Help with giving up cans of coke

anitaob123

Hi guys,
Does anyone have any advice on how to give up cans of coke?
I’m currently drinking nearly 8 cans a day and have gained so much weight.
What can I do to help with the cravings?
And does anyone have any success stories from giving up fizzy drinks?

TracyL963

Is it thirst, is it cold temperature, is it something fizzy, or something sweet that triggers this?

Thirst and cold temperature: do you carry a water bottle? At work (retired now) I use to bring a large steel tumbler filled with ice. Then I could refill it from the cooler all day long. Extra fancy, throw a couple lime wedges in there.

If it's something fizzy: try Klarbrunn or La Croix fizzy water. Something fizzy with flavor, but none of the sweetness. I think this is important, because sweet flavor all day long can't be a good habit.

I drink 1 can of diet soda a day. This is like an after dinner treat for me.

TracyL963

Forgot a trigger......caffeine. Do you drink coffee or tea? If not your caffeine intake is going to take a hit. Not fun. Dial this back a couple cans at a time.

cupcakesandproteinshakes

I would swap to Diet Coke. And then try and cut down the number of cans you drink gradually. I feel you. I had a real thing for coke. It took me several months to get it down to one can a day. Now I only drink it as a treat when I am out of the home

frhaberl

I went cold turkey off Coke about a year ago. As mentioned by @TracyL963, knowing what craving the drink is satisfying can help find a more effective substitute. For me it was the carbonation. I have a Soda Stream, so now I just drink carbonated water (ice cold with crushed mint leaves from my garden if I want to get fancy). I will sometimes get diet Coke if I'm craving the sweetness and caffeine or am in a social situation where everyone else is ordering Coke.

In the winter I would typically switch to coffee with sugary creamer. I found that sometimes it was just the warmth I wanted, so I'd have black coffee. Sometimes I still wanted that sweetness/flavor, so I'd do an herbal tea that hit the right flavor notes without added sugar. And sometimes I wanted the creaminess, so I'd go for a latte made with enough milk/cream to scratch that itch, but usually a small or medium where I used to go for a large.

Some people have far more success with tapering the food/drink they love, so don't feel like you have to go cold turkey. It worked well for me, and I can't remember the last time I actually wanted a coke, but results may vary.

anitaob123

Thanks for all your advice!
I don’t drink much tea or coffee but I think I will start to help with caffeine levels.
It’s a very bad habit I can’t seem to give up, I think I will continue to reduce and limit my daily cans and see how that goes!

ninerbuff

cupcakesandproteinshakes wrote: »

I would swap to Diet Coke. And then try and cut down the number of cans you drink gradually. I feel you. I had a real thing for coke. It took me several months to get it down to one can a day. Now I only drink it as a treat when I am out of the home

THIS

Leo_King84

It's a vicious circle. Its packed full of sugar that pushes your blood sugar up then your body tries to bring it down too fast making you crave sugar and thirsty, so you reach for another can.

Is it habit? Like smoking, you make ques for when you want to light up, finish eating, light up, about to go out, light up, just got in and sat down, light up.

Maybe try just drinking them after meals.

jan110144

So far I am three weeks in to giving up diet coke. Not necessarily committed to giving it up forever, but definitely would like it to be an occasional treat, not something I drink several tomes a day. All I have done is to NOT buy it for home plus I always keep a bottle of water close by.

Good luck! Our bodies certainly don't need all those chemicals@

JeanGenie12

I was drinking sugar free energy drinks and Diet Coke all day. I started cutting back by trying to drink lots of water with some sugar free water drips for flavour. Then I’d have a can which would last me much longer as I was so full of water.

I haven’t given up but down to one energy drink and one Diet Coke a day

SafariGalNYC

anitaob123 wrote: »

Hi guys,
Does anyone have any advice on how to give up cans of coke?
I’m currently drinking nearly 8 cans a day and have gained so much weight.
What can I do to help with the cravings?
And does anyone have any success stories from giving up fizzy drinks?

A can of coke is 139 calories.
8 cans = 1,112 calories.
That’s 7,784 cals per week in soda alone.
That’s 2 + lbs of fat. (3500 cals = 1 lb)

If you gave up regular soda completely - you would see an immediate weight shift. When you are out of coke, don’t buy any more and watch the scale drop instead. When you get a craving for it, drink water.

Hobartlemagne

8 cans of coke = 1.5cups of sugar.
Maybe as a reminder put that much sugar in a jar. Look at it every day and think if you want to put that in your body.
This isn't to feel guilt- but to actually see what's going into your body.

I had a bad Dr Pepper habit before. Changing to lime Topo Chico helped me to stop.

Lastly, sugar is addictive. If you can taper use over time it may be more successful.
Set alarms through the day to signal when you can drink.