*Hiccup*

Hiccup

June 2nd, 2010 @ 12:51 pm by Mrs. Taco
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I’m kind of a standard late-20-something, in some respects. Career is intact and rewarding, jogging is finally enjoyable, and fast food outside of road trips has lost its appeal. I also transitioned from college benders on Thursday through Saturday to the more spread-out drink or two a day. On the positive end, I just full-on love socializing over drinks, be it wine, beer, or cocktail. It’s always a bonus when they go perfectly with what I’m eating or doing, or who I’m with.

Now, on to the negatives.

I’m almost certain I, on average, drink more than I did in college. It’s consumed more responsibly than it was 8 years ago, but it all adds up when I really think about it. A good mimosa deal at brunch will win my heart, as will a glass of wine with Tuesday-night dinner or a Manhattan at the bar. Just seeing this pink fella makes me want this on my wall and a drink in my hand:

Source: guy-sports.com

This packs on empty calories and drains a wallet faster than it takes to hail the bartender.

It is, then, not conducive to paying for a wedding or looking svelte in a wedding dress. I tried a couple methods with mixed results. Cold Turkey? Fail. Weekends Only, defined as Friday, Saturday, and maybe Sunday? It kind of worked. Maybe it’ll work better as wedding day approaches, which isn’t that long from now. I’m currently playing with Overall Cutback, where we just keep it to a drink or two every other day.

But Miss Taco welcomes any and all tips out there to curb a drink-loving lifestyle! Thoughts?

Tags: fitness, san-francisco |

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36 Responses to “Hiccup”

1 2 Last

Member

Bug (message) 66 posts, Worker bee

I just don’t keep alcohol in the house anymore, then I’m not tempted to drink everyday. We just drink when we go out with friends on the weekends. Your story sounds SO MUCH LIKE MINE!!! Good luck to you!

6/2/10 @ 1:11 pm (reply)

Member

flamingred (message) 1,921 posts, Buzzing bee

I hear you sister. I got rid of all hard liquor in the house- I was having 1-2 martinis a night when I got home from work, and bloody marys on weekend mornings. After the first month I didn’t miss it. I do drink wine every few nights-but my decision to not keep a bottle of grey goose in the cabinet definately made a difference.

6/2/10 @ 1:15 pm (reply)

Member

SLObride (message) 5 posts, Newbee

That is so funny as I just spoke with my fiancee about the SAME thing yesterday!!! I totally feel like I drink more now than in college but I live in a much more sociable house now than I ever did before. I finally made the connection that whenever someone comes over or into town to visit (which is always!) the first thing we do is to offer him/her a beer/drink and then have one (or more) ourselves. It only gets worse on the weekends!! Our proposed solution is to use up what we have now and then just buy it if the guest requests….we’ll see how this goes :p Good luck!

6/2/10 @ 1:15 pm (reply)

Member

future mrs kirsch (message) 767 posts, Busy bee

I am feeling the same way! After my son goes to bed, it’s on to downloading songs to the wedding playlist, or updating our guest list, usually accompanied by a glass of wine, or three.

I am giving up the wine cold turkey starting tonight! I’m going with the mind over matter approach and thinking of all those empty calories!

6/2/10 @ 1:15 pm (reply)

Guest

Kathryn

I also nixed alcohol in the house and I keep a good supply of sparkling water on hand.

6/2/10 @ 1:16 pm (reply)

Member

moderndaisy (message) 6,607 posts, Bee Keeper

I am exactly the same as you!! I traded in my college benders for 1-2 drinks/day. I’ll tell you though, I’ve tried cutting it out to lose weight adn it doesn’t even work!! The alcohol, while empty calories, actually fills me up so that I don’t eat a lot. When I don’t have a beer with my burger I’ll eat the whole thing, but with a beer I can barely eat half, so it actually all works out.

$$ is always an issue of course, think of all the $ we could be saving if we didn’t have to buy alcohol! Our restaurant check would be about half what it normally is and we wouldn’t have that extra $30ish/week on our statement grabbing a couple 6 packs or bottle of wine.

I don’t know, I’ve already quit smoking and stopped binge eating, so I think a drink a two a day are fine! Something’s gotta give, you know? Plus I’ll probably just replace drinking with some other expensive habit anyway..

6/2/10 @ 1:16 pm (reply)

Member

MissChirpie (message) 730 posts, Busy bee

Drinking doesn’t really agree with my stomach, so it’s easy for me to pass on the alcohol in favor of iced tea, water, and coffee. It also doesn’t quench my thirst, and I’m always thirsty! I do however, love a glass of wine with dinner now and again, and can’t say no to an icy blended cocktail on a hot summer day. I would say I consume an average of 2-3 drinks per week, and I never drink alone. It’s just easy for me to say no, so I guess I don’t have any really good advice.

6/2/10 @ 1:18 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Ribbons (message) 2,018 posts, Buzzing bee

I’m one of those odd people that doesn’t really enjoy wine with my meals and only like drinking beer with certain things (mostly burgers). So I really don’t drink unless we go out with friends and then I only have about two drinks because I’m a total lightweight at this point

6/2/10 @ 1:29 pm (reply)

Member

denverbirdlet (message) 750 posts, Busy bee

go cold turkey with a partner (the FI) for the last month before the wedding, with the exception of wedding related events (like showers). It really helps to have an accountability partner to keep you on track!

