Thanks for answering Tambo. I'm sorry too, HG, for using your thread, but you are way more active than I am, and I'm guessing we are both trying to figure out how to add AF days. Distraction is a great idea; for me it's really hard. I have two young kids that I pick up from school each day at 2:30pm. We have the snack, homework, etc. routine and because I don't work, I am in the house all day everyday, which is not idea for distracting myself. I will be going back to work next summer, so I'm hoping that not getting home until 5 or 6pm each night will help me delay that urge to take the NAL. As my consumption has gone down, I've been able to add home based workouts to my routine again, something I haven't done in five years. I guess I just have to keep working hard at getting my units down and hope that one day I can overcome that anxiety that kicks in about 4pm if I haven't yet taken my NAL.

AF free days...I just make a hard and fast rule about it. NO drinking M-T-W-Th because they are work days. No exception. How not to slip? Like Tambo said...replace the alcoholic behavior with other things. Buy lots of interesting non alcoholic beverages and start drinking them right when you come home. Keep busy...no sitting around thinking about drinking. Go some where new, start a new project. Be too busy to drink. There is NOTHING to worry about! It all begins by not buying the stuff for me. If it is here, it is hard to resist.

Hi HG

Your graph is great - well done on your progress. Not having more than 5 1/2units in a night is real progress & you must feel better for it. I'm sure the AF days will come. I have had 2 nights this week where I have only had 5 or 6 units and I feel so much better the next day than if I've had a bottle or more.
Keep up the good work and thanks for your support.

Cheers
Sticky

Hey HG -- Haven't been on for a while and pleased to check in on your progress. It heartens me that you are really doing well with the drop in consumption. I have been doing good with the AF days (2) and all of a sudden this week I feel like I can't stand the thought of missing a day -- like "don't take away my blankie!!!"
Here's how I have managed to AF days before. Make an evening plan that gets you out of the house and does not include alcohol. For instance, have dinner somewhere like 5 Guys where they don't serve alcohol but the family likes to eat. Then, go to a movie and afterwards maybe hang out at Barnes & Noble for a while and eat a Godiva candy bar which they sell there. Then go home and go to bed. Don't have any wine in the house and the store will be closed by the time you get home. Not being in the house is key in the beginning of AF days.
The first AF day, you may have the sensation of sleeping lightly -- not being totally asleep. But the next day you will feel like a million bucks waiting to be spent. This nal really changes the picture -- you gotta have the AF days to keep from feeling like you are dragging all the time. You'll feel better for the entire ensuing week after an AF day.
Good luck! If we lived near each other I would help you through this evening, but you can do it.

Hi All - Wow, I missed a lot of activity this week on my thread. I have been extra busy at work and couldn't log in due to time contraints for the last several days. Thanks for all the support everyone and the tips on AF. I'm just about ready I can tell to do an AF. I am at the end of week 16 and almost had a semi AF last week. I went out to dinner and because it was mexican food I had a margarita. It made me sick....really sick. So, I didn't want anymore alcohol that night. Then, when I was feeling better around 9:00 I had two glasses of wine before bed. I could tell that I could have gone the rest of the night without anymore alcohol than the margarita, but my brain is doing what Server's brain is doing....my wine is my blankey! Good anology Server. By the way, you and I will get there. I'm in the same boat as you. I have two kids and the routine is homework and dinner. So, it is hard for me to get away and do something else during the week, but there is the weekend and in time you and I can use those days for AF. That is what Eskapa suggests anyway.

Here is my graph for the week 16, I hope. I'm still not that great at posting graphs and have to study the instructions Nutella gave me each time I post a graph.

Looks like the perfect -- and fairly typical -- roller coaster ride towards a return to sanity.

Hi Nick - Thanks for that. I still have quite a ways to go and your encouragement helps a lot.

It's easy to focus all on the numbers, but what struck me most about my TSM journey was that numbers told a small part of the story. I was still drinking way too much for 30 plus weeks on TSM but the experience was completely different from pre-TSM. No more embarrassing behavior, for starters. Far more control and clarity while I drank. Far fewer hangovers and I went from weekly blackouts to almost no blackouts. I did all of this while still drinking comparably to pre-TSM as far as pure numbers go. So, when folks get discouraged during the long ride, it's important to recognize that the TSM ride -- although bumpy -- is far better than the crazy, pre-TSM days of uncontrolled drinking, stupid behavior, hangovers and blackouts. It's not just about the numbers. But the numbers will inevitably get down to where you want them to be -- I'm confident of it!

Hi HG, your making definite progress. If you extrapolate your figures you will be drinking at below safe levels come week 30 or so which is exactly in line with most of the "cured" guys. I think you will, like Sticky, will start to notice more rapid progress in the next 4-8 weeks (again based on the "cured's" figures). I look forward to seeing it! In regard to AF days I think they will come as TSM continues to work its magic and alcohol becomes more of an irrelevance. My prediction is it will come in the next 4-8 weeks. Keep up the good work and good luck!

Hi HG

I wish my graph looked like yours and was moving in the right direction!! Well done. Am hoping WJ is right and that we both start to notice more changes in the next 4-8 weeks. For you hopefully it will be some AF days and for me lower units and no bag lady/drinking all day behaviour.

I met with my sponsor today and she suggested aiming for 2 drinks/day every day. I doubt that I could stop at 2 every day and don't want to stop the AF days. She is concerned that 30 plus a week is harmful for someone of my "miniscule" size (as she put it! - 5'4" and just over 8 stone). I'm sure it is but am optimistic that it will decrease again soon.

It was good to have your message pop up just as I posted this morning. Hubby came home and I was supposed to be working, so I signed off quickly!

Have a great weekend. What part of the States do you live in?

Cheers
Sticky