Breaking diet soda habit....yikes!

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kazoooo8
kazoooo8 Posts: 71
in Health and Weight Loss
So this is day 3 of no diet pepsi and I'll tell you, I don't think I had this hard of time quitting smoking 18 years ago!!! Has anyone else done this and have advice? I was drinking up to 2 liters or more of diet pepsi a day and I swear this is what junkies feel like when they are going thru withdrawas!! I'm trying to drink lots of water to "detox" it out and I am drinking a green tea or two to get me off the caffiene headache slowly.

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  • Anayalata
    Anayalata Posts: 391 Member
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    I tried a week of low-carb and felt similar to what you're describing.

    It's not fun at all.
  • laceyconley
    laceyconley Posts: 3
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    Try Wyler's Light or Crystal Light powder packs for bottled water. Sure, you'll have to allow for the calories they add, but it isn't usually terribly much (30-40 calories a day, I think, was what I was drinking earlier this year). It helped me to wean myself off diet sodas and to start drinking water again--something I really needed to be doing but practically never ever did--by giving me "something with a taste."

    As for the relative health of these flavor packs, I can't say I know for sure. I presume they are healthier than diet pop; I know I feel better taking in regular water!

    Hope this helps! :)
  • satxtrap
    satxtrap Posts: 120 Member
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    Yup, you're going to have to weather the headaches for a bit but they will subside. My wife finally stopped buying diet sodas a few weeks ago and I couldn't be happier. There are too many questionable links between soda consumption and osteoporosis. Keep reminding yourself that you're not only trying to lose weight to be healthy, but you're also eating healthy to be able to maintain a higher quality of life longer than you possibly would have. You're stacking the deck in your favor if you will. :)
  • MinMin97
    MinMin97 Posts: 2,676 Member
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    Poor girl! I remember when that happened to me. I had inadvertantly acquired a diet pepsi addiction. I laid on the couch for about 5-7 days wondering what was wrong with me until it dawned on me.....oh, yes, pepsi is addicting and i had stopped drinking them entirely! You'll be through it. Just keep making all your healthy choices...you'll be so glad for them!:)
  • sds76
    sds76 Posts: 215 Member
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    I was drinking 6-8 sodas a day...and not diet(though I don't like those either due to the artificial sweetner). I just quit drinking it cold turkey. Tomorrow will be 30 days since I haven't had soda at all. The only thing I drink is plain ole water. I did tell myself I could have soda in the evening(after dinner time) but after watching what I ate all day and working out I didn't want to undue it all for a soda. I didn't replace the caffeine with other caffeine either. Just a cpl tylenol when/if needed. I think when you think a food/drink is off limits, you want it more. So I have no off limits food/drink. I like having the control to make the choice and to be honest I just have no desire for it at all now. I don't feel constantly bloated, I have tons more energy, and all around just feel better. You can do it, just make your mnd up and do it. Once you get through the headaches you'll not want to go throuh it again.

    PS..I would cut all caffeine for awhile at least. drinking it off and on is probably just making the headaches last longer.

    sorry for any typos...my keyboard is acting funny
  • MinMin97
    MinMin97 Posts: 2,676 Member
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    I was drinking 6-8 sodas a day...and not diet(though I don't like those either due to the artificial sweetner). I just quit drinking it cold turkey. Tomorrow will be 30 days since I haven't had soda at all. The only thing I drink is plain ole water. I did tell myself I could have soda in the evening(after dinner time) but after watching what I ate all day and working out I didn't want to undue it all for a soda. I didn't replace the caffeine with other caffeine either. Just a cpl tylenol when/if needed. I think when you think a food/drink is off limits, you want it more. So I have no off limits food/drink. I like having the control to make the choice and to be honest I just have no desire for it at all now. I don't feel constantly bloated, I have tons more energy, and all around just feel better. You can do it, just make your mnd up and do it. Once you get through the headaches you'll not want to go throuh it again.

    PS..I would cut all caffeine for awhile at least. drinking it off and on is probably just making the headaches last longer.

