Booze

I have been reading some web pages about how to stop drinking, because I think I drink too much and I want also to lose some weight.

A friend of mine told me he was going to have a dry July this year and at first I thought that was a dreadful idea. Why would you want to impose a month of no alcohol?

But then I got to thinking about how, if I don’t have strong parameters in place, I can talk myself around to having another glass of red… it IS winter after all. If it were summer, then I would replace the red with sparkling and think of all kinds of reasons not to abstain. Because bubbles are nice.

Anyhoo – I read a blog or two about quitting the booze for a while and it started to make sense to me. I also had a chat to one of my co-workers who commented on the suit I am wearing today – a suit that 12 months ago was too big for me, 6 months ago fit nicely and now I can’t do the jacket buttons up. We decided to make a pact to get each other moving and have a one on one weight confession weekly on email. I have emailed her my weight, height and BMI and am aiming to lose 23 kg in 6 months – that will take me down to a weight I have never been before in my adult life… maybe at uni when I was an unhealthy student, but not since then, and I had no confidence to be able to carry a 63kg, 175cm frame off well back then anyway.

 

One of the web pages I looked at about not drinking alcohol suggested that I write down reasons for cutting down or stopping. I want to cut down or stop for health reasons primarily. I want my liver to function well, I don’t want high blood pressure (something I am predisposed to) and I would like to do other things with my time than sit around of an evening in front of a wine glass. I want to think more clearly. I work two jobs at the moment, both of which are desk based and I need to exercise more, so the time spent drinking, time I can’t work because I can’t think clearly, I should spend running around the bush where I live or in the nerd cave on the treadmill or doing the yoga exercises on the Wii.

The website also suggested that I keep a drinking diary, which I guess this will be. It’s 10.17 Wednesday morning and I haven’t had any alcohol today at all… nothing strange there, I only drink in the evenings after work, or weekend evenings. Maybe a Sunday lunch if it’s a social gathering like a BBQ, but that is rare.

I don’t wake up feeling yucky any mornings that I can attribute to alcohol – I mean that has happened, for sure, but its certainly not regular.

Anyway, here begins my journey which is more about fitting into some of the very lovely clothes I have hanging forlornly and unworn in my wardrobe and a little bit about taking better care of myself

Here is pretty much what I look like currently:

Although I recently dyed my hair a little darker because the blonde was making me look as old as I am (41)