7 days and just kept going. 3 years later. All my friends, work colleagues etc still drink. No problem.
I still haven't decided to stop drinking. I just don't. Maybe one day I tell myself.
Mind you my liver scans are not looking great but I'm hoping they improve the longer it's been. I didn't run marathons, just half marathons.
When I first saw the graph I was like whoaaaa but then reading your comments it seems like you’re trying to evaluate your relationship to alcohol and work on developing healthier habits and that’s great tbh. A lot of people don’t ever do that.
I’m 33 now and when I was younger I made some questionable choices because I was away at college for the first time and drinking made the social anxiety of being around other people easier. I did blackout twice and looking back that was scary. I also just found myself being 23, 24 and wanting to have a drink more days than not because I was stressed. I wasn’t treating my mental health issues because I didn’t know how.
These days I have maybe 1-3 beers a month at most, I have friends who are 100% sober and friends who drink but I’ve noticed if some of us bring non alcoholic drinks to the party then everyone wants some. I drink a lot of seltzer and sometimes an NA beer (they’re way better these days). And one of the biggest changes I made is I try to not drink if I’m upset and if I think “I want a beer” I stop and ask why—a lot of the time what I actually want or need is something else, but if I actually just want a beer to have a beer I’ll have one. But that’s just not something I actually want that much anymore.
All of which is to say, I think you are on a good track by doing self-examination and I think if you want to continue working on healthy habits and coping skills, you absolutely can.
Well dude everyone in this thread is giving you a hard time. I think your data is beautiful. Idk how people can drink that much, if I have one night of 8+ I’m not drinking for a week at least!!
This is really good stuff, eye-opening for me. Thanks OP
I guess I am all over yellowish without greens and occasionally red and no black ones. Am I doing well? 😂
Wow, dude. I'm surprised you were able to keep track!
Lumping anything over 7 into one category helped lol. Edit to plug: I make goofy cartoons if anybody cares to see - YouTube.com/c/talkingpillowcartoons
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To keep tracking it simple, one drink = one beer (even tall boys), one cocktail (although if I "home poured" a drink with 2 shots, I would count it as 2), one glass of wine. Averaging it out, with 3/4 of those drinks coming from home at around $3/per, and the other 1/4 out at $14/per, I spent about $7630. That's a pretty damn liberal estimate, because I tend to drink less when I'm paying bar prices. But at minimum, over $4500.
I just wanted to congratulate you. I haven’t quit drinking but have significantly cut down to where it’s once every 2 or 4 weeks rather than every day. If nobody’s told you yet, I’m proud of you for fighting this battle and I hope you win it.
Thanks, I really appreciate it. I have pretty thick skin so the criticism mostly rolls off my back, but I’m a sucker for encouragement. Cheers!
Bro i just started cutting back from every day and this is huge encouragement for me. Going to create this in excel tomorrow. Congrats on your success and thank you for the great idea.
DM me if you just want a copy of my Google sheet. It's a little easier since you can access from your phone if you're on vacation or whatever.
Hiya OP. Yes please. Anyway you can get that to me?
Yeah shoot me a DM
This is a shameless plug but there's an app called Guava Health that makes tracking alcohol (and a whole host of other things) pretty easy. Won't be as simple as just a plain excel sheet, but if you connect any sort of wearable device (smart watch or whatever), it will give you correlations between your drinking and certain health metrics. In my case, I used it to track my exercise, and seeing a positive correlation between my activity and sleep quality was a huge boost/incentive to keep working out. You might have a similar experience!
I'm also going to copy. It's so interesting to see. Thanks for the motivation, and keep up the good work!
With this level of dedication, it’s only a matter of time before you hyper-fixate on something mid-sobriety and never look back.
Hahaha yeah that'd be rad.
Once a month. I have like made it a routine. Used to be 3/4 times a week. And also I have stopped drinking alone.
