Need Tips On How to Cut Soda
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AyeeeAngeeel wrote: »I'm trying to lose weight but the one thing I just can't stop is drinking soda. I'm legit like addicted. Any tips on how to stop or help the cravings? Thank you in advance!
Don't buy it or start drinking diet.
If it is the caffeine you are having problems with, get diet with caffeine and cut down gradually . . . or go caffeine free and buy caffeine pills and use those to cut down caffeine consumption gradually.0 -
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snickerscharlie wrote: »
Caffeine free Diet Dr. Pepper FTW!0 -
I was a diet soda addict for many years, but found that it gave me sugar cravings! I cut out sweetened sodas (artificial or otherwise) and now just do sparkling water. Barely miss the other stuff now.2
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I drink diet soda daily, and I have for the entirety of my weight loss thus far (50 pounds). You can get your fix this way if you need soda in your life. Does it taste as good? Nope, but it will suffice. We all have to make sacrifices to get what we want, no?
As I see has been previously pointed out, conspiracy theory nonsense in the popular press that Aspartame in diet beverages will kill you or is extremely harmful has been throughly disproven in the peer reviewed medical literature. The US GAO subsequently released a report to that effect gao.gov/products/HRD-87-46 but it seems some people are determined to beat an incredibly dead horse regardless. Provided you are still getting your daily intake of water, you are just fine consuming diet soda.1 -
I don't see the need to cut soda out completely. I still have some in my fridge and have one now and then. But I drink a lot more water than I used to and over time you really don't miss drinking soda that much. It's nice to have one now and then though.0
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I cut soda out cold turkey about 5 years ago. I still have the occasional one on a special occasion like a holiday or about a 1/4 glass every now and then, but for the most part I am 100% water. I don't drink coffee or tea. I used to be able to drink a 2L of Pepsi or just about any other soda in a single day. I could also easily down a single large bag of chips in a single sitting. Chips are still by vice.1
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I was addicted. What I did was buy one of those insulated cups like yeti, and filled it up with ice and filtered water. I don't like water if it isn't ice cold, so that's why I wouldn't drink it. Maybe once a week I have a treat of ice tea with some calories that I track (I love peace tea) or coffee and I also noticed that diet sodas no longer have an after taste like they used to when I drank 3 sodas or so a day so sometimes I have a diet if I really want some bubbles. Although water still tastes the best to me now.
If you quit for a week or two it will become easier!1 -
I don't see the need to cut soda out completely. I still have some in my fridge and have one now and then. But I drink a lot more water than I used to and over time you really don't miss drinking soda that much. It's nice to have one now and then though.
Going from 3-4 a day to 1 per is harder than 3-4 a day to 0 for a month. If you allow 1 per day, its hard to stop at the 1 per day when you feel you need it. People psychologically bargain their way around it until back at old habits. At 0 there is no bargaining. Zero is 0, none, nada (but there must be a set finish, a light at the end of the tunnel). The plan is to get over that first week or two and let the body start to re-adjust. There is both a physical and psychological game needed to be played in the first couple of weeks and having a visible end point makes the psychological game possible to win.
After the month (end of the tunnel) slowly re-introduce at more sensible levels if you want. You may find you do not want to, but this is almost inconceivable at the start.
If caffeine addiction is an issue, have coffee or tea (preferably black with no sugar). The goal is to get you off soda. If we can get off sugar/sweet addiction that is a BIG plus. However, one step at a time.
Most substance addictions are detrimental (sugar, caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, "other drugs"). In the case of caffeine, a high tolerance makes it harder to start the morning without a "hit" and if you need a "pick me up" you need far more. Longer term reduction/elimination of the substance of addiction is one of the proven ways of decreasing tolerance and increasing sensitivity (as the body adapts).
Oddly enough, if you cut out (or severely limit) sugar and sweetener from all intake, after a while your sweet sensitivity comes back (this is also from experience). Foods that used to be normal start to become very sweet (almost inedible). Previously bland foods start to have more flavour. This is good thing when trying to manage weight as sugar/fructose sweetened foods do not trigger satiety (fullness feeling) the same way, or to the same degree as vegetables, meat and fats.
