[Closed] Sober October, who's in?

Can you join in even if you don't drink anyway? 🙂

I'm really tempted to give it a go. I also drink far too much, especially at this time of year when it starts getting a bit dark and dismal. I need to rein it in a bit

Can I start on Tuesday thought? My mates have invited us to the opening of their new bar on Monday night 🙂

eerrmmm, no.

Can I start on Monday?? Its my birthday this weekend

Start whenever you want.

I'm always amazed how good I feel after a few weeks off and vow never to get back to the same levels, but always do 🙁

After the last 18 months, with all the lockdowns and whathaveyou I'm amazed we're not all raging alcoholics

Hmm I should do this. But I have half a keg in the cellar... And there's a beer festival this weekend 🤔

I need a cream cracker free month - even if tea is nearly ready a plate-full of crackers smoothered in butter is an essential after work snack.

Cracktober perhaps! 🙂

I'm doing a semi-sober October.

No drinking by myself, just socially.

I don't socialise that much, so it will be harder than it sounds.

As my birthday and wedding anniversary are in October, it's pretty much the only month that I do drink, so no.

Grim weather starting and all the good autumn and winter beers being released? Nope.

Not.

A.

Chance.

Yes I am. Definitely drinking more than I used to so giving it a crack.
Not doing it for charity or anything (is that still a thing?), just the challenge

No thanks.

Another October birthday here, and it's the big five-oh.... so that's a no from me. Good luck to those who do do it, though!

Got my five-oh out of the way in September

I've just, slightly by accident, done a mostly sober September. I had a couple of pints and a whisky on the Saturday we took our eldest to uni; a few glasses of wine the following Friday and three pints last Saturday. Other than that nothing.

I'd usually have two 330ml cans every evening, or a couple of glasses of red wine if trying to be healthy.

I didn't feel any better or worse.

Usually buy one or two nice/interesting cans or bottles a week, have drunk in a pub only 2-3 times since lockdown, so not feeling the need to quit.

Good luck to those who have identified they need to cut down and are giving it a go.

The thought of drinking twice as much in November scares me, so no.

The thought of drinking twice as much in November scares me, so no.

You wot?

The idea is that it resets your drinking habits, so you drink half as much in November.

The idea is that it resets your drinking habits, so you drink half as much in November.

Yeah right! 🙂

Everyone I know who's done this gets back to 'normal' very fast.

Worked for me, for a bit.

And I'm not great at resisting a drink.

Cut back an awful lot, so look forward to my weekend tipple.

I'm going to fail badly on the 1st and 2nd. MTB weekend in Wales with 4/5 mates which will involve lots of beer afterwards and a curry.

not a chance lol

My birthday is in October so its a no from me.

I only drink one day a week at the most anyway and often go a month during the summer without alcohol just because I like to be up early and out on the bike.

I guess it makes sense for the heavier drinkers.

Does sober October mean you can have a few drinks but just not get completely rat arsed?

Got to be easier than dry January.

Have done this a few times, yeah, why not, a wee reset can’t be bad !

I've tried not drinking before but I never get to the bit where 'I feel great, I've lost weight & sleeping loads better'. I'm just miserable because I'm denying myself beer.

No.

Too old.

Lifes way too short.

👆🏻This.

Not me. Just finished my first pint which spanned the boundary of 2 months. Might no to the pub later today also. Social drinking is good, for me anyway!

I usually do Sober October, and strangely, I've been looking forward to it, this year.

So I'm in.

I can proudly announce that I haven't had a single alcoholic drink for the whole of October 2021*

*True at the time of posting

Does sober mean completely alcohol free?  I enjoy a single beer most evenings, but I think I've only been close to drunk once this year

I also drank too much, well never enough to get drunk, but a few big bottles of beer most evenings and that and my diet finally caught up with me. So I'll be doing sober October, but mainly because I have to. To anyone drinking like I did, give your liver a couple of weeks off, it'll thank you for it.

No way Jose!

I've developed a small drinking habit over and since lockdown. Not excessive but noticeable enough to raise Mrs Wachowchows eyebrow. She's nurse in a rehab ward (Not addiction rehab), so see's issues it can cause.

Anyway, broke my leg last week and read somewhere that alcohol can be detrimental to bone growth and repair so that's me off the sauce until at least I'm riding again.

I'm also making a commitment not to do any crystal meth during October as well.

Wooooah... hang on there. We have to give up the crystal meth too?

I'm doing cannae remember December

Wooooah… hang on there. We have to give up the crystal meth too?

It's ok, skag is still on the table for October or Skagtober.

I'm hanging on for LSDecember.

