Anyone having a hard time giving up soda??

andeeinevansville

I am doing good on my eating, but I am having a hard time giving up soda...I am down to 2 cans a day and I have been making myself drink 2 glasses of water before and after a soda..I'm wondering if this is gonna mess up my weight loss as long as I'm staying under my daily calories??

Amber030583

I am right with you! However, I have gotten down to one soda a day. I use to drink much more! lol. I know it is bad for you but my thoughts are if you can budget it into your calorie allotment then it is ok. I am screwed without my caffeine. I don't like coffee so soda is my coffee!

nikki91950

are you drinking diet or regular soda?

amymeenieminymo

If I were you I would definitely keep aiming for no pop each day, but I am a firm believer in NOT giving up something completely. Pepsi is my vice, and I would rather not drink it at all than switch to diet, I've tried. For now as long as you still have enough calories for it, don't push yourself too hard to give it up, but aim for just one a day after so long, and once you hit that goal aim for none a day except for as an occasional treat. If you try to give it up completely you'll likely snap and drink a whole case at once

00trayn

I still drink diet soda on occasion, but the sugar and caffeine in regular soda can definitely have a negative effect on weight loss. It's an extra few hundred calories that don't add any nutrition to your diet. If it's diet soda, the artificial sweeteners and such aren't great for you either, but at least you're not drinking your calories. If you haven't already switched to diet soda, you may want to consider it. If it's already diet, then maybe try to drink tea or something instead.

macbikegeek

If you are really staying under your daily calories, it probably won't stop your weight loss. But it will affect your overall nutrition. If you can switch to a diet soda or flavored soda water, you'll get back some calories to devote to something else. Fruit might be a good choice to substitute - still a sweet treat but more food value. It's good you are staying under your calorie count but if you can keep cutting back it would be good. If gradual reduction helps, you could switch to the little half cans as the final step down. Good luck!

crc822001

It's hard to give up for me! I have decided to allow myself 5 a week. This has been working b/c I know on the weekends that I will want a Pepsi so I steer clear of them during the week. On the weekends I hardly ever drink all 5. It feels like a small victory but I know the best answer is none at all

DrBorkBork

I got to the point where I decided to go cold turkey, and honestly I don't miss it. I still allow myself an occasional soda from time to time (like a sprite when my stomach is upset), but otherwise I drink water.

dom98se

Cutting out soda is a definite necessity to losing weight. It's hard, I know 1st hand. I was drinking a 12pk a day easily and completely cut them out about 3 years ago. It was very hard but something I had to do. I still drink a diet soda every now and then. I could tell a difference after cutting them out. Weight was falling off a lot faster and I didn't feel bloated all the time. Try cut it down to one a day and before you know it, you'll be cutting them completely out. Good luck!

jrich1

I still drink diet sodas, no desire to give them up

♥Faerie♥

I have to have my diet cherry coke zero, I have tried to give it up, went about 3 months without it, but gave in and I usually have 1 a day, makes me feel like I am having a little treat without the added calories!

margiemontalvo

What worked on me was drinking the carbonated water The original sparking water Canada Dry, it help me stop drinking sodas

smuehlbauer

I have lost weight (40lbs) and I still drink Diet Pepsi. At least one a day. I see no reason to cut it out of my diet. (I'm going to die of something and if aspertame kills me, so be it!) I drink a crazy amount of water every day so I figure a little aspertame isn't a big deal.

ballsuper

I experiment in the kitchen with seltzer water, trying to drink tea with seltzer and juice with seltzer instead of soda. I found that I really like a little bit of grape juice or lemonade mixed with mostly seltzer water. I also found that I can sweeten my tea with fruit juice instead of sugar.

bluiz13

i have been drinking diet soda foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
i used to drink well over 80 oz a day but have pretty much cut back to one can or one 32oz fountain drink a day...some days i dont drink any, some days i drink more...

i think again anything in moderation is okay...giving up something you love will only make you have a "slip" and then that is a failure you have to recover from......

if you can work regular soda into your daily calories and you are getting all the real calories you need, than do it....

andeeinevansville

Great tips and advice everyone...Thanks so much!!

