Soda Addiction - looking for advice/motivation

heathbn

To give a little info on myself: I'm a 25yr old female, 5'7" weighing 230lbs. I won't bog down my post with all the details of how I got to this weight, but as of my current situation my goal is lose 90lbs. I haven't officially started this final weight loss journey....if anything I find this to be very hard in terms of motivation. What I am wondering is if perhaps I made a change in my drinking (soda) habits then maybe I will start seeing a difference in my food preferences etc?

I can easily drink over a 2L in one day. Mainly diet soda but I do drink regular soda on occasion. I will be the first to admit I do overeat. At the same time, I do work a job that is very physically demanding. I know that if I were to cut back on eating and make better healthier choices that I could lose the weight.

I'm looking to see if anyone has any recommendations/tips/motivation etc on how they quit drinking soda. Did you notice any difference in your weight/emotional status/food cravings? Would it be okay to start with just focusing on quitting soda before moving on to other things (such as portion control)?

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

-Britt

cmriverside

If you are drinking soda with caffeine, cutting back will make a huge difference emotionally.

RelevantGains

Diet soda has 0 calories and will not impact your weight loss. May not be the most healthy thing, but the effects of artificial sweeteners is highly exaggerated, so probably not a huge deal.

There are more impactful changes that you could make than cutting out diet soda, which won't really change anything. If you were drinking 2L of full sugar soda a day, then that would be a different story, as that is a significant amount of calories.

AlabamaMama224

Switch to diet, or something like la croix seltzers. You don't necessarily need to revamp your whole diet. Just eat appropriate portions of what you are currently eating. Make it fit your calorie goals. And log every. Single. Thing. Small, sustainable changes add up.

Hornsby

It'll be tough, not gonna lie but that's due to the caffeine.

Could you just cut back?

Diet Soda has a minute amount of calories so it won't impact your weight loss.

sharts11

My husband used to drink an entire 12 pack case or more a day, and I would drink about 3-4 cans a day. About 2 months ago we decided to change our lifestyle in order to improve health and well being. We just stopped drinking pop cold turkey, and replaced it with ice water.

My husband had headaches the first week, but no cravings. I had cravings, but no caffeine withdrawals. Before adding any exercise or changing anything else in our diet, my husband lost 13lbs in 3 weeks. I lost 6lbs.

I will now drink a diet pop once in a while, but my husband does not. According to our Doctor, carbonation is just not good for weight loss, whether diet or not, because the carbonation causes the stomach to expand from the bubbles. This means you will want to eat more to fill the larger stomach.

lilstry

Soda is very addictive because of the caffeine. It also dehydrates you which can make you drink more! Find another drink you like and integrate that into your habits. Choose something with less sugar and little or no caffeine.
Gatorade, Vitamin water, sobe, and try drinking some regular water. Personally I have cut my soda intake completely and now I feel better. (A little less bloated from carbonation!) In addition to less pop I changed my diet and have been eating healthier as well.
If you have a huge urge to drink soda only allow yourself to drink I liter pop and water. Then after a week take it down to a can a day! With anything its good to set goals and try and stick to them. Caffeine withdraws aren't that bad. Mostly just headaches and a little irritability. Try to get plenty of rest today

TeaBea

Hornsby wrote: »

It'll be tough, not gonna lie but that's due to the caffeine.

Could you just cut back?

Diet Soda has a minute amount of calories so it won't impact your weight loss.

This^

I drink one or two (12 oz) diet sodas everyday. It's not great for my teeth, but it doesn't impact weight loss. Try cutting back and adding more water. I keep a Brita filter pitcher in the fridge (cold water) mmm. Also, I drink unsweetened ice tea (for the caffeine).

SusanMFindlay

lilstry wrote: »

...Gatorade, Vitamin water, sobe, and try drinking some regular water.

Be very careful with Vitamin Water. Most of it is glorified Kool Aid - with all the sugar and calories that implies. Unless you get the "Zero" stuff, 1 cup of Vitamin Water has as many calories as a cup of soda.

I used to be a soda addict. First, I weaned myself of regular soda by switching to diet. Then, I started replacing some of the diet soda with Crystal Light (any flavoured calorie free drink would do). Then I started making the Crystal Light more and more dilute. I currently make it a quarter as strong as the label says. Once I was used to that, I swapped in some water instead of the flavoured water.

These days, at least half of my drinking is water. The rest is a mix of (mostly) homemade iced tea (no sweetener), dilute Crystal Light and the occasional diet soda.

zyxst

If it's caffeinated, you'll probably have headaches or withdrawal symptoms, I know I did. I weaned myself off 2L a day slowly down to an 8 ounce glass a day, then stopped altogether for 6 years. I started drinking diet soda this year because I really missed the fullness the carbonation gave me.