    sorry for any typos...my keyboard is acting funny
    Very wise counsel! I feel the same way about drinking sodas...only rarely.
  • margo52
    margo52 Posts: 13
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    Two years now no pop for me cold turkey hard time at frist but now I am ok you will be ok too water water ooooooooooo how i love water sounds good right:)
  • findfan4ever
    findfan4ever Posts: 153 Member
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    Also keep in mind by giving up sodas, you are allowing you kidneys and liver to function even better. The more "crap" they can get out of your blood stream the better.
  • KendraM1982
    KendraM1982 Posts: 37
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    Well i just joined this site yesterday afternoon, i just read all the comments and well my journey with addiction to diet Pepsi as been on and off through the years and it is or never was really an addiction or not that bad of an addiction. When i was working for a college cafeteria it was easily in my grasp since it was free for the employees. While i was working there they had a report on the news about soda and the negative health benefits it has and what was in it. After i heard that report i quickly quit drinking it cold turkey. Then i would drink it only when i had a craving for it which was rarely. So now i am drinking it again, i have no idea why but i am. I have been noticing small weight gains since starting to drink the soda again on a semi regular basis. It is okay to have a small cup of it once in a blue moon like fattening food that you love. Like i don't have pizza that often at all, i'll have a piece or two then 2 months later i'll have some again. No foods are off limits just minimize your intake of it. I bought two 1 litter of diet Pepsi recently and after the last one is gone i will be quitting it for good. I can do it because i have before and it's just comes down to choice it's my choice to have it or not. I make that decision to have it or not to have it. Thanks for the inspiration guys and girls!
    :bigsmile:
  • allyjoy83
    allyjoy83 Posts: 176 Member
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    Three words: flavored carbonated water -- (not soda). Crystal Geyser has some in berry, lemon, lime & orange. Case of 24 runs for about $7 at Costco. It's mineral water with natural fruit flavor, and it's fizzy! Once I discovered these bad boys, I rarely have soda. Good luck!
  • jazzedorange
    jazzedorange Posts: 184 Member
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    We stopped drinking all soda/pop 4 months ago. EVEN OUR KIDS!! This is the trick. It's simple. Don't buy it :)
    Buy Juice, Ice Tea, flavored waters. FILL THE FRIDGE WITH THESE!!! It will be so much easier if you have other choices and you don't see the soda :)
  • Ziggyzambo
    Ziggyzambo Posts: 46 Member
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    You are going through caffeine withdrawal - there is nothing else in Diet Pepsi that would cause a negative reaction by stopping its usage. 2 liters of Diet Pepsi has about 200mg of caffeine, while your replacement, two cups of green tea, only has about 50mg (this can vary a lot though). If you just want to get rid of soda, upping your caffeine intake will help. If you also want to kick the caffeine habit, well there's nothing to do but tough it out :smile:
  • jennismagic
    jennismagic Posts: 243 Member
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    Cold turkey is the only way to do it. I went from drinking 2-3 cans of regular Pepsi everyday to not drinking any at all in about a week in 2010. I think it took me about two months to kick my taste for soda entirely, and I rarely gave in before I realized how long it had been since I'd last had one. I think I had three sodas last year, and three this year, and I'm hoping to change that soon. It's okay to have one every now and then, and the ones I had were at restaurants, but any recovering addict knows that having some of what you're addicted to leads to having more of it, so, I have to work on that. I don't miss it.
  • phenixred
    phenixred Posts: 26 Member
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    I was a die hard Diet Pepsi Drinker. Someone bought me the Sodastream as a gift, and i admit it was BETTER than Diet pepsi. but over the past few months I have even gotten away from using the syrup that you buy for the machine ,and now I just use water and Mio. ( I dont know if everyone here knows what Mio is, its suger free, flavoring for water. Now i can have my refreshing sip of tastey fizzy beverage, still get water. and not all the sugar and cals. It has worked out great for me.

    http://www.kraftbrands.com/mio/
  • comicguy12901
    comicguy12901 Posts: 3
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    It has been 2 weeks since I kinked my Pepsi addiction!!! I use to have 2-3 20oz bottles/day. I quit cold turkey when I started w/ MFP. talk about headaches!!!! and I was even grumpy to those around me!!! Anyway after a week no headaches or grumpiness (at least not withdrawal related lol. I do still have some cravings for it but so far so good!!! I hoping the craving will stop soon (I know it is more mental than anything at this point)
  • fishermanmatt
    fishermanmatt Posts: 308 Member
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    I had a bad soda addition prior to quoting cold turkey maybe 7 or 8 years ago. I was easily drinking 2 to 3 liters of Pepsi or Mountain Dew a day. Some days that number would double. It was so bad that I had to drink it first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I realized how bad the additon had become when I would get pounding headaches by 9 AM if I hadn't had a bottle.

    Quitting isn't easy but it's a great thing to do. My withdraw symptoms lessened daily and were gone within a week. You'll be surprised how bad the sodas taste after you've gone without for a while.
  • kazoooo8
    kazoooo8 Posts: 71
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    Yup, you're going to have to weather the headaches for a bit but they will subside. My wife finally stopped buying diet sodas a few weeks ago and I couldn't be happier. There are too many questionable links between soda consumption and osteoporosis. Keep reminding yourself that you're not only trying to lose weight to be healthy, but you're also eating healthy to be able to maintain a higher quality of life longer than you possibly would have. You're stacking the deck in your favor if you will. :)

    This is one of the biggest reasons I wanted to quit was the reports of the carbonation in sodas leading to osteoporosis. Plus all the reports of the artificial sweetners putting a halt to weight loss and since I've been having such a struggle to lose a few pounds, there might be something to that. Just doesn't seem like all the artificial junk in the soda can be very good for your body.

    Good to know a time frame on this tho.... about a week for the headaches, possibley a couple months before I lose the craving. This is day 4 and the headache is still there but I'm feeling more positive about the whole process. We'll see what the weekend brings. My diet pepsi is like other peoples beer.... like after mowing the yard on a hot day and people grab a beer... I grab a really cold diet pepsi. I'll just have to fill my fridge up with greens teas and Dasani waters!!

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