Still here, moderating

I'm still lurking in the background and reading all of the wonderful blogs that are of a similar topic to mine.

I remain undecided on the moderation topic, but am trying it out for now.  After my 31 days were up I had a few days of heavy drinking then a few days of non-drinking.  I was worried to go down the slippery slope back to my pre-31 days off so have been keeping an eye on things.  Now that I have tasted the sober life it's become easier not to default into a bottle of wine because I'm bored on a Saturday.

We went to Paris for part work/part long weekend away (wine and cheese, ooh la la) then it was a week away in Gran Canaria (wine and tapas, si).  I make it a strict rule not to drink at work events.  So even with 2 nights of extravagant dinners and plenty of French wine, I ended up being the only person out of 14 not drinking, while the rest of them hurried to get their fill on the company's expense. 

Gran Canaria was just for a week of hols.  It's interesting being in another culture that is not so over the top about drinking like the UK.  As I speak Spanish we ventured further afield and were often the only non-locals in a location.  When you ask for a glass of wine there, they give you the same sized glass of wine as the locals would get.  I estimate it at 1/3 of the size of a UK sized glass.  It puts it into good perspective as we whittled the days away drinking Spanish style in the shade of an umbrella under sunny days.

Coming back with the usual holiday weight and knowing that we're coming into the holiday season of parties and endless food, I've made the decision to enjoy party days (at a moderate level) and on the remaining days to make them no alcohol, mostly vegan and heavy on the exercise.  All three tie in together so nicely once they get rolling.  As I did much of those during my month off I decided to up the game and give up caffeine.

So far 2 party days have passed successfully, OH's family does a Chinese meal out and he had his big company party in central London.

OH admitted in advance that he was worried about the company party.  I told him that it was a 'work' event and fell under my 'work' category so he didn't need to worry.  Am so happy to report back that I made him proud!  At the pre-meetup of his department in a nearby pub, the others had 2-3 pints and I had one.  When we arrived it was dazzling, all the party dresses, all the drinks!  I had a glass of fizzy, then a second and then switched to their non-alcoholic mocktail. 

It was quite clever of them, they had an alcoholic version and a non-alcoholic version, they looked the same and were served in the same glasses.  However, they were laid out at opposite ends of the bar and the alcoholic ones had 2 cherries but the non version had a lime bit.  So if you wanted to ditch the lime, no one would know that you were not having what they were having.  Both were based on pomegranate juice.

Around this time all his younger colleagues were flitting around higher than kites.

The doors opened for dinner.  There were 10 of us at a table and 6 bottles of wine.  As I don't drink with dinner I wasn't really bothered.  I did have a glass of wine while others enjoyed the desert but then we went to go dancing.  A number of his colleagues were now a bit of their gourd as the meals were fancy but tiny.

As we needed to get the 11.30 pm train we picked up an open but almost full bottle of wine (i.e. it would have been thrown out) and sneaked it out of the venue and enjoyed a glass on our long train journey home. We ended up giving the remainder of it to others who had been at the party as they had an even longer train journey home.

So glad I cleared the 31 days as that set the foundation to have a moderate night.  I need to keep an eye on it, to keep the alcohol days in check and keep the non-alcoholic days just that.

As I was typing this, OH just called, he's braved town to shop for Christmas presents.  As I didn't drink last night and we need to go to his house tonight by car, he was checking if I still had not opened any fizzy and could he stop by the pub on the way home to have a drink with his sister?  In the old days he would not have bothered to check as the assumption would have been that I would be well into a bored Saturday afternoon and halfway through a fizzy bottle.  So proud of myself, that I could tell him to go ahead and stop.  As a substitute for my boring Saturday I had a nap instead and it was so much better than an afternoon of alcohol.

Non-alcoholic wine review

After a bit of googling, I was excited to try Tesco's non-alcoholic South African Chenin fizz due to the great reviews like this:

http://metro.co.uk/2016/02/09/tesco-is-selling-alcohol-free-fizz-they-say-is-the-closest-ever-to-the-real-thing-5634766/

Technically it is a 0.5% level so I waited until after my 30 days off to try it, purist that I am.  I went with the white one but they also had a pink one.

My thoughts on this as an alcohol-free substitute:

• I like fizzy things and will easily drink a litre of fizzy water on a Sunday dinner while others are drinking wine.  My personal favourite is Tesco's Ashbeck as I love a lot of fizz in my water.  When I opened this bottle it has a high amount of fizz.

• At £2.75 a bottle it's easy on the wallet.

