Tips and Tricks for Drinking Moderately

I'll add something else.

For many people, a commitment mechanism works well. A commitment mechanism is simply something that forces you to do something else. In the case of alcohol, some examples would be:

1. Only drink on days I work out
2. Only drink if I have a calorie deficit

Because I have a habit of checking BA too frequently during the day, when I am going to the gym I usually create a commitment mechanism as follows: Only check BA when I am at the gym, in the morning, in the evening (before bed), OR on the toilet. That helps force me to the gym. Some people do this for podcasts - OH, I can ONLY listen to that if I go to the gym.

 

I’ll be honest. I check this site way more than I ever thought I would starting out and it sickens me.

 

I'm not diagnosed ADD/HD, but I've often thought about checking into a clinical diagnosis. There's a compulsion to check that feels unnatural. Sometimes I do well with moderation, but other times I kind of have to do the "all or nothing" thing.

 

I honestly feel like most people are like that. Maybe they’re not checking BeerAdvocate but they’re checking Facebook/Instagram/Reddit/Dating Apps. It’s pretty well known at this point that the instant gratification of checking our phones and getting a rush of information and validation constantly is addicting.

 

I agree with this. 1 fortunately is a rarity for me (not sick since well before the pandemic) and 2 has always thankfully been NA to me. I have had a beer every day the past few years, but will skip days like I have in the past if I ever have a bad illness. I also feel people generally would be healthier if they lived a better life (eating right, exercise) vs. taking various prescriptions to mask (never heal) their core adverse sedentary conditions.

I can sleep when I want now, but the combination of getting up for work and evening drinking sessions (multiple drinks out) really kills your sleep patterns. I typically have my one home beer with a meal and take an hour nap afterward, especially if the beer is a BA beer which I'll enjoy in the Winter.

I vaguely remember who told me this decades ago, but it has been a lifesaver. Once you break the seal, it's hard to keep drinking a lot if you are pairing with a water. Plus hangovers are the result of dehydration and your body processing the alcohol, so this helps prevent hangovers.

I don't track by standard drinks, but onsite serving has a closer correlation to "standard drink size" as bars/breweries typically serve a pint or imperial pint for low ABV, pint for standard 5-7% range, 12-13 oz for 8-10% and 5-9 oz for a BA Imperial Stout.

My one beer at home can be any size. I stopped buying bombers / 750 ML with the exception of 4-5% saisons (for beers without any other serving sizes) which I believe would equate to close to two standard drinks. I try to stick with the onsite serving sizes for my package purchases, and also try to drink seasonally:

• Winter = Imperial Stouts & Porters / Stouts
• Winter/Spring = Bocks, Dark Ales & Lagers
• Spring/Summer = Saisons / Wild Ales / Kolsch / Pilsners / Lagers / Flanders / Wheat Beers
• Fall = Oktoberfest / Brown Ales / Imperial Stouts post Thanksgiving
• Year Round = IPAs (Primarily WCIPAs), Pale Ales and Belgians (Dubbel, Tripel, Quads)

I noted this in a previous thread, my preferred package sizes are imperial pints / stovepipes under 5%, pints 5-8% and 12 oz over 8%. Onsite, they typically serve you smaller sizes (Pints for standard beers, 12-13 oz imperial IPAs, 5-9 oz for BA Stouts) as you ride the ABV ladder. Low ABV saisons/wild ales one of the exceptions, due to the cost involved to produce.

I do get tracking everything, and I track of lot of things on a positive basis, but positive reinforcement works better for me in terms of routine or changing a routine. I can have one beer a day or I can eat what I like within reason vs. counting calories and beer sizes/abv and saying I can't partake or mentally thinking about scarcity. Drinking one beer a day does not present any scarcity on my end (I don't crave more), but food is harder to limit / be content with, especially in the cold Winter. It's one of the reasons I try to escape 4-6 weeks now that I can, to LA/SD/Vegas in the Winter so I can walk / hike more comfortably, though thankfully we have had a mild Winter here, and have for the past several with a few brief 1-3 week exceptions.

Awesome post. I still have a large cellar after working through half, and will be very happy when I'm down to 10-20 or so cellar beers plus my goal of 16-32 "drink fresh" beers, or 32-48 total.

For the several posts regarding checking the site, guilty as charged. It's my one active "social media" account, and enjoy the beer related discussion and learning about all things beer.

 

Working out is more fun than drinking beer or eating a bagel.

Drinking a beer after a workout is even better.

Some of yall should prolly join a workout forum.

Maybe ExerciseAdvocate?

 

Wellll...before my wife I'd have usually 1-2 beers nightly. Now I don't drink during the week and I'll drink sometimes Thursday-Sunday or Friday-Sunday. Now that I'm in my mid 30's, I really try not to have anything past 8-9pm so that I can attempt to get some decent REM Sleep. the days I have 5+ beers over the course of the day from Noon till 9pm...back to back, I find that it affects my sleep. Holiday I usually crack a beer around 11-11:30am. Sometimes if I have a super rough day at work and I'm just mentally exhausted, I'll have one beer while while unwinding.

 

I wish I had this outlook. I exercise 4-5 times per week and have been doing so for a very long time. I was unhealthy and overweight when I was younger and have shaped my ass up over the period of two decades but I still can’t get the exercise rush some do. It certainly feels good when it’s over though, ha!

 

what do you do for exercise?
is it an alone thing?
Maybe join a boxing gym nearby?

i forgot to say that the MOST IMPORTANT thing that keeps me going is the buddy system.

My wife goes with me to the gym , runs the same weightlifting program as i do and also trains muay thai.

I've met many great friends that i hang out with a lot at my Muay Thai gym. Everything from getting excited for a training session when i see them there to social gatherings at their homes to watch fights ( i also take good beers) .

It is important but not so much so that i would stop if my wife did.

 

I exercise solo, mostly. Sometimes with my wife.

I do enjoy playing team sports and never consider that to be exercise, so I guess I do get where you're coming from. It's hard to find the time to commit to to rec league basketball, but, if I did, that wouldn't feel like exercise at all.

 

Exercise (for me six days a week), eat healthy (but I do indulge when I want) and drink in moderation. Usually, I'll have 7-9 beers a week. Discipline in and taking personal responsibility for your behaviors and habits is the key.

 

Too much nanny state for me. I'm an adult that makes my own choices. Nice try

 

Which one was it?

 

@vabeerguy and i talk Lifting sometimes thru PM
It's definitely fun to report PR lifts to him

 

I prefer smaller pours of high abv beers so that means I can’t make my own decisions? Weird take.

 

Me too.

Maybe I need to add another part to my 2023 of not getting on BA as much. I think sometimes being here gets me in a mood to have a beer or that extra beer I don’t really need. Need to figure out my BA availability before February comes around and I put my toe back into the alcohol.

I would honestly rather start reading books again than troll around here as much as I do. Nothing against y’all.


FYI, the Lagunitas Hop Water is horrible. Much too sweet and I would not call it anything beer like. I think the “natural flavors”killed this one. I’m sticking with the SN and it’s $2 less a six.


Enjoy

 

feel free to send me that Sucaba

 

I'm 62 and since retiring a couple years ago and after many many years of binge drinking while working swing shifts, I've gone down too 2 beers 3 times a week and they are usually on Friday and Saturday and then on Tuesday. I mostly drink high abv beers, so sipping makes them last awhile and gives me more appreciation of what I drinking.