A Life-Changing Decision (probably)

To begin, some maintainer's statistics...

Weight that I decided to maintain at: 85.0kg (13st 5)

Average weight since getting to my target: 83.3kg (13st 2)

Average weight in the last month: 82.8kg (13st 1)

Away Eating Days in the last month: 10

Average daily steps in the last month: 11,760

Ten days of Away Eating is a lot, even for me, so I am relieved. I don't feel as if I am getting much control over my Away Eating, but maybe I am without realising it. Although I am not a great believer in controlling weight with exercise, my daily steps were higher than usual, which can't have done any harm.

I suppose that if you live long enough, you see the world changing around you dramatically. Just as an example, until the 1950s pretty much everyone was a smoker, and the very first hint that it might not be good for you was greeted with laughter. As time went on, the dangers were more and more certain, but many people still didn't believe it. Nowadays, more or less everybody realises the dangers, and smoking is becoming less and less common. Well, I remember, about 20 years ago, reading that the next dangerous thing would be alcohol, and how we all laughed! But now, we drinkers are getting backed into the corner, just like smokers were. And with the latest studies saying that - no arguments - alcohol causes cancer, this drinker has decided that enough is enough, and that it's time to cut right back.

For me, this is a very big deal! I have drunk beer on most days since I was about 20, and also had my fair share of whisky and wine too (not all in the same glass you understand!) It was only when I started to lose my weight, three years ago, that I decided to do something about it, but I probably still set up some sort of weird record by having a big slice of my daily calorie allowance as beer, while still losing ten stones. Fairly recently I have been delighted to find out that I don't depend on alcohol, because on occasions I have drunk some no-alcohol beer. Even after a few nights on that, I didn't feel any urge to crack open a can of the real stuff. I count myself lucky.

I reckon that I will be able to reduce alcohol dramatically by benefitting from what I learned on my weight-loss journey. If I can do what I had thought was impossible with my weight, sure as anything I can do it with beer. I have got used to Home Eating (my food regime while we are in our usual life at home) and Away Eating (a much looser regime while we are on the road). So my alcohol idea is that I will not have any alcohol at all in my Home Eating; that will be supported by having no beer at all in the house, and I will make sure that the fridge is bursting with my favourite no-alcohol beer. In Away Eating, I can drink what I like, and who knows what that will be (maybe nothing?). Of course that would not work if I was alcoholic, because I would come back from an away trip and immediately get stuck into real beer again. But I know I'm not alcoholic (see above).

There are always complications. For example, Ann does not intend to join me, because she likes wine, and no-alcohol wine is truly awful. But that's life - there are always little snags to be overcome. I'll see how it goes. I just feel that the time is right to do this - I have had an awful lot of nice comments from people at Nutracheck (thanks everyone!), along the lines of how I have amazing determination etc. You have pumped me up to believe at least some of these nice comments, and I reckon I can do it - I'll let you know how I get on!