Moderation: Not sure if I am doing it right...

[lagataloca]

I went about 10 weeks completely alcohol free, and I cannot tell you how much I recommend that before attempting moderation. I have since realized that I need to treat alcohol the way I treat other things I can go overboard with if I do not listen to my grown up voice. LOL!

I realized I have the same problem with certain foods that I love, and need to keep consumption under control.

I have found now that if I force complete abstinence on myself for more than 10 days I will drink more often then I want the following week (although this means I am still drinking less than 10% per week of what I was when I first started). However If I allow myself one day a week of 25% of what I use to drinking per day, then I can stick with my program and truly moderate what I think is an acceptable amount.

Any feedback or suggestions are welcome.

[Alcoholic]

Moderation: Not sure if I am doing it right...

Laga:

I think it will be individualized and you have to figure out on you own how much and how often. Factor into account your drinking history, drinking habit, any triggers. Ultimately only you would know and can monitor it.

I drank daily 20 years and 1-2 bottles a day. I tried but knew I wouldn't stick to abstinence. I can do controlled drinking for a few days and then back to 1-2 bottles for a few days and then controlled for a few days etc. when I got on l- glut and kudzu they changed my drinking significantly. I know I cannot moderate without them. But that's me. W them, I'm still treading waters and trying to find out if I can actually moderate and whether their effects of protecting me will fade over time.

Good luck!

[LibraryGirl]

Moderation: Not sure if I am doing it right...

Hi Laga. Congrats for achieving ten weeks AF! I agree that it helps enormously if you are considering modding. I think Ally is right and that it is a very individual thing...however, it sounds like you are using your "grown up" voice and thoughts to really figure it out. That's definitely a positive step. For myself, I have found that I am thinking less and less about AL as I have other things that interest me more now. I believe I would have obsessed about AL more if I had tried to force abstinence on myself instead of continuing to mod after my initial AF time. I still have times where I drink more than moderate, but I no longer drink every day, or even every other day and keep whittling it down to manageable levels. It is a process. Good luck to you and keep posting your thoughts!

LG

[Eve11]

Moderation: Not sure if I am doing it right...

WELCOME~

Lagata,

:welcome:

You'll find that most of us that post here in the moderation forum believe in people being offered choices and not in the "all or nothing approach". We feel if people can determine their own way of what works for them, they have better success. That's my humble opionion anyway! Browse around the threads and you'll find lots of advice here to help you. On the AF 30 day thread I explain in the beginning why 30 days helps. We have had people not be able to do 30 but I still think any AF time they can get in helps. I think it really does lower one's tolerance and people who are in the habit of drinking without thinking about how much they are consuming, can build up a tolerance for huge amounts. Just not so healthy on the ol' body so reduction of intake definitely helps healthwise.

Glad you found us. We do a lot of daily postings about our lives on the long term moderation thread under the current month and there is an AF thread for those working towards some AF days where they will tally how their week went.

Look forward to getting to know you as well as one can in the online world!
:l
Eve11