Day 56 - morning

Woke up feeling fairly energetic today. Probably due to the fact that I managed to get an 11 hour sleep in on Saturday night! Talk about recharging the batteries.

I still have an uncomfortably full feeling in the stomach, despite having pretty much evacuated it last night!!

Black coffee first thing. Must remember to drink water today ... lots of it!!!

Day 55 - Intermittent (extended) fasting

I kind of fell off the booze blogging bandwagon. Not because I fell into a vat of wine ... no quite the opposite actually. I haven't felt the desire to drink since stopping on 1 Jan, except a couple of pangs at parties, so I really haven't been very motivated to write on a daily or even weekly basis.

However, in typical obsessive style, I have turned my attention to another healthy pastime ... Fasting.

Intermittent fasting (IF) is the current buzzword of everyone who is trying to lose weight, get healthy, or who has just been swept up by the current fad / zeitgeist of the moment. I started IF in january of this year, and I managed to get quite nicely into the 16 : 8 routine, after a bit of experimenting with 5 : 2 (5 days of eating, 2 days of fasting) and 4 : 3 (same but 3 days of fasting) but with no real results. I visited an endocrinologist, who is also a big IF fan, and she suggested trying some extended fasting ... I then pushed it to 24 hours of fasting, 36, 48 and eventually 65.

Now I am going for a 100 hour fast! This is the longest I've ever done, so I will be really interested to see what happens, as I felt amazing when I did the 64 hour.

In preparation for this, or "just because I could", I ate a real carb heavy lunch today .... fries and bread and a big fat jam donut to top it off. The donut gave me a sugar rush and a headache. I feel bloated, heavy and my belly feels full and uncomfortable. I'm a little tired, but not too much ... and I need to drink lots of water. I'll aim to drink 2L before bed (it's 8.30pm already).

Weight was 69.5kgs today, up from a low of 68 last Sunday, because I'e been pretty ill disciplined all week, so was expecting it. Hoping to drop to 65 eventually, which is the goal weight.

More tomorrow, which is DAY ONE of this extended fast. 

Day 14 - a sober day by the pool

Half way through the month already, and I'm still finding the whole no booze thing pretty straightforward. Granted, I've not been out in many social situations this month, but that never stopped me wanting a drink before. This time however, it's been craving free, completely.

I'm waiting for Feb to hit, and for that complacency to set in .. that "oh I can just have one. can't I" lie to invade my brain, but so far I'm enjoying the clear headed mornings, the absence of paracetamol and ibruprofen in my life, not waking up at 4am (except for the jetlag, which did create some 3, 4 and 5 am wakes) and the general increase in energy.

Managed my first week of 4 : 3 fasting, which was fine for two of the days, and horrible for one, but I figure that's just my body getting used to it, so I will persevere. Down 1.5kgs so that is very motivating ...

Spent Sunday by the pool, which is the usual pattern. Usually though, I sink a couple of beers, or more if I indulge in the "bottomless brunch". Today it was fresh lime soda and a diet coke. That trigger of beer + sunshine is omnipresent though. In the UK it would be cider + sunshine, but as cider isn't available here (happily, as that's my biggest downfall) it becomes bira.

Weight - 71.8 kgs

Eyebags - Seem to be getting gradually less ... baggy

Quit Lit - Read Dry Hard .. it was a bit "frivolous" compared to the "deeper" quit lit I've been reading but fun nonetheless. Seem to also have inadvertently downloaded another Quit Chick Lit, with alcoholism at the core - Another Love. Or maybe that's the Kindle algorithm working away ...

Exercise - Hot Yoga yesterday and an intense gym session today. Did a You Tube video workout (dumbells) in the gym, which beats using their overpriced and distinctly average trainers ...

Day 9 - No booze and fasting

Still slightly jetlagged, ie waking up at 5am, having returned from Toronto to Mumbai a week ago. But despite the lack of sleep, I'm relatively energetic in the mornings, thanks, no doubt, to the absence of alcohol in my veins.

I had another brief beer pang at the airport yesterday returning from Delhi. Airports, and particularly lounges, are definitely a trigger, especially at the end of a long day of work and travel. But it wasn't particularly hard to resist.

I'm still not finding it hard to stay off the booze, at all. I guess because I'm just so used to Dry January now ... maybe my body has just adjusted to the annual drought. I think it will be more challenging down the line, when I fall back into that "oh one wouldn't hurt" mindset. Which then turns into 3, 4, 5 and more.

Actually I'm more interested in the lack of food rather than the lack of booze at the moment. Doing 4:3 intermittent fasting, which basically means Monday, Wednesday, Friday no food all day ... and normal eating the rest of the week. I started on Monday ... was tough but not impossibly so. And this is Day 2 of the fasting, which began with my last meal on the plane last night. There are many benefits of fasting, allegedly, but of course I am shallow and doing it for the weightloss. I have 8-10 kilos to lose, to fit into my lovely new clothes!!

