Sometimes I feel like even if I do fall off the wagon at least I drank less this week or even month than I would have if I had not even tried. I feel like that counts for something doesn't it? But then I think about how many days have I rebooted my diet and exercise program. How many "I'm going to eat healthy, no more crap - Day 1's" have I had? Yet here I sit 20, almost 25 pounds over my goal weight. So, if sporadically starting a healthy eating plan is not leading to weight loss, then probably sporadically stopping drink is probably not leading to big gains in solving my abnormal drinking behaviors. Don't get me wrong - any day without alcohol is a better day for my physical being then a day with alcohol. My liver thanks me for any reprieve, but in all honesty a fits and starts approach is not going to really solve the issue.
Yesterday was a perfect, non-drinking day. I went to work as usual, but then after work I went Stand Up Paddling with friends. I started paddling a couple of year ago. We have been doing it casually over the past couple of years, but it seems like this year we (my hubs and I) have gotten more serious about it. It is very calming, but still challenging and can be a good workout if you want it to be. Anyway, it was a friend of mine's birthday and she'd been wanting to try it so we kind of threw the word out to see if anyone else wanted to join. A group of 9 of us went out for about 1 1/2 hours and just leisurely paddled and talked and hung out. So relaxing and nice. Afterwards we went to pizza. I immediatly told my hubs that he could have a few beers and I would drive home. Everyone at the table then ordered beers and I ordered a cranberry tonic. It was easy to explain that I was avoiding alcohol to cut calories. Since my group of friends is all athletes this went over without question. We had a great dinner and I drove us home. We got home around 10 and I was beat so I went to bed and had a great night of sleep.
The alternate ending for this evening if I had been drinking would have likely been - I would have had 2 beers with dinner, come home at 10 made a white russian and sat on the couch and tried to read or watch tv. Then I would grab some pita chips (need something not sweet to balance out the sweet drink), worked on my drink and probably fallen asleep on the couch. My husband would go to bed without me, somewhat annoyed. I would wake up on the couch between 2 and 4, stumble to bed for some very unsettled, unrestful sleep until 5:30 or 6:30 (depending on if I had my workout class that day). I would then drag my tired and probably hungover butt out of bed by promising myself that I could come home and go straight to sleep right after work.
So, choice A really seemd to work for me. Plus I probably saved myself an extra 1100 - 1300 calories in booze and snack foods. I didn't miss the booze last night. I know I will probably miss it soon, but so far I feel more like Good Riddance!
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