Mod Squad Febuary Thread!

[DeeBee]

Well, we are second month into the year already and I've started making the changes needed to reach my goals this month.
I'm still taking the Topa and back on the suppliments so hopefully I should be seeing some results there soon.
As far as exercise goes I can't afford to join a gym at the moment but I've dusted off the ole running shoes and will don the "over the shoulder boulder holder" a bit later and ensure I get 30 min of gentle exercise.
I should actually have NO excuses not to exercise as both DH and my brother are at home and available to pick up the daughter etc whilst I get this body moving.

Lets make this month our month

[Mad Mummy]

Hi Deebs!

How you doing??? I'm back (husband has a job so not around which means I can get back to MWO.

Luv Bx

[Jolie]

Hi there Dee and Mad,

I'm new here - Was posting in the monthly moderation forum but Eve told me that most of mods come here. Dee - can I ask what your goals are as far as moderating? Before I joined, I was probably consuming around 6 1/2 glasses of wine each and every night. After I joined I was AF for about 12 days then cut back to 4 glasses a night (for the most part). Went AF again in January for 18 days - now I am setting my goal at 2 glasses of wine a night. Seriously thinking about trying to go AF the whole month of February but know I wlil need to get rid of all AL in the house if that's gonna happen.

Mad, - just wondering - does your hubby know? Mine does not so sometimes it's hard for me to post. I have a 21 year old daughter at home as well so computer time is a challenge for me.

Well, hope everyone has a wonderful Monday!

[DeeBee]

Welcome Back MM!!
It's been ages since I heard from you -- lovely to hear that hubby has a job, you must be so relieved.

[DeeBee]

Welcome Jolie:-)
When I first joined MWO I cut back to two glasses of wine every night and was quite happy with my progress but honestly it is still WAY to much to be consuming each week. I then did 2 months AF before setting some simple modding goals.
My ideal is to have 2 glasses per week and never two nights in a row -- I achieved this for a long time last year and I am desperate to get back there. Unfortunately I am also surrounded by booze day and night so going AF for me at the moment seems like a pipe dream.

What you'll learn from the rest of the gang here is that although we all want to live life in moderation, we won't all necessarily take the same route to get there.

[Mad Mummy]

Hi Deebs and Jolie

No my husband doesn't know that I MWO - not sure how he'd take it really, don't want to have that conversation!!

Deebs we got our puppy - and I'm changing my avatar picture thingy to his so you can see how cute he is.

Bx

[Eve11]

Morning all,

Mad Mummy,
Glad to hear from you again.

Jolie,

Welcome to our mod world. Look at some of the older posts here and you'll see how the modders are different yet similar. We are all trying to find our individual way out and it works different ways for different folks.

The National Institute for Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism (NIAAA) has done many studies, as would be expected, and they have determined that the "safe" amount of alcohol for a woman's body to process is 1 drink per day or 7 drinks per week (and not 7 for that week in one night! LOL).

So, my way out is trying to have no more than 7 drinks per week. Although I only usually work 2 days a week and have many week-day nights where I'm not working the next day and could choose to drink because I'm off the next day, I have kids at home so I try not to drink on week day nights.

My exceptions during the week are the rare occasions where someone may be having a shower or some type of product party where wine is served and I may have a glass at that time.

I usually drink every Friday and Saturday so unlike DeeBee I don't have 2 nights in a row as a no-no for me. If I can stick to only 2 each night I'm very happy. If it's a long event (like a wedding, major party/event and drinks are spaced over many hours) then I'm happy if I quit at 3. My ultimate goal is no more than 7 drinks per week and that is still considered "moderate" drinking per NIAAA's standards.
To many folks without drinking problems 7 drinks a week is a high amount of drinking to them! Both my hubby and his best friend drink 2-3 drinks per week - they think 7 drinks per week is a lot!

The discouraging part for me with modding is when I don't meet my mod goals (like starting the evening out with the intention of 1 glass and then finshing the bottle) I start to question whether I can really mod or whether I'm just fooling myself. The trick I've learned is to not open a bottle of wine at home with that intention because I have learned it doesn't work for me! So we learn as we go, find our weak spots and triggers and correct them if we want to believe we can keep moderating.

And because I keep introducing alcohol back into my life when I mod - e.g. 5 days AF and then I have 2 drinks - I never ever get over the craving for alcohol like a person who decides to go AF does.

Jolie,
You're off to a good start. You've really cut down well from the daily which was way too high per NIAAA's standards. Getting some good AF time helps too. Hubby made a comment the other day and it made sense to me.

I'll be honest, I enjoy drinking because I get a nice little buzz as well as enjoying the taste of a good wine. However, my body would build up a tolerance and I wouldn't get a nice little buzz with one or two if I drank daily. So, I can enjoy the taste, get the feeling I like and many times only 1 will do it for me and 2 definitely will so I feel satisfied to stop at my limit.