Overweight problems are often, but not always, due to long term consumption above calorie expenditure. Re-balancing the "satiety" triggers in out normal diet help prevent further long term over consumption.
All this does nothing to address "emotional" dependency on substances (like sugar, comfort foods, etc..). That requires different, psychological, approaches to be combined with reduction of exposure.
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I also quit cold turkey and switched to drinking (a lot of) water. Sometimes I will add a drop of soda to the water I am drinking just to give flavor. In my case, I never drank diet or caffeinated sodas. I consider the diet ones to be toxic anyway. It's been over a year now, and if I do drink a regular soda, the sugary taste is quite a shock to me. In addition, you will save money by switching to water. One other thing that drove me was the calorie counting on MFP.
It may take a few weeks before you see weight loss results, but seriously, cut the sodas completely. You will be happy you did.1 -
I was the same way 3-4 years ago. Used to drink Pepsi like water every single day. I also quit cold turkey and now I only drink water and lots of it! Soda is a rare treat now. Soda addiction is real, but not as bad as smoking or alcohol so it's much easier to quit. Once you force yourself to go without it for a week or so, you'll get used to it. I don't recommend diet soda either.. If you're trying to lose weight, that just adds empty 200 some extra calories you'd have to burn. Why waste the calories on soda at all?0
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I quit cold turkey. I didn't like the taste of diet, so I stopped drinking soda all together. I found drinking sparkling water helped with my cravings. Along with drinking more water, my need for caffeine subsided. Don't get it twisted, it was a hard, but I had to do it to get healthy.1
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I was the same way 3-4 years ago. Used to drink Pepsi like water every single day. I also quit cold turkey and now I only drink water and lots of it! Soda is a rare treat now. Soda addiction is real, but not as bad as smoking or alcohol so it's much easier to quit. Once you force yourself to go without it for a week or so, you'll get used to it. I don't recommend diet soda either.. If you're trying to lose weight, that just adds empty 200 some extra calories you'd have to burn. Why waste the calories on soda at all?
Just curious as to why you don't recommend diet soda? It doesn't hinder weight loss.2 -
I was the same way 3-4 years ago. Used to drink Pepsi like water every single day. I also quit cold turkey and now I only drink water and lots of it! Soda is a rare treat now. Soda addiction is real, but not as bad as smoking or alcohol so it's much easier to quit. Once you force yourself to go without it for a week or so, you'll get used to it. I don't recommend diet soda either.. If you're trying to lose weight, that just adds empty 200 some extra calories you'd have to burn. Why waste the calories on soda at all?
did you just say diet soda adds 200 calories you'd have to burn??2 -
Muscleflex79 wrote: »I was the same way 3-4 years ago. Used to drink Pepsi like water every single day. I also quit cold turkey and now I only drink water and lots of it! Soda is a rare treat now. Soda addiction is real, but not as bad as smoking or alcohol so it's much easier to quit. Once you force yourself to go without it for a week or so, you'll get used to it. I don't recommend diet soda either.. If you're trying to lose weight, that just adds empty 200 some extra calories you'd have to burn. Why waste the calories on soda at all?
did you just say diet soda adds 200 calories you'd have to burn??
I found this a curious addition also. Even if you were going with one of the reformulated versions that are 10 calories a can (Dr Pepper 10, Canada Dry 10, etc), you would have to drink 20 of them to give you 200 calories. This would be tough to accomplish in a day even if you were on a mission to do so
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Switch to diet soda.0
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I loved my Pepsi! but I found that the best thing for me was to just give it all up. No diet soda, no seltzer, no juice. Nothing but water. It's been about 5 months and I have not had soda.0
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switch to diet or just ween back. i used to drink a ton of soda...like 3-6 12oz cans per day. I started out by just allowing myself 1 per day...and then every other day...then a couple per week....once per week, and then none.
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flavored seltzer0
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