Reduce/cut out the sodas

dark_sparkles37019
dark_sparkles37019 Posts: 114 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Anyone reduce or cut out drinking soda to lose? How did you do it?

Replies

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    edited October 2021
    If you go cold turkey from a soda with caffeine, consider another source of caffeine. I've heard caffeine withdrawal includes very bad headaches. There is coffee or tea, or caffeine pills, which have no calories.

    Some years back, to lose weight, my partner switched to the small cans and less of them. (He also ate at home more and started walking and running.)
  • thumper1042
    thumper1042 Posts: 4 Member
    I’ve cut way back on Diet Coke. Probably have 10 ounces a day because I never finish a can or a medium fountain cup. I used to get a super size (32 to 44 oz ) fountain drink and get refills all day.
  • thumper1042
    thumper1042 Posts: 4 Member
    Drinking more water now!
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,464 Member
    I quit coke a million times—for a day or two. A dietician told me to switch to Diet Coke. Drank it for a week or two. Decided I’d rather have anything else but that. I now drink coffee, tea and lots of water.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,420 Member
    I used to drink a lot of soda and I used to drink a lot of fruit juice mixed with carbonated water (seltzer.) When I was obese, a lot of things became not-worth-it to me calorie-wise. These drinks had to go.

    I haven't had a soda or fruit juice with seltzer in probably eight years. Water, tea, coffee, and milk are all I drink ever.

    You can do it. :)
  • TX_Bluebonnet
    TX_Bluebonnet Posts: 244 Member
    edited October 2021
    I've been overweight pretty much my whole life, so have always had diet sodas. I went from drinking Tab back in the 70's, to Diet Coke when it came out, and lastly Coke Zero. My soda consumption was mainly at work and at restaurants. But now that I'm no longer working and seldom eat out anymore, I've pretty much stopped drinking sodas except for an occasional treat with a burger and fries meal. Or a diet root beer to go with my single-serve cups of vanilla ice cream for a root beer float.

    At one point I thought I'd try substituting carbonated fruit flavored waters for the sodas, but after trying out a few brands I found I didn't really care for the taste or the cost.

    Nowadays, my go-to drinks are water, iced tea, hot tea, hot coco, milk, and V8 (tomato juice cocktail).

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    That is what I did initially to start losing weight. I drank roughly a 6 pk of full sugar Mt Dew daily. I just weened myself down over a few weeks until I was having none. I do enjoy soda though so I typically have a Coke Zero or Reed's Zero Sugar Extra Ginger Beer once per day.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    One can a day - A&W diet root beer.

    Is water tolerable? Stainless tumblers keep ice all day, just keep refilling it with water. Add lemon slices if you like. Make sure you don't get thirsty. Unsweetened iced tea is nice too. You can use flavored tea bags for making iced tea. Ahmad Raspberry Indulgence and Twinings Pomegranate, Raspberry are favorites of mine. When you make your own, you can start with a little sweetener and just keep cutting back.
  • swirlybee
    swirlybee Posts: 497 Member
    I switched a long time ago to diet soda. I was drinking a lot of regular soda and it was an easy way to cut a lot of calories while filling my cravings. I've cut down the amount of carbonated drinks right now since I think it's the source of my acid reflux. Anyways, the comment about caffeine withdrawal headaches is real, so keep that in mind when weaning yourself off of soda.
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
    Diet pop. I actually prefer it, and few calories, almost as good as water calorie wise. I do drink mostly ice water now, but have some pop occasionally. Black coffee and water most of the time.
  • Xerogs
    Xerogs Posts: 328 Member
    dark_sparkles37019 wrote: »
    Anyone reduce or cut out drinking soda to lose? How did you do it?