6/2/10 @ 1:31 pm (reply)

10.

Member

Goldilocks1107 (message) 2,504 posts, Sugar bee

I just added 10-15 minutes to my daily workout so I didn’t have to cut my glass of wine at night

6/2/10 @ 1:32 pm (reply)

11.

Bee

Miss Snow (message) 916 posts, Busy bee

I drink pretty regularly too. Never to excess, but a couple of drinks a couple of times a week is pretty standard (particularly in WI!). I stick with beer and wine (I don’t like a lot of hard liquor, but I’ll have a vodka and soda if there’s vodka in the house), and try to buy it infrequently to cut back.

Back in March I decided to go cold turkey for the wedding. When I informed Mr. Snow, he laughed at me. He said “I’m all for healthy choices, but that’s not realistic.” It wasn’t…too much grad school socializing revolves around beer.

I also drink a lot sparkling/bubbly water (I don’t care much for soda). Sometimes jazzing that up with real ice and a slice of lemon feels about as special as a cocktail.

6/2/10 @ 1:33 pm (reply)

12.

Member

Entangled (message) 2,616 posts, Sugar bee

I actually found that when I cut back my wine drinking (a glass or two with dinner mostly, sometimes more on weekends), my digestive system got REALLY unhappy. It does cost money, but Trader Joe’s helps.

6/2/10 @ 1:40 pm (reply)

13.

Member

Moose1209 (message) 1,992 posts, Buzzing bee

Are you into Vodka at all? Vodka with club soda and splash of lime is really refreshing in the summer, and it’s one of (if not the) least caloric alcoholic drink you can have.

6/2/10 @ 1:51 pm (reply)

14.

Member

bridgetjones2010 (message) 167 posts, Blushing bee

a study come out recently demonstrating that women who regularly drank a moderate amount of alcohol (especially red wine) stayed thinner over the course of the study (i think it was 10 or 15 years) than women who did not. i choose to accept these findings wholeheartedly and keep drinking my wine.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/women-drinkers-gain-less-weight/

6/2/10 @ 2:05 pm (reply)

15.

Member

Ms. Syditty (message) 157 posts, Blushing bee

Its not as fun for me because my FI isn’t a drinker, my past bf drank and I always had a good time. I feel alone now that I may keep a bottle of wine in the house.

6/2/10 @ 2:09 pm (reply)

16.

Member

amariem25 (message) 3,733 posts, Sugar bee

why not just have every drink be a virgin drink? still tastes good, but no harmful effects of alcohol on your liver then. probably won’t help the excess calories though.

i would just stop cold turkey. or have 1 glass a week on a special date night or something.

6/2/10 @ 2:21 pm (reply)

17.

Member

Rinstar (message) 80 posts, Worker bee

I LOVE wine, and we are really a drinking couple so I found this extremely hard to do. These suggestions are what helped me. While I didn’t cut out drinking entirely, I did drink less.
1) Find some other tasty, non-alcoholic (and not too caloric) beverage you like and drink it out of a wine glass. Somehow that helped me. I liked Izzy in any of their flavors (blackberry and pomegranate are my favorite) cut with some club soda and maybe a slice of lime. Sparkling, tasty, and fun to drink out a wine glass.
2) Since I am a wine person, I bought mini bottles of wine. That way when I really wanted a glass I just opened one instead of a whole bottle. I wasn’t tempted to top off the glass since that would require opening another bottle.
3) I tried to just focus on not having a drink for the first few days of the week (Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday) unless it was a special event or occasion.
Maybe those won’t work for you, but they did help curb it a little for my as well as my husband.

6/2/10 @ 2:26 pm (reply)

18.

Guest

Wow I must be an oddball but 2 to 3 drinks a night still seems excessive. Especially since my drinking habits consist of 2 drinks an average of 2 times a month. 1 glass of red wine per night supposedly has its health benefits, but anything over that is just added calories.

Have you tried making a few non-alcoholic spritzers to substitute when you get an urge to have a cocktail?

6/2/10 @ 2:33 pm (reply)

19.

Guest

Brittany

I disagree with Miss Snow on saying that it is the lifestyle of Wisconsinites to drink often during the week. Maybe for her close friends, but I would wish that she wouldn’t speak of Wisconsin as a whole.

I am from here, and although I drink occasionally, I do not think stereotyping Wisconsin as a huge drinking state is a wise thing to do.

Miss Taco, here are some ideas.
- To avoid paying for overpriced cocktails, invite your friends over to your pad and have everyone bring something. This can be really fun and cost friendly!
- Agree with the above poster, add exercise to your routine and it’ll help keep the calories off.
- Find other things you enjoy besides drinking. Bike rides? Walks? Surfing? Just keep yourself occupied and try new things instead of just going out for drinks all the time

Best of luck!

6/2/10 @ 2:48 pm (reply)

20.