Quit soda - when will the cravings stop??

slickmickey

Today is day 8 of no soda. No diet coke in particular. The headaches finally stopped 3 days ago but yesterday was really hard all of a sudden. Like I was trying to justify buying the freaking soda - maybe if i only have a few sips/i can drink half today half tomorrow.

I didnt get it, because i really want to stop drinking soda. but omg it really was tough!

has anyone else tried giving up soda cold turkey? at my worst i was probably drinking 2-3 20oz bottles a day. most recently maybe 1 20oz. i've been trying to have more water and probably have been drinking about 40oz plus my iced coffee in the morning. when i get home at night i dont drink anything except maybe a few sips of Gatorade with dinner.

does it go away? i thought going out to dinner would be what was hard, but sitting at my desk at work is killing me! suggestions?

Kkourt_Love

Always have water on hand. Every time I think of soda, I take a sip of water. Make sure to do this every time and within a few days you will not have cravings. Also tea helps a lot!

RicReed2014

I've quit before, but keep going back! I also drink a ton of water everyday, but I still need it. Good luck to you!

cee134

Coffee, (I drink mine black) or tea. I like water so I drink that alot, the more you drink it the more you like drinking it.
Maybe get that flavor stuff for water? Or try other drinks? I figure sugar and calories are the issue?

There's one guy at my work that drinks a 2 liter every day.... think to yourself, atleast I'm not like that. It has to be unhealthy, even diet it would be unhealthy.

cwolfman13

I gave up soda four years ago...well, I have one every once in awhile...maybe like six per year or something...at any rate, I started drinking bubbly water. I have a soda stream at home and I just make bubbly water...sometimes I put in a squeeze of lemon or lime and sometimes I make a "mocktail" with a little splash of fruit juice.

mollydw

I can't say when they go away, but what do you crave? Personally, I crave the carbonation. I started drinking soda water- no added anything besides carbonation. It really hit the spot for me. It's not to everyone's taste, but I've always liked it. I can get it from the fountain at work, and one time I ran into a man also getting soda water. I'd never seen anyone else do it, and commented on it. He said switching over to soda water helped him quit drinking beer.

mabearof6

I gave up soda and coffee 2 months ago. I don't find that I crave soda itself just the carbonation. I usually keep some sparkling water on hand, so if I find myself craving it I have some in hand.

JeffreyOC

I was terrible for Pepsi I drank 2 litres a day, after a week of just packing it in all together and drinking only water I was over the cravings.

AngInCanada

Carbonated water and fruit juice? Just for the fizz?

lujako

I had my last Diet Coke 50 days ago (give or take a few)...I still think about having one You would think the stuff is crack! The real craving was mostly gone after a couple of weeks.

Good luck!

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YvetteK2015

I agree with those who said try soda water. I call it seltzer water. I have a soda stream, but you can buy seltzer water at the supermarket, and some have natural flavors. Sometimes that carbonation just really hits the spot. You may want to at least try having some at your desk instead of plain old water, and just see if it's a better option.

rsclause

It is probably addictive by design. I said no more to sweet iced tea and sodas and now the thought of drinking one is unappealing. Just lots of water and beer now.

skatardrummer

This is going to sound weird because I found this out by accident. I'm an avid soda drinker. I crave it like white collared office jocks like me crave coffee. I started drinking cucumber water this week for other health benefits and I haven't craved soda unless it's staring me in the face. I mean, we have lie a $50 budget in the groceries for soda every month. Its sick. But thats weird about the cucumbers huh?

ashcky

Water water water and subbing green smoothies in the mornings when I need a boost have helped me. Soda and sweet tea seems to give me a stomach ache now.

Dnarules

It took about 2 weeks. I gave up Coke (cola) in 2008, and switched to unsweetened iced tea. I didn't really get the caffeine withdrawal headaches, but it was still a struggle. Now I don't even think about it. I may have a coke 3-4 times a year.