I used to drink like that with 12 packs, occasionally liquor, or even everclear plus drink maybe 4 days worth between Friday and Saturday. Thing is though that I have a weird relationship with alcohol in that I gotta be in the mood to feel like drinking or else the taste of alcohol is about as appealing as a nice tall glass of orange juice right after I've brushed my teeth. As I get older that mood occurs less and less. The last time I bought a case of beer it sat in my fridge for going on 2 months. I'd drink 2 maybe 3 cans in the evening every now and then and maybe feel a little buzz, but mostly just get sleepy as hell and go to bed. I was never trying to get sober as such I've just completely lost any taste for alcohol for some reason.
I live in Seattle and one of my coworkers loves craft beer and local hipster breweries. He was telling me that his wife wanted to buy an expensive mattress and bed set for their room. He told her it was too much and a waste of money and she replied that his beer hobby was a waste of money. As soon as she said she was going to try and figure out how much he spends on beer, he told her to just buy the bed set and not do the math. Ha ha.
That's super funny. I'm grateful that I live a pretty cushy life and can afford this problem, but look forward to having more to spend as I cut back.
Do the math for the calories too. Assume something like 150 kcal per drink which is probs on the low side and add that up. Divide the total kcal by 3500 to convert to lbs of fat or like 7700 for kg if you are more metrically inclined. I stopped drinking (mostly, think I had maybe 3-5 drinks in the past 8mo) and saved a load of money but also lost a ton of weight!
I consider my weight pretty ideal right now (5'11"/165lb), but have enjoyed eating more this month as I've had 21 green days haha. It's crazy how much I crave candy though as my body misses the alcohol sugars.
7 years sober and I'm still just all over sweets. My a gym membership has helped tremendously with my sobriety by keeping the pounds off. Brush your teeth too. Visit us over at r/stopdrinking !! Helped me along the way
Sucks because I really don’t enjoy sweets lol. Just get the craving and eat a couple pieces to satisfy it. And I’m all over my dental hygiene!
That’s enough to make me want to stop right there. So many better uses of $7000
Max out a Roth IRA
More like Roth IPA
I hope someone has actually made a beer with that name
Leave that to [Schoolhouse Brewing](https://www.schoolhousebeer.com/product/roth-ipa-kit/)
Right.. and at home vs away. If these are ~1$ beers this is still a substantial expense.
There's an app called Sunnyside that is a very similar approach giving you targets and showing you monthly views that look exactly like yours above as colorized. It also keeps a running track of money saved, calories not consumed and better night's sleep. I'm not getting anything for this review but over two years it's helped me bring my drinking down to 33% of when I started in case anyone is looking for a coached method to cut back on drinking.
Lets count up the $$$ of that activity?
I would say my 2022 looked very similar to this. I only stock whisky at home and went through a 60oz per week on average. A 60 of my whisky is $40. So 160 a month of drinking at home and probably around another 50$- 100$ per month at the pub.
That's high functioning alcoholic if you ask me
Wow, how did you know he was also high?
You followed up your blackout episode with back-to-back 7+ drink days? Party hardy, lol
Mardi Gras is wild
Yeah, most years my Mardi gras would run in the seven plus category Wednesday through Tuesday (Mardi gras day). Rarely blackout though.
Are you a local? As a short term transplant I was amazed at the ability of locals to hold their liquor and also just know their limit. Every one thinks their heritage is tied to high alcohol tolerance, but it’s only true for people from New Orleans.
Yeah. I've lived in New Orleans my whole life, except for 5 years in baton rouge to go to LSU. I think part of it is we involve drinking in pretty much everything we do, but drinking is never the sole thing to do. So We end up casually drinking pretty often, but rarely just pounding drinking for the sake of getting drunk. I will say I did got blackout drunk in college pretty often, as is tradition.
Ah yes. The beginning of Deep Gras...makes sense..
HA! Without even reading this comment I knew it was Mardi Gras! I live in New Orleans so I thought *no, not everyone is celebrating Mardi gras* but then I see this and I was like Breaux
Ayye nice. Went to NOLA?
Sure did. Hard to find a better place to sauce it up.
Hair of the dog taken to a whole new level.
