Giving up Sodas

saustin201

I gave it up about 8 months ago. I slowly reduced the amount so I didn't get headaches. I used to drink about 1 can of regular coke every day.

I do have a sip of my husbands Dr Pepper about once per week, but it's only a sip. I discovered I don't really miss it.

Good luck.

SoozeE512

My advice is to take it slow, it's tough to cut it out all at once. For example, if you have 2 sodas a day, cut down to 1 soda a day for a week. Then the next week, have a soda every other day. Keep cutting it out little by little. Eventually, you'll be down to 1 soda a week, a special treat for the weekend perhaps...and after that, you'll be down to no sodas and it won't be so hard.

I used to be a big soda drinker myself, and it's worked for me. Aside from a few sips of gingerale when I was sick in November, and one other special occasion when I had a sip of someone else's soda late last year, I've essentially been soda-free for nearly a year now. It's just not even something I think about or crave anymore.

flyingwrite

I gave up all soda on January 28. In 1997. Just do it.

yustick

I have been practically soda free since 2/13/12. I used to drink it nonstop, even kept a bottle on my nightstand and drank it while I was sleeping.

I quit cold turkey and switched to water. It was hard, but it got easier in time. Keep in mind that you might have headaches from the lack of caffiene and sugar. I took No Doz for a couple weeks, to sort of give up the sugar, then the caffiene.

If you are drinking bottled water, try different varieties...I only like spring water...maybe I'm crazy. After 8 months of bottled water, I switched to a Britta pitcher to reduce waste and the cost of nearly 4 cases of water/week.

Water truly helped me appreciate the taste of fruits and veggies more. If I had a pop, I wanted another and I also craved heavier, unhealthy foods. It's like my mouth needed to be clean or dirty, it couldn't go back and forth.

Also, when I drank pop, I didn't really need to eat regulary. I would often only eat dinner. If you're like this, plan to eat at least breakfast and lunch to fuel your body.

Quitting my soda addiction is the best thing I've done for myself. The stuff is poison.

Good luck!

kteamhill

I'm totally addicted to Diet Coke. Heck, i would be perfectly content with an IV of Diet Coke running through my veins. I learned that quitting cold turkey doesn't help for me. I limit myself and cut back each week. Currently, I'm on two can's of diet coke a week. I think that's pretty good considering I'd have about 6 cans a day.

Which, from what I've heard - Diet Soda's are actually worse for you than regular soda's.

theJamesHey

At the first of the year it was nothing for me to finish off a 2 liter bottle a day. Crazy I know. It took better than two weeks before I got through a day without any. The headaches in my case didn't respond well to OTC pain killers, but within 10 min of drinking my Dr Pepper, they were gone. Cannot stand diet, don't want even try to get 'used to it'. I always have ice water at my desk at work. Tracking your food well also helps, it blows when you realize what food you have to skip to pay for the pop calories.

F1uffy123

I used to drink at least 2 litres of coca cola (normal) everyday. As soon as I started eating better and drinking more water I just havent fancied it. Haven't craved it once. You'll be fine

christianladybug

Hard addiction to break. Takes about three days for me. Just drink water whenever you are having a craving. And I know from experience that once I am off soda I should not think about even having one once in a while.

Once my three days is over I am fine but if I have a full one it is like I have to break the cycle again. I am working on my caffene addiction. Love a cup of coffee or two in the morning. This is my second day without and I have the "headache." But, this too shall pass and I will be better off for it.

We can do this!

wdriggers

I use to drink a lot of mountain dews and pepsi. I just tried to start by decreasing one a day. I also found that I tried some of those hawaiian punch packets that you can add to water and they taste great. I didn't like plain water either. So I just forced my self to start driking it and then drinking it eventually didn' t bother me like before. Sometimes you have to just take baby steps to reach your goal. Thats what worked for me.

Anclote

I drink seltzer water all the time. It's just carbonated water, so no sugar or salt or yucky aspartame or anything like that. If you must, add a couple drops of orange or vanilla stevia to make it taste like orange or cream soda x
Or add lemon, lime, cucumber, strawberry, whatever suits you! Believe me, it's so much better than regular soda. I can't even drink the stuff anymore and I used to be a total CocaCola junkie.
xo An

cleomouri

We started with just not buying soda at all. Instead we got fruit juices and drink mixes like Gatorade and the like in and effort to cut excess calories. Eventually we stopped getting those too when I realized how much sugar was in those drinks and thus, weren't really cutting as many calories as we thought.

My husband now drinks mostly water with a cup of coffee in the morning. If we're out to eat he orders water or unsweetened tea.

I got a nice big water bottle (Holds 24oz.) that I keep filled and try to get through at least twice a day. If I need something with a little flavour I keep some of those liquid flavourings in the pantry. A tiny bit of one of those goes a long way and don't add calories. I'll have coffee in the morning if I need a little boost.

Every now and then we'll get a 2L of soda; like if it's part of a deal on the rare occasions we order out for pizza. The last time we did this though I realized weeks later that the 2L was still sitting in my fridge mostly untouched. I'll still order a soda sometimes if we're out to eat, but I'm equally as likely to just order water too.

jwramirez

WOW!!! Thank you everyone for all of your advice and tips and commiserating! This was my first post on MFP as I just really started using it yesterday and I am so impressed by all of the support and participation.

