What helped me is that I really like water. I started out with buying a case of water and stopped buying soda. I would ask for lemonade or iced tea or something when eating out.
I go through cycles of lots of soda, no soda, some soda, etx. I just carry a water bottle with me that I can refill once I kick the habit.
See, I drink a ton of water, but still manage to drink 2-3 pops/day. I don't have pop when we eat out. It's just at work and home I'll have a can or grab a fountain drink. It seems like it should be easy to do, but......
See, I drink a ton of water, but still manage to drink 2-3 pops/day. I don't have pop when we eat out. It's just at work and home I'll have a can or grab a fountain drink. It seems like it should be easy to do, but......
This is me too.
I drink a lot of water, but love the fizziness of my coke zero. </3
I still drink it on occasion but I'm not an every day soda drinker like I was years ago. I would normally bring a can to work for lunch every day. I went cold turkey; just stopped buying it. (Easy said than done, I know!) It helped that I had a coworker/friend who would shame me for drinking soda daily.
I'm back on it occasionally, but I quit for about 8 years or so. I replaced it with juice. Sometimes I just crave something with flavor and not just water, so I grab juice instead. But apparently, people are telling me, the sugar in juice is really bad, and I should quit that, too. Harrumph.
I did it almost 3 years ago and haven't looked back. I went cold turkey. I do still sometimes get a root beer or a Dr. Pepper in a restaurant. I drink only water, with an occasional iced tea, at home. The difference in how I felt and especially my skin and dark circles was dramatic!
I did it almost 3 years ago and haven't looked back. I went cold turkey. I do still sometimes get a root beer or a Dr. Pepper in a restaurant. I drink only water, with an occasional iced tea, at home. The difference in how I felt and especially my skin and dark circles was dramatic!
Good luck!
I think I would lose some weight and my skin would look a million times better. I don't have bad skin now, but I know it could look so much better.
Sometimes I just want the fizz. I may just go cold turkey
I'm back on it occasionally, but I quit for about 8 years or so. I replaced it with juice. Sometimes I just crave something with flavor and not just water, so I grab juice instead. But apparently, people are telling me, the sugar in juice is really bad, and I should quit that, too. Harrumph.
When I want flavor I drink homemade iced tea. That way I can add some lemon and a little sugar. But juice is awful for you, unless it's fresh squeezed orange juice. In an 8oz glass of Motts apple juice there are 28 grams of sugar. I don't have very much more than that in an entire day normally.
I did it almost 3 years ago and haven't looked back. I went cold turkey. I do still sometimes get a root beer or a Dr. Pepper in a restaurant. I drink only water, with an occasional iced tea, at home. The difference in how I felt and especially my skin and dark circles was dramatic!
Good luck!
I think I would lose some weight and my skin would look a million times better. Â I don't have bad skin now, but I know it could look so much better. Â
Sometimes I just want the fizz. Â I may just go cold turkey
Dooooo it. How much pop are we talking about? Could you find a carbonated water drink instead?
I think I would lose some weight and my skin would look a million times better. I don't have bad skin now, but I know it could look so much better.
Sometimes I just want the fizz. I may just go cold turkey
Dooooo it. How much pop are we talking about? Could you find a carbonated water drink instead?
Oh, on a good day, I'll have 3 cans of Dr Pepper. On a bad, more - I really do try to not get fountain pops since that is a lot of pop in one sitting. But sometimes it just tastes sooooo good. I even track the calories in MFP so I see what it's doing to me. But it's a hard habit to break.
I went cold turkey last New Year. I was always a drink it because it is there person so I replaced it with iced tea at restaurants and H stopped bringing it in the house (well the kinds that I liked anyway!)
It has been a year now and it doesn't bother me anymore. I crave it VERY occasionally when I eat food that pop 'goes' with but it was really only hard for 1-2 months.
I stopped by just taking up drinking water. I was a Diet Pepsi girl, but the chemicals were starting to cause cracks in my teeth and it wasn't very good for my bone density. Since I don't want to turn into a hunched-over old crone, I gave it up almost a year ago, and now just stick to water or coffee or tea or milk.
ETA: Also, I wanted to get more healthier blood test results on my liver. I was mildly dehydrated all the time and the enzyme readings were slightly out of normal range.
"Why would you ruin perfectly good peanuts by adding candy corn? That's like saying hey, I have these awesome nachos, guess I better add some dryer lint." - Nonny
Dooooo it. How much pop are we talking about? Could you find a carbonated water drink instead?
