Need to quit drinking Coke. HELP!!

Hi. Since you are having such a hard time, I would suggest a gradual step down. Try Coke Zero for a while. Eventually replace those sodas with Crystal Light, and then to just pure water. I am sure it will be difficult, but you can do it. You are stronger than a little aluminum can, or a two liter bottle, or a 20 oz bottle or whatever it is. You are stronger than the sugary, caffeinated bubbles! Good luck!!

If you're in the need for Coke, switch to DIET Coke. It's not AS bad for you, but at least you're not drinking any calories. Set a daily goal of only have 2 diet cokes a day for this week. Then, next week, set a goal for only 1 diet coke a day. When you cut out Regular Coke, you will AMAZED at how much it helps reduce weight.

I stopped drinking regular coke a couple of years ago and switched to Diet Coke....I was up to 4 or 5 a day when I decided to stop drinking it 2 months ago!
I went from it to Propel to Crystal light.
How did I do it? COLD TURKEY! I got tired of getting my calories from all the soda I was drinking; the sodium is OUTRAGEOUS! Sodium keeps the water on ya:)

I would suggest a gradual cutdown though. Maybe try to cut out one a day for the first week and then go from there.
I hope you can break this bad habit;)

Im hooked on diet coke..I drank about a 6 pack a day for a long time.Cut back to 1 or 2 when I started
dieting. Back in Sept I posted a topic about giving up something for the whole month of October. So
as of today I have been diet coke free for 20 days..I dont like juice so its been water water water..or unsweet tea. But cant wait till Nov 1 so I can have one. So you could try
to finish out the month by giving up the coke or just cut back till Nov

I was drinking about a 12 pack of diet coke a day, ugh I know. I starting cutting back slowly it took me about 1 month and I was off completely. I still crave one from time to time so as a reward I will allow myself one small one on Saturday. Also another way it helped was a friend and I came up with a deal....if we drank a soda we owed the other person a $1. Good luck!!!!

I used to drink a couple of regular pops a day. After starting MFP, since I love to eat, I didn't want to waste my precious calories on pop; I'd rather eat something filling. What got me drinking water was adding a some lemon or lime juice. It gives it a little flavor and is less boring that way. Keeping it ice cold helped me too.

Good luck! Hope you can kick your habit!

I would not switch to Diet Coke or Coke Zero. There have been numerous studies done on artificial sweeteners and they're not good for you. Plus, it sounds like you've got a serious caffeine addiction if you absolutely have to have one first thing in the morning. I would gradually reduce the number of Cokes you drink in a day. Replace one a day with a healthier drink (water would be best but even juice or tea would be better than soda) for one week. Then replace another soda the next week, and so on.

For a while I was drinking nothing but soda and quit cold turkey. I hate drinking water from a regular glass but I can drink 9 glasses of water a day if I drink it from a sports bottle. Keeping the water in a closed container helps keep it fresh and not seeing the water actually helps me drink more. I'm less aware that it's water so it's not as much of a chore to drink. I drink one full 24oz bottle while I'm at the gym and I drink two more throughout the day at home. Try keeping a bottle next to you at work, at home, in the car, and take a drink whenever you feel thirsty. You'll be surprised at how much water you can "trick" yourself into drinking.

Switching to diet first might be a good idea because you won't have the headaches. I was addicted to diet Dr. Pepper. I decided to give them up after dinner first (it was really hard the first few nights, but after that piece of cake). I started drinking water at night (which I never did before...not a big water drinker). I was a bit frustrated with losing very slow and a few weeks not losing at all, so I just gave them up to see if it would be a difference. I then started drinking water instead of the soda. It has been four months and now I don't miss it at all. I don't even order it when I go to a restaurant. I think I didn't get severe headaches because I gave up part of them gradually and I still have one non-fat no fun iced mocha a day!!!