I've used lots of your ideas, but the biggest thing that's helped is that everytime I've craved a soda I have come back on here and read through this thread!! It's like I'm in "Soda 'holics Anonymous"

Thanks again!!! You guys & gals are AWESOME!

2credneck208

I was like you 35 days ago, addicted to Pepsi. I used to drink 32 oz a day. My advice is just stop cold turkey. I went out last weekend and decided to drink a soda and it was horrible. I don't crave it at all anymore. Plus I'd rather eat my cals than drink them. I carry around my 32 oz water bottle and fill it up 4 times a day. You can do this!!

tita0427

I am a recovering soda addict as well...I am able to drink a LOT more water by making it flavored. Not with that powder crap or anything but with fresh fruit. My favorite is watermelon. I cut it up and put the white part of the watermelon in a pitcher throw some of the red in there too for a little more flavor then fill it with water. Let it sit over night and you have a pitcher full of water for the next day. I will fill it up 2-3 times and still have the flavor. It's very good and refreshing. It's also good with cucumber. Try it, most likely you just need some flavor to keep you on track.

clchapa1

I haven't had a soda in months...not sure how many because I'm not keeping count, but I found that what I really craved was the carbonation. That's when mineral water and flavored water came in. That helped me out so much in the beginning. Now I only drink water, unsweet tea, or black coffee...that's all. I don't even miss soda anymore.

*Fun fact- You can lose 10lbs/year by giving up sodas alone!

MSWeatherford12

Congratulations !!!!
I too have given up Soda's totally water with lime it's so good and refreshing .

rocknrachael03

I stopped drinking soda January 6th. I've had 3 sodas since. I went cold tukey. It was tough but otherwise I would never stop. I drink crystal light pure. It has truvia in it. Still has sugar tho so I only have one when I'm really struggling drinking the water. I make it a competition with myself everyday to see how much water I can drink. Lame but it works for me. I set myself little goals thru out the day to try and drink my water and it really hellps me on staying full. Then I'm not hungry and I'm not drinking soda. Soda gives you a gut. It increases your insulin making you hold belly fat! Lose the soda. Do it for yourself! You will see huge results if you stop the soda! You are drinking your calories. Always carry a water with you. And what ever you do drive a route where there is no Mcdonalds! (Cause they have the best coke)! LOL good luck!

missrenahope

I stopped drinking soda by simply refusing to buy it. I used to HATE water, but I have come to love it gradually. My number one tip for replacing soda with water (or anything else) is to drink through a straw. Drinking ice water through a straw makes it a lot more bearable and you will find yourself drinking plenty of it. After I started drinking enough water through a straw, I stopped craving soda.

mallen404

I am on day three of no soda!! feel free to add me!!

Timshel_

I was doing 44 ouncers like I should have been drinking water. I found a few things helped me. First, instead of cutting down I started mixing 3/4 regular soda with 1/4 the diet. Then 1/2 and 1/2, then 3/4 diet and 1/4 regular. Well, sounds great but anything below 1/2 and 1/2 started to taste crappy, so I started adding more ice to my 44 ounce, which was really now only about 30 ounces or less. Then stepped down to a 32 ounce, added more ice, then 24 ounce, etc.

Just ween off it.

I can honestly say, I don't miss it. Made a big difference in my weight loss.

jwramirez

I stopped drinking soda January 6th. I've had 3 sodas since. I went cold tukey. It was tough but otherwise I would never stop. I drink crystal light pure. It has truvia in it. Still has sugar tho so I only have one when I'm really struggling drinking the water. I make it a competition with myself everyday to see how much water I can drink. Lame but it works for me. I set myself little goals thru out the day to try and drink my water and it really hellps me on staying full. Then I'm not hungry and I'm not drinking soda. Soda gives you a gut. It increases your insulin making you hold belly fat! Lose the soda. Do it for yourself! You will see huge results if you stop the soda! You are drinking your calories. Always carry a water with you. And what ever you do drive a route where there is no Mcdonalds! (Cause they have the best coke)! LOL good luck!

LOL - for me it's Chick-fil-A, because they have the best Dr. Pepper!!!

DWdrummer83

I drink water all day. Whenever I crave a soda I will put a splash of Mio in my water. It really helps.

bubpuff

I used to be addicted to soda. Used to drink a diet soda every day and sometimes regular soda. Then I noticed how it made me feel one day, and I realized that I didn't really like it. Plus, it was adding on calories I really didn't need. It felt like I was forcing myself to drink it sometimes because it just became a habit. I'll get a craving now and then, but it passes. My next thing to tackle : chocolate.

cnewlin86

I'm 20 days Pepsi Free! I quit cold turkey and it's not the first time i have quit. I've tried off and on a few times in the last year to quit but the time I was really successful was when I was pregnant with my son and I went two years without drinking it. Anyway, I was drinking way too much and I am not going to work my butt off just to consume my calories back in pop! So bye-bye pop! I feel sooooooooo much better without you and drinking you just isn't worth it!