A whopping 58 units last week. I bought a box of wine later in the week because it was on sale at a great price. I definetly learned that I'm not ready to have large amounts of wine around just yet or else I just can't keep away from it.

However, I didn't really have any stupid behavior so that's good. And, I'm still sticking to my running routine and getting alot of projects done around the house so I feel good about that. I'm going to try and read more of the forum in order to learn more about this process and increase my motivation. For example, I read a post from Dr. Eskapa/ Sinclair that describes taking a couple of days to go Nal and Al free to flush it out of your system then following it with a pleasurable (non alcohol) activity. I'd really like to find the control to try that soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eEobPFh ... re=related

Not giving up,

-dragonfly

Good attitude, dragonfly! I think you're right to not get discouraged and just keep plugging away. I just had my highest week yet on TSM and yet I KNOW there's a difference in my drinking. I agree that having a few days off booze and nal entirely feels good for the system. Even if I don't get side effects just from the nal anymore, I think combination of nal and al makes me quite sluggish if i take it several days in a row.
Good luck!!

Dragonfly.... you and I drink very similarly. Lots 'o wine!!!!!

I, too, did not experience any AF days in my first MONTH!!! So the "honeymoon" that people describe is a period of time that eluded me. Yet, even though I did not experience that dip in drinking in the initial weeks in TSM, I am still seeing great results!

I notice that my consumption is declining and I am having an AF today. Today marks the first day of my 14th week. So hang in there, kitten!

I should also note that I have a couple bottles of vino within my reach. I am not at all tempted or even phased! It feels nice to finally have the upper hand with my drinking! It was the other way around for many, many, MANY moons!

Hoping for your success,

Ketchikan1

Good for you at not giving up dragonfly, we are just at the start of this incredible journey!
Keep on keeping on.
KS

I'm pretty happy with the week I had last week. After that huge 58 unit week I felt kind of "turned off" by drinking last week. I think I've read on here of that happening where a large spike is followed by a drop and some good progress?

I finished out with 37 units and 2 AF days. But what really got me excited is that on those two alcohol free days I still had wine in the bottle left from the day before. Previously, I could go AF only if there was no alcohol in the house. Like Katiesmiles, I just kind of craved an AF day and I had the urge to flush my body of the nal too. On my second AF day of the week I had an entire bottle of wine that I didn't touch. I didn't really want it and even thinking about it left me with a sour feeling. I was craving my hubby's beer more than the wine (THAT'S a new one!!), but held off on that.

Until next time....

-dragonfly

Good work dragonfly! And I know exactly what you mean about being turned off of alcohol sometimes....even if I don't have a hangover and didn't take nal yet, some days the thought of alcohol just seems like poison. And then, of course, somedays like the sweet nectar of the gods
EL

Hi Dragonfly,

That has definitely been my experience - after a big spike, I would have several weeks of the lowest numbers ever. So as bad as it feels in the moment, I started to feel like those spikes were almost a necessary part of the process. Not that I would go seeking them! But, when they did happen, I tried not ot beat myself up too much. They served to make me disgusted with myself and with alcohol, and led to much more progress in the following weeks.

One thing I did that really helped me see this was a graph in Excel (StVincent helped me figure out some details of how to do it, thanks StV!) Then I could see that phenomenon repeating again and again, but always with a downward trendline.

So .... great news that you are feeling turned off after the big spike ... you are headed in the right direction!!

YG

Fantastic dragonfly!

I had another good week- 34 units and 3 AF days. I had a stomach virus early in the week so one AF day was pretty easy to come by. I didn't eat anything for 24 hours, let alone even think about alcohol. I know a lot of people have problems with nausea on Nal and I wonder if it was the reason that I was the only person in my family to have severe stomach pain and vomiting with this virus where everyone else in my family got diarreha. Hmmm.... don't know.

Also, my hubby who has been wanting to cut down or quit drinking for years is recently starting to make an effort to cut down so that helped this week too. Yesterday on father's day we went on a family mountain bike ride into a state park. It was hard but fun and we were wiped out at the end of the day. Hubby and I both wanted to end the day with a cold beer but instead we chose to eat dinner at a place that didn't serve alcohol and we didn't stop to buy any. Thus was day 3 of the week AF! It wouldn't have happend for sure if hubby would've pushed for dinner at a brew pub or if he would've stopped to buy some. So a little effort on his part certainly helps too.

I'm still feeling slight subtle changes and am still positve with TSM. Oh, and I'm not one for a lot of measuring or weighing but I think I'm starting to lose a little weight as my pants are fitting a bit better!

-dragonfly

Week 6 to week 8...amazing numbers dragonfly! And thanks for your kind words on my thread. I guess I just never know how much "work" TSM is supposed to be taking. I know that if I tried to put in a lot of effort, I could be AF all the time (have been in the past) or drastically cut down on drinking in general. However, I get the sense that's not the idea of TSM, so I'll try and stick in there, riding out my cravings as you have been doing