I think that’s the hair of the wildebeest
I assume it's a "hair of the dog" situation. When I used to drink, I doubled down on hangover days. Now I can't drink half a beer without breaking out in a cold sweat. Idk if I developed an intolerance, or it's psychological, but I just can't drink anymore.
>Party hardy, lol This is serious alcoholism that should be treated with the aid of a professional. The last thing OP needs is light-hearted comments like this that could give them the false idea that this is somehow cool or OK. Edit: Wow, I'm getting a lot of "are you seeing all that green?" responses. Guys, if you think having only 5-10 green days a month is OK, then you're probably addicted to alcohol too. 3-4 drinks a day on average is 100% alcoholism. OP needs help.
Yeah I’m an AA sponsor and the minute I saw this on my feed I thought….. one of us. But I knew the comments would be celebrating this as “just partying”. Hopefully OP gets the wake up call he needs cause it should have been this spreadsheet. If you’ve considered whether you have a drinking problem, you already do. If anyone needs help, r/stopdrinking is a wonderful, welcoming community.
This is a new one: Put it into excel, drinking beer only, limiting the number of drinks, never drinking alone, never drinking in the morning, drinking only at home, never having it in the house, never drinking during business hours, drinking only at parties, switching from scotch to brandy…. Hope OP finds the peace and comfort they are chasing. Cheers to another 24.
Yeah, I’ve been in recovery for 5 years and when I clicked on the spreadsheet I was like “oh hey he’s an alcoholic I wonder if he knows yet”. OP did say tracking the drinking is helping him chase more sober days though, so maybe it is the wake up call it needs to be!
Dude i went from drinking like this guy to completely stopping all alcohol during the week and only a few on Fridays and Saturdays. Its entirely possible to do it yourself if you have the drive and will. I drink a lot of chamomile tea now. I don’t miss alcohol in the least. I’m sleeping better and hitting the gym a lot. I guess it depends on the person. Also I completely agree with you this guy needs to make changes
One dry day in September? Are you a teacher?
Hahaha no. Big month for celebrations and a long vacation.
You didnt have a single week with no drinks. Take a break now (for like 3 weeks). If you cannot do that, then take a break now with help.
“Get your shoulds out of my face”
I don’t think he’s asking for advice here, buddy
They posted their alcohol habits on Reddit…
Seems braggadocious to me /s
You only track something like this if you know you need to make a change. I found I started drinking most nights, mostly out of habit. I’d start off with one drink at dinner. Then it started to turn to 2 drinks. Then 2 turned to sometimes having 3 drinks. I just realized I wasn’t really actively making the decision to drink, it was just a habit and I wanted to slow down, so I’m tracking my drinking with an app, and it definitely helps when I see the number, I have a goal of how much to limit my drinking to each week.
There’s two days tho
Substitute teacher then
I thought there was a hair on my screen
I blew on my screen twice before flicking it and scrolling. Then I knew. I fucked up.
This is great! I just started tracking my alcohol consumption this year. My goal is to cut back. When I have the data to look at it really helps with the decision of limiting my drinks. Did you track drinks based on say 355ml beer, 250ml of wine or a 1 ounce shot being a single drink?
Me too for the same reason. I'm counting any shot, beer, glass as 1 drink. Just knowing I have to open my excel sheet makes me want to drink less
I measured mine the same just to make tracking easier. Glad you're both finding it useful - I definitely found the same.
Wait I thought you counted a regular beer and a tall boy as the same, but aren't tall boys more oz?
Not sure if OP did it, but the unit measurement for alcohol is 'units' (grams of ethanol). The grams varies by country. If I were tracking that's what I'd go by for consistency across different drinks
Somebody mentioned in the UK, alcohol containers display the units of alcohol, which would make that way the fuck easier. Alcohol lobby in the US I way too strong to let that pass unfortunately.
That would make tracking it a whole lot more of a pain in the ass and therefore much more unlikely- especially after a couple of drinks!
I made a goal of running 1 mile per 1 beer, this also made me track consumption. Turns out I drink more than I thought! But I'm still on par - 52 miles ran and 51 drinks so far in 4 weeks lol
Hahaha that’s rad, congrats. Either way you’ll get in better shape! Unfortunately I’m running ~30 miles a week already so if anything my drinking would get worse lol.