If you want it, just account for it in your calories.

cwolfman13

I just weened myself off. I used to drink anywhere between 3-6 sodas daily...never diet. I cut that back to one per day and just treated it as a little treat for the day...usually with my lunch. After a couple of weeks I dialed that back to one every other day...and so on and so forth until I had it down to once per week...and then I just kind of stopped.

I have a soda occasionally now...not that often and I don't really think about it.

bmclogins

I was raised on soda. I LOVED soda, and drank a lot of it. I could never stop by cutting back, or just drinking sparking water with fruit juice, or any number of flavourings or substitutions. I had to stop drinking it cold turkey.

My recommendation: Only drink water. Don't complicate your life. Just get a big honking reusable water bottle and carry it around everywhere. Throw away any pop or drinks that are not water. You will feel like S**T for a week or so and then... you will feel awesome.

Now I drink naturally decaffeinated tea in the morning and evening, and the rest of the time I drink water. I still have wine, etc. if I go out with friends. But water is really the only drink your body needs.

bmclogins

I forgot to add: carbonation is really not good. A lot of my tummy troubles (reflux, etc.) went away when I switched to a water-only way of life. As for food, I eat whatever I want as long as it's close to my calorie goal. It seems to be working, slowly but surely.

JeromeBarry1

If you have been consuming 2 liters or more of full-sugar carbonated beverages daily, yes, eliminating that is a sufficient first step to weight loss. Use the food diary of myfitnesspal to record each and every ml of 'soda' that you consume, as well as all the other food you eat. Truthfully and accurately do so, and you will see that a 2l bottle of your full-sugar soda has more calories than your body needs in a day.

jdhcm2006

I love flavored sparkling water. Dasani has some tasty ones and so does La Croix. Now, it does take getting used to b/c it doesn't have any sugar. And don't expect it to taste like soda, but it's good to me.

Alishia6606

I quit cold turkey. I wasn't drinking diet but Dr. Pepper was my favorite and I could drink a case in two days. I had my last one on June 5th. I did notice a smaller belly (didn't have a scale) and it was a lot. About 2 inches.

My current drink is the Lipton diet green tea citrus. They are high in sodium but I wanted something to drink during these warmer months that wasn't just water.

I would find something to replace it with. Like said above: the carbonation expands your tummy.

Best of luck!

michchipp

I would stop drinking it completely, cold turkey. Don't buy it. If it's not in the house there is no temptation. I never ever drank diet soda. I don't like aspartame etc. I do like gingerale but I have never been a high consumer of it but I do not buy it anymore so it removes the temptation. What you crave is not the pop but the sweet taste. You need to replace this with a healthy alternative. You could make a healthy smoothie with real fruit this will satisfy your sweet tooth. I have a huge sweet tooth and have found that using real fruit as an alternative works to satisfy the craving for sweets. I mainly drink just water now but sometimes when I want a sweeter taste I take real fruit juice like orange or lemonade and put about a quarter inch in the glass and fill the rest with water, hence low calorie very low sugar but a little taste. You can also buy flavour infuser cups that let you put real fruit with water to add flavour to water. I would stay clear of artificial sweeteners etc.

OhJazmine

I honestly don't know. I think if you still want diet soda it is perfectly okay as long as it isn't your main source of liquids. It will expand your stomach a bit but eating fresh vegetables, fruit and whole grains, i.e. oats, should solve the expanded stomach problems because its more food for fewer calories.

lemurcat12

If it's mostly diet it's not the reason for the weight issue, and cutting it out won't make much of a difference. Back when I was struggling with motivation I'd come up with things like that -- maybe I'll stop drinking coffee! -- that weren't necessarily bad things to do (excessive caffeine isn't great) but were also not the issue and a way to postpone dealing with the real issue, which seemed harder. I kind of wonder if that's what's up here -- you haven't thought-through/figured out why you are overeating, so are hoping you will just automatically start eating lower calories (low enough to lose) if you make this other change. I suspect that won't happen.

Now, if some of the soda is not diet cutting it out WILL help with calories and it's not uncommon to think that kind of thing is less than it really is when we aren't logging or doing something else to be mindful, so cutting out non diet soda or beverages with calories to start would be a good plan. Plus, as others have said caffeine is addictive so tapering down gradually is a good idea, so that might be a good first step.

In the meantime, I'd also log or write down everything you are eating. That will help you figure out some other things you can do to get the diet under control and cut calories if you want to, which would likely help with the motivation piece (it's determination and a plan that matter, though, not motivation ultimately).

markrgeary1

Water. Two liters is way too much, even diet. Buddy has chronic kidney stones, his doc says it's from soda. They told him next to giving birth stones are the next most painful condition.

not_my_first_rodeo

Lots of good advice here. I used to drink soda. Now it's a rare thing for me: the occasional ginger ale is probably the most I ever have. I've been drinking seltzer water for years. No calories, no sodium, and I still get the carbonation.

broseidonkingofbrocean

RelevantGains wrote: »

Diet soda has 0 calories and will not impact your weight loss. May not be the most healthy thing, but the effects of artificial sweeteners is highly exaggerated, so probably not a huge deal.