Weight - not sure

Eyebags - not great thanks to all the dehydration from travelling. Oh and Delhi's vile pollution.

Quit Lit - interested to check out Dry Hard which just popped up in an Amazon promotion mail (those guys are too good). 

Day 6 .... Yoga with a clear head

So 6 days have whizzed past, and I can honestly say that I haven't been tempted once. I'm not really surprised by this, as this is the 5th year I've done Dry January, and I pretty much know that this honeymoon post quitting period is to be expected.

I went out last night with 3 close girlfriends for an early drink, and they were downing delicious looking cocktails. Again, not tempted. One of them asked me to taste hers, and couldn't understand why I wouldn't have a sip. She's one of those annoying "occasional drinkers" who can take or leave a glass of wine, and I explained to her that once I start I can't stop, so best not to start. I think she got it .. albeit tentatively.

The only disappointment was that there were only 2 mocktails on the list - this was Soho House which is a fairly fancy, happening place, and I guess drinking is the norm. But I ordered a beetroot, rose and tonic drink (sounds vile but it was actually good) and topped it up with soda to make it last.

Hot Yoga yesterday morning and this morning ... such a difference with a clear head. I actually felt energised, and less "struggling through it", more "enjoying the poses". I lose count of how many Saturday and Sunday morning yoga sessions I have felt queasy and sub par in. Many over the years.

Eye bags - not looking too bad, though the eyes are yet to sparkle in any way.

Weight - 73.5kgs which is pretty much what I expected. I want to lose 10kgs, which will see me finally fit into all those lovely UK size 12 clothes looking longingly at me from my wardrobe. 
Starting the 4/3 fasting diet tomorrow, so let's see how that goes

Quit lit - Mrs D goes within ...

Day 2 .... Travel Temptations ...

Woke from a super deep sleep, and remembered how great sleep is without any booze in the system. No waking up at 4am, thirsty and feeling restless and anxious. I even slept through the husband’s snoring. I do remember that the early stages of going booze free create miraculous sleep quality, and also that the deep sleep and intense dreams levelled off for a while, but I’m making the most of this novel experience while I can get it.

Spent most of the day preparing for a long flight back home to India after the Christmas and New Year holidays. Packing and travel preparations are usually accompanied for me by a few glasses of wine or G&T. As it happened, there was a half full bottle of my favourite white and almost a full bottle of gin lying around after a NYE party, along with tonic chilling in the fridge. I have to admit that I was tempted to knock a couple down, and sink into my customary slightly blurry pre-flight excitement. But I resisted. No point giving up boozing on Day One, to start again on Day Two!

The temptation to drink returned again in the form of the free bar in the airport lounge, and I have to admit that I looked longingly at the large glasses of red and white being consumed all around me, but again, I stayed strong, and swigged on the large bottle of Evian I’d picked up for the flight.

Now I’d got this far in resisting a boozy journey, refusing the dinky bottles of wine on the flight was a breeze.

And so I am completely sober on this long (15 hour) flight. I am fueled by water and some nasty plane carbs, but most importantly, still dry. No looming headache and no light fuzzy feeling that you get from drinking at 35,000 feet. Which incidentally I love (at the time) but of course regret later.

Eye bags – slightly less puffy than yesterday morning.

Weight – 160 pounds, I found a set of scales at my friend’s place this morning. Now I have to do the calculation into kilos. My maths isn’t great, guessing at around 75 still.

Quit lit – several downloaded

Day One - Pie eyed - a definition

Day One.

Pie eyed.

A phrase I have often used ...

A particularly British expression which means drunk, pissed, inebriated, having consumed a significant amount of alcohol.

I've been getting pie eyed since I was 14 years old. And trying to cut down / stop for the last 4 years.

This time, I hope to make it stick.

I have rather predictably decided to quit on January 1st. I thought about doing it earlier, to "prove" that I don't have a problem ... but of course I do, so why not just make the most of the last few Christmas and New Year opportunities to be drunken and debauched.

So last night, at a neighbour's NYE party, I drank gin and rum and wine and finished up at 3am with a glass of Baileys. Of course I wanted more, even at 3am, but finally decided to hit the sack, knowing that this will be the last sleep interrupted by thirst and the last morning I wake up feeling unrested and deeply, bone tired because the alcohol has prevented those REM cycles.

So here it begins then. January 1, 2019. My final year in my 40's. The year I hope to make a real difference in my big fat new job. The year I finally go dry and become clear eyed rather than pie eyed. This is the fourth year I've done Dry January, but the first time I've ever blogged anonymously, so I'm counting on that to keep me focused on my goal.

Quit lit consumed - Mrs D goes without.

Weight - probably north of 75kgs. Highest since post pregnancy.

Eye bags - I could store the contents of my suitcase in each.