Kicked the Caffiene Habit!

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andreyadonna
andreyadonna Posts: 70
in Food and Nutrition
I'm feeling pretty upbeat today. I'm at a month and a half since I had my last soda. I started out with a 2 liter a day Mountain Dew habit and now all I drink is water and sparkling water! And juice occasionally. I think the hardest part was the calorie drop. My body thought I was starving it without the Dew. I had to supplement with healthy alternatives for my calories. It's been crazy. Has anyone else kicked a crazy bad for you food habit?

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  • sandyhyde35
    sandyhyde35 Posts: 4
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    Good for you! Me too. The last soda I had was on February 1st. It's such a huge accomplishment. Congratulations.
  • AmandaJarvis630
    AmandaJarvis630 Posts: 1
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    I am actually working on kicking my soda habit. 2 years ago I gave up mountian dew I was drinking about 6 or so cans a day if not more. I sadly went back to drinking soda about a year ago and all the hard work I did with loosing my weight went out the window and within a year I gained back 60 lbs. I finally had it, so only yesterday I stopped again and I am back on the water kick. I refuse to let soda win again. Great job with getting it out of your diet!!
  • ywalchle
    ywalchle Posts: 101 Member
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    Congrats! I've cut back from a little more than what you were at to a 12oz a day in three weeks. Still have to have one once in a while to ward off the headaches, but I'm getting there! I have noticed my body seems to think it's starving if I don't have something other than water with a meal. So I typically will have some kind of 100% juice which helps me fill in some of my vitamins and such for the day. Rest of the day though I'm drinking water!
  • andreyadonna
    andreyadonna Posts: 70
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    thanks everyone! It's good to know that ethere are more people doing the same as me!
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    I'm feeling pretty upbeat today. I'm at a month and a half since I had my last soda. I started out with a 2 liter a day Mountain Dew habit and now all I drink is water and sparkling water! And juice occasionally. I think the hardest part was the calorie drop. My body thought I was starving it without the Dew. I had to supplement with healthy alternatives for my calories. It's been crazy. Has anyone else kicked a crazy bad for you food habit?

    Soda =/= caffeine
  • amm8589
    amm8589 Posts: 55 Member
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    That is awesome! I have never been a soda drinker, but I must have my 2 cups of coffee in the morning. I kicked my sugar addiction last year so I know how you feel about getting rid of a bad habit!
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    I'm feeling pretty upbeat today. I'm at a month and a half since I had my last soda. I started out with a 2 liter a day Mountain Dew habit and now all I drink is water and sparkling water! And juice occasionally. I think the hardest part was the calorie drop. My body thought I was starving it without the Dew. I had to supplement with healthy alternatives for my calories. It's been crazy. Has anyone else kicked a crazy bad for you food habit?

    Soda =/= caffeine

    that- I was going to be "sarcastically offended" based on the coffee aspect- but soda not the same thing.

    A great accomplishment none the less!
  • kawatson61
    kawatson61 Posts: 28 Member
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    That's great! I've been mostly off Diet Coke since the start of the year except for the occasional rum and diet coke. I used to drink about a liter per day. Feels great!
  • Butrovich
    Butrovich Posts: 410 Member
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    Congrats! I gave up soda on Christmas and started drinking decaff coffee the first week in January. No cravings either.

    Mike
  • fitandGLAM
    fitandGLAM Posts: 36
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    Congrats!!!! That is awesome! I was never a big soda drinker, Starbucks and cigarettes were my guilty pleasure! Even when saying "sugar free , no whip, soy milk" I still needed a cigarette or two with every beverage!! (Nasty I know) I'm now more than 3 months cigarette/Starbucks free!!! No cravings whatsoever anymore, and I'm saving a ton of $$!
  • tadinpa
    tadinpa Posts: 3
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    I've been a Mt Dew addict since the Army. I've never liked coffee thus the Mt Dew began. I know that I can't go cold turkey because I've tried and the headaches are incapacitating. So, I'm trying to cut back and ultimately quit but it's so difficult. I realize that it's more an emotional crutch for me than anything however the headaches get so bad that I give up. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Funny, because when I was pregnant I went cold turkey with no problem from all caffeine. In fact, I still drink decaf tea. Thanks in advance.
  • tadinpa
    tadinpa Posts: 3
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    I'm on your boat except I haven't kicked it yet. Any ideas?
  • kacilanehindman
    kacilanehindman Posts: 4
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    I need to kick out the Dt. Mt. Dew as well! I cut back now and then, but always end up drinking more eventually. I am afraid this has kept on my last few baby weight lbs.
  • aeb09
    aeb09 Posts: 424 Member
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    I kicked a horrible Diet Coke addiction. I was having 5-8 cans a day, now just water and occasionally a Zevia ginger ale. I've had Diet Coke twice since I gave it up in March and I think it tastes awful now. Go figure.
  • cheesevixen_staci
    cheesevixen_staci Posts: 153 Member
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    caffeine is another empty calorie issue I have had to cut out. I have only been a few days without, but the headaches are unimaginable. I considered myself to only be lightly addicted since I only had Monsters diet coke and coffee 4-5 days out of the week, but I can definitely tell my body wants it back. I have weaned myself down to a little bit of chocolate. I may add one cup of black coffee later, but I don't intend on relying on energy drinks or diet coke anymore.

    alcohol. Me and my husband have a rule that I can't drink unless the kids are going to the parentals, and that is a rare thing. So basically 1-2 times a year I suspect. I used to drink a liter of hard liquor a day so you can imagine how much self control I am attempting.
  • Kaitou
    Kaitou Posts: 50 Member
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    I'm on your boat except I haven't kicked it yet. Any ideas?

    Start slow :) the cold-turkey approach leaves you with the blinding headaches and irritability others have mentioned. I have been mostly caffeine-free for two years now, and how I did it was I cut myself down to one can a day.

    One can of Dr. Pepper a day was enough to stave off the horrible headaches and side-effects, so I stayed with the one can for a day or two and then ditched that. Chocolate or tea in moderation can also help ward off the side-effects that will leave you begging someone to go pick up a case of soda for you.

    I still imbibe caffeine via chocolate and the occasional glass of iced tea, but really the caffeine in them is so much lower that you don't get the addiction or horrible side-effects.

    Also: replace your caffeinated drink with something other than water. If you're used to non-water drinks throughout the day or without meals, it's really hard to go without them totally. I switched to Sprite, for instance.This really doesn't do much for you if you're only trying to ditch liquid calories for losing weight, but if if you're just wanting rid of caffeine from your life for good it really works wonders. Juice, tea, or non-caffeinated sodas (orange, grape, Root Beer, Sprite, etc) can work as a substitute.

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