Hope my story of my way out helps and you'll hear from others who will share their way. Welcome aboard!!

Eve11

[Sarasmiles]

Thanks for starting the month off for us DeeBee. You sound motivated and determined. That's great!

Hello to Mad Mummy and Jolie. Hi Eve, and thanks for the post detailing your approach and the reasoning behind it.

I find that if I drink even moderately (2 glasses of wine) for several nights in a row, I start to get a bit depressed. When I take a couple of days off I feel better again. And I agree with you Eve, that we keep reintroducing the cravings when we drink. So I have often wondered if I could commit to staying AF long term. At times I've said I would, but I don't stick with it.

I spent the weekend with my mother and sister. My sister happily drinks 2-3 glasses of wine every night, and says she feels no concern or regret about it. She says it helps her relax and enjoy cooking dinner. When I hear that, I feel so torn...Part of me wants to just let myself be the same way. Then again, she takes an anti-depressant and Klonopin for sleep, so I guess she's probably fighting the effects of alcohol on mood and sleep by using other drugs. What am I trying to say? I want to be someone who happily and without guilt can drink a couple of glasses of wine every night. But I'm not. If I do it, I get blue. I could medicate that, but the medications have side effects I don't want. So I'm trying today to accept that I simply can't live that way, as appealing as it may be. I've been drinking wine every night for a few days, and WILL NOT DRINK TONIGHT! But I anticipate it's being a challenge. Ugh.

[Sunbeam]

Hey all,
Another first of the month - it's a good thing.

Mummy and Jolie, good to have you here. Jolie, my main strategy controlling alcohol intake is to keep cutting back. Many here seem to easily stop at one or two drinks, but when I do drink it's more often 3 (5 oz.) glasses, and it is easy to consume a whole bottle of wine by myself. That whole bottle has maybe happened a half dozen times over the past couple of years. Nothing awful, but I want to do better. For more than a year, I have mostly limited myself to having something to drink no more than once weekly. Now I'm working on more AF weeks, so any drinks will be primarily on a special occasion. I'm tired of the struggle. I got tired of the peer pressure of Drink Tracker. It is a great tool, but after well over a year, I felt I needed to just develop self control. I relish my AF days, and mostly only consider having a drink on a Saturday evening. My husband always has wine in the house, he has a couple of glasses daily, so I need to be careful mostly in not starting. Let me know what else you would like to know, I don't mind sharing any details about my drinking.

Deebs, Eve, Sara, you all sound good. The strength here is high. I hope that more crew members check in soon - that strength in numbers thing. I'm continuing my very slow and gradual weight loss, which was one of my resolutions last year. I don't believe in diets, just healthy eating. They sell these AWFUL (good) chococolate chip cookies at work; if they wen't there, I probably would have met my goal already of losing 15 pounds. As it is, I'm only down 11 pounds. But down is the only thing that really matters.

OK, I'm off to cut out a few more quilt squares before my TV show The Dog Whisperer starts. We got a new dog last fall, and I always learn more by watching these shows.

[Eve11]

Sarah,
Per "How alcohol affects you." Current Health, 2, p. 16-19.

Alcohol is a depressant that slows brain activity down. While one or two drinks makes most people feel relaxed, more alcohol may cause feelings of anxiety, depression, and often aggression. Research suggests that continued alcohol use can cause depression. Alcohol robs brain cells of water and glucose, the brain’s food, contributing to a hangover the next day.

Ok, so you envy the fact that your sis can have her drinks. Well, she may not look as good as you in a few years if she keeps drinking daily and you cut way down. Per the same article here's how alcohol affects your appearance.

If you want to have clear skin and bright eyes, don’t drink alcohol. According to researchers, more than one or two drinks a week promote aging. Alcohol is considered a food with non-nutritional calories that quickly add up. When you abuse alcohol, you tend to be undernourished, making your hair dry, giving you cracked lips, aggravating acne, making your eyes look glassy, and giving your skin a puffy, broken vein look.

Health reasons why not to overdo it: Same article:
Other - Alcohol depresses the body’s immune system making it easier to get sick. It also disrupts your sleep patterns, further depressing the immune system. Alcohol has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, constipation, and strokes.

Alcohol is especially harmful to the liver since the liver does most of the work of metabolizing alcohol.
Alcohol destroys liver cells, and it destroys the ability of liver cells to regenerate. This condition leads to progressive imflammatory injury to the liver and eventually can result in cirrhosis of the liver, a serious disease.

I know...the grass always looks greener on the other side but the folks continuing to abuse alcohol pay the price in the long scheme of things.

Think I'll have a seltzer water tonight!

Big cyber
Eve11