Cannot stick to diet no matter how hard I try

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chastitygates
chastitygates Posts: 6 Member
in Motivation and Support
I need some suggestions on how to stop drinking soda without going cold turkey. Also, any good suggestions to help on food cravings? I feel like I'm a food addict.

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  • blazehill6
    blazehill6 Posts: 26 Member
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    Tonic water with lemon is a great substitute for soda or flavored water. I used to drink two waters for every soda I drank. All natural almonds, peppermint, and oatmeal are great help to curb appetite. Also, I distract myself by drinking green tea. Good luck :)
  • SignpostPsycho
    SignpostPsycho Posts: 40 Member
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    Don't think of it as a "diet". It's a change in lifestyle. Make small alterations one at a time until they snowball into being how the new you wants to eat and exercise.

    How do you feel about diet sodas? If you can't stand them, just gradually lessen the amount of soda that you drink. However much you drink in soda a day, cut it by half for a week or so. If you get caffeine headaches from withdrawal, try tea? A lot of headache pills have caffeine in them too, so that can help. After that week or so, cut it in half again (1/4 of what you were drinking to start). And so on until you don't have it any more. Replace this with flavored waters, low-sugar tea, etc.

    As for food cravings....unfortunately, a lot of the things we eat nowadays are loaded with extra carbs and sugar, which are just as addictive as illegal drugs (seriously, they did studies on it). A lot of people are food addicts. The best advice I can give is to cut back just like with the soda, while replacing the not so great foods with good ones - fruits and veggies, lean proteins, whole grains. Never say - oh I can't have chocolate or mac and cheese. You can and should eat those things - in moderation, and in a way that fits into your daily goals. For example, if I am craving chocolate, I will have a chocolate protein bar or a fun size bar of dark chocolate. If I want hamburgers and french fries for dinner, I plan the rest of my day around the meal to make sure I have the calorie allotment for it.

    The key to long term success isn't doing everything at once and denying yourself all the things that make you happy - it's about making sure you are comfortable with the changes you are making and can stick to them. Some people need more time to adjust than others.
  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
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    When you set your calories for a modest deficit, plan for food that is high volume, and pre-log the day, it's easier to avoid hunger. Other than that, you have to want your health more than you want anything that goes in your mouth today. I don't mean to sound flippant about that. It's true. Am I willing, every day, to do what I have to do to be healthy and fit?
  • ThomasWright1997
    ThomasWright1997 Posts: 155 Member
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    chastitygates wrote: »
    I need some suggestions on how to stop drinking soda without going cold turkey. Also, any good suggestions to help on food cravings? I feel like I'm a food addict.

    You are weak willed. Start taking ice cold showers. That's a test of willpower.


    It's also a good fat loss method! You just wash and lose a few calories while you're at it!


    Win win!
  • leanlicorice
    leanlicorice Posts: 84 Member
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    ThomasWright1997 wrote: »
    chastitygates wrote: »
    I need some suggestions on how to stop drinking soda without going cold turkey. Also, any good suggestions to help on food cravings? I feel like I'm a food addict.

    You are weak willed. Start taking ice cold showers. That's a test of willpower.

    I would not classify the above as motivating and supportive; this forum is to offer help and encouragement, not judgement. OP please disregard.

    Previous comments have hit the nail on the head. Do not tell yourself that you cannot drink soda. Gradually decrease/substitute and fit within your caloric goals. Making the drink forbidden is the fast track to obsession and overindulgence town, population: many of us at some point in time!

  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
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    I do not see anything wrong with moderate consumption of diet soda. Coke Zero with wedge of lime has been my friend on many days when nothing else would do. No food is "bad." I'm at maintenance now, but even in my losing days, I worked in wine, chocolate, and other items I really wanted.
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
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    chastitygates wrote: »
    I need some suggestions on how to stop drinking soda without going cold turkey. Also, any good suggestions to help on food cravings? I feel like I'm a food addict.

    How many sodas do you drink a day? Let's say you drink 5, try to have 1 less a day. Slowly wean yourself off of soda. Every week subtract 1 soda by the end of a month you should be down to 0 sodas a day.

  • NDCarothers
    NDCarothers Posts: 36 Member
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    You have to be ready for a change, no one's words can help unless you're ready.
  • AZnewbie00
    AZnewbie00 Posts: 70 Member
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    I started to drink flavored seltzer to help cut out the soda. I get the fizz with flavor.
  • Debmal77
    Debmal77 Posts: 4,770 Member
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    I started mixing regular soda with diet soda. When I was used to that I went to just diet. Worked for me.
  • triciab79
    triciab79 Posts: 1,713 Member
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    Just switch to diet soda. There is nothing wrong with it. I drank diet coke every single day of the 9 months it took me to lose the 100lbs and I have drank diet coke every day since.
  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,181 Member
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    chastitygates wrote: »
    I need some suggestions on how to stop drinking soda without going cold turkey. Also, any good suggestions to help on food cravings? I feel like I'm a food addict.
    Why do you have to go cold turkey?

    Why can't you have one less than you did the previous week?

  • BasicGreatGuy
    BasicGreatGuy Posts: 868 Member
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    ThomasWright1997 wrote: »
    chastitygates wrote: »
    I need some suggestions on how to stop drinking soda without going cold turkey. Also, any good suggestions to help on food cravings? I feel like I'm a food addict.

    You are weak willed. Start taking ice cold showers. That's a test of willpower.


    It's also a good fat loss method! You just wash and lose a few calories while you're at it!


    Win win!

    Taking cold showers does not promote the kind of fat loss you are speaking off.

    There is no "win, win" in your post, in my opinion. Nothing you have said was a help.

    It would be a good idea to get that verbal diarrhea under control. The forum doesn't need to see more.
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    edited August 2015
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    chastitygates wrote: »
    I need some suggestions on how to stop drinking soda without going cold turkey.
    I treat soda like alcohol. If it's fine for people to have the occasional drink, then why isn't it fine to have the occasional soda? ;)

    8 fl oz of Pepsi is 100 calories. I pour it over a glass full of ice and then sip it slowly.

    I have a few glasses that size a week.
  • jcook0716
    jcook0716 Posts: 65 Member
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    I started with crystal light and sparkling flavored sugar free water if you need the fizz. Or the zero blue poweraid is my fav. I dont really like diet soda... Now i stick with mostly water or green tea

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