I just ordered the book "The Cure for Alcoholism", which I assume may have the answer to the following question -- but I'm too impatient to wait to find out. Would you please define a "drinking unit" for me? When I've tracked my alcohol consumption in the past, I used a simple formula to determine the number of drinks (units) consumed, but I'm not sure that fits your definition. Specifically, a 12oz bottle of 5% ABV beer would count as .96 (round to 1) drink (or unit), based on my formula, which is: liquid oz X ABV% X 1.6. Similarly, a 1.5oz of 80 proof (40% ABV) liquor, or 5oz of 12% ABV wine would also be 1 unit using my calculation.

I started taking Naltrexone yesterday, and based on the formula above, drank 4 units last night (which is 4 less the preceding evening -- before I took Naltrexone. Please let me know if I need to change the way I compute units for purposes of tracking my progress with this program.

Thanks!

Netty , Welcome . The best would be to check the other threads concerning units.
There's even mention of a calculator . But be consistant and say if it's uk or us standards. One think that seems clear is that a bottle of wine at 12 percent alc
has 9 uk units and 6 or 6,5 in us .

Hi -- the calculations I described are based on the way alcoholic drinks are labled in the USA -- we use ounces (instead of liters). Since a 5oz glass of 12%ABV wine equals .148 liters -- or about 6.5 glasses of 5 oz wine to a bottle of wine -- it appears I'm describing my consumption in terms of the more generous American units. Thanks for your quick reply to my question!

Hi Netty

This unit business can be damn confusing there seem to be quite large variations between countries as to what a unit of alcohol is.

For our personal tracking on the SM we don't really need to know exactly how much a unit is- we only use units as way of charting our individual progress, otherwise they are not necessary to know, because the method will work for most whether we drink 2 units a day or 20.

If you always drink the same drink like me, (95% of the time) for ease you can just count drinks to chart your progress, but if you chop and change your drinks you will have to keep working out the units, but don't worry if your calculations are different to anothers- you only need to compare you units to you!

Hi Netty,

I agree with marbella - it's all relative, and the only thing that matters is that it makes sense to you. I count each beer as a unit, and just use ounces for hard liquor. So a half pint would be 8 units for me. I think technically a shot/drink is 1.5 oz, but I don't care - I just need to keep it simple. Haven't had any wine yet... But if/when I do, I'll keep it simple as well. I'd just count each glass as a unit, even though my 'glass' would be larger than the standard definition according to anyone!

All that matters is that the total number of units eventually decreases over time.