There are more impactful changes that you could make than cutting out diet soda, which won't really change anything. If you were drinking 2L of full sugar soda a day, then that would be a different story, as that is a significant amount of calories.

This right here. There was a recent study done on sweetener disproving lots of the negatives that are commonly brought up with diet soda's. Like the aspartame somehow hindering weight loss(completely debunked btw). It was actually proven that it can have beneficial effects since it can satiate sugar cravings. Tomorrow I will try to find and link said study or you can try using googlefu yourself.

If that is something your worried about there is "http://www.capellaflavors.com/flavors-with-stevia/" which are flavor drops at the fraction of mio and you can just drop these into seltzer water. More potent than MIO so a few drops will do you.

ConcordDiet

Aside from the sugar in regular soda and the usual suspects in artificial sweeteners, the phosphoric acid found in many sodas is very detrimental as it robs calcium from your system. It took me awhile but I finally moved to unsweetened ice tea with lemon.

Trish1c

I drank a lot of regular soda for years. About 10 years ago I started giving it up for Lent. It was always hard & I didn't always replace it with the best things -- usually sweet iced tea, or fruit juice mixed with seltzer. The only diet soda I can tolerate is Fresca so that got mixed in. Once Lent was over I was back on the soda / sugar / high empty calories. At 150 calories per can I was easily consuming 600 calories per day.

When I finally made the commitment to really do this -- to lose weight & watch my calories -- I knew there was no room in 1200 calories per day for even one can of soda so I stopped cold turkey. I drink a lot of water now. I am in search of something with flavor / taste & still enjoy fruit juice.

If you don't want to go cold turkey at least swap out -- have a soda, have a water. You will reduce your consumption by half. When you get comfy with that, drop more soda.

It really is mind over matter but it's hard. Keep plugging away at it.

As for the order in which you do things, tackling the soda addiction before you deal with portion control, it's a personal preference. Which way will enable you to make the long term change & incorporate the new behavior into the rest of your life? Personally I'd start with simple logging. Just track every thing that goes in your mouth for a week or so. You will be appalled. Having to log (write it down) so it's staring you in the face will help reduce consumption. After you get used to tracking, then you can start making changes. The bad habits didn't develop overnight & they won't go away that quickly either.

markrgeary1

Start by cutting back a little. If you drink caffeine prepare for headaches.

While I don't think excessive amounts are good, buddy has chronic kidney stones and his docs claim it's from excessive soda. That said it's not meth or smack so find a happy medium.

AmandaISabo

Carbonated water. Either flavored or not.

extra_medium

If your main concern is weight loss, I'd suggest to focus more on your calorie intake, weighing and logging your food for now, especially if you mostly drink diet. Diet soda has 0 calories, and focusing your effort into that is kind of putting the cart before the horse.

H_Ock12

If the caffeine in soda is what you're looking for, without the actual soda, try caffeine pills. I take two in the mornings when I'm working out (with a glass of water), then one later in the day. On days I don't work out, I take 1/2 of a 200mg pill morning and immediately following lunch. I still have an occasional soda, but I get my caffeine without them. You can gradually make changes, maybe only eating one plate of food per meal, using a smaller plate, packing your lunch and leaving your debit/credit/cash at home so you can't buy any additional food.

heathbn

Hey guys! Sorry I have been absent. I just wanted to thank everyone that took the time to respond to my post....it means a lot to me! :-)

juliebowman4

If you like coffee, drink a nice strong cup in the morning to help with the level of caffeine withdrawal.
Hubby was a 10-15 cans a day of coke.
He just cold turkey'd it.
It was mild to moderately unpleasant for 2-3 weeks (headaches, mood disturbance) but the intensity of the withdrawal began to dissipate at the 7 day mark.

As a replacement he tried carbonated waters with flavourings...but in the end, once he broke the habit of grabbing a can every hour or so, he found he just mostly drinks water.

qwikstreet

That is a lot of soda. I loved my soda too. What helped was reviewing studies that showed the dangers of soda. I also did some experiments with Coke and saw how good of a cleaning agent it was. Once I saw it dissolve rust, I knew that I had to cut it almost entirely out of my life.

Water is key and will be a huge jump start to your weight loss. Just one 2L bottle of water is over 8 cups. I believe your first few weeks of cutting soda out should be focused on water. Let it flush out the toxins in your body and rehydrate your body. This should help jumpstart your metabolism.

Yes, water is bland and boring to drink for eternity. Diet green tea is a good low sugar low calorie drink. I am currently addicted to the BAI Coconut drinks which are tasty, 0 sugar, and extremely low calorie.

Water though is key to the start of your success. Good luck to you.