How many units per week. [POLL]

[Chippy_Tea]

I drink more than the recommend units per week and have done for a long time i wonder if many of us have ever sat down and worked out just how much we do drink, so the question is how many units on average do you drink each week?


Presenter Adrian Chiles has urged people to track their alcohol intake after revealing he sometimes drank 80 or 100 units a week.

The BBC 5 live host said it was "horrifying" to add up his alcohol consumption, which was well over the recommended weekly 14 units.

He was told by a doctor he "can't carry on like this" and his liver damage could cause cirrhosis or death.

Chiles, 51, has tackled the issue of drinking in a new BBC documentary.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Chiles said: "I was just staggered what I was putting away".

He said most of his drinking was "completely mundane and harmless", adding: "I don't really get drunk, I don't misbehave, I don't drink during the day, I don't drink alone, I don't particularly stay up late.

"I just drink something every day.

"There are loads of us who just drink too much and I just wondered why I was so dependent on it in a small way, or is it a big way."

Chiles' comments have prompted many people to speak about their own drinking habits. Actress Linda Robson told ITV's Loose Women she thought "maybe I could have been on the way to being an alcoholic" when she used to drink a bottle of wine a night.

She said: "My big thing was because I didn't drink in the daytime then I didn't have a problem and I could make myself wait until that time every night so I obviously didn't have a problem.

"But I was still functioning, I was still coming into work."


Read in full - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45258081

 

[-Bezza-]

Scary that someone can be drinking a bottle and a half of wine every night, or thereabouts, and not really think about it.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I heard a little of the interview earlier and he said he would have a couple of pints of Guinness at lunch time then maybe a pint and a couple glass of wine at night but as he was not getting hammered he didn't give the amount of units much thought, i used to work behind a bar many years ago and often used to get pints bought by the regulars i think i would have given Adrian a good run for his money back then.

I still drink too much if 14 units is the cut off point but having given up smoking (as discussed in another thread) i cannot see myself drawing the line at 14 units if we all stopped drinking and eating all the things that the government advise us not to we could all live to 100 but what a bunch of miserable bar-stewards we would all be.

 

[MmmBeer]

This brings to mind the final chapter in Ozzy Osbourne's autobiography, which is told as a consultation with a doctor.

Doctor: Mr Osbourne, how much do you drink on average per day?
Ozzy: About four, give or take.
Doctor: Could you be more specific, four units, four pints of beer?
Ozzy: No four bottles of Hennessy, I don't count the beer.

Brilliant book by the way, laugh out loud funny.

 

[Mavroz]

On an average week less the 14 units but barbies and gatherings then 14 to 24 bracket would be more suited.

 

[Lawrence22]

I used to drink an awful lot more than I do now. Think I just about scrape into the 14-24 range some weeks less, but if I am on holidays or at Xmas I would still go way past the 35 units per week.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I was quite shocked at how the units in a 500ml bottle of beer vary so much the highest i have seen so far is 3 the lowest 2 so if you had 2 bottles a night which doesn't seem a lot to me you would be at 42 by the end of the week.

 

[GerritT]

I was quite shocked at how the units in a 500ml bottle of beer vary so much the highest i have seen so far is 3 the lowest 2 so if you had 2 bottles a night which doesn't seem a lot to me you would be at 42 by the end of the week.

Yup, especially the holidays are bizarre. Normal working weeks tend to work out better.

 

[ScottE75]

I just checked the units for a 750ml bottle of wine at 12% ABV and it's 9 units!!!

I normally drink 2 bottles a week these days what with the diet and everything (I'm trying to regain my girlish figure)

My Nan drank whiskey every night and lived to be 80...I really hope I inherited her liver!

Personally I think these boffins are just trying to ruin our fun.

 

[JonBrew]

Most weeks these days I'd be about 14 units or less. Occasionally I will exceed that. However, before we had our first kid I would have been in the 14-24 bracket without a doubt and occasionally higher .

 

[Pavros]

I was quite shocked at how the units in a 500ml bottle of beer vary so much the highest i have seen so far is 3 the lowest 2 so if you had 2 bottles a night which doesn't seem a lot to me you would be at 42 by the end of the week.

I remember it used to be that 1 pint was about 2 units which made it easier to calculate your intake. That meant you could drink a pint a day and be within the weekly limit.

That advice/calculation changed a few years ago because of the popularity of high abv lagers.

I'm sure they also revised the 'weekly allowance' down at the same time.

 

[darkbright]

Trying to have a just a few non alocholic beers in the week - not bad nowadays. The can have 2-3 drinks at weekends without much guilt.

 

[Wilfy]

I used to live above a pub and reckon I was doing over 100 units a week most weeks. Couldn’t do that these days like, getting old.

 

[Dutto]

Here's my Anthem ...



... I must be above 35 because apart from my daily beer consumption I also like a glass or three of wine with my food and a tot of spirits before bedtime.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Remind everyone how old you are.

 

[Dutto]

Remind everyone how old you are.

Er, just 75 and with an Uncle Ern who drank at least six pints a day (Mansfield Bitter) from when he was 18 until about a couple of years before he died aged 82.

When he was about 80, Uncle Ern switched to whisky because he reckoned he was spending as much time in the toilet as he was spending in the Bar!

The last time I saw my Uncle Ern he was aged 80 and looking for a lady to accompany him on a bus tour of German Vineyards.

I didn't dare ask my other relatives if he was successful in his quest, but I live in hope that I have inherited his genes!

 

[-Bezza-]

I heard a little of the interview earlier and he said he would have a couple of pints of Guinness at lunch time then maybe a pint and a couple glass of wine at night but as he was not getting hammered he didn't give the amount of units much thought, i used to work behind a bar many years ago and often used to get pints bought by the regulars i think i would have given Adrian a good run for his money back then.

I still drink too much if 14 units is the cut off point but having given up smoking (as discussed in another thread) i cannot see myself drawing the line at 14 units if we all stopped drinking and eating all the things that the government advise us not to we could all live to 100 but what a bunch of miserable bar-stewards we would all be.

2.3 units in a pint of guinness, so 4.6 at lunchtime plus another in the evening. Call it 7 units on beer. So that's 35 in a week (assuming he's doing the same at weekends). So his "couple of glasses of wine a night" is actually about bottle.

I must be somewhere between 20 and 30 units in a week. Normal consumption would be a bottle over the weekend, plus a couple of gins and/or whiskies and maybe a beer in the week. Or it might be two bottles over the course of a week with a beer or whisky at some stage.

It certainly adds up quickly and nowhere close to staying below 14 units. But as you say Chippy, it would be boring if we only did as we were told. Drinking is my only vice and I would say it's all in moderation (not that it has always been the case) so I'll not beat myself up over it.

 

[Bevvied]

I used to be in the RN. At a time when being a drunk fat bleeder was not only accepted but usually encouraged.
In them days 14 units would be considered a light day.

I reckon I'm on about 50 units a week now.
Fridays I go out with wifey and Saturday go out with pals. I'll have anything from 6 to 10 pints each time.
During week I may have a bottle or two of homebrew now and again, whilst watching sport on the telly.

I ain't gonna change. What am I gonna do, start eating tofu and drinking brocoli smoothies? At my age, that idea can take a swift kick in the danglers.

 

[Robsparky99]

I'm probably in the region of 2-3 pints a week, along with low/non alcoholic beers. Pretty boring, but I prefer water/juice/diet fizzy most of the time.

 

[DavidDetroit]

I am below the recommended 14 units per week. That was not always the case.