Wine-Free Weekday Challenge: How To Drink Less Alcohol and Detox your Mind and Body

“The most expensive part about having kids is all the wine you drink.”

“Boxed wine is just a juice box for mom.”

“MOTHERHOOD: Powered by love. Fueled by coffee. Sustained by wine.”

 

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I searched for “mom memes wine” and got hundreds of results. I probably see a wine + mom = love post at least once a day on my Facebook feed. They usually make me chuckle, and I often like the post. I’m a working mom, and on any given day the odds are pretty good that my job, my kids or both are stressing me out. I’m going to be completely honest here. Some days, I am really looking forward to that end-of-day glass of wine or beer. I don’t drink irresponsibly or during the day or anything like that. But sometimes, despite the unabashed love affair between moms and wine, I wonder if I drink too much.

Did you know that low-risk drinking for women is defined as no more than three glasses in any one day and no more than seven glasses in a given week? If I’m being really transparent, before my wine-free weekday challenge I would often have one drink a day on Monday through Thursday and two a day on Friday through Saturday. That didn’t seem crazy to me, but it’s ten drinks – more than the “low-risk” value of seven. I’ve always thought maybe I should cut down, but I work hard and I like my end-of-day drink.

I finally decided to try a change after we went out with friends for my husband’s birthday. We had a great time, and visited three new breweries. It was fun! I hydrated with water throughout, but when I laid down in bed, I knew I’d had too much. Sure enough, I woke up around 3 am feeling terrible and never fell back to sleep. Apparently, now that I’m in my late 30’s, my tolerance for alcohol is much lower. I finally got up early the next morning – tired, dehydrated and none too patient with my sweet kids.

Wine-Free Weekday Challenge

The Monday after that birthday outing, I just didn’t feel like drinking. I had tea instead of wine at the end of the day, and I felt good. I didn’t really miss the alcohol. So I did the same thing the next day. I still felt good, and made up my mind to skip the wine on Wednesday and Thursday. I decided that I’d have zero alcohol Monday through Thursday and no more than two drinks a day on Friday through Sunday. That would keep me within the “low-risk” guideline but still allow me to have a drink or two on the weekend. The biggest trick for me was to find something to replace alcohol. I love Bigelow’s orange spice tea (affiliate link), so I drank some of that whenever I would normally have had an alcoholic drink. I ordered six boxes of the tea from Amazon because I was going through it so quickly! Having a non-water replacement really helped me stay on track.

Wine-Free Benefits

I’ve kept my challenge going for four weeks! It has really improved my overall energy. I am also sleeping so much better! It’s been shown that alcohol disrupts sleep. Since I usually had a glass of wine right before my bedtime during the week, eliminating this particular drink has really improved my sleep quality. I am able to fall asleep and don’t have trouble falling back to sleep after being awakened by a kid. That is awesome! Sleep is precious to any mom, and I’m no exception.

I also find that I’m a more patient parent. I know that some of the mom + wine memes say that wine helps moms tolerate their kids, but I found the opposite. Apparently my veneer of patience is thin, and wine lowers my inhibitions enough to let grumpy mommy out. That is no good. By limiting my alcohol consumption, I’ve avoided those moments where I thought, “Wow, I would be a much better parent right now if I hadn’t had that last beer.”

Finally, I lost some weight! I didn’t change my diet or exercise, except for reducing alcohol and substituting tea for my afternoon snack at work. According to a nifty calorie calculator provided by Rethinking Drinking, I probably cut 800 to 1,000 calories from my weekly diet with wine-free weekdays! That definitely adds up over time, and I lost a few pounds during the challenge.

 

A Challenge for You

Want to try the wine-free weekday challenge for yourself? Tell me in the comments if you plan to do it! Use my key takeaways to help yourself succeed. First, pick a drink limit per day and stick with it. Make sure you find a substitute for alcohol that seems more special to you than water – tea, sparkling water, or something else fun. Finally, when the going gets tough, remember the benefits the challenge: better health, improved sleep and calmer parenting!