Tips and Tricks for Drinking Moderately

I keep Topo Chico and limes in the house. If I want to take it easy for a night or three I grab a Topo Chico instead of a beer at the time of night I would usually grab a beer. Often it's bed time when I'm done drinking it. And if it's not quite bedtime, I usually only have time for one beer.

 

One thing that's helped me cut back on alcohol consumption is simply drinking slower. Take your time, sip and savor it, allow time for contemplation. If I drink quickly, I'm one of those people that once I catch a good buzz, it becomes increasingly difficult for me to slow down until I am plenty drunk and should have cut myself off hours ago; I.E., I will be regretting it the next day.
But if you drink really slowly, you can control the onset of the buzz and have more opportunity to tell yourself, hey, I've already had one or two, maybe three, I should stop now and sober up. Once I feel myself sobering up, it's much easier to call it quits for the day. I.E., thinking clearly.

 

Great thread. I’m in the Monday - Thursday teetotaling club but have also had to cut back on weekends. Getting old sucks. Totally agree that not checking FB for beer drops and cutting way down on visits to my local store has helped immensely. I’m religious about hitting the gym during the work week and I always try to get in a hike or a long walk each day of the weekend. I’d add that I weigh myself daily. It helps catch me if I’m slipping. I honestly hated the “no safe level” headline. I enjoy beer and sometimes I feel like getting older is all about dealing with loss. I’ve cut a lot of things out post-40. Having a good friend get sober has changed my perspective a bit. I don’t drink around him and haven’t missed that. Now I’m doing dry January (third year in a row) and it hasn’t been that hard. Part of me feels like I’ve had a great run in the craft beer world but maybe it’s time to hang it up. Yet here I am on BA. I appreciate this community and all the thoughtful posts on an important topic.

 

I do enjoy talking weight training and appreciate you sharing your weight training experiences.

Son-in-law and I have had many discussions. He enjoys training and has pretty commendable lifts. Unfortunately he did too many heavy bench presses over the years and his shoulders are a mess. I think I have convinced him a change is in order. He is scheduled for shoulder arthroscopic surgery in early February.

 

Ahh yes, BR forums were good back in the day, I was on there a lot. Still a lot of good content on the site and FB.

I was a mod for a couple other forums, that's why I was curious.

 

I don't have much to add other than that the psychological benefits of exercise can be just as, or not more beneficial than the physical ones.

Even if you don't enjoy the exercise while doing it, studies have shown that, "consistent aerobic exercise (e.g., 30 minutes every day) induces persistent improvements in certain cognitive functions, healthy alterations in gene expression in the brain, and beneficial forms of neuroplasticity and behavioral plasticity; some of these long-term effects include: increased neuron growth, increased neurological activity, improved stress coping, enhanced cognitive control of behavior, improved declarative, spatial, and working memory, and structural and functional improvements in brain structures and pathways associated with cognitive control and memory." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurobiological_effects_of_physical_exercise

 

Before I found BA, I liked to try new beers often, but I wouldn't exactly drink them responsibly. I tend to drink in my own home so it wasn't like I was going anywhere, just drinking a bit too fast. Now, I spend a lot more time on each beer to taste and smell everything that was put into it. Essentially respecting the beer. I'm happy to have a place to learn so much and slow down and enjoy the beers to the max without getting tanked within 3 or 4 hours on a Friday.

 

Fascinating thread. Amazing amount of candor folks are putting out there about some pretty personal things.

I've been doing the damp January. Goal is to end the month with more dry days than wet ones, and so far on track.

I'm not super-fastidious about recording my drinks/ABVs/quantities, etc. I started a year ago working with my doctor, in efforts to lower my blood pressure. Won't go into the details, but pretty much was successful.

My regimen is go on the wagon Tuesdays and Wednesdays. About one drink a day the rest of the week. Drastically cut down on the accompanying salty snacks (potato chips, cashews, Cheetos, etc.) Still occasionally indulge, but nowhere like the old days. Go out to a bar/taproom once or twice a month, and even then only have about two drinks.

I work out like a mofo, for someone my age. Swim about a mile 4 days, weights 2 days. And another penance swim on the off day if I went overboard the night before.

My control is a feedback loop of home blood pressure monitoring and weighing myself almost daily.

All in all I'm content with things, and don't feel like I'm fooling myself. Drinking beer is a real pleasure in life and I believe it can be sustained in a fairly healthy and sane way.

 

The whole 8 pints a day is a false premise. Sure it sounds like a lot but it's all about actual alcohol.

 

idk about a 12% beer in a 5oz (Leave my pint of Alesmith alone!) but any beer over 15% in them 8oz cans A La Hopping Frog would be great !

Changing the size of the can/bottle wont do shit people will just grab extra

 

Here's a story that takes you into my brain:
Woke up today with a clear schedule around 730am( Just finished a contracted commercial shoot )
i started with an Oatmeal Stout Pint which came in at 5.5% around Noon ( Trustworthy - What Plane? ) a little after that ( 1pm or so) i opened 500 ml Big 13.5% BA Wheat Stout ( Eli Fish- Beautiful Midnight) and felt like i reached my limit for the day.

A buddy of mine who works at Paperback,right next to Glendale Tap , brought me a 4 pack of pints as a gift cuz he was in the area while i was drinkin the stout and i put them in the fridge. This took place around 4pm.

It is now 9pm and i have gone to my fridge 4 times now with the urge to open one of the pints ,but i remind myself that it's not worth it cuz theres no reason or need to drink .
I remind myself that i have to go to the gym tomorrow evening and that beer will taste much better then.
I remind myself that i need to have control over it .


it ain't easy but i win.

Sometimes we gotta remind ourselves and punch ourselves on the jaw!

 

Push your stool away from the bar and leave. Not hard to figure out.

 

I call that the “beer math” to calculate my “beer equivalents (BE)” for the week. It’s partly as a joke, but partly not because I can consume far too many if I don’t pay attention. Sure, Andre the Giant might have quaffed 100 beers in a sitting, but…

 

We have a few ultra marathon extreme runner BA’s, right? They could take the lead on the ExerBeer thread. Beercise?

 

I tend to average about 6 beers a week. I’d say that most of those would be IPAs/lagers that range from 4-7.5% ABV. Usually a 12-16 ounce can. I don’t consciously do anything other than:

1. never drink anything if I am planning to drive anywhere. With the kids and their schedule, this means a couple nights a week it ends up being too late to drink anything.
2. If I’m finished with a beer before the beer is finished, I don’t finish it. This is especially true of higher ABV beers. If I have a big BA stout and I’m satisfied after half a bottle, the rest either goes in the fridge or down the drain.

I began drinking more when I started tracking my beers here and on Untappd. I have always enjoyed making lists, compiling collections of things, and the ability to rate and save my beer drinking history was exciting for me. Having had to give up beer a couple times for long periods of time and finding it very easy to do, I’m conscious of the fact that giving up the collecting and tracking of my beer drinking history would be the hardest thing to stop doing. If I can do that, I bet my drinking would go down to a couple beers a week quite quickly.

 

For me personally, I find it much easier to stop after 1 beer if I only have a Sixer (or 4 pack) of the same beer and no variety. When I have a mixed Sixer in the house of several different beers I’ve just bought, there is an added level of excitement to experience the different flavors in the same sitting. Repeating same beer with a second beer not so much. But maybe this is just me and my love for beer variety.

 

I do like to participate in Dry January. I spend the whole month only drinking dry reds, mostly cabs and zins.