• It's nice to have something different than water and a festive cork to pop.  It comes with a nifty resealable plastic cork. 

• I've never been a fan of South Africa white wine, it's a little too sweet for me.  This bottle was extremely sweet, I couldn't get beyond a glass of it.  If you are a fan of sweet wines, dessert wines, I think this would be worth a try.

If you are in general cutting back on alcohol, calories and cost, this one may be a nice substitute. I have friends who are absolute non-drinkers so even a less than 1% wine would not be acceptable to them.  However, for those looking to reduce alcohol consumption, this may be one to try, especially for sweet wine drinkers.

For now I'll stick with my non-alcoholic fizzy grape drinks.  Asda has discontinued my favourite but Co-op does an ok one, as long as I water it down a little more with fizzy water or ice.

Edit: I served it to my other half without commentary, but mentioned that it was a non-alcoholic wine.  He has quite a sweet tooth and could eat chocolate all day.  He had two glasses of it with dinner and thought it was quite nice as a non-alcoholic substitute to the usual offering of cola that most of our non-alcoholic friends endure.  As we always have a few friends who are minimizing alcohol due to driving later in the evening or to limit sugar/calories, he would buy this one again to have on offer at gatherings.

Non-alcoholic drinks

We did a bbq this summer and a number of non-drinkers were attending so I made a load of non-alcoholic drinks.  Most of these recipes came somewhere via the internet but at this point I no longer know the original sources, but I can tell you I am not the creator.  As people asked for the recipes after the bbq I had added my observations to the original recipes.  

Sangria Me Not!

Serves 8

2 cups boiling water
2 black tea bags (or 2 teaspoons loose-leaf tea in an infuser)
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups pomegranate juice
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 orange, sliced into thin rounds
1 lemon, sliced into thin rounds
1 lime, sliced into thin rounds
1 apple, cored and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
3 cups carbonated water

Pour boiling water over tea bags and cinnamon sticks and steep for 5 minutes. Discard tea bags and stir in sugar to dissolve.

In a large jar or pitcher, combine tea, cinnamon sticks, pomegranate juice, orange juice, orange, lemon, lime, and apple. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and preferably overnight.

Just before serving, stir in carbonated water. Serve in glasses over ice.

On this one, I made it early in the morning to give it a few hours for the flavours to mingle.  

Cape Cod Strawberry Basil Soda

Makes about 6 (8-ounce) drinks

1 pound strawberries, trimmed
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup loosely packed basil leaves
1 cup sugar
Carbonated water

Juice strawberries using a juicer or blender.
If using a juicer: Juice strawberries according to manufacturer's instructions. Discard pulp.
If using a blender: Place strawberries in a blender and pulse until smooth. Strain through a sieve, pushing juice through with a spatula. Discard solids.

Pour strawberry juice into a liquid measuring cup. Add water to reach 1 cup if needed. Pour into a small saucepan with lemon juice, basil, and sugar.

Heat mixture over medium heat until boiling. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and let cool. Strain syrup through a sieve into a clean container and discard solids.

To serve, spoon 2 tablespoons of syrup into an 8-ounce glass, top with carbonated water, and stir. Taste and add more syrup, if desired.

Can refrigerate syrup up to 1 week.

This smells absolutely divine as its cooking!

Front Porch Sparkling Rosemary Limeade  Ended up not doing this one as I forgot the rosemary. 

makes eight 5-ounce servings — or more, depending on dilution

1 cup lime juice (from about 6 limes)
3/4 cup sugar
Peel of 2 limes
Two 4-inch sprigs fresh rosemary, plus more to serve
4 to 6 cups chilled sparkling water

Stir the lime juice with the sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Lower the heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the lime peel and the rosemary sprigs. Simmer for another minute, then turn off the heat. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Strain out the lime peel and rosemary and mix with the chilled sparkling water in a sealed jar or bottle. Taste and add more water if you want a lighter flavor.

Serve over ice with a small sprig of rosemary muddled into the drink.

Escape the Heat Wave Frozen Hot Chocolate

Hot chocolate tastes just as good, if not better, when it's not hot at all. In a saucepan, mix together a half cup of unsweetened coca mix and ¾ cup of sugar. Create a paste by very slowly adding a quarter cup of milk to the cocoa/sugar blend and stirring. Add two cups of milk over low heat until all of the ingredients are blended well, and then pour the mixture into an ice cube tray and freeze overnight. While you're at it, place some glasses in the freezer so they'll be nice and frosty tomorrow. Once the ice cubes are ready, place them into a blender along with two tablespoons of low-fat milk, and blend the ingredients. Pour the mix into the frozen glasses and serve immediately.