    I just stopped buying it and drank more water, unsweetened coffee and unsweetened tea. There was a short period of sugar headache withdrawals but really it only took a couple of days. Carbonated water with lemon or lime helped out as well when I wanted something fizzy. Now sweetened drinks just don't taste right to me but it took some time and patience to get there. Your palate will change but you have to give it time. Also cutting back added sugar helped with craving sweets which eventually lead to sweetened sodas.
  • NYPhotographer2021
    NYPhotographer2021 Posts: 510 Member
    I used to drink 2-3 cans of Pepsi per day. On August 26th, I decided it was time to try and get healthy before death! LOL! I now drink none. No soda of any kind. I haven't had a cup of coffee in weeks either. Just water and sometimes, tea. But I also eat at a calorie deficit. So the weight loss is because of that. I didn't really get any headaches from the caffeine withdrawal. Maybe because I drink so much water now, it flushed it out of my system faster? I don't know. I don't really miss soda that much. I miss candy more!
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
    Make room for whatever you like, and spend the calories in any way that works best for yourself. Sustainability to a lifelong commitment, staying in your calorie budget and meeting nutritional needs, can get you where you want to be, and keep you there.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 11,713 Member
    edited October 2021
    At my height, I was pounding a 2-liter of Pepsi every day. Tried swapping to diet, hated the taste. Tried going cold turkey, missed the taste, plus the caffeine withdrawal headaches were VERY real. (This was back before they had caffeine pills.)

    So I made myself a deal: drink all the soda I want, but first drink DOUBLE the volume in water. So before I could drink a 12oz can, I had to chug 24oz of water. Before I could get a second can, I had to chug more water. Didn't take long for the 2-liter to drop to a single 12oz can per day.

    For substituted taste in my drink, for a while I used flavor powders in my water, like Crystal Light or store brand versions.

    These days I don't even drink a can a day, maybe 3-4 per week on average. (Some weeks it's almost daily, but other weeks I almost go the entire week without.) I do take a caffeine pill each morning, and try to put away at least 2 liters of water each day.
  • kenziestabes
    kenziestabes Posts: 338 Member
    As someone who did not have diet soda as an option (thank you food sensitivities) my very specific answer is: buy a box of the lemon flavored and a box of the lime flavored Bubly sparkling water. When craving a soda, pour them, mixed together, in a glass over ice. Tastes like Sprite if Sprite wasn't filled with sugar. With caffeine, be careful if you drink coffee with cream and sugar- may end up being the same amount of calories as if you drank a soda instead. Light roast coffee is more caffeinated and less bitter than medium or dark roast. Learning how different teas are supposed to be blended (water temp and brew time) drastically improves the taste of tea.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 2,075 Member
    I did some experimenting for what my "trigger" was with soda. Tried diet (yuck), flavored waters, flavor additions (like Mio), and then fizzy waters. Found out the fizz was more my trigger than anything - don't even need or want the sweet flavors, just bubbles. Once I figured that out, it was pretty easy to give up pop.

    Mind you, still have some on occasion (fridge full of it for free at work doesn't help LOL), but I still will grab fizzy waters far more frequently than pop (thankfully they also supply La Croix in a few flavors).
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
    For me, I figured out that it's the bubbles and the sweetness of the soda that I really like so I started drinking flavored carbonated waters instead. Artificial sweeteners are my weakness so I do try to limit them but it definitely gives me my fix when I'm craving the soda.
  • goldenxbeauty
    goldenxbeauty Posts: 154 Member
    dark_sparkles37019 wrote: »
    Anyone reduce or cut out drinking soda to lose? How did you do it?

    Just did it.
    Replaced it for awhile with the zero calorie fizzy flavored waters. If I went out to eat , I'd get either coffee, water or iced tea instead.

    Now I cant stand the taste of most sodas. Every so often I'll mix diet cranberry ginger ale and orange juice or I'll make an alcoholic drink with diet sprite as a mix.
  • Derf_Smeggle
    Derf_Smeggle Posts: 610 Member
    I had to cut caffeine out of my lifestyle about 2-3 years ago due to a minor, benign, but super annoying heart condition.
    Switched to white sodas and root beer.

