How did you kick the soda habit/cravings?

remaho80

I justify it by my exercise!

That's totally what I've been doing! I've had 2 already today and I'm starving right now and I have ZERO calories to spare. Now I HAVE to burn a few hundred calories soon in order to be able to eat something without going over in my calories for the day. It's getting ridiculous!

Thanks for all the tips everyone! Starting tomorrow, I'm going to slowly start weaning myself from the MD! I think I may just have one every other day for a week or so and then one every few days, etc. There's no way I can just have half a can, because I'd be too tempted to just go ahead and drink the whole thing! I'm going to try to replace the MD with iced tea. I hope it works!

Jspiffy

I was about as severe as you can get when it comes to pepsi. Anything else doesn't compare to the taste so any other drinks were out of the question for me. I had to do it cold turkey (kinda) and endure the pains and headaches. When I first tried to lose weight a while back I tried diet and no pepsi at the same time. I found it was hard for me to handle and I became very cranky all the time. I had to take it one step at a time. First drop the soda, this was hard for me because certain meals demand a soda like a burger and fries or pizza and wedges. These are my absolute favorite meals that require a pepsi. I then limited myself to only have sodas with meals and not on the spur of the moment drink quencher. I have always liked water so drinking water in between meals was not a problem. When I cut out fast food (mostly) I cut the soda. Kicking the burgers and pizza was just as hard as the soda since it was my go to comfort food and it's so easy to get to. I do have an occasional pepsi when ever I have a meal where I allow myself to splurge like once a week. My main intake is 99% water and then when I need something sweet I use the little Hawaiian punch singles which have 10 calories per packet.

wicklessgal

I haven't cut down what I used to eat, I just eat/drink less of it right now. I do not want to deny myself anything because that is the fastest way for me to stop doing this. I have soda here at the house but haven't had any because I don't want to drink the calories. I keep to my calorie goals and just remind myself If I drink a soda I have to log it and it will take away from what I can eat. So fart 23 days later, I have not had any soda at all!!! Just keep making baby steps!

Mad_Dog_Muscle

I was a massive coke zero addict, but I just made it through my 3rd week without any Coke Zero / Diet Drinks. I just stopped cold turkey. I was fine the first 2 days, then the 3rd day was hard... headaches, moody......but after that its been easy. real easy. I feel a LOT better, my head feels clear, I dont feel bloated AND I noticed a 3 lb weight loss the first week alone!

Google how bad it is for you and that may help as well. It may not have calories, but its all artificial chemical sludge thats in that can or bottle.

Tangerine302

I drink just about all water now, but I did like pepsi. I don't feel I was addicted to it, but I liked the taste. I always bought caffeine free so I didn't have to deal with caffeine issues. Anyway, sometimes you might want something a little sweeter or flavored. I buy the Sobe 0 flavored waters sometimes. It might help to change to that while slowing down your mountain dew until you can just quit drinking it.

Another big thing with the pepsi for me was to just quit buying it at the store. When you are doing your shopping, it is one time that you have to make the resist to buy it. If it is already in your fridge, you have to resist it all day long. It makes it much harder. If it's not there, you will find something else to drink.

Soon you won't even think about it. Also it's good to get a water bottle. Mine holds about 4 cups. I keep it with me. I know 2 fill it up at least twice a day. Soon as you are thirsty and even when you aren't thirsty drink it. The more full you are on water, the less you will want to eat or drink anything else. When I first started all this water in the beginning it was kind of a struggle to drink that much. I was just drinking it to get my water in. Now it is much easier to get it in and I'm amazed at how fast I go through it.

Good luck, you can do it! Yeah, I agree, read the back. You wouldn't want to wash your car with it so don't wash your insides with it. haha

ohhbee2012

I allowed myself to only have soda on weekends. During the week I had other drinks, and over time you will begin to not even want the soda on the weekend. I was a HUGE coke fanatic.

quishajuice

I was a massive coke zero addict, but I just made it through my 3rd week without any Coke Zero / Diet Drinks. I just stopped cold turkey. I was fine the first 2 days, then the 3rd day was hard... headaches, moody......but after that its been easy. real easy. I feel a LOT better, my head feels clear, I dont feel bloated AND I noticed a 3 lb weight loss the first week alone!