Cocoa is sold as a powder in the US.  Here we used Asda Extra Special 40% Cocoa Solids baking bar.  The squares are pre-marked at 5 gram weights, so we used 65 grams.  If doing again, I would increase that. We used the green cap milk, it probably would have tasted nicer with full fat as the base milk.

New Orleans Mockarita – Ended up skipping this one, but still want to make it! ‘Limeade’ in the States would be similar to Lime squash.

A mock margarita, or a "mockarita", has most of the same ingredients as a margarita - just skip the alcohol! For a perfect non-alcoholic frozen drink recipe, place six ounces of limeade concentrate into a blender along with a half cup of orange juice, and 2/3 cup of unsweetened grapefruit juice. Begin blending them together slowly, gradually adding about four cups of crushed ice to the mixture. The drink should have a slushy consistency by the time you're finished. Serve in a margarita glass. For the classic treatment, rub the rim of your glass with a lemon or lime wedge, and dip the rim into coarse salt or sugar granules. This drink is a real showstopper.

Taste of Carolina Frozen Strawberry Lemonade

Ingredients:

2 cups frozen (or fresh) strawberries (about 24 strawberries)
1/2 cup crushed ice (or smallest cubes possible)
1/2 cup lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
3 packets of sugar substitute or 2 Tablespoons of sugar (or to taste)
3/4 cup water

(Optional)
1/4 lemon, sliced, for garnish
1 Tablespoon of ginger, fresh or dried (finely chopped)
A few mint leaves

Directions:

1. Allow frozen strawberries to thaw slightly.
2. Before placing ice cubes in blender, crush large chunks by sealing securely inside a plastic zip bag and rolling over the bag firmly with a rolling pin.
3. Combine lemon juice, strawberries, sugar substitute or sugar, crushed ice and water in blender jar. If blades get stuck, add more water.
4. Blend on high with lid tightly secured until smooth and thick.
5. Pour into glasses and serve immediately. Garnish with a slice of lemon & sugar the glass rim, if desired.

As it was so hot, we didn’t crush the ice here, figured it would melt too quickly if so.

Alaska White Sangria

Ingredients

For the Berry Grape Ice Cubes:

• 1 pint fresh blueberries
• 2-4 cups white grape juice, preferably unsweetened

For Mixed Berry Sangria-By-The-Glass Mocktail, per glass:

• 4 Berry Grape Ice Cubes
• ¾ cup white grape juice
• 2-4 fresh whole basil leaves
• 2 large or 4 small fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
• cold sparkling water

Freeze a few blueberries in grape juice in ice cube trays.

Add ‘berry ice cubes’ to glass.  Then the other ingredients.

We couldn’t find plain grape juice and were not sure how well the fizzy grape would freeze.  So we used just water in the blueberry cubes.  Instead of grape juice we found ASDA Extra Special Non-Alcoholic grape juice which was quite tasty in itself!   As that was already fizzy, we only did a slight dash of the sparkling water.  For mixed groups, to make an alcohol included version, substitute pinot or chardonnay for the white grape juice.

The last minute off- piste add to the menu:

·         Asda cranberry/blueberry juice

·         2 teaspoons of lemon squash

·         A few blueberries, raspberries, strawberries

·         Dash of fizzy water

·         Loads of ice

 

As these are all American recipes, they need to be converted to UK measures.  There is a degree of uncertainty among sites as to exact conversions, so take these loosely and don’t be afraid to adjust.

Volume

When measuring liquid, cooking measurements are quite straightforward:

Metric	Imperial	US cups
250ml	8 fl oz	1 cup
180ml	6 fl oz	3/4 cup
150ml	5 fl oz	2/3 cup
120ml	4 fl oz	1/2 cup
75ml	2 1/2 fl oz	1/3 cup
60ml	2 fl oz	1/4 cup
30ml	1 fl oz	1/8 cup
15ml	1/2 fl oz	1 tablespoon

Sugar (caster and granulated)

US cups	Metric	Imperial
1/8 cup	25g	1 oz
1/4 cup	50g	1 3/4 oz
1/3 cup	70g	2 1/4 oz
1/2 cup	100g	3 1/2 oz
2/3 cup	135g	4 3/4 oz
3/4 cup	150g	5 1/4 oz
1 cup	200g	7 oz

Day 31, the numbers are in

So I met my month goal of abstaining from alcohol.  I waited at midnight for balloons and confetti to fall from the ceiling, but alas none.  My OH asked if I was waiting up until one minute after midnight to have a glass of wine.  While technically allowed under my rules...no.  In particular as today was stats day at the gym.

