27 year old mom. Soda/pop sucks!

What I did was drink only water for one week, then "sometimes" use MiO water enhancer or herbal/black/green tea (zero sweetener). Maybe one bottle a day out of 6.

It's been five months, when I taste soda now I have no idea how I ever drank it.

I think the key to staying away from soda is letting your taste buds reset with water for a bit, then using anything other than water as a reward. No calories allowed, ever. So... tea's become your friend real quick.

I also keep a wide variety of flavors around me, so I don't get burned out on them.

I found drinking unsweetened carbonated water like perrier helped me to kick pop. Not that I was heavy pop drinker but would indulge in juices as well.

I use to drink soda all day long I switched to water only around 3 months ago. I have coffee in mornings so I still have my caffeine kick and if I really want a soda I have a regular coke. diet isn't any better for you it many have less calories but all the other stuff they add doesn't make it worth it to drink a diet to me. I might drink one every other week and I usually don't finsh it most times. The first couple weeks are the hardest once you been doing it a month or so it will be second nature.

I am totally addicted to Diet Coke so I definitely understand. I love it. However, I've always been able to substitute other beverages (water, crystal light, whatever) relatively easily. So I just recommend trying to substitute. At the moment, I've been enjoying lemon and basil water (just a few leaves and a couple slices in a pitcher of water). Good luck! When I'm really cutting back, I let myself drink one can in the evening and I really savor it. Much better than the way I often just mindlessly drink them at work. HTH. D

23 year old mom to 3.
Dr. Pepper addict. I had quit for a few weeks and then broke down. Now...I feel like I might as well had a Dr. Pepper IV flowing. I just cant stop!

:-(

I've really cut down on the diet coke. Don't keep it in the house, only drink it when I eat out which isn't very often. Hubs and I go out for lunch maybe once a month. I might buy some when grocery shopping but I've cut down on that too.

I don't believe it's an issue for my weight loss, but it's a huge money suck. The budget just doesn't allow it, not when I could spend that money on real food.

I know a lot of people on here swear by diet sodas, but I'm not a fan. I find that they stimulate the appetite, and I'm still sitting on the fence as far as the aspartame / cancer link goes. Not worth it for me. I still drink a can of full-sugar Coke every week or two, and enjoy it. Mostly I make my own out of sparkling water with a dash of lemon or orange essence if I want something fizzy. I've always really liked drinking plain water though, so it's not as hard for me to kick the soda habit as it is for some people. (Juice has been the hardest for me - I could easily go through a liter of pure orange juice daily, and while it has more nutrition than Coke or Sprite, the calories are the same.)

I think that you have to find out for yourself which foods set up cravings in you, and allow you to become easily addicted. A lot of people here on MFP will tell you that you can eat whatever foods you want, just in moderation, as long as your calories are right. That's good advice for lots of folks, but it doesn't work for me - there are some trigger foods that ALWAYS set up cravings in me, even if I just eat a tiny bit, and then I'm miserable for a week or ten days until they work their way out of my system. So I can't eat them. Ever. I hope that in a year or so my body will have reset itself so I can eat potato chips or Dairy Milk now and then, but right now my only choices are a) eat as much as I want and stay fat; b) eat little bits occasionally and feel miserable and addicted whenever I'm not eating them; or c) never eat them and miss them a bit but feel mostly okay. Some people have to be all or nothing with certain foods, because our systems are just too oversensitized to them.

Hopefully you won't find that this is you, so you'll be able to have a bit of soda now and then, and enjoy it. If not, maybe you can look into getting a sodastream machine, or using fizzy water with a bit of juice or fruit essence.

i love diet soda. i would never even attempt to stop drinking... maybe its poison, as some would say... but some say deoderant causes cancer, and you wont find me walking around stinking up the gym!

I understand how difficult it is. I feel the same way.

I love regular Coke. Before I started this it was pretty much all I drank all day long. I'm not going to argue with anyone about it being an actual addiction or not. For me it is an addiction in the sense that I know one can/drink will lead to another. I love it that much.

Drinking Coke also leads me to eating food that I shouldn't be eating. So I just stay away from it and drink mostly water. I have to occasional lemonade or iced tea. Try just drinking water and aim for a bit more each day. Don't start off trying to drink 8 glasses right away. You most likely can't. I've worked my way up to 6-7 glasses a day. Right now I'm finding this is sufficient hydration for me unless I have something high in sodium, then I need more. I have found since starting this (40 days ago!) the more water I drink, the more I crave.

Good luck! I hope this helps.

Try drinking naturally flavored water or tea for a while. I love ice water with a 2-3 squirts of lime juice and crushed mint. Once I switched over to water and unsweetened teas, I now can't stand the taste of most sodas, it's too sweet!

Next addiction I need to tackle is chocolate...