Caffeine addiction ramblings

geebusuk

Until maybe five years ago I'd always avoided caffeine as a regular drug.
Then it started with a can of coke at every mid-morning break.
Then I got a more stressful job and was trying to lose weight, along with regular gym stuff etc so moved up to 4 cans of coke zero a day.

Got made redundant (just after buying 200 cans because they were on a very good deal) and decided to kick the habit so went 'cold turkey' and just stopped as I didn't need to be specifically alert at a specific time etc.

Since then have got back in to it in varying degrees - being self employee means plenty of stress and needing to be motivated etc.

Had some Gastritis and the doctor said avoid all caffeine and fizzy drinks (the only two things on the list which I regularly took - ie no regular alcohol, don't like spicy foods etc).
Suspect it was a mixture of lack of sleep, a load of exercise, a load of protein and a variety of fizzy energy drinks (including monster, relentless and some cheap blue stuff from Morrisons) all in one day pushing a pre-existing dodgyness over the edge.

Anyway, so I've been trying to live a fairly caffeine and fizz-free diet.
Have had the occasional coke zero when tired (two cans today.)

Still felt really knackered, when I had been planning to go out for a bike ride in the evening (house mate woke me up early making music - not sure why he can't use headphones at 8am?)
Had half a 'diet' protein bar which has 125mg of caffeine in the whole bar - had a pretty good cycle ride and bumped myself up to second 2 seconds behind a KOM on Strava (only a teeny stretch, but still.)

Sure I wouldn't have done it without the caffeine.

The point of this post?
Not sure.
Maybe wondering if I'll actually get to sleep tonight, despite having taken it a good number of hours ago.

I'd like to get 'off' it completely and only use it for really special occasions, but with me current lifestyle, doesn't seem likely unfortunately.

firstsip

I'm the opposite--I grew up in an Italian household were even kids got to sip espresso (oh wow, a new reason for my username... how Freudian). I never had a chance.

I've gotten WAY better (since my three lattes in high school or my multiple energy drinks in college), particularly since I had health issues (unrelated to caffeine) that caused tachycardia... so caffeine only made it worse.

I mix a coffee powder into my protein shake every morning, and have gone from "2 full scoops" to like a sneeze's worth in one scoop... but I still get crazy headaches if I don't have ANY caffeine.

At the same time, I had REAL coffee a few weeks back... I couldn't sleep till 3, but I was SO productive.

Double-edged sword, man. Double-edged sword.

kimothy38

I enjoy coffee but switched to decaf and am quite enjoying it. I gave up all forms of coke on the advice of my trainer and the few times that I have had it I hated it. You can get get diet decaf coke but seriously, is it still considered coke? Caffeine affects people differently and sometimes it can be counter productive to weight loss. Sometimes the caffeine makes your body think it's under stress and produce adrenalin and retain fat. I've found since eating well and drinking decaf that my moods are much more normal. With that in mind I will keep drinking decaf and avoid coke. You might think you need to have it but it could be doing your energy levels more harm that good. http://www.naturalnews.com/012352_caffeine_coffee.html

geebusuk

I've never liked coffee - possibly good as I did work in a Starbucks for a year or so a while ago!
I do like it in cakes etc and would occasionally make myself say a mocha or orange syrup coffee, but slowly realised I still preferred the taste of the flavoured hot milk without the coffee!

kimothy38:
That's the problem - I get myself in to a cycle of highs and lows; using caffeine to keep the 'highs' topped up. Typical addict behaviour and I don't like it.
I don't mind using it as a 'performance enhancing drug' purely to give me a bit of extra go or perk me up when particularly low.

However, I think if anything I've been having more trouble losing weight since stopping drinking Caffeine - rather than the body getting 'fake' energy and a boosted metabolism from the drug, it craves 'real' energy when tired.
I've at least been eating a fair bit of fruit, but calories is calories still.
Shouldn't have TOO long to go before my target (ignoring Saturday which WILL be a bad day I expect).

Seeing that the doctor suggested avoiding fizzy drinks for my upset tummy, definitely wouldn't bother with caffeine free coke. Now, if they did a caffeine free coke-zero version here, might be tempted to give it a go for the placebo affect .