On the last Thursday of each month I use their fancy scale and record the results.  I now have a track record going back to December of last year.  September's numbers were brutal as I was only 2 days into the challenge and my numbers were the worst or second to worst since I started running them after a summer of decadent living.

After 30 days of no alcohol (and no Pringles too, in my attempt to knock out junk food at the same time) I was excited to see what had changed.  I'm pleased to say that everything improved.  Here are the actual results (height 5' 5", age 41.5):


Sept weight:  59.6 kilos      Oct weight:  58.6 kilos
bmi:  21.6  vs 21.3
bodyfat:  30  to 27.8
muscle mass:  39.6 to 40.2
bone mass 2.1 to 2.2
metabolic age  33 to 29
visceral fat 4.0 to 3.5

Some thoughts on these numbers:

1. weight - I lost 1 kilo in the first week before the 7 days count was reached and kept it off since.  That bloated squishy-ness was gone by day 5.  I messed around with the diet this month trying to get the right amount of calories to support the increased exercise.  I expect to continue to inch it down another kilo over a few months.

2. bodyfat - pleased this went down.  This puts me squarely in the 'normal' range.  Now to take it down a little further so that I have some abs.

3. muscle mass - a little increase.  I'm more of a cardio person, so we'll take that.

4. metabolic age - the scale puts together a number of factors and comes up with this one.  I've previously been down to 27 so headed in the right direction.

5. visceral fat - that's the layer of fat cushioning the liver etc.  This one was the primary driver of this month's challenge as my earlier numbers were always 3.5.  Just the summer binging had put it up in the 4 range so a good indicator to make a change. 

I feel the lack of alcohol was a positive influence in my situation.  Without it I had more energy to focus on the sports side and to get the food choices right.

I'm planning to have wine this weekend but I'm also planning to do the Saturday morning 5k.  I'd like to try for wine to be a just Saturday or Sunday thing but we'll see.  I may also just do this one month on/one off tempo as I like the routine of not having alcohol, once I get going.

Day 29

Nothing much exciting to say, mid-week routine, work and gym.  Tuesdays are one of my favorite sessions at the gym, the instructor is hard core and energetic.  I feel my physical performance is so much better than it was four weeks ago.

I had originally planned tomorrow as day 30, to have a lovely wine on Friday evening, day 32.  OH's sister wants to try out an Italian restaurant that just opened on that evening.  I'm not overly fond of Italian wine/beer, so decided to delay my deadline another day, until Saturday.  Plus, we had an enjoyable time at last week's 5k run so we decided to try it again for a faster time.  So it seems that glass of wine will be Saturday night instead as I don't want to impact my sport performance.

This is precisely what I was wishing for by quitting for 30 days, that I'd be more of a 'person who does things and occasionally enjoys a glass of wine' instead of planning my days and activities around wine o'clock.

Day 26

We did the local park run this morning after at least two years of me suggesting it off and on.  Ours is a popular location and it was an anniversary event so very buzzy...balloons, costumed runners, the works.  I don't really do mornings in general or athletics in the morning in particular.  9 AM found us pounding the pavement with 500+ other healthy, morning-happy folk.  This is one thing that this (almost) month off of alcohol has given to me, just so much more energy and a 'get up and go' attitude. 


We then stopped in at OH's pub for a full English breakfast.  I am not so fond of his pub in general as it's a smelly, sticky place and their wine is cheap so I didn't drink it even when I was full on drinking.  Not much of a beer drinker either as it always made me feel bloated and burpy.  But he was pleased as punch to be in his pub, sans beer as it was not yet even 10 AM, but getting to tuck into a large plate of food.  I stop in as a one off every 6 months of so and at that time of day when the windows are open and the sun is shining in, it was a good morning.

Now on to tackle administrative paperwork and to get to the post office as Sat afternoon is the least busy time of the week when I can get there.

Day 24

Haven't had much to say, continuing on the path.  30 days will be next Wednesday but I have a good set of gym classes on Thurs and Fri at lunchtime so I'm extending it out until next Friday which makes 31 nights alcohol free.

I've convinced my other half that we should do the free weekly 5k run in the park on Saturday.  It starts at 9 AM and I've been saying for years that we should do it.  Now that I've made it through 3 alcohol-free weekends I'm looking to up the ante on weekend four.  Quote from OH:  oh, 9 AM is a little early, so will need to take it easy on Friday night at the pub.  He's been indirectly dialing it down, since I'm not drinking wine on the weekends and his best work colleague is abstaining until Dec 1 so no boozy lunches.  His weight has dropped two kilos, ha!

