Major Hang Up

franniek34

Ok....so let me begin by stating that I am pretty new to this process. This week is the beginning of my dedication to weight loss. I recently quit smoking and am ready to shed all of my extra bulk. I am being honest with my food journal and am exercising every day. I do have an addiction that I am having trouble breaking -- Mountain Dew. I am trying desperately to break the habit, but am struggling. Any tips you can provide me to help me let go of the Dew???!?!?!?

Thanks!

Dinah22

I've just GOT to ask: What is mountain dew? (Apart from the obvious that is)

franniek34

Soda. Highly caffeinated and huge number of empty calories

iuangina

You have to be careful here because you are addicted to the sugar and the caffeine. You need to drop one of those things at a time.

Here's how I kicked my soda habit....

1. Week 1 - 2: Switch to diet. Diet Dew is actually pretty good. (This will cut out the sugar) Don't worry about how many you are drinking. There is a lot of sodium in these drinks so be sure to log them on MFP.
2. Week 3 - 4: Cut the number of diet drinks in half - if you were having 6 per day, cut it down to 3. Be prepared for a little bit of caffeine withdrawal. This is a b!#$%! Use advil or some other NSAID.
3. Week 5 - 6: Cut the number of diet drinks to 1 per day. Again, caffeine withdrawal will be an issue, but it should be better.
4. Week 7: Cut out all soda. Drink water, milk, crystal light, etc. If you crave the bubbles of soda - you can use club soda with a splash of cranberry/grape juice to satisfy that.

I still have a diet soda every once in a while. I will only have them when we eat out. It's a good way for me to control it.

Good luck!

Isabella_Adeline

I quit drinking 3 litres of diet coke a day cold turkey and thought my brain was going to explode. I've never had headlikes like I did for the next week. I now average about two cans a day so I can attest it can be done, but the poster above was not kidding, the withdrawl from the caffeine was painful. For bubbles, because I do like bubbles I now drink club soad (or diet gingerale on occassion) with fruit flavoured sugar free syrups that I buy at the coffee shop. A little cafe in my building calls them Italian Sodas and they're a great option. Watermelon is one of my favourites!

alhoward8

They also make a caffine free Dt. Mt. Dew... That is what I drink!

jgic2009

Switch to Diet. If you don't like the taste, start by mixing half regular with half Diet, then adjust the mixture until you are drinking only Diet.

franniek34

Great Info everyone! Could cold turkey cigarettes without too much problem, but will need to ween myself from the soda. I had no idea there was a caffeine free diet mountain dew available. Will need to look into that.

wolfchild59

For those cutting caffeine and suffering the headaches, Excedrin is your best bet. It had a small amount of caffeine in it so it works to kill those initial headaches really well since it's giving you both painkillers and a very small but of what the withdrawal symptoms are from. Once you get past the worst of it though, regular Advil will be just as effective. (speaking as someone that went cold turkey a number of years ago).