Hows my little quitter?

Last week marked the beginning of an interesting challenge for me. In preparation for my upcoming half marathon and Tough Mudder I've decided to give up drinking alcoholic beverages.

At least that's how the idea started initially. Then after some thought on the subject I decided that was a bit extreme, after all why on earth would I give up something I enjoy so much? (spoken like a true addict!) So I revised it to one drink per week, which is much more reasonable. Kinda.

To a lot of people this wouldn't be a challenge at all, but I bet most of them are either under 21, scarred by alcohol abuse, pregnant, or really enjoy drinking pop or some other sugary beverage. I am none of those people.

Several years ago I pretty much stopped drinking caffeine, you might remember this post, and my heart has thanked me since then. Then more recently I solidified my distaste for soda when I began my vendetta against corn. You might be surprised to find out that after giving up soda for a long time it starts to taste pretty gross. This is coming from a former Mountain(MTN?) Dew fiend. Oh, if I drink too much pop my stomach becomes very difficult to be attached to, so that's a big deal too.

Part of my logic for temporarily giving up booze was to help me drop a few pounds before either event. That is a decent amount a daily calories I would be shedding from a typical week. But if last week is any indicator, it just means I'm replacing my drinks with juice, which probably has more calories per drink (not confirmed). Not to mention drinking too much juice (more than on big glass) lands me a quick unpleasant date with our toilet.

Milk is definitely out of the question.

So I'm not left with many choices, I guzzle water all day at work and as you can expect it gets pretty boring to consume. I don't hate it but, well I'm sure everyone can relate. Which brings me to why I enjoy alcoholic beverages in the first place. I spend all day drinking water and really nothing else, so coming home and cracking open a beer or a bottle of wine with Laura is a great way to kick off an evening. Somedays I switch to a glass of whiskey, or make cocktails or just stick with another beer, on occasion I don't imbibe anything all day. Usually I have 1 - 2 drinks at home, just like the doctors tell people. Trying new drinks is something of a hobby I've developed, in fact I love talking about it with people who share the same interest.

By now I'm sure most of you have started to wonder, wait a second. Doesn't this guy work at a winery? I do! So I have made a couple of exceptions, my second most important rule (after my one drink per week rule), I'm not giving my my essential work drinking. I will be giving up my nonessential work drinking though. Making wine does have it's perks from time to time. The last exception is I will be attending a bachelor party during my alcohol abstinence, this is my time to enjoy as many as I see responsibly fit.

So I'm a week into it...hows it going? It's a surprising challenge. Ever since high school I've always had some sort of beverage that altered my state of being in hand while hanging out socially. For a long time it was Mountain Dew, then in early college I jumped to nearly every energy drink that exists, and sometime after I turned 21 it was wine, then beer, and now its just about anything but tequila. I've been reading that us Gen Y'ers (or millennials) prefer to try new things rather than stick to one brand. This statement defines me, I love seeking out new interesting beverages, and talking about them with my friends and family is something else I enjoy. I've now interacted with friends and family socially on three separate occasions and already I cheated my own rule and had two drinks in one evening, we grabbed takeout from a place that had all sorts of good beers on tap and I couldn't just sit there and wait for the food, while my friend had a beer, then back at his place later I had another. But, I did good on easter, although the riesling would have gone much better with dinner than the lemonade. The hardest part so far is I've got some nice looking Homebrews from BockFest chilling and teasing me in the fridge, as well as a whole slew of Rye Whiskeys that I am itching to line up in a tasting.

I'm excited I'm staving off my imbibing for awhile, it thus far has been an interesting mental challenge I don't often get to put myself through. But I'm sure this is nothing permeant, I can't wait for those post-race brews after the Tough Mudder. Just 47 days to go...