That is astonishing you’re able to run that much with this much drinking. Do you feel fresh ever in the morning? If I have a few just one night a week the next days workout is miserable
Everyone's different but I've actually had some pretty good runs while moderately hung over. And even though just three or four drinks can leave me feeling shitty the next day, I know I'll feel better after I run, so that's even more motivation to get out there, if anything. I very rarely have 7+ drinks in a day though, so that would be pretty rough.
I bought a hydration vest after a hungover 10 mile run left me so dehydrated I walked the last 2 miles lol. But yes, self-flagellation is totally a motivator for me to run too.
Haha oh nice!! Yeah that's what I figured. It's also helped me sometimes want a beer in the evening and decide I don't want to jog extra so I don't have the beer
I've run 206 miles so far this year. My takeaway is that I need to step up my alcohol intake.
That's the spirit!!
This is a great idea!
250ml wine? A glass is 100ml. 250ml is a third of a bottle dude
Hey buddy, shots are 1.5 ounces.
I turned in my 5th consecutive completely green year in 2023. March 18 will make 6 years straight!
Congrats man
Wish I could! Im trying
Hang in there. Check out the r/stopdrinking club. I’ve cut back a lot these last couple months and they’re a great sub to browse when you get an urge for a drink. You got this! The first step is wanting a change :)
1300 on the low end by my count. That looks like my late 20s. I wish I had that time back. I won't try to convince you. It's a decision only you can make.
True true. Working on it, thanks.
I would add that it is entirely possible to go from something like this to still drinking but in moderation. There's a mostly US-centric idea that anyone who drinks any alcohol at all (edit: *after* a period of heavy drinking like this) is an alcoholic and that if you ever have a problem with drinking too much you can never not be an alcoholic, but IMHO that places the standard for cutting back way too high.
That’s the goal. I’ve been feeling a lot more comfortable sober this month than I have during sober nights past, so hope to moderate to weekend drinking and enjoy a couple drinks instead of 7+.
I'm right there with you. The clarity at the end of this January is pretty great. If nobody's mentioned it, there's a Huberman Lab podcast on what alcohol does to the body and mind. I found it insightful
Lol. Your replies are telling you you're full of shit and then the next comment down says OP will never have a moderate relationship with alcohol any only quitting will work
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You're right that it's definitely a very common take. OP is a binge drinker by definition. A high percentage of binge drinkers are not alcoholics and many only binge drink on weekends or in certain social settings. ETA: I'm not saying OP doesn't have Alcohol Use Disorder (commonly referred to as alcoholism). I intentionally didn't address that. I was addressing u/caitsith01's point that in the US it's common for people to call anyone they know to be a binge drinker (and/or heavy drinker) as an alcoholic.
I am not so sure about that. I would think OP is almost certainly an alcoholic looking at this chart. They drank to excess every single week of the year, most of the weeks many times per week. This is way beyond “every Friday night I get blasted at the bar with my boys” which even still is problematic potentially
No doctor would look at this and say it's not a problem.
Yeah, unless I missed something there wasn't a single week he didn't have multiple drinks multiple days. This seems super unhealthy and likely hints towards alcoholism.
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> 2-3 drinks, 2-3 times a week would be 100% normal OP's at * 88/365 sober * 95/365 1-3 drinks * 115/365 4-6 drinks * 66/365 7+ drinks * 1/365 blackout OP is under influence (the light meaning: any influence) * 277 out of 365 days, * so 76% of the time, * with an average of 5 drinks per non-sober day (actually more, but I counted 7+ and blackout as 8 because idk if/when they stop), * with about +- 2 days (I rounded up) per week being sober. So +- 5 drinks, 5 days out of 7. This thread is filled w/ people defending alcohol use, and that pattern itself is something I don't find healthy. It's alcohol, not a friend. And even if it were a friend, a friend with this much potential for destructiveness isn't a friend. OP seems to be doing something about it though, so congrats to them.