Google how bad it is for you and that may help as well. It may not have calories, but its all artificial chemical sludge thats in that can or bottle.

Ugh yes I also experienced headaches and moodines (geez youd think we were quitting drugs lol) So be prepared for these things it's a battle but you'll win!

T_R_A_V

I gave up on cutting out soda...i love diet mtn dew too much

lulutm

I went from diet sodas, to crystal light packets in water. I noticed crystal light was causing water retention, so I kicked that cold turkey. I am now strictly on water with lemon during the day!

You can do it!!!!

Djbass728

I quit by going on vacation - I took myself away from all the triggers that made me want to have a diet coke and a cigerette!!!! I planned it so that my last day of both was the day before I flew out. I had a little caffeine headache the first day - but I took some tylenol and kept enjoying the sights in Vegas. By the end of my vacation I was free of both addictions and came home so proud of all that I had accomplished. Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lizzybethclaire

I used to be like this with Coke. The soda that is...hehehehe. Gosh, what an awful joke. Seriously, some people either do well cold turkey or some do better giving up a little at a time. How big is the mountain dew you drink each day. A can? a 20 oz bottle? a liter? Try drinking a can each day around lunch time. Budget for it in your daily calories. Do that for one week, than have a can every other day the next week, and just keep lessening it until it is done. Honestly, I gave up soda because I realized that water has no calories and I get to eat more food.

amilynnM

I have a total lack of willpower when it comes to soda and junk food, so I have found the easiest thing is to never keep it in the house. When I used to keep cases of diet Coke or diet Dr. Pepper in my fridge, I would go through multiple cans a day! Now I crave soda a lot but I just order diet Coke when I'm out at restaurants (which isn't very often lately since I am cooking more and have less money) or if I really really need to treat myself, I have to go out and walk to the store. Making it more difficult to get to tends to be a deterrent. And now I think I'll go to the store and get myself some Diet Dr. Pepper...you've made me crave it!

But seriously, don't keep it in your house, or keep a lot less of it around and gradually reduce how much you buy until it's (almost) nothing.

krb731

At some point you will say enough is enough. You will determine that Mt. Dew is not going to have that much control over you. You will then take the steps to get the junk out of your system, replace it with something healthy, and have the strength to fight through the cravings. A few months later you will look a bottle of Mt. Dew and smile knowing that you are in control.


Okay so that's how it happened with me and Cherry Dr. Pepper. The unopened bottle still sitting by my desk.

Dbow0207

Honestly, i just stopped clod turkey. I can't ween myself off of stuff because I'll never stop it. So I just stopped drinking soda. Period.

NeuroticVirgo

I replaced soda with diet green tea, iced tea (no sugar added), & crystal light (in the beginning I also bought a lot of canned versions of these, no calories, but still easy to grab and go like soda was)....then gradually changed those to just water. Now I drink mostly just plain water...I used to drink like 128oz of soda a day (Big Gulps etc were not helping my case).

For the first week or so, I couldn't leave the house without Excedrin (which has caffeine in it)...to help the headaches. But its much easier to wing off the pills than the soda. Because you only take them when you get the headaches, after a while you won't get them at all anymore...and therefore will stop taking the Excedrin.

That's how I did it.

JohnnyNull

I'm a cold-turkey kinda guy. And yes, I had terrible withdrawals. Horrible headaches, shivers, the whole nine.

Cordy1228

I love regular sodas, but I switched to vanilla flavored seltzer water at home. It's not an exact match or replacement, but it's close enough to satisfy me.

However, I am a coffee drinker, so the caffeine wasn't so much an issue. I still got my caffeine, just in a different form.

lisabel87

coke zero! but i try to only drink them twice a month