Sidenote, I'm not a big fan of alcohol free beer, wine etc.  I'm not a beer drinker in general and alcohol free wine seems sickly sweet as do most alochol free drinks such as J20. For anyone in the UK, I find that a nice alcohol free alternative is "Marks and Spencer Sparkling Mexican Lime and Lemongrass Presse".  We enjoyed it last night in the fancy wine glasses, it's sold near the sodas.  I think it would be lovely at a party, pop a little party umbrella in it and maybe dress it up with some strawberries chopped up and frozen in ice cubes. 

Day 17

Did a 2 week weigh in at the gym to get more insight into why weight loss has stalled.  They have a fancy scale that measures muscle mass, fat, etc.  I'm down .9 kilo but lost a load of muscle mass and only a small amount of fat.

So reworking the food and exercise schedule.  I think I'm too low on calories and running the high intensity stuff too high.  I enjoy the high intensity classes a lot but I've been dragging in the last week.  I had this happen before, when I knock out dairy it tends to take with a lot of carbs by default as I switch to Asian stir fries instead.  As OH pointed out...cutting out alcohol cut out a lot of sugar/calories from your diet.  Well, yes

So upping the calories starting today and putting in some lower grade cardio to go with it.  Feeling much better today, had no idea why I was riding a low grade headache for three days.

With my new found energy I managed to list four auctions on ebay and one already has a bid before I even finished the whole set of listings.  So more carp being cleared out of my life literally as well as figuratively.

As I now have a better direction on the weight/exercise front, I'm going to keep the no alcohol thing going for another two weeks as that should be enough time to lose another kilo (1 pound per week).  Fully doable if I now have the numbers right.

Day 13

Rocking double digits. Another Saturday done, although we worked in the garden for a few hours so splurged on calories with a pizza.

When I had originally started this run of days, today was my decision date whether to carry on as we have a small Sunday dinner.  I think I have a bit more toning up to do in the gym this week, I'd like to see where another week of healthy eating and exercise will take me.  So I said F it, I'm continuing on!

To make it easy for myself I volunteered to pick up OH's sister and boyfriend and to drop them off later.  I've found in the past that folks here are appreciating the lift and never give the driver a hard time about not drinking lest they lose their ride lol.

I may make my streak go 30 days as that seems to be the goal in blogland but I may not.  It may go longer.    My current thinking is to keep going until physically I am no longer seeing improvements.  My weight is down slightly and my overall look is better.  I've lost weight in particular in the stomach, face and waist.  My gym performance is up, stronger, better, more energetic.  Looking forward to hitting it hard this week and seeing more positive changes! 

Day 9

Sleep, glorious sleep!  I've never been a good sleeper at the best of times.  I seem to have a better sense of hearing than most so noises will throw me off.  In the summer with the early UK sunrises light wakes me around 430 AM.  I get stressed about my job so struggle to fall asleep and then when I wake up it's what I continue to kick around further.  Then throw alcohol in the mix with 330 or 430 random wake ups and I am done. 

I know everyone talks about the lovely alcohol-free sleep.  I wasn't getting to it in the 'weekend only' drinking mode.  The past two nights have just been divine.  I've been getting a solid eight hours of sleep.  Eight!

I think it's the combination of no alcohol, intense sport and clean eating.  I need to tuck away this feeling for future reference on evenings when the going gets tough.

Weight is clocking in today at 57.6 kilos so down from the starting point of 58.8.

Day 8

One week since I started this streak.  Tuesday is usually an easy night as I have gym classes in the evening.  Not the best Tuesday as it's the anniversary of my mother's passing though.

In the one week since I dropped the alcohol and improved the eating I'm already noticing the weight drop not only from the scale but from look/feel.  Could afford to go after some areas around the hips and thighs but pleased that the wine gut is magically shrinking.  Reading online, it seems that the thighs are the last place to lose weight.  I believe that one as the last time mine were fit was 20 years ago when I was a teetotal vegan.  Thigh weight loss supposedly happens at an 18% body fat, I'm currently at 30%.  As I balance my gym schedule I'm adding in more running time on the treadmill, let's see...

As I sit here I have a bottle of wine, fizzy (both unopened and here since before this started) and an opened bottle of vodka (from two weeks ago) in the fridge.  Perhaps backward logic but I find having alcohol in the house makes it easier to quit.  It's here but I am *choosing* not to have it.  As opposed to 'it's not here because I cannot control it and therefore I want it more and must go out and buy/consume it now.' 