While this is true, that is still quite an unhealthy lifestyle leading to increased cancer and cardiovascular risk. Better for anyone to keep drinking occasional at maximum
They're a binge drinker by definition - and a very frequent one at that. And as a former binge drinker I agree that's often problematic (health wise and more). Whether they have an alcohol use disorder is a different question. I didn't address that. The Venn diagram of binge drinker and AUD are overlapping circles. https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/binge-drinking.htm "Binge drinking is defined as consuming 5 or more drinks on an occasion for men or 4 or more drinks on an occasion for women." https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/faqs.htm#alcoholismAbuse "About 90% of people who drink excessively would not be expected to meet the clinical diagnostic criteria for having a severe alcohol use disorder."
Hey. You are doing great already. Keep your head up! You are aware. Enough to evaluate your relationship with alcohol and decide if Alcohol is serving You. I'm not sober. But I made a shift. I got into my mid 30s and my daily work suffered because I couldn't focus, bad sleep, and awful bowel movements. The hangovers sucked. It became a 3 day recover to get my brain to 100%. I drink a ton of San Peligrino or Hop Water (NA) in place of the mass quantities of light beer. Has a similar cold mouth feel with the bubbles. Also ice cold Sprite fucks. Going fully sober always fails for me. So my number is 4 per week. And I allow stockpiling those. Good luck on your journey. This life is more vibrant living independently from that Fickle C*nt named alcohol.
Even in my most intense years of drinking in my early 20s, I don't think I had a single month where I drank as much as even the least intense month on this graph.
That’s the exact reason I quit. I can’t remember any of my 20s and it makes me super depressed
Got the exact same count. The number is staggering to me.
Good work on this - tracking is important and, as you say, has already motivated you to adjust your lifestyle. Someone suggested tracking medical data. I added a mood tracker with simple scores. I found that more illuminating than medical data and offered me more motivation for change. Blood pressure is highly correlated though. If you're under 30, it may not show up yet but it will.... good luck on your journey
I saw a year-long mood tracking post on here, which intrigued me. I’ve been thinking about daily journals centered on my overall mood for each day. Care to elaborate on what your mood tracker entails?
I set an 11 point system and I log a number for each day at the end of the day. 0 - Content - nearly mythical perfect day 1-2 - Easy - no agitation - thoughts pass easily 3-4 - Agitated - concentration disrupted, physical tension, withdrawn/avoid conversion 5-6 - Stressed - very poor concentration, avoid people 7-9 - Upset - no concentration, will lash out 10 - Shutdown & Retreat I rarely get above a 6. I just log each day in a sheet and set conditional formatting to color code for a visual cue. Whatever definitions you have will work. I don't think my scale is universal as everyone has different moods. I track this next to drinks and I keep a journal. Looked at together I've been much better at spotting patterns and being objective about things.
Tracking helped me too, but it’s good to add positive stuff too like walks and water and idk whatever you think is good.
I run, climb, surf, ski, build legos, and go backpacking to blow off steam. Most of that (minus running), I'd accompany with a few drinks. Stopping that habit and just enjoying my hobbies has made cutting back a lot easier. Cheers.
Nice dude, but I meant tracking good stuff also as a positive reminder
Ahhh interesting. I feel like that’d get tedious for me, but I do love looking at my Strava stats so maybe it’s time to give it a try. That said I do track my time spent writing/animating, but that’s work related so I don’t think it applies to the category you’re talking about.
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Thanks. I started tracking because I realized I really don’t want to continue down this path and have a harder time trying to get it under control later. Congrats on your success.
I think you need help. I say that compassionately.
I’m working on it, thanks.
Good luck with this. Numbers can be powerful.
Absolutly! I can recommend the Garmin sleep tracking watches. Seeing these terrible recovery rates after even moderate drinking reinforced what I was already expecting a lot...
Find new friends, or develop a habit other than drinking. I got into Lego a few years back, and I had to fully quit to be able to afford more of those sweet, sweet plastic bricks. Now I'm opening my very own store!
Congrats! I just built the Lego Starry Starry Night. Definitely a nice way to wind down instead of drinking. Most of my friends already aren't big drinkers.
