Addicted to soda...how did you kick the habit?

i didnt kick the habit. when i first started i allowed myself to have soda twice in one week. that's 16 oz everytime. but since ive been doing this i haven't actually had a craving for soda. and let me tell you its ALWAYS in our home. and so then people started to buy diet soda and regular soda. i switched over to the diet soda. i love diet pepsi. so i either drink diet soda, water, or coffee. Sometimes when its to late for coffee and im sick of drinking water. there is no diet soad in the house. i go for the regular soda with the least about of cals.

Which is usually the clear kind. So Citrius drop ( a off brand of MT DEW) have 130 cals for 8oz. of course i dont fool myself. i drink 16oz. and that's 230 cals.

Msyl03 wrote: »

Struggling with letting go of soda and tea...looking for stories of how others made the switch. Please share...

I switched out soda (diet and regular) for water with crystal light mixed in. I drink my 24 oz water bottle three times or more per day.

It's really quite simple:

Don't buy it. Replace it with water or herbal tea (assuming sweetened iced tea was the tea you were referring to)

To be truthful, there's nothing wrong with diet soda. But if you don't want to drink it, don't. If you can't drink an amount you find manageable, don't.

You're making this tougher than it needs to be by thinking you're "addicted".

I think I will be echoing what most have said here, but until almost two years ago I was drinking about 5 cans on average a day of regular soda (cherry coke to be specific!). I gave it up by gradually phasing it out. I would reduce one can a week (so instead of 5 a day, I would have 4 a day for a week) so it wasnt a huge shock to my system.

I wont lie, it was really REALLY hard. I had horrible withdrawal headaches and I was crabby! But I didnt give up because I knew I needed to do it. When the headaches would get bad, I would take some advil. When I craved soda, I would mix juice with carbonated water to feel like I was getting my fix. It is hard, but you really can do it. I find that I am the kind of person that now it is cut out, I cannot have any at all.

I also never realized how much it was making a difference in how I felt. Other than the obvious that soda had caused part of my weight gain, once I stopped I felt like a much happier person. I had no idea it would have that kind of an effect on my mood, but it did.

I know some people here have said they can have one every so often for a special occasion or they drink diet soda daily, but for me I was so addicted that I know if I start with that I will fall back into old habits. But it is what works best for YOU. Now, I drink water and tea....and maybe the occasional glass of red wine You can do it though. If you cant do it the first try, dont get discouraged. If you slip up, its ok! Just try again tomorrow. It took me several tries over the years, and I think I was never able to the previous times because I wasnt 100% committed to doing it and I beat myself up if I screwed up. As with weight loss, i've learned that you are going to have days that arent perfect. Just dont give up trying.

I made a deal with myself that if I could go without any type of soda for 3 months I could go on a vacation I've been wanting to take. It was tough for most of that time but somewhere in the third month the cravings stopped.

Msyl03 wrote: »

Struggling with letting go of soda and tea...looking for stories of how others made the switch. Please share...