As I live within a two minute walking distance from two express supermarkets, this is a necessary evil for me as last call is then 11 PM.  Never mind that the fast food place on the way is open until silly o'clock serving chips/fries.  Not necessarily a recommended solution for anyone else but I find it works for me. 

Day 7

A few weeks back I had a business trip to the Continent followed by a week of volunteering in a neighboring country.  Here is the summary of those two weeks:

week 1, country 1 - Work silly hours, drink too much coffee in the office, eat the local cuisine in the evenings (carb heavy, cheese overload).  They like to eat seasonally, can anyone say, pumpkin risotto?

week 2, country 2 - Even crazier volunteer hours in a country that does not recognize vegetarians.  Food was provided, breakfast each day was 2 slices of bread with cheese.  Lunch and dinner always included potatoes.  The vegetarian main was something fried, like breaded soya.  One day there were apples for a snack, oh the excitement.  On the plus side, I had no alcohol for 5 days straight while I was on the clock for the volunteer gig, even though it was provided for free each night.

week 3 - Return to the UK and try to get back into a routine in the face of coming back to my awful job.  It was a bumpy landing that included a 'two for Tuesday' papa john's pizza night as I couldn't be bothered to cook for date night.  It also involved excessive wine and fizzy each evening.  As an added twist, I also started on vodka as I brought back a cheap bottle from country 2 where they specialize in it.

At the end of week 3 was my monthly stats at the gym.  It's not a gym requirement but I run them at the end of each month to keep track of progress over time.  As suspected, I was in the worst or second to worst rating for each of my numbers since I started tracking in Dec 2015.

**Fast forward**

I had one last Monday drinking (it still remains my Achilles heel of drinking nights due to the job) and went cold turkey on a Tuesday Sept 27th, no alcohol.

I started Wednesday on a strict diet, my personal one which seems to suit my body best historically, mainly:

• Vegan, but with egg whites and fish.  I have 1-2 friend egg whites in the morning, pre-gym.
• The fish is either tuna from a can or something fresh which I prepare as baked, not breaded, an actual fresh fish, nothing from a freezer or prepared by someone else.  Normally I sprinkle on some herbs and that's it.
• No dairy except for an occasional yogurt as a snack.
• No 'bready' carbs or 'no white carbs' as people like to say.  For me this means no rice, no bread.  I will add a light carb such as 2 ryvita crackers with a big salad for a meal or Japanese soya noodles in a stir fry.  I start each gym day with 50 grams of porridge (oatmeal) made with water.  

At the gym, my normal routine, one hour per day of a mix of cardio/high-intensity and weight training.  A new schedule was released last week at the gym so still figuring that one out, what to do on what day.

Results so far:

The 'warm up' activity of taking the weekdays off from alcohol in my prior weeks was a good thing.  I got through Tues-Thurs ok.  A few m&m's on Friday, while I don't eat candy normally I have seen in earlier weeks that taking away the wine sugar does have an impact.

In the past I've done Mon-Thurs nights or Tues-Fri with little issue.

Saturday was a massive crash and burn as I outlasted my normal routine.  Somehow it seems the body knows that it gets wine again at the weekend.  I soldiered on and OH made dinner.

I know many people say just to work on the alcohol and to eat whatever just to get past the days but the thing that has kept me going this week has been the weight loss, so it's been paying off to keep my diet in check along with the alcohol.

Tuesday 58.8 kilos.  During the prior week of decadence it was above 59.

I've been headed down since then and clocked in this morning at 57.8 kilos.  I don't expect it to go down each day, it can vary slightly but the point is that one week later I'm 1 kilo lighter.

My goal is to head in to the 56 kilo zone and then decide further.  I've noticed an improvement in my sporty performance this week so I'd like to see what another kilo does for me.  Tonight I brought back in a small serving of cheese pizza, I decided to have that as a small reward for lasting a week alcohol free.

In addition to the 56 criteria, at a minimum I plan to last until Sunday, when we have a dinner planned.  I don't necessarily plan to break the fast that day but I will make it through another Friday/Saturday to prove that I can do it.   

  

Still here

Have reached a regular rhythm, during the week I don't drink, Saturday and Sunday I do, Friday is a toss up.  It's mainly sport that distracts me although I do some freelance writing and that occasionally takes over a free evening so that it becomes alcohol free.

Fridays more often than not slide into the mix of a non-drinking day which is a bit odd.  I can't figure out if I'm exhausted from the workweek or the 4 nights alcohol free are reaching a tipping point of detox making me flat out or the relief that I have two full days next without work just makes me not need to reach for the bottle.