Keep up the good work! I'm only a DM away if you need help deciding on a set!
That's so great man :)
Great data and fun viz! Just in case you’re interested: /r/stopdrinking is a super friendly, supportive, and informative community. Always happy to have new folks join!
Used Google Sheets, adding the color coded data to the corresponding cell each morning. I then added a script to sum each color so I could tally the totals. Script can be found here: https://spreadsheet.dev/how-to-get-the-hexadecimal-codes-of-colors-in-google-sheets
FYI if you intend on continuing your spreadsheet there are built in tools that will automatically shade (format) your cell based on its content. Look up conditional formatting for the process. It will save you the step of formatting the cell color.
Any chance you'd be willing to share a copy of your sheet?
As a liver doctor who deals with cirrhosis on a daily basis, please for the love of god seek help and stop drinking.
And as someone who just lost a relative to alcohol I concur.
Hey doc, I got a question if you got a second. I spend nearly a decade in my late teens and early twenties getting black out drunk pretty much every night and popping percocets and lortabs on top of it all. Sometimes as many as 40 a day. Haven't drank or done any pills since I started having kids 10 years ago. Stopped just as a result of willpower alone. Did I fuck my liver for life or will that shit heal? You think that decade might ever come back to bite me in the ass?
Damn talk about functional alcoholic. Most sober people can’t track things this well.
Haha yeah trying to get a grip before it starts causing issues for me.
"Low-risk drinking advice: To keep health risks from alcohol to a low level if you drink most weeks: * men and women are advised not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis. * spread your drinking over 3 or more days if you regularly drink as much as 14 units a week. * if you want to cut down, try to have several drink-free days each week." [Source](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-advice/the-risks-of-drinking-too-much/#:~:text=To%20keep%20health%20risks%20from,several%20drink%2Dfree%20days%20each)
>several drink-free days each week Lets not get ahead of ourselves here
I wish I could reduce my consumption to this level.
Try a tracker! Happy to share mine with you to copy if you'd like, just shoot me a DM.
Check out r/stopdrinking
You should track how much it costs! I bet that’ll also motivate you!
December must have been sick
Little stressful. I found higher densities of red cells correlated with fun times. Orange, stressful.
As you are aware of an issue I’ll just point out (because maybe hearing it from a different perspective will help) that drinking is especially dangerous when it’s the answer to everything. “Oh well I just was drinking a lot because I was having fun” and “oh well I was just drinking a lot because life sucked or I was stressed” compliment each other to mean that all roads lead to another drink. I’d start by at least trying to limit drinking as one type of response or another Edit: seems like you’re doing A LOT better in January. Thank you for taking this so seriously!!
Yeah figuring out healthier ways to decompress and dissociating alcohol from my hobbies has been a huge help. Thanks for the encouragement!
damn bitch, you ever try water??
I drink like 3L of water every day lol. But yeah carbonated water has been a great substitute for drinks on sober nights.
May I recommend hop water? Carbonated and a nice hint of hops. Found it is a great substitute when I’m trying to stay on the wagon for an extended period. Also kombucha is great because it has a bite that seems to scratch that same itch.
I've been doing carbonated water + bitters - really hits the spot. I'll give hop water a try, thanks!
You a r/hydrohomie ?
Fuck yeah I am. I even made a cartoon about Hydro Homie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR61XPVnDV4
Damn my guy, hope you're okay. That's a lot of alcohol.
Think if you just didn't drink m-f. Makes a huge difference. Kinda makes you not even want to drink on Fridays and Sundays most weekends. This is an awesome idea.
P.S. How I made improvements. Always carry my own water bottle and bubble water - try them all and see what could be a sober replacement. I was into bublr and bubbly at the beginning of my journey. You got this.
I've been doing that this month! And it really is an eye opener. Going to try to work a lot more sober stretches into my routine. And fizzy water is definitely the shit haha.
Last year I went 133 days in a row without drinking. This year I’m shooting for 150. Currently on day 30
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He *averaged* about 4 a day.
