I started with dry December and have still not had any in January. Craving wise, no real change there, though I’ve never really had much of a sweet tooth. Sadly, I have not noticed any change in weight, but my sleep is much improved. I’ve also noticed my Saturday workouts are no longer complete failures… in the past I’ve just never performed well on those and always blamed a week of workouts wearing me down. Turns out it might have been the couple IPAs the night before… 
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I have a trip away for Christmas each year. A few families and we ride everyday… lots of km and hard hills. We also have more alcohol, lots of flat whites, cheese etc… I put on 3kgs. In Jan I stop alcohol , go back to long blacks and keep riding to get weight back down… just always shows me you can’t outride a bad diet.
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Anyone found a good non alcoholic red wine (similar to a cab or merlot)? I bought one without reading the label and it has 18g of added sugar!! I admit that I absolutely love a good red wine, I esp like having a glass while making dinner but want to cut down on alcohol without added sugar. Thx
i had a consult as well, the biggest change for me being adding a protein rich meal around 3pm in the day. Has completely cut out my hunger pangs and sugar cravings i used to get around 330pm when i would raid cookie jars/cupboards for a sugar hit.
Has made a huge difference.
go the reduction route rather than completely cutting it out. ex. half what you usually would use to start. and over time slowly reduce the amount. will make it far easier than just going cold turkey which will actually change the taste of what you enjoy drinking dramatically which may have a big impact.
Experimenting with dry January for the first time and have been ordering all kinds of random things to see what sticks. Red wine has definitely been the 2nd hardest thing to replace (outside spirits) with a reasonable facsimile. I think the typically higher ABV and dominance of the alcohol in the flavor profile (especially for the Cab) is really hard to replace.
The best alternative I’ve found, and it’s by no means something you’d think was wine, is Acid League. Complex flavour profiles, don’t taste like boiled grape juice, but you have to put the “this should taste like wine” out of your thoughts. The other “not bad” option was the Leitz Pinot Noir, but the whites/roses/sparkling are superior and closer to the real thing IMO.
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I’m a big fan of athletic brewing. There’s one flavor I don’t like but can’t remember which, the rest were pretty good
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I make my own kombucha instead, the tannins from the tea softened by fermentation and the acetic acid that forms during fermentation somewhat remind me of red wine
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If I am not drinking I seem to care more about what I eat. True story
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You’re making me hungry.
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Never normally drink more than 3-4 nights a week but around Christmas it usually goes up. I try to bring it back to 2 nights a week in January. I remember reading some stat about the percentage of British people drinking 5 or more nights per week being really small (10% or something) and I don’t want to be the wrong side of that stat 
I don’t really find it affects my appetite at all - but 3 or 4 beers does tend to lead to eating a load of crap.
I drink a lot of the Brewdog AF beers - they had a 25% off in Jan offer plus I get another 10% anyway, so we ordered a load right after Christmas, although I had been regularly buying them from the supermarket anyway. I find the Punk AF especially is more or less indistinguishable from a normal beer. So it’s easy to avoid the habit of having a beer or two in the evening. There’s a few NA Weissbiers which are good after cycling as well.
I also get these Small Beer ones which are 2.3-2.5%. I don’t drink those midweek but use them to cut down alcohol content at the weekend (so replacing a 5%+ beer with a 2.3% one).
Separately and as above… I do find a mild hangover improves my cycling… I think this may be a case of expectations vs reality when I get started. Although I do notice pretty high negative HR decoupling if I do e.g., sweetspot workouts with a bit of a hangover (e.g., HR for a given power decreases over a workout rather than increases, which is what you normally see), and feel much better afterwards! I try not to make a habit of doing that though.
I did a dry February which has done wonders for my capacity for training. I had a habit of one or two drinks a day after work, but since cutting it out my sleep quality has improved, I’m eating less junk food, and performance has gone up. Weight hasn’t dropped much at all but I just feel better. I’ve had a couple drinks this month but only for special occasions which is how I think I’ll keep it.
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I’ve been dry since just before christmas. Still going strong, although there are evenings when i could murder a glass of scotch.
Sugar cravings are next level though. I seem to be eating a lot of chocolate. I actually had to tell myself to seriously stop, and managed 4-5days without. I’m finding carrots, hummus are less satisfying but good alternative.
I personally find that a reduction in alcohol leads to a reduction in calories from all sources. Certainly if you drink anything strong enough to cause a change in inhibitions / decision making. Thankfully I’ve never had any cravings when not drinking.
I’ve never found that quitting alcohol has made any meaningful difference to my sleep / training though. I wish it did, would make not drinking a much easier decision to make!
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