I've been following this pattern for a two months, which has been a vast improvement over my previous regular two bottles of wine on Monday because I hate my job.  Then the other weekdays had a habit of being wine heavy as Monday broke the seal.  So I've in general been pleased with progress and toyed with the idea of stepping it up.

I am off on Tuesday to the Continent for a work trip.  For whatever reason, I tend not to drink while on work trips, even when I'm by myself for an evening, I'm not at all tempted by a beer in the hotel bar or from the supermarket.  I think it's because I have other things to distract me, I tend to go for walks or watch foreign television.

On Friday I will travel to another location where I will be volunteering for the following week.  I have Friday, Sat, and Sunday daytime to myself in a city I've always wanted to visit, so I won't be distracted or slowed down by alcohol.

I take the volunteer gig seriously, so again won't be drinking as it's long days, although I may try one local beer of an evening, if there is a social event as there is on the Sunday evening.

You plan your work, you work your plan.

So here is the overview:
Mon 5th - day before flying (No drinking)
Tues 6th - arrive in, ND
Wed, Thurs - work, ND
Fri  - off and train to another country.  May buy one to take on the train as it's a safe country where that is done (I've previously lived there.)
Sat - run around like a tourist.  ND
Sun - take a two hour train to another city.  The volunteer hosts are doing a dinner so I may have a local drink with that.
Mon - Thurs - busy days, ND
Fri - arrive back around 5 PM ish to another city that I want to explore and I leave at 2 PM the following day so ND
Sat - will have a local beer or two or three as I have a two hour flight back to the UK and I'm not a great flyer anymore.

So overall this should be an increase of non-drinking days as it will run over the weekends.  Actually looking forward to it.

Indecision

I once went to a *Mindfulness* weekend and a person asked the question:  How can mindfulness help me to stop smoking?  I manage to quite for a few weeks or months, then I end up starting again right where I left off.  It's been like this for years.

The mindfulness leader made a simple statement:  Your inability to quit smoking is because you have not made a conscious decision.  Either you're a smoker, acknowledging the impact and damage that it's doing to you but being at peace with that, or you decide that you're a nonsmoker in which case you will take all possible steps to not smoke.  Your indecision on this topic is why you're in a cycle of stopping and starting.

In some ways I feel it's the same way on my drinking.  Should I be a weekend only drinker?  Is Sunday ok?  Or is Sunday ok if I don't drink on Friday?  And on and on.

At the gym yesterday, the young manager, age 25 was struggling with her own routine.  Only me and the other 40 year old lady were able to do it, a lot of core work, abs.

The instructor made a statement:  "Too much drinking on the weekend, especially yesterday.  I'm giving it up...until Friday."

K, the other 40 year old blurts out, "do you seriously drink every day?"

Instructor:  "Well yes, but only moderately during the week, binge drinking on the weekend."

Granted she may still be in the student mentality as she just finished her degree in June.  However I just want to smack her upside the head as the spare tire she's carrying around her middle would be so much easier to lose now than once she hits the middle age spread years.

So far, the gym is keeping me somewhat in check.  I am struggling that there are no classes on Friday, Saturday or Sunday and I don't have a lot of activities to otherwise fill my time.  I'm more motivated in a class than going solo on a treadmill or through the park.  Once again I need to find a way to alleviate the boredom trigger as when my weekend is filled up with activities or I am the driver, then I'm not bothered about it.

Day 6

As mentioned earlier in the week, it's the going away evening of the gym's manager.  I'll stop by the fizzy and nibbles pre party of the evening, one of my gym friends is hosting the gym's members to drop in to her high rise flat close to the gym, but I'm avoiding the main party that happens later.

I'm not avoiding due to the prevalence of alcohol or similar, it's more that I'm not much of a going out person, especially in a club atmosphere.  The assistant manager set up the main party at a local club, it's £16.50 per person which includes a private table and the alcohol equivalent of 4 drinks per person with table service later.

The lady who is leaving has already said that she plans to get completely wasted, her son in law will be collecting her at the end of the evening.  

The lady who is hosting the pre party said to me on the side, I may pop down for one drink, but to be honest I'm not really fond of crowds so that will be that.

I may test out the waters and have a glass of fizzy to see if I can stop at 2 glasses or I may not. 

Overall I've been struggling with a ridiculous amount of tiredness this week.  I did a mid month run of my numbers at the gym and they are all worse than at the beginning of the month, except for weight, which is down but only slightly.