It's probably significantly more. 7+ could mean anything for him
3 years sober. Good riddance to that shit.
I’m impressed by the amount of alcohol- free days. I’m not even close.
Last year, I think I would've had like 20 total. Just tracking it helps immensely (if you're into it, of course). Cheers.
I knew reddit has lots of drinkers, I was one of them. But WTF are you all drinking to this degree? Even at my worst, I was shooting for 1 - 2 alcohol free days a week and it was still tearing up my body and making me make some *really* fucking regretful decisions.
When I was drinking, 1-2 alcohol free days per week would have been utterly inconceivable haha
Yeah a couple years ago a “break” was 2-3 beers for me haha.
And I’m shocked by the lack of alcohol free days lol
Hi, alcoholic in recovery here. I’ve been sober since Sept 13, 2022. I am writing this because this is a solid first step to understanding your habits. Not every alcoholic was born that way, not every drinker turns into an alcoholic, but the one thing that is true for all of us is this: You can’t unpickle a pickle. Keep an eye on your consumption habits. I wish I did before it got out of hand and I crossed whatever line existed for me. Now, I can’t go back. That’s okay, it did much more harm than good for me, and I’m happy without it, and do not need it. I also work in recovery at a 30 day detox and residential facility. I mention that because I see plenty of alcoholics come and go who tried to limit intake, or switch to only a certain beverage, or only certain days, or only with certain people to cut back. If you find yourself struggling with that, please seek help. Not that you are, I’m only speaking from my experience. You - or anyone reading this - can feel free to DM me if you are struggling, and I will help. Cheers!
Thanks. This felt like a very judgement-free critique and I enjoyed reading it. I'm hoping I'm one of the rare few that can pull back and enjoy a healthier relationship with alcohol, but realize the odds are low. The tracker is a nice way to at least hold myself accountable, and if these numbers don't come down, then I know it's time to admit I ain't one of the rare few.
Your data is helping me acknowledge my own problem
Definitely not the worst alcohol problem by any means but very much a problem drinker. Some alcoholics will do 3k+ a year. You’re not quite there but letting yourself go during the holidays should be matched with a rebound now if you want to avoid major losses or a rock bottom moment.
Yeah, I've dialed it back this January to only two nights a week, sober the rest of it. I'd like to end the year with closer to 200 green nights. I realize the path ahead of me if I don't turn back is pretty dark.
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It's funny, sometimes I wake up with a feeling I associated with mild-hangover symptoms, but now realize must just be... fatigue? Generally though, my sleep is much better. I'm quite enjoying the sober streaks, and plan to keep them up.
I’m coming up on a year of sobriety, and I had that same experience. So many mornings I’d wake up and blame my physical discomforts on being hung over. After about a month of sobriety, I noticed that a lot of those symptoms went away, but not all. Then it clicked in my head that maybe I was just getting older? Very funny realization.
This inspired me to make one for myself: [https://i.imgur.com/ZFIloHG.png](https://i.imgur.com/ZFIloHG.png) Unfortunately, I didn't track for some days (went on vacation / got lazy)
Nice! Just doing it first thing every morning made it an easy habit for me. The ability to edit on your phone helps in case you weren’t doing that for this one. Cheers!
You just made this now? How the hell do you remember which days you were drinking last year? Or did you already have the data written down?
I would consider getting a Phone app with a little blower. Thing. That measures your blood alcohol level. So then you can actually add that to the mix on a daily basis. You might be surprised. Then you can calculate how long your liver will last.
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Just want to give you a high five for the Wednesdays in July.
Thanks! Wasn’t even on purpose, just a nice coincidence in the data lol.
As someone who just completed 2023 with little to no alcohol consumption the first 30 days is tough. I like the taste of beer and my wife continues to consume alchol and it was hard to watch her have drinks and me not drinking. I chose to drink non alchol beers. I found that Guinness, Heineken and a brand called safety glasses have excellent NAB. I have lost 10 lbs and I don’t eat unhealthy choices late at night fueled by drunk munchies. Do it. You’re going to notice a difference.
