Formalizing a Tally Clicking 90 Day No Alcohol Challenge

The biggest problem with my food was controlling drinking. I’ve discussed quitting – or at least severely curtailing – drinking for a long time. In An Identity Approach to Alcohol: Parts I and 2 I discuss how willpower-eroding it can be, and how counterproductive it can be in developing skills. I discussed pretty much the same thing almost 6 years ago at the very beginning of this project in Habits of Omission. I even successfully completed a 30 Day No Alcohol Challenge.

Back then, I didn’t understand the unmatting process or have the tally clicking system. Now I do.

IMPLEMENTATION INTENTION

Anytime I have an urge to drink alcohol for the next 90 days, I’ll click.

At the end of the day I’ll record the total number of urges for the day.

This is to satisfy my curiosity for the question “How many clicks does it take to remove the habit of wanting to drink alcohol?”

MENTAL CONTRASTING

A) Positives
Separating out the triggers regarding drinking will let me understand how to truly control myself. I think it will help foster greater skill in things like socializing. I think it will also help me make better gains in fat loss. I think it will make me feel better overall, and will help me sleep better. It will help cement the tally clicking process as one that’s replicable and highly efficient. I’ll finally be able to have true control over a habit I just fell into. And I won’t feel like I’m using it as a crutch, either for socializing, having a good time, relaxing at the end of the day, or just feeling bored. I think it will also help me shift to becoming a more active person, perhaps even a morning person, or an outdoor person. It’s a key component of a family of behaviors that will eventually result in a massive identity shift. I think if this works, it will have massive implications in helping other people with their own lives and addiction patterns.

B) Obstacles
Boredom, especially the feeling of release triggered by drinking a glass of wine or going out to a bar, will be a big obstacle. As will the connection between celebration and drinking. I’ve conditioned myself to think that those are all one and the same. I have fear of missing out on unique drinks or experiences. I think it feels like I might have a more difficult time building a community because most of the people I have met or socialized with in the past have been when alcohol was around. I’m worried that it may be awkward.

B-1) Workarounds
I think treating this as an experiment that can always be changed is a good safety net for me. I also think the reintroduction phase of clean eating - namely the potential for having one cheat day a month - offers a psychological respite from the odd fear of never drinking again. I also know that the craving mind isn’t the same as the one that will emerge after 90 days, when the majority of urges will subside.

I think coming up with a list of alternatives for getting out of the house is important. Gong for a walk or a dip in the pool, for example, would deliver a similar hit of joy, contentment, and activity. Honing a nightly ritual might not only give me that similar feeling of release, but also become the beginnings of a sleep ritual for better sleep hygiene, something I’ve also wanted to work on.

I’ve got my spreadsheet ready, let the challenge begin!

Formalizing a Tally Clicking 90 Day Food Challenge

Contrary to my earlier article on attempting two habits, I’m starting tally clicking away food urges today by itself. Over the weekend Lydia and I went through the protocols and realized that it’s quite a lot to handle. So at least at the onset it’s going to be this one thing alone (though I’m going to also start a planner habit soon).

IMPLEMENTATION INTENTION

Anytime I have an urge to eat off the plan for the next 90 days, I’ll click.

At the end of the day I’ll record the total number of urges for the day.

This is to satisfy my curiosity for the question “How many clicks does it take to remove the habit of wanting to eat non-clean foods?”

MENTAL CONTRASTING

A) Positives
Success in this has all manner of positive benefits. It will help me look better, feel better, and have less loss of energy. I’ll be able to finally make concrete progress on something I’ve struggled with for over 25 years, getting me very close to mastery over a major aspect of my life. That will in turn result in loss of guilt for feeling out of shape, and the ability to finally move on to other things like improved posture, reaping the benefits of working out, improved finances, and the confidence and base strength for other far more interesting athletic endeavors: advanced body calisthenics, martial arts, social sports, hiking, rock climbing, etc.

It will also (hopefully) shift me away from nighttime activities towards becoming more of a morning person. It will help me feel less judged and self conscious, especially in terms of helping people. Often people hook on to something to criticize in the one giving them advice, and this will help bypass that. It will also help bypass the guilt I feel going to foreign countries and being judges as a fat American.

I can be an example to help other people improve their life. This will give me better standing in terms of authority to help people because most people in the self help arena immediately turn to the most visually obvious thing about a person, which is weight.

And lastly, i want to prove this technique works.

B) Obstacles
The Fear of Missing Out when it comes to unique foods or experiences, social situations, feeling pressured by friends, embarrassment through passive aggression when some people make an overly big deal of my eating preferences. I’m afraid because I’ve always failed at this and nothing has really worked. I’m worried about lack of options, of letting Lydia down when I just want to give in to random food cravings as a mood lifter for her.

B-1) There are events coming up that I will have to navigate around. A trip to Albuquerque and Dallas for a birthday and a potential trip to Cincinnati. I’m going to a gathering in my college town, a potential road trip, Valentine’s Day, and Lydia’s birthday. There are also smaller events to account for, like movie nights (no popcorn!) and dinner with parents (no dosa or naan!).

I’ve created workarounds by listing out places that have healthy options near me, as well as a list of snacks to add as must-haves in my weekly grocery habit.

WHAT IS “CLEAN”?

For the purposes of this challenge, it’s going to be “primal” eating, according to Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple. That’s no sugar, no processed carbs like pasta, bread, naan (ouch!) or pizza. No cokes, no beer, and 2 servings of alcohol a day max.

There are fuzzy edges to all of this. Primal guidelines work according to the 80/20 rule, with some foods dubbed as “ok to eat once and a while”. Since tally clicking attacks the urges to eat in the hopes of rooting them out entirely, the 80/20 rule doesn’t really apply. Therefore I wont be eating rice, beans, potatoes and no sweet potato fries when I’m out. I won’t eat gluten free versions of products from the grocery store or at restaurants (like gluten free pizza or bread) unless we make it. No rice noodles common in Asian food. no popcorn. And no hummus.

UPGRADES

The picture above is a a beautiful old tally counter I purchased made in 1910 used to count train passengers in New York. It’s not only gorgeous, but it lies flat in my pocket, and has an incredibly smooth mechanism.

I’m also using a Google Drive spreadsheet rather than a series of notes. I made some annoyingly bad bookkeeping errors doing it the old way. It really is amazing how the small administrative functions have such a huge impact on adherence.

The last thing I want to do is to get a blood workup, record measurements of my body, and take before pictures this week just for metrics.

After 90 days are up I intend on reassessing everything like I did with cutting out beer: How I feel, what’s changed, if I really am missing out on experiences, etc.

Whew! Let the challenge begin!