It's the 1st of October and I'm now pissed, feels lush.

May I start on Monday? It's Paris-Roubaix this weekend, which always goes well with a few strong ales in solidarity with all the riders who are going to crash in the rain.

I’ve got Covid so not drinking at the moment and was toying with some time off the booze anyway, so I’m in.

A very positive, nope.

After this last year!?!

No way

I'm doing bender til December.

I'm going to give it a go....

Starting today, Saturday, need to save money, give my body a chance to get better,loose some weight and get fitter.

October is off season for me so I’ve been cracking on with a week of debauchery. As of today though I’m reigning it back a bit. I start winter training second week in November, so will go booze free then with Christmas Eve and the joy of Christmas Port etc to lookward to as my target to reach.

3rd day already 😁

Always seems like a great idea, for some people.

I'm urging people to "stop being a **** 2022". I know lots who should be signing up for this one.

Nah. I never drink enough to be even slightly woozy, so effectively sober. After being on my feet for the best part of a ten hour day, and recently in shitty weather, having a can with my evening meal just helps end the day.

Well I was toying with this idea. I'm not a massive drinker but like a beer / wine at the weekend with my evening meal. Volume does tend to creep up since I last had a dry period back in early 2020... A little reset does no harm once in a while eh?

One weekend down, four to go...

I’m in.

I had a thread about it, somewhere over ———> there

But I’ll hop on this one.

I think having something cold and fizzy on hand is half the battle for me.

Going good so far 😀

I have to laugh how half the posts on these threads are from smug arses saying things like "no, I hardly drink anyway".

Would you butt into a similar conversation at work to declare that you don't have a problem with alcohol?

Purely incidentally, in my experience of taking medical histories it seems that “hardly drinking at all” actually involves a range of between 2 and 60 units a week…

Just saying🍺 🙂

Well, as the OP, I failed on day 1

Went to a local Manfords comedy club night on Friday (absolutely brilliant, best one yet) and decided couldn't do the first night off booze as a night out.

Me and the Mrs decided Sunday was to be day 1

Then ended up meeting the daughters new boyfriend over a few pints at the pub on Sunday

Had some stressful stuff to do yesterday and there was a beer in the fridge, so that set the tone.

Today is the day!

^^ yeah just crack on with it now I reckon. Any 30 odd days off the booze is going to be Good Thing so I don’t suppose it matters which 30 odd days?

^^ yeah just crack on with it now I reckon. Any 30 odd days off the booze is going to be Good Thing so I don’t suppose it matters which 30 odd days?

Once I get started, I'll probably do till Christmas, hence not being overly fussed about a late start

Once I get started, I’ll probably do till Christmas, hence not being overly fussed about a late start

Fairy muff. Sounds good!

Has anyone else tried the AF Guiness? I was pleasantly surprised …

How are we doing?

Who’s still in?

FYI I was very pleasantly surprised by AF Leffe Blonde - really does actually taste quite a lot like the real thing.

Has anyone else tried the AF Guiness? I was pleasantly surprised …

I've been looking for it but none of my local shops have it in stock. Good to know it's worth searching out. Had a Ghost Ship last week. It was just about OK.

(FWIW I'm not doing SO but it was a week into the month before I had alcohol anyway).

I’m not doing Sober October as such, but I’m 18 days into not drinking. Biggest test so far was last night as I was at a friends wedding reception. They had alcohol free Peroni which was ok and other than being very self conscious when dancing with the Mrs I didn’t miss not having a beer.
I’m finding having alcohol free beers has really helped. I wouldn’t say they taste good, but in my head I’m still having a beer in the pub or of an evening without the downsides of the alcohol.

I've cut back big style. Over the last 4 weeks I've not had a drop except a couple of weekends ago when my little sister and her husband came to stay and we had a good drink. Not calling it sober October as such, but hopefully that means it's something more sustainable long term. My main problem is the Mrs isn't quite so keen as me. I've agreed to dinner and a few drinks in the pub later, but insisting on a booze at home ban. Got to say I really enjoy Infinite Session IPA and Brooklyn alcohol free lager. Simply not missing the real stuff.

^^ good work all.

I’m finding having alcohol free beers has really helped.

Yeah, this makes quite a surprising different for me actually. I’ve come to realise that a big part of my habit was having something cold and fizzy as a reward at the end of the day.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised as to how a half decent AF beer still feels like a reward (the leffe blonde one in particular).

There’s probably lots of psychology around reward that I should probably address but I figure one step at a time …

I'm pretty much teetotal. Not really done any sort of serious drinking since my mate passed away, pretty much as a result of his alcoholism. When he was alive and we'd go off camping, it would be sharing a bottle of brandy neat each day of the weekend.
Though not entirely abstaining from it now, each morning i put about a tablespoon of rum in to my morning coffee most mornings.

