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With my weight.
I am not going to bullshit anyone here, let alone myself. I AM FAT, I AM OVERWEIGHT and if I don’t do anything about it I will not be here. I weigh 24 stone and 11 pounds (158 kilos).
Being in hospital has been a boot up the arse I have needed.
I am winning my battle with alcohol. I know I have always got to be vigilant and ready for my av to try and convince me alcohol is OK.
My new battle is with food…
I need not fear though. The SMART tools will help me and the people at SMART will help me through.
My biggest battle is with myself. I NEED to keep the motivation going. I am really motivated right now. I just got out off hospital on Friday, the motivation is still there.
I am coping well 2 days into my new eating regime, which is… NO SHITE in between meals. It has been difficult, but as I say I am determined so my determination is seeing me through.
Having alcohol out of the equation will make it easier. I will not be sitting half canned eating bags of crisps, biscuits and cakes and I am not having all the calories that I was having with alcohol. I substituted the calories I was getting from alcohol with junk food.
Today, I am a FAT, 6 foot 2 inches, 32 year old Scottish guy. I am determined to be:
… a 6 foot 2 inch piece of prime Scottish beef.
Will be starting an exercise program and a weight training program.
The battle commences!
I am a Type 2 diabetic. Since I quit drinking, my blood sugar levels have settled down and I have been controlling my diabetes well.
I woke this morning feeling very unwell. My blood sugar was high. I visited the doc and he told me I had a lung infection. Now on antibiotics.
A bottle of wine and six cans would cure me!!! Or so I thought, back in the bad old days. How stupid was I! Alcohol lowers blood sugar, even though alcohol is full of sugar. I could have easily slipped into a diabetic coma.
I felt tired and unwell because I wasn’t keeping control of my blood sugars. ALCOHOL made me feel better and after I finished work I couldn’t wait to feel good. And the cycle began…
Felt good when drinking, felt shit in the morning and all day. Needed alcohol to feel good again.
I am not feeling great today… I have spent most off today in my bed.
Today I am not well. NOT hungover
Iain
I have just returned from two nights of sleeping under canvas (maybe not canvas, probably more modern day lightweight nylon tent). I had a great time with my family and our dog. Not even the rain put us off… We just chilled and went for long walks with the dog.
A far cry from when I went camping with my mates and all I had was a tent a sleeping bag and a car full off alcohol. It really is possible to go camping sober and have fun.
Another thing I have found is that it is a lot more enjoyable when I am sober.
When I stopped drinking I said, “What am I going to do with all this time and nothing to do? How am I going to be able to do things without drinking alcohol?”
WELL, I have done the same things I used to do, but I am enjoying them a lot more.
I do activities safer, more in control, remember the fun I had doing the activities, and i want to do the activities again. Instead of having a great idea whilst drunk, trying to do things drunk, and injuring myself and others.
SOBER is the way to be.
Going for a bath to ease my muscles after my weekend away.
Iain
Hello,
My name is Iain. I live in Scotland. I am a recovering alcoholic……. YIP……….. I hate the word but it is true, that is what I am.
1 year and 8 months ago I had my last alcoholic drink. After an ultimatum from my then fiancee.
“It’s me and the wean or the drink.”
The choice was easy… the road to recovery has not been.
I have had to learn to cope without alcohol in my life I have had to deal with massive urges (when all I could think about was drinking). I had to get through without drinking.
I now have a wife ( got married February) all thanks to me stopping drinking and my wife now being able to trust me.
I have got to where I am today by using the methods and techniques of SMART Recovery.
The CBA tool – Cost Benefit Analysis – weighing up the goods and bads of drinking alcohol. A great place to start.
DISARM – self-talk yourself through urges and don’t let that AV (Addictive Voice) / urges convince you it will be ok to drink alcohol.
SMART recovery run f2f meetings which are peer-led meetings, concentrating on helping people through their recovery.
Meetings are starting all the time in Britain (all over the country).
SMART UK has a Bebo group page at http://www.bebo.com/smartrecovery
There is also a UK message board which can be found at http://www.smartrecovery.co.uk/forum
SOL which stands for SMART OnLine is where i started my journey on my road to recovery – http://www.smartrecovery.org/
The great thing about SMART is that it is SELF management. It is up to you to make the choices and decisions not only to stay sober but make your whole life better.
Even a bad day sober is a good day
Iain
The photo is of me bricking it on my wedding day. No alcohol to calm the nerves, one of the best days of my life.
Best days off my life:
The tartan I got married in was the Pride of Scotland tartan. My bride scrubbed up well ( Ha Ha HA ). I had to look twice to make sure it was her, she was just stunning.
Our relationship has grown stronger since I stopped drinking and we got married.
Iain
Carl C
Dave Healey