Quote Originally Posted by 40oz
Try to quit for a week or two, maybe drinking on weekends only. If you can't do it, you're probably an alcoholic.
There are some alcoholics who have very good control over their drinking. This isn't a very good test of that.

If you think you have a problem but don't want to quit, you're going to have to exercise incredible self-control.

I've been asking myself the same question for a long time, and this spring quit for 2 months (I discovered you CAN get sick off O'douls, lol... ). I do sometimes drink now but I approach it very differently, trying to stay out of the situations that used to be a problem for me- specifically, bar scene/party situations where in the past I would just be gulping beers throughout the night and end up totally schnockered, get on the Ninja, and blast around town like a maniac- little self destructive, anyone? At this point I limit myself to a beer here and there if I've got company or visiting a friend, try to keep it to only a couple times a week, and always keep a big glass of water in front of me because when it comes right down to it, a drink is a drink and a glass of water is just as refreshing, and I'm just as likely to reach for that, as for the beer next to it.
My friends had really mixed reactions when I quit entirely- a couple were reall bitchy about it, like my drinking buddy, who can polish off 2 scorpion bowls, 2 martinis, a couple glasses of wine, and 4 beers before acting like a prick- he's a good 260 pounds- and was obviously really threatened by my not drinking, giving me these weird lectures on how he didn't have a problem and I shoudln't get 'all Jehovas Witness on him'... wtf? And they ran the spectrum all the way to another close friend who quietly admitted that he was proud of my decision to put it aside and envied my ability to do so, having questioned his own reliance on alcohol for so long.

I've lost over 20 pounds and feel a hell of a lot better. I went from drinking probably the equivalent of a case or more a week to less than a sixer.

Highly recommended.