Teetotalism

[400bhp]

Are you a tea drinker, MTF? I always drink leaf tea but since cutting down on booze I've made a particular point of having exceptionally good tea in. I won't pretend it makes it a whole lot better, but it provides a superior class of misery.

There's something about tea - slightly cathartic perhaps (the preparation, the sat around in groups drinking, the cake with it).

Reckon I can get through 20 cups some days.

 

[Hip Priest]

Compared to everyone in this thread, I'm like Oliver Reed. I'm considering giving up though, because the hangovers are rotten.

 

[dellzeqq]

Has anyone else managed this at all?

I have been "off the pop" since the start of January and I feel so much better for it. However, that's not to say that I don't get hugely tempted still.

How do people manage the cravings and also the social pressures? (A lot of my friends have reacted as if I said "I've decided to become a murderer").

Help!

I did it for six months in 2003 and 2005. They were heavy training years. My only slips were glasses of rioja after 160 milers. I may have to repeat in 2014. It wasn't awful, but I do enjoy drinking, especially in company. I did have to put up with a deal of pressure - I worked in hard drinking offices.

So my suggestion is to 'let on' that you're in training for something big, and that it's temporary. By the time the something big fails to materialise people will have got used to the idea.

 

[dellzeqq]

yeah, it's just dawning on me how that could be taken the wrong way. I'd like to make it clear that I'm not implying anything

 

[400bhp]

It's effin bollox the social pressure.

Lots of bods sat in offices not speaking all day - let them out for a few bevvies and oh what hilarity ensues

 

[StuAff]

Friends who aren't supportive aren't true friends.

+1. Another 99.9% teetotaller. The odd sip of spirits now and then (from a hipflask on FNRttCs etc) and that's it- with wine and beer I just taste the alcohol, which I just don't like. And the stuff I like the taste of, I don't like enough to spend money on. I've had the odd weird reaction from people, most are perfectly OK with it.

 

[grumpyoldgit]

I found out I was diabetic last year,it was not unusual for me to drink two bottles of Gin & then sit on somebody's boat & drink a bottle of Calvedos.Yes,three bottles of spirit in one night.Usually got through about five bottles of spirits a week,plus lager.Hardly drink at all now,because there is not much that I can drink that I like.Odd glass of red wine with a meal,I am usually the driver after years of being the drinker.Dont miss it at all.

 

[Oxo]

I haven't had a alcoholic drink for over 20 years, never give it a thought. Friends just accept I don't drink and make sure they stock up on fruit juice etc when I visit. A request for 'the usual' in the local results in a lime and soda.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

I haven't had a alcoholic drink for over 20 years, never give it a thought. Friends just accept I don't drink and make sure they stock up on fruit juice etc when I visit. A request for 'the usual' in the local results in a lime and soda.

I hope I can say the same in twenty years.

 

[grumpyoldgit]

Funnily enough,the drink I miss most,is my freshly squeezed orange.

 

[roadrash]

not touched a drop in 5 yrs ,yeah i still go to pubs on occasion and partys etc but drink pop . if anyone has a problem with you not drinking then its exactly that ... THEIR PROBLEM ...true friends will support you ,whatever your reason .

 

[Primal Scream]

I like a drink it provides social lubrication, also enjoy a glass of red wine or two or three whilst reading a good book.

I could go without but see no reason to.

 

[DCLane]

I stopped at the end of December 2010 to help the weight loss and haven't re-started or missed it.

 

[theclaud]

I stopped at the end of December 2010 to help the weight loss and haven't re-started or missed it.

Do you miss missing it?

 

[martint235]

I give up fairly regularly. The longest I've managed is 8 months but that was after a fairly harrowing trip to hospital that scared the life out of me. Towards the end of last year, I managed 3 months.

I am determined to give up completely at some point but I do find it very difficult.