I've slipped a bit, however I'm know finding soda water and lime more palatable than my usual tipple. Don't drink so much of it, mixed with a herbal tea sleeping better.

Not a challenge at all, may be the way forward.

Not a challenge at all, may be the way forward.

I too have found it surprisingly easy. I don't know if I could say I'll never drink again unless I really didn't have a choice. Mainly because it's just what I've done for so long. After a ride, go to the pub. Sunny Friday after work, go to the pub etc etc. Without the motivation of not destroying my liver it'd be very easy to go back to alcohol.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised as to how a half decent AF beer still feels like a reward (the leffe blonde one in particular).

The thing I've found with a lot of the AF beers is they are quite sweet and fruity which I'm not that keen on. I'd rather they had hardly any taste like the Birra Morreti and Heinekken AF versions than something like the Punk AF, Brooklyn or Ghost ship. I've stuck the Guinness AF on the shopping list for this week already as that seems to be popular. Any others worth trying that have a fruity sweet taste?

Not really started yet tbh for various reasons - mostly Mrs STR putting no effort in 🤣

Massively cut down though and have the odd thing coming up where I'll probably want a pint, so will probably do November and December properly

I have stopped smoking though - gone from 30 odd roll ups a day to zero. On day  4 now and coping ok, can get half way through the morning before I slap a patch on

^^ good work on the not smoking though; I imagine that’s much much harder than avoiding alcohol.

Who else is in still? Just over half way… I still feel a bit hard done by, not being able to have a weekend glass of wine but it never was one glass so that’s why I need to do it I guess?

I'm still in, I've not really been bothered by it, so far. It's a bit of a shame I'm off it this weekend, though, the wife's away for the weekend, I could have been in bed, shitfaced, by now! 🙂

More or less still in. I have been drinking the drop bear non alcoholic beers which are really nice - especially their stout. I had a small bottle of normal beer yesterday and was tempted to pack it in today but stuck to non-alcoholic.

Well done STR

Anyone noticed any changes?

I am saving a fortune in petrol by not having to do the bottle runs.

Also far less explosive decompression in the mornings. Used to come out the arse like a flock of startled starlings and need a jet wash to remove it, now I barely need toilet roll.

I’m still in. Not been too bad so far. Of the now 26 days alcohol free I think there’s only been one day when I’ve really fancied a few beers, which was weirdly a couple of days ago rather than near the start. The AF beers have definitely helped as I’ve been drinking them post ride and kind of gives me the same sense of satisfaction that normal beer did.
Changes I’ve noticed,
I’m spending way less. I’d spend pretty much £8 a day on 4 of the 660ml bottles of beer.
My weight. I’ve dropped 7.5kg in those 25 days
And the best one for me is that I’m sleeping way better. I’m not waking every couple of hours and then waking at 4am and not being able to get back to sleep. Pretty much sleep through until the alarm goes off. Took a good 2 weeks for that to kick in though.

What are we calling AF beers? I stopped in the Summer after doing a couple of beers and a bottle of wine solo became the norm on a weekend evening, 4 months to the day just passed, AF beers are getting me though but these can range from 0.0% to 0.5% so I always feel a bit of a fake if I say I've not been drinking for a while - I'm counting anything under 1% as AF tbh. But after a day painting etc squash just won't cut it!

I have a house to do up and twins under 2 years so not drinking has definitely allowed me to get more done on the house and be in a better place for the boys, my weight yo-yo's a bit but it's not as jumpy as it was nailing 1000cals fri/sat on the booze.

Not sure I'll be AF forever but I reckon I can make it till Xmas

The Brooklyn larger AF are my current fave, quite hoppy but a nice difference to the Lidl pilsner I usually go for, not sure what happened to the Lidl AF wheatbeer, that was a nice change.

Good luck to the people who are in this month!

Well…. It’s not going well.

When I thought I’d give this a go I forgot that it also coincides with my workload going absolutely insane on bonkers deadlines to get Christmas marketing stuff to print

I reckon I’ve doubled my usual alcohol intake due to the stress 😃

^^ Yep, I think that's the biggerest challenge; not drinking when there's an "event".

Who's in still?

Well…. It’s not going well.

When I thought I’d give this a go I forgot that it also coincides with my workload going absolutely insane on bonkers deadlines to get Christmas marketing stuff to print

I'm off the wagon too mate.

Work, house selling & other stress factors have led me into temptation.

Still reduced my boozing compared to normal though and gonna try to do a dry week at least.