Lithuria

I drink only water unless I'm out for coffee with my girlfriends, I even order water in restaurants too, but once a week I get myself a bottle of Pepsi Max and enjoy sipping it over the weekend. It's pure bliss

ColetteDuchnowski

I pretty much gave up all soda's. I occasionally treat my self to a diet cherry pepsi...maybe once a week. My main drinks now are water, coffee and tea. I really don't miss the soda at all.

meganrae1988

I used to have a problem, but then I discovered G2. It's a low calorie Gatorade drink. I mix it with water and drink that instead of soda. Now I am down to one soda a week. And It's usually because I miss the bubbles.

StacLegg

I was having a really hard time until I saw the amount of Sodium that my Diet Pepsi was on my food log. I stopped cold turkey, I really have learned to love G2 Grape, and I've gotten so much better at drinking water since I quit pop.

jrbowers83

When I first started this lifestyle change, soda was one of the first things I gave up. But recently (since summer started) I've become "addicted" again, having 1-2 cans almost everyday. I find I weigh 1-3 lbs more on days after I drink soda even when staying within my calorie and sodium goals and drinking 8 glasses of water. Now given that you are actually drinking more water to balance the effects of the soda you might be okay. My goal is to move to 1 every other day then to once a week or only special occasions. I'm down to my last 8 pounds to lose, and the soda is definitely deterring my loss right now :ohwell: Are you wanting to cut back and have support from others going through the same? If so, I'm in.

candlegal

jrich, I am with you. I have been drinking diet cherry coke forever and have no intentions of giving it up. I have 2 to 3 cans a day and it is my "drug" of choice. There are so many things I CAN'T have, I must have my diet cherry coke, maybe some day I will give it up, but not now. I actually do half diet cherry coke and half crystal light fruit punch, so good, it fills my need for a "sweet" taste.:bigsmile:

caryn2010

I've found myself not drinking pop at all anymore. Not that I was a pop-a-holic by any means before I started using MFP, but I did usually have at least one can every other day. (hubby was a pop-a-holic so it was always available in our fridge) But now, aside from the fact that I don't buy it anymore, I find I reach for the water or for a little twist, the fruity water. (Fruit2O is yummy but also has some kind of no calorie sweetener in it though) I also do the herbal teas...warm or cold...for a switch up on tasty kinda water.

I do agree that havin a pop every now n then instead of completely giving it up would be the best way to go. Just like chocolate. ) But find yourself something else that keeps your taste buds happy besides the pop. As always, water is the BEST choice, but doesn't have to be the only one. Oh yeah...and weighing everyday just doesn't give you accurate results. Try to ween down to just once a week weigh ins, or even every 2 weeks. Just my 2 cents. Have a great day.

BigGail

I think if you deny yourself anything - you're gonna crave it even more. Maybe try and save it as a treat? I can't drink anythingcold or fizzy (except Champagne :drinker: ) but when I was pregnant with my daughter I had a craving for freezing cold coke (full fat) with loads of ice.

LowCarbAmanda

That was my biggest thing. I don't do coffee, but I drank a lot of Coke. I've bought some cans of Coke Zero, and when the cravings get crazy I have half of one of those instead. They taste similar enough to satisfy the craving, and bad enough to stave off the craving for another few days...

knittygirl52

Boy, I am with you, too! I used to drink at least a six pack every day. I really feel like it's important to move toward more "real" food and less chemically-enhanced and/or generated "fake" food. I've been cutting back a little more every so often and I'm now down to about 3 cans per day--still way too much. I find I drink water like its medicine. I really don't like it and I have to make myself drink it. So if I have a cup of coffee, I have to finish with a water "chaser" before I let myself drink anything else. Then I also dilute my diet pop with cold water or ice, but I don't count that water.