Oh, on a good day, I'll have 3 cans of Dr Pepper. Â On a bad, more - I really do try to not get fountain pops since that is a lot of pop in one sitting. Â But sometimes it just tastes sooooo good. Â I even track the calories in MFP so I see what it's doing to me. Â But it's a hard habit to break.Â
Oh, it is. That's why I'd just go cold turkey. Have some healthier than pop alternatives on hand so you're not tempted. I really didn't crave it anymore after a few days. I wasn't drinking 3 a day, but close enough, so maybe it won't be bad for you-it really wasn't for me. I didn't even get headaches.
I drink it occasionally, but it's no longer a habit like it was years ago. Honestly, I just stopped buying it. I can't grab a can at home if I don't have any. For a long time it was easy to avoid at work, because the vending machine only took cash and I never have cash. Now, I just try to think of how each dollar I spend on something like that adds up. If I bought a soda every day at work, that's over $6 a week, which is over $24 a month. I'd rather buy something I enjoy more for $24. And forget it if you are buying 2-3!
I do often order it when I go out to eat, but that's nearly the only time I drink it these days. Occasionally if I'm at a meeting or party or something and it's offered, I'd have one. So most weeks, I either don't drink it at all or just drink it once. If you eat out at lunch every day, I'd try to limit soda to once a week for a while and then cut it out completely if you choose.
With anything, I find it better for me if I don't look at it as "I will never drink a soda again". I feel like that's too much deprivation for me. I'm much more likely to be ok with not having a soda today if I assume I can have one as a treat another time. Coincidentally, this is also how I quit smoking. I still won't say that I will never have another cigarette but I think I've smoked 3 times in the last 7 years or something stupid like that. I'm fine with not doing it if I know the option is there if I truly want to cave to a craving at some point (or in that example, if I've drank enough and someone offers me one lol).
I still drink it occasionally, but my intake when down markedly by starting to drink sparkling water. That way I got the fizziness that I absolutely need with greasy meals like pizza, without actually drinking soda.
Post by janetplanet20 on Dec 17, 2014 17:45:33 GMT -5
I just went cold turkey. It's been almost a year and I still get cravings here and there, but nothing like the first couple weeks. I drink A LOT of ice water instead.
I switched to the little 8 oz cans and then I made a pact with myself that once it was out of the house, then no more. I drink water when I wake up now and now that it's been a few months, I actually crave water when I wake up which I thought would NEVER happen.
Post by whitemerlot on Dec 17, 2014 17:54:45 GMT -5
I drink La Croix water when I want something other than plain water. I drink a diet soda here and there, but try only to buy it when I'm hosting a party with people who drink soda.
Post by whiskeyandwine on Dec 17, 2014 17:57:42 GMT -5
I am drinking 4 liters of water a day. Aside from my one cup of coffee each morning, I don't let myself drink anything until my 4 liters are all gone. So there's just not time for pop!
I went cold turkey, and was drinking wayyyyyyy too much Coke before I did it. You can totally so this.
I used to down a six-pack of coke daily. It was bad.
Then I gave it up for Lent one year and managed to make it all the way through. I still drink it now, but I really try to limit it to just a few times a week.
No weight loss because I make up for it in other ways. Heh.
Post by christy082 on Dec 17, 2014 18:09:08 GMT -5
Once I got pregnant I only occasionally had it. Once I ran out of what we had at home, I decided not to buy more and only got it as a treat when we ate out or went to someone else's home. Eventually I started only getting some of the times we ate out, and then I realized I no longer had a taste for it, so I just stopped altogether.
So I guess I inadvertently just gradually phased it out.
I started out by replacing it with iced tea. I bought an infusion pitcher so it was easy to make in large quantities. Occasionally I would make a pitcher of flavored water instead of tea, and eventually found that I preferred it. Now I really only drink water, mostly plain, but sometimes flavored.
And I didn't go cold turkey, at all. As long as I was cutting back, and drinking less each week than I did the week prior, I figured that was progress. But it got easier to resist as time went on, and now I find that when I do have it on occasion, I don't like it anywhere near as much as I used to. Regular soda is way too sweet, and artificial sweeteners taste like chemicals to me now. And the acidity and carbonation in any soda feel super harsh to me now. I had a Regular coke this summer at a cookout and haven't had the desire for another since. I would say it took a good 6 months to get to that point. But you can totally do it! And I wouldn't start during the holidays either.
If you are a "for the fizz" drinker...DRY sodas. Specifically the Vanilla Bean flavor. Still not the best thing ever to be drinking, but it's better than juice or some other alternatives.