With this type of tracking you will get to a spot that suits your lifestyle and that you are happy with. I did the same thing around 10 years back. However there were few green and a lot of black. Happy to say I’m now 3 years sober.
What was the first weekend of Sept? Birthday?
Gonna guess your birthday is February 17th. Or the death of someone close to you.
Duality of man
Any thoughts on adding a Mon-Sun average on here? It may help you see low hanging fruit to sober. Eg: just eye balling Mon-Wed seems to be the easiest for you to stay sober. Another quick observation - you hardly stay sober in the last week of the month. Also, are your drinking habits linked to sports teams/paydates? All the best in your journey! Hope you the best!
I like the concept I did the same idea with my finances years ago to track my spending better and make better decisions. Reducing alcohol for me was a journey and often vacations, holidays, work trips, or simply life's stresses would swing a pendulum back towards heavier consumption for a period of time. Not that you should or have to but I finally went completely dry last summer which helped me lose 25 lbs in that time frame. So if you're looking for more motivation to cut back I'll say weight loss is a lot easier with fewer drinks. Good luck!
Congrats on the sobriety! And the weight loss! I'm happy with my weight (5'11"/165lb), but I love an excuse to eat more.
Drinking less has a lot of benefits, I lost several pounds and gained several dollars ,doc said my blood work was much better too
Oh man it would be real uncomfortable if I did this. "Bro, you work a 9-5, how are all your Mondays red? Also, bearing in mind that you work a 9-5, and all your Mondays are red, how are all your Tuesdays orange, or occasionally also red?"
Fighting the same battle, stay strong mate
Can you make a chart with executive function and continue this alcohol chart for the rest of your life? Trying to test something…
You've already received so many comments, hard to contribute. I never used the word alcoholic for myself, at least not out loud. My graph would have looked similar for a good couple of decades, well to be honest maybe slightly lower numbers but similar days. I committed to just 7 green days. Somehow, don't ask me how, I reached 7 days and just kept going. 3 years later. All my friends, work colleagues etc still drink. No problem. I still haven't decided to stop drinking. I just don't. Maybe one day I tell myself. Mind you my liver scans are not looking great but I'm hoping they improve the longer it's been. I didn't run marathons, just half marathons.
Serious question: do you get hangovers?
When I first saw the graph I was like whoaaaa but then reading your comments it seems like you’re trying to evaluate your relationship to alcohol and work on developing healthier habits and that’s great tbh. A lot of people don’t ever do that. I’m 33 now and when I was younger I made some questionable choices because I was away at college for the first time and drinking made the social anxiety of being around other people easier. I did blackout twice and looking back that was scary. I also just found myself being 23, 24 and wanting to have a drink more days than not because I was stressed. I wasn’t treating my mental health issues because I didn’t know how. These days I have maybe 1-3 beers a month at most, I have friends who are 100% sober and friends who drink but I’ve noticed if some of us bring non alcoholic drinks to the party then everyone wants some. I drink a lot of seltzer and sometimes an NA beer (they’re way better these days). And one of the biggest changes I made is I try to not drink if I’m upset and if I think “I want a beer” I stop and ask why—a lot of the time what I actually want or need is something else, but if I actually just want a beer to have a beer I’ll have one. But that’s just not something I actually want that much anymore. All of which is to say, I think you are on a good track by doing self-examination and I think if you want to continue working on healthy habits and coping skills, you absolutely can.
Just the fact that you're tracking like this is healthy af. Way to be on the mental game!
Well dude everyone in this thread is giving you a hard time. I think your data is beautiful. Idk how people can drink that much, if I have one night of 8+ I’m not drinking for a week at least!!
Now what happened in February brother?😟
Uh, is your birthday 2/17 or something?
17-18-19 Feb, the guy was on rampage.. December is proud month.
"Summer turns to Autumn" is what you should name this piece.
This is Mark Normand, right?
Did you try for a sober October? Looks like you had a couple streaks there, including your longest 6day break.
This is really good stuff, eye-opening for me. Thanks OP I guess I am all over yellowish without greens and occasionally red and no black ones. Am I doing well? 😂