Don't just switch to diet or zero because that is no better for you. Aspartame and the other chemicals in those can cause awful headaches too. You will crave it less and less the longer you go without it, but you shouldn't go cold turkey off that amount of soda or you will be miserable. The other post that said there's caffeine in exedrin is right, I would suggest using something like that or just a caffeine supplement (like no doze) to ward off any headaches. My advice is to step down slowly by replacing your lunch coke with something else that you like to drink. I hate crystal light and most of the "good for you drinks" but I've become accustom to water since I've gone without the soda. I do have it sometimes but I try to limit it to once a day if I do indulge. Good luck its not easy to get off caffeine but you will feel better and I'm sure your insides will thank you since mechanics use coke to clean battery hookups (imagine what it does in you) Hope this helps.

This was me exactly 3 weeks ago. I seriously HAD to have coke or pepsi....I started logging my calories, even the ones I would drink and realized I was wasting my calories on soda and I was consuming THOUSANDS of calories a day. I quit drinking the soda cold turkey...I drink Crystal light, ice water, Coke Zero, Diet Pepsi, or Diet Dr. Pepper. I have adapted a taste for these. At first they tasted terrible!! I had to tell myself it's either this or water (which I hate by the way). After 3 weeks of my new eating lifestyle, I have a diet soda once every 2-3 days. Today I actually had a regular dr pepper and I didn't like it, and felt guilty drinking it!!

You have to be ready to give it up mentally and physically...you need to tell yourself what's best. As for the headaches, you will get them...I am still getting them, I'm pretty sure it's from withdrawals of all those years of drinking it. I take excedrin and the headache goes away...I keep telling myself they are temporary and will go away. Good luck, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me!

I drink Diet Coke almost daily (0-3 cans a day). Water is always good or Lipton's Diet Green Tea. You are just going to have to ease yourself off slowly if you are having trouble.

Sounds like you should try Diet Rite...it's made with Splenda! It's not like the other ones!

I don't drink coffee either, I don't like it! lol

i just stopped cold turkey in Dec. 2009. haven't craved it since. I drink water, green tea, occasionally Vitamin Zero and Sobelife. I got headaches but it went away in about month. I found when I did get headaches, I'd go on walks. it would stop for me.

I used to drink 10 to 12 cans of Coke a day, so I know exactly where you are coming from on this. I tried diet stuff and hated the taste, and even worse the after-taste. Coke was my comfort food as well. Didn't feel good? Feeling a little down? Just dealt with an angry customer? I drank a Coke! Which made it even harder to quit.

I tried cold turkey, and the headaches felt like they were going to kill me, lol. So, I started to wean myself off of them. I allowed myself only 9 cans a day for 2 weeks, then 8 cans a day for 2 weeks, etc. This worked great till I was down to 3 cans of coke per day. Then I would rebound and start drink more coke again, before I started trying to wean myself off again. This happened many times till i decided one time when I was down to 3 a day to just quit drinking it all together. I had relapses every now and then, but at least I was down to just 2 or 3 per week, then I finally made the mental push and stopped all soda drinking.

Been Soda and Sweet Tea free for 6+ weeks now, no caffeine from any source. Only took me 10 years of trying to kick the habit, lol. I could have kicked it much sooner if I had just tried going cold turkey sooner during one of my low weeks, but mentally I just didn't want to give it up all together. Once I accepted that I just wasn't going to be able to do it till I was ready, willing and mentally prepared to NEVER have a any Soda or Sweet Tea again, was I able to succeed. And I mean NEVER, not even as a reward to your self, or "just this one time" or any of that...never drink one again. Till you are mentally ready to accept that reality, it will be very hard to wean yourself off and eventually quit.

They key for me was to always have a glass/bottle of water by my side. Every time I saw the water, I drank some. Even if I wasn't thirsty, I still took a sip. Eventually it becomes a habit and you are taking sips of water all day long without even thinking about it. I found that many of my headaches were coming from being dehydrated, and if I kept myself super hydrated I didn't get the withdrawal headaches as bad.

Another thing that helped me was to satisfy the sweet tooth when I had a coke craving. Using healthy foods of course.

I would drink soda all day, never drank a glass of water or even a drop. I honestly just stopped drinking Coke. Once I was motivated enough to get my *kitten* in shape then it was easy. I saw it, didn't care for it anymore. Even when others drink it around me.