    Four months ago, I decided to limit added sugar intake to 10g/day average, or 70g/week. Diet, caffeine-free soda? Only if you lobotomize me first. So, no more sodas.
  • ehju0901
    ehju0901 Posts: 394 Member
    I swapped to these:

    https://www.amazon.com/Bubblr-Antioxidant-Sparkling-Variety-Twisted/dp/B096GB9VKQ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=bubbl'r&qid=1634047386&sr=8-1&th=1

    We sell them locally so they are much cheaper at the store, but still a bit spendy at $5/6 pack.

    Contains much more flavor than La Croix (how do we not have a sick emoji) and others. To me, it is almost like a sparkling juice. Contains some caffeine, is carbonated and has a lot of flavor. :)
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    i use 2 drink 4-6 cans of soda and 3-4 cans of beer EVERYDAY. Stocked them in my frig by the case.

    That was up to 1200 useless cals of soda and beer that I drank daily. No wonder that I got fat!

    Went cold turkey and stopped doing that about 6 yrs ago and immediately lost 40#s from 200 to 160 where I still am now

    I still do not drink any soda (have no desire for it) but I do have a draft beer occasionally when I eat out bit always log the cals for it when I do.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    HoneyBadger302 wrote: »
    I did some experimenting for what my "trigger" was with soda. Tried diet (yuck), flavored waters, flavor additions (like Mio), and then fizzy waters. Found out the fizz was more my trigger than anything - don't even need or want the sweet flavors, just bubbles. Once I figured that out, it was pretty easy to give up pop.

    Mind you, still have some on occasion (fridge full of it for free at work doesn't help LOL), but I still will grab fizzy waters far more frequently than pop (thankfully they also supply La Croix in a few flavors).

    Get yourself a Sodastream and you can fizz up cold tap water. I use extracts to add flavor (orange, lemon, lime are easily found at your local grocery in the spice section) and you can adjust the flavor to taste. Even with the price of the extracts and replacement CO2 cannisters I pay less than half of what I would by buying canned or bottled seltzer. Helps that there is no waste and no hauling cans or bottles from the car either.
  • Butt_Snorkeler
    Butt_Snorkeler Posts: 167 Member
    I love soda, but after trying some zero calorie options, I found I may just love anything sweet and carbonated.

    A few alternatives that keep it bubbly:
    *flavored sparking water
    *zero or low calorie energy drinks (just water + chemicals)
    *club soda + zero calorie syrups most often used for coffee (my personal favorite to experiment with for night time movies. For ex: i found tgat putting caramel syrup in it makes it taste like creme soda)
  • 2022calendarDad
    2022calendarDad Posts: 3 Member
    I cut out sodas completely about 2 or 3 years ago. I was consuming a 2 liter bottle of diet coke everyday by myself. I first switched to a carbonated water and then to only water with an enhancer like Mio. Today it's all I drink with the exception of a 24oz coffee every morning
  • danikat15
    danikat15 Posts: 113 Member
    I used to drink several sodas a day. Then I had my wisdom teeth taken out and couldn't drink it for a couple of weeks. And I kept that up for 6 months until I eventually caved.

    Then I would only have a can of soda a day (or the largest coke from McDonalds because that stuff is magical!). And I've slowly cut that down to having an occasional can every couple of weeks. I drink a cup of black coffee every day so I think that helps a ton. I usually want it with certain dinners so I bought the 0 cal sweet tea squirt thing from Walmart. Certainly not the best option but I figure it keeps me from reaching for a coke.
  • Beautyofdreams
    Beautyofdreams Posts: 1,009 Member
    I had to give up diet pop because it was one of my "trigger" foods. The sweet taste left me craving more sweet or salty foods and the pop upset my stomach when drank alone so had to eat something with it. In a week dropped 3 pounds with no other changes in diet.

    A year and a half later, I occasionally drink MT Dew zero, RockStar Zero Sugar or diet ginger ale. Mostly I drink unsweetened ice tea and water. In the winter drink light roast coffee or Crio Bru in addition to water. Noticed that the persistent plaque in my mouth practically disappeared when switched from diet soda to tea and water.

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