Lorilynn_37

I quit it cold turkey about two months ago.. After about four days the headaches went away I was a huge coke fan and had a min of 2/3 a day.. I craved them for about three weeks just because I felt like everyone around me was drinking them lol.. Now I don't even desire them at all I realized after beginning to count calories that I was drinking most of my calories each day plus some with food.
I feel so much more energized and I actually feel healthy.
Get past a couple weeks and it will get better! If your 7 days into it you might as well keep it up!! Good luck!!

druidkat7

I was recently on a mini-vacay of about six days, with my friend Q, visiting his grandma in Kansas. After the week was up, I was actually BORED of Coke. And that's something I don't say too often, given that it's been the go-to pop in my house since before I was born. So on the way home, we stopped at the Sonic in Bethany, MO, and instead of Coke, I got an iced tea, and honestly, haven't really touched any pop since. It's either been coffee, tea, juice, water or almond milk for me, and even then I've not been drinking too much coffee lately.

angiehobbs20

I used to drink around a liter (or more) a day. I've been trying to cut back and something that's helped me is setting a goal that every Sunday I can have one glass of pop. I look forward every week to that one glass and on the rough days at work I'll stop and think "Only X number of days until my one glass." Over the past few weeks when Sunday rolls around I don't even drink my alloted one cup because I made it this far without it and I know I can continue to fight off the craving. Sometime having the security net of a moment when you can drink it has helped me mentally fight off the temptation to drink. GODD LUCK!

DRem7

I'm on the same journey Pepsi was my drug of choice, it's been 1 week and I still crave it, for me it was the taste and sugar. I have a bad sweet tooth and I'm trying to cut it back. It is extremely hard for me. Every day I'm like, I want a Pepsi I want a Pepsi. Fewf. Good luck! I hope we both succeed!

leebirm

I used to drink loads of fizzy pop, a bottle or two a week plus a small bottle every day or two whilst at work.
I just stopped, didn't buy it when at home anymore and didn't buy it when at work, it wasn't even for health reasons, I just decided it was a waste of money.

I can't remember the last time that I had a fizzy (non alcoholic) drink, I'm guessing it would have been 4 or 5 weeks ago when I went round to my mom and dads.

I suppose I'm lucky that I just quit it that easily

maidengirl_

I give nothing up...just limited it. I love soda and I refuse to "give it up" just because I'm on a journey. I STILL drink soda, regular and not that diet crap, but not in the same capacity I used to. I'm down 37 pounds. This is a journey. Not a race to the finish line. Please have the food you want but in MODERATION. This is the key to success. Denying yourself things you want is just going to led to binge eating.

143tobe

I also believe in allowing all things in moderation...BUT I do believe that some people have that trigger food, and mine is Soda. I mostly stopped drinking Soda a few years ago due to pregnancy, but will get a craving every now and then. What I've learned for ME, is that Diet Coke is worse than regular, and what I mean by that is, that when I used to get a craving for soda, I would buy a 1.5 or 2 liter bottle of diet because it was a lot cheaper than the smaller ones, and I didn't want to consume all the calories, but I couldn't just stop at the one bottle. I would usually end up drinking 3 or 4 of them (in a week) because the craving was just triggered. After about a week, I would feel like total crap, headaches, body aches, and I would once again...have to quit cold turkey. Not a fun cycle. Most recently I decided to allow myself a 12oz can of Coke once a week on the day that I do a big workout. Well...that didn't really go over so well either, it triggered me to drink 4 cans that week, but 4 cans of regular coke is still better than 4 huge bottles of diet coke (in my opinion) and I didn't feel like crap. So I am still doing my best to figure out a way to enjoy my most favorite treat, while keeping it under control. It really is an individual process that only you will be able to do to figure out what works for you. My only advice, stick to the regular stuff...no calories sounds good, but from my experience, it messes with your system (my system) a whole lot more than sugar does. Good luck in figuring out what works for you!!

slickmickey

i have loved the taste of diet coke since i was about 12. my mom bought it for a friend when she came to visit and i drank the leftovers and was hooked. maybe i'll try the seltzer. i've noticed that the same chemicals in diet coke are in the flavored fizzy waters (not seltzer tho) so i've been hesitant to drink them, worried that THAT is whats making me crave it. maybe i'm just crazy tho

JeromeBarry1

I'm trying to remember if I have cravings for Coke. Nope. When I was living with my parents back in the 1970's I asked and they provided sugar-free Dr Pepper and Tab. I switched to coffee, with fake sweetener, after I moved out and ditched the fake sweetener a few years later. I would sometimes share my wife's large Coke at the movies, but my preference is to avoid the slimy aftertaste of it.

ninerbuff

If the soda is DIET, then you don't have to give it up if you don't want to. Regardless of the hype that many "googlefu" experts say, scientific evidence hasn't shown it to be detrimental to weight loss. Weight loss is dependent on CICO and diet soda has 0 calories, so it's not the soda that caused the weight gain.
You still want to make sure that you're getting in some pure water in your diet too.

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