Category: Dry June

June Progress

June 12, 2025 / admin

I’m not doing so well on blogging my progress at least once a week but the rest of my June challenge isn’t going too badly!

I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol but that is just becoming part of life now and dry June just doesn’t feel like a huge challenge (which in itself is amazing and I never thought I’d get here!)

I’ve mostly stuck to no refined sugar – I’ve caved in twice so far. Once with birthday cake and once with a bar of dark chocolate. However, I still feel like I’ve “cut out most refined sugar” and I’m learning that a blip shouldn’t define me so it doesn’t sabotage my efforts. I’m re committing now to continue to cut out most refined sugar.

The running part of my challenge is on track and I’m doing between 2 and 4 runs a week. I’m struggling to get back into strength work outs but I have put some 6kg weights in a room where I spend a lot of time so I just pick them up and go three sets of shoulder presses regularly.

All in all, I’m pleased with my progress but there’s still room for improvement. It would be a boring world if we were all perfect though!!

Healthy June Goals

June 1, 2025 / admin

I’ve been a bit slack at blogging and also keeping up healthy habits – although I have remained alcohol free for the last 82 days and I do run regularly so that’s a huge achievement! However, I’ve developed a bit of a sugar habit over the past few months. It’s crept up slowly but I’ve realised I’m now eating a lot of sweet stuff most days. I haven’t lost any weight this year so I’m still half a stone heavier than when I finished my coaching and I’m not feeling quite as great as I was when I was at the height of coaching last year. I’m doing Sheffield round run at the end of June and that is the perfect reason for me to make a few changes and get healthier in preparation! So here are my goals for June:

Remain alcohol free for the whole of June.
Cut out most refined sugar (to clarify “most” I’m going to cut out cakes, shop bought chocolate, boiled sweets and biscuits but I am going to allow myself to eat my rhubarb cake (which only has 100g of sugar across 16 portions), home made raw chocolate (with minimal sugar) and home made things sweetened with dates and dried fruit).
Run 2 – 4 times a week.
Do 2 strength work outs a week.
Drink more water.
Log my food in MyFitnessPal (and revisit all the healthy recipes that I logged in there while I was coaching.
Blog my progress at least once a week!

I don’t think any of this is too ambitious as I am already alcohol free and running. I have let the strength workouts slip but think that will be easy to get back into. I just need to get back into the mindset I was in last year.

So watch this space! I don’t even know if anyone reads my blog but putting this out there on the internet will make me accountable. Even if it’s only me reading it!

Sober camping

June 17, 2024 / admin

This weekend was Fee’s birthday camping weekend. Ordinarily I would have stocked up on prosecco, beer, gin & tonic and it would have been wild. I would have drunk and eaten too much then felt rubbish on Saturday and made an excuse to not go on the walk that we had planned. However, this time, I am doing dry June so no alcohol passed my lips and something truly amazing happened. I had a fantastic time! Not once did I regret my choice to not drink. I had a minor twinge when Fee brought out a bottle of chilled champagne on Saturday afternoon but I just got a glass of Kombucha and joined in. The teeny tiny twinge passed in seconds! I really enjoyed the walk on Saturday even though it tipped it down with rain. (I didn’t fancy a swim like some of the bonkers people I was with though). I honestly think I had a better time than if I’d been drinking. Most people had a nap on Saturday afternoon – I meditated for 20 mins then felt really refreshed and read my book for a while. If you told me right now that I could never have an alcoholic drink ever again, I probably wouldn’t bat an eyelid!!

Sober socialising

June 10, 2024 / admin

On Saturday night we had friends over for a BBQ. There were 17 of us and everyone was drinking alcohol apart from me! I was fully prepared to take myself off to bed early and get out of the way of the party if I wasn’t in the mood but I ended up being the last one standing! I had so much fun! It was lovely catching up with friends and entertaining without getting so drunk that I fall asleep in a corner or forget what people have said to me. We got the fire pit going and I did most of the clearing up before I went to bed so we didn’t have the usual dreaded mess to face with a hangover in the morning. I’m beginning to realise that I can be fun and have fun without the crutch of alcohol!

I’m 10 days into dry June now and I can honestly say that I have not had more than a quick twinge of wanting a drink. That twinge soon passes though and I’m just feeling amazing. It’s not just the lack of alcohol that is making me feel good – it’s a combination of exercise, healthy food, mindfulness/meditation, drinking water and weight loss.

Sober night out

June 7, 2024 / admin

Last night I went to the pub to meet a bunch of local women who I hadn’t met before – it was a social organised by some of the “Real Housewives of Meersbrook” Facebook group members. I went with Fee who is my partner in crime when it comes to drinking (and running!!) Ordinarily I would have been well up for several drinks to relax and feel confident meeting new people. However, it’s dry June for me so I drank 3 pints of soda water. I had the best time chatting and getting to know some local folk. I met a neighbour who I’ve never really spoken to before and we had a great time. She and Fe came back to ours and stayed for a whiskey whilst I had an alcohol free G&T. I stayed up late and had a great time. This morning I woke up feeling fresh as a daisy (well, I didn’t get the best night’s sleep ’cause of all the soda water but I didn’t have a hang over!) The morale of this story is I don’t need alcohol to enjoy myself!

Dry June

June 5, 2024 / admin / 1 Comment

I am 6 days into dry June. So far I’m loving it but I haven’t had any challenging social situations to navigate yet. I’m off to a local pub this evening with a friend to meet some people on a local Facebook Group. My plan is to drink a few pints of soda water.

But why am I doing dry June?

10 weeks ago I signed up for a health and fitness coaching programme. My coach advocates for 5 dry nights a week which I have found mostly easy. However, over the past 4 or 5 weeks I have realised that those 2 nights a week when I am drinking alcohol are slowing my progress down. I lose a bit of weight and feel great during the week then the weekend comes and I blow it (I turn into a bit of a truffle hunting labrador when I’ve had a drink and my guard is down!) I’ve got 7 weeks left and I want to make the most of having a coach who is holding me accountable daily so the alcohol has got to go.

I’ve been listening to podcasts to help educate myself (and remind myself) about the effects of alcohol. This one is pretty inspiring. Who knows, after a month off in June, maybe I’ll sign up for One Year No Beer!