Oh the games we play. But sometimes we need to do that to get us closer to the right path!

sherryg

I drink alot of soda... and I do mean ALOT! I broke down and bought one today... I'm trying to get down to ZERO! I drink flavored water and green tea or regular tea as replacements.

lizzys

soda i like a soda now and again but the truth i like a good glass of ice tea better its sugar sweet and low or splenda i would like to get of

freebirdsnsc

Former diet coke addict here.....Im proof you can give them up....I was drinking an ungodly amount

The following is a big reason to cut them out or at least only allow yourself a couple a week


Three Reasons to Rethink that Diet Coke You’re About to Drink
January 3rd, 2010Leave a commentGo to comments


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Care for some water? No way, get me a Diet Coke, or a Coke Zero.

Water is for washing hands, not drinking. And regular soft drinks and juice are full of sugars and calories.

So you decided a long time ago to go with artificial sweeteners. After a while, you didn’t even notice the slightly different taste compared to sugar sweetened beverages. And, diet drinks are zero calories. Win-win. Both taste buds AND body are happy. A no-brainer, right?

Not so fast.

A fascinating article – Artificially Sweetened Beverages Cause for Concern – recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), challenges the notion that artificial sweeteners are risk free.

The article’s author, David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD, a Harvard professor and Founding Director of the Optimal Weight for Life (OWL) clinic at Children’s Hospital, Boston, makes three important points, especially in the context of artificially sweetened drinks:

1. Our body gets confused by artificial sweeteners – the dissociation between sweet taste and calorie intake may put the regulatory system that controls hunger and body weight out of sync, thus sabotaging weight loss plans. A study on rodents showed that those fed saccharin actually gained weight compared to rodents fed sucrose.

2. We’re “Infantilizing” our taste sense – Artificial sweeteners are a hundredfold sweeter than sucrose (table sugar). By getting ourselves used to so much sweet, normal sweet flavors, of fruit for example, become bland and so do other healthful foods such as grains and vegetables, thus reducing our willingness to consume them and ultimately the quality of our diet.

3. Long term effects unclear – while there have been many studies on artificial sweeteners and disease such cancer, very few focused on long term weight gain. A seven year study, (San Antonio Heart Study), showed a relationship between diet drink consumption and obesity, but the causation is not clear. Consumption of artificial sweeteners is growing yearly. According to Ludwig,

If trends in consumption continue, the nation will, in effect, have embarked on a massive, uncontrolled, and inadvertent public health experiment. Although many synthetic chemicals have been added to the food supply in recent years, artificial sweeteners in beverages stand out in their ability to interact with evolutionarily ancient sensorineural pathways at remarkably high affinity.

What to do at the supermarket:

Whether sweetened with sugar, or artificially, our body does not need anything but water. And while switching overnight from a life sin H2O seems impossible, you can opt for baby steps such as watering down juice, consuming soda only during predefined meals / weekly activities, and getting your sweet tooth filled with juicy fruits such as oranges, melons, pears, and apples. If money is your motivator – think about the $500 a year a family of four can save by just switching to tap water.



added by me
Studies are also showing Diet colas can bring on Metabolic syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is a collection of heart disease risk factors that increase your chance of developing heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. The condition is also known by other names including Syndrome X, insulin resistance syndrome, and dysmetabolic syndrome. According to a national health survey, more than one in five Americans has metabolic syndrome.


I can say I feel so much better with them out of my system....I have also given up sweet tea just not worth it anymore

maroon58

i use to drink one the morning, one at lunch and sometimes one in the late afternoon. now, i just drink one in the morning and most of the time, i never finish it. i replaced water for lunch and in the afternoons i drink a v8 5.5 oz can. i also add some of those crystal light packets to go....they help to add a flavor to water. surprisingly, the other day i had a 20z bottle of coke zero (my fave) and i didn't even finish it, i poured it down the drain...crazy!!!

TK266

I have given up soda for the most part. I end up having about 1 or 2 a month...but is was hard as heck at first. started drinking coffee for my caffine fix and have unsweeten ice tea when I go out to eat. and I drink G2 a fair amount. my advice is ease out of the sodas