Looking online a bit at athlete nutrition, I'm going to tweak the diet a bit in the coming days.  Now that the alcohol has been out of my system for 5 days, I'm starting to get an idea of normalcy hunger in place of wine sugar.  It seems that my calorie content in my almost vegan world has been too low to build muscle mass and this is where I am faltering due to the amount of gym work I'm doing.  So getting more serious now on what exactly I'm eating and when.

Last night, OH was over after we finished the allotment.  I haven't made a big deal out of not drinking but when he opened the fridge he noted that there were two wine bottles...the same two that had been there since Saturday!  In the past I would have secretly have drank them and replaced like for like, but yes indeed, it was the same exact ones so I could nonchalantly (yet secretly proud), say, yep, there they be. 

Day 5 postnasal drip gone

It ended up being 1.5 hours of gym classes last night.  So much for my light day.  I had only planned to do an hour of cardio but there was space in the weight class right after that so ended up staying on.

An interesting benefit that already appeared at day 3 but is definitely here still on day 5.  I've been having an awful postnasal drip since December 2014.  I know it goes back that far as I had a yucky flu on the way back to the States for Christmas (I live in the UK).  So it appeared around the stopover in Iceland and lingered through my days off there.

Back to the UK in January it continued to persist.  It was highly publicized this 'mega bug,' doctors were urging otherwise healthy adults to not bother to come into the office as it was a non-treatable condition and to let it runs its course of 8 weeks.

Around March I began to become concerned.  A persistent cough is a sign of lung cancer, no?  A friend's mom who was very healthy had a similar situation, she ended up dying three weeks after diagnosis.  No other physical signs beyond the cough.

So I went to the nurse practitioner who told me that I was too young for lung cancer and to have more vitamins and rest.  (She also told me I was too young for skin cancer but I proved her wrong on that one so I didn't really trust her track record.)

So the postnasal drip persisted, like that cough clearing sound that a teacher makes to naughty children as a warning.  It flared up often while I was at the gym and moving about a lot, in the air conditioning.

When I stopped alcohol for a few days earlier, it magically stopped.  All of this time I was trying to combat dust mites (also a common source of it), lessening dairy (said to reduce mucous production) or assuming it was part of genetics and aging as it plagued my 90+ year old grandma consistently. 

Nope, based on it tying into the removal of alcohol from my diet earlier and now, it seems to be this:
http://www.enttx.com/general-medical/why-postnasal-drip-is-not-always-caused-by-postnasal-drip

So days 4 and 5 and I have not had one little cough, not one throat clearing, despite having a bit of cheese and warm weather in the UK to kick up the pollen and potentially my hay fever.

Go figure.

Day 4

Made it through Day 3 yesterday but started to hit the absolute exhaustion stage.  Three gym classes yesterday.  I realize a lot of people turn to non-alcohol sources of sugar such as cake, chocolate and fizzy drinks but I haven't had these things in year so not planning to start now or even craving them either.

Realizing the mix of high intensity exercise, the removal of daily wine and the alomost vegan diet is having a huge impact.  Last time I faltered around this time as I hit a sugar low before realizing I was headed toward it and then decided to mitigate with a glass of wine.  Not making that mistake again.

This go round I am logging everything on myfitnesspal.  It's been a big help as a reminder of how and when to eat.  When I was a proper vegan before, I found myself eating every two hours, little meals but high density filling ones, such as porridge for breakfast.  While I am feeling great with a salad for lunch, I'm slightly breaking with the vegan convention and adding tuna to it as otherwise I'm struggling to eat enough calories without turning to pure carbs. 

I've never been a big carb eater, e.g. potatos or white rice.  While I'll have a few bites, I see them more as a complement to a meal rather than a main part of it.  Plus it seems that sugar aspect of them does me in, I don't seem to digest them well and end up crashing, needing a nap and my downstairs plumbing ends up clogged the next day.

Today is my light day at the gym, two classes in the evening then a work call at night so no wine worries for today.  The two bottles from the weekend are still in the fridge.    

Tomorrow is date night but we need to get down to the allotment so won't make it back before 7 PM so that will be fine.

Friday may be a planned break, there's a get together as the gym manager is leaving.  However, I've committed not to go to the planned outing (8:30 PM until potentially 2 AM) but instead will go to the drinks and nibbles pre party that one of the other members is doing at her house.  Hearing the people that are going, it's more my crowd anyway.

Although I may offer to make nonalcoholic cocktails instead and continue my streak.  Weight loss is continuing to head in the right direction and holding steady in the 56 kilo range.