Giving Up Soda...

kelleighxnicole

Anyone else have success kicking soda?

I don't just drink it here + there, it is quite literally all that I ever drink or have ever drank, please.. any advice is welcome! Thank you.  

Shozzies

I used to drink Diet Dr. Pepper every day and hardly ever drank water.  I feel much better since cutting it out.  Part of it was that I wasn't drinking enough water and always dehydrated.  I was amazed by how much more energy I had just by drinking more water.

The beginning was hard, but after a while I didn't miss it.  I still get a soda every once in a while, but I decided to stop buying 12 or 24 packs and stop keeping soda in the house.  I've noticed now that it's a little too sweet for me and I don't crave it nearly as much.

Mich1724

I gave up Diet Pepsi after reading in one of my fitness magazines (Oxygen) that one doesn't have to worry about aspartame when there is formaldehyde also.

britzymama

I am in the same boat!  I am trying to eat healthy and exercise more and I have given up soda's!  It will be worth it!  It might even help with the weight gain too during pregnancy.  So far I haven't had a soda in the last 2 days, and I'm going to keep trying.

Meg&Jesse

I used to drink a lot of diet coke.  Geez..in college I bet I drank 6 or more a day (that was 10 years ago though!).  I started cutting down a few years ago and was probably drink 2-3 a day.  Didn't drink soda at all while I was pregnant.  I notice that the more water I drink the better I feel and the more I crave water.  I do drink coffee in the morning and then water the rest of the day.  I have a diet coke 2-3 times a week now.   I think it gets easy the more water you drink, because then you seem to want the water.

kelleighxnicole

thanks ladies .. nice to know i am not on my own in this soda kick. i am trying my hardest, and went all day long without a glass of soda until almost six pm. which is extremely good for me, because usually i persistently drink it pretty much on the hour after lunch time! i had a killer headache from going all day without it, lol, so i had a few glasses in the evening, but way better than drinking it ALL day. going to try to cut down to 0 glasses though.. wish me luck!

MesmrEwe

I weaned myself off the soda - the best thing I did was not say "I cannot have soda" because then I'd become the human Hoover...  I was like "do I REALLY want a soda or do I just want a glass of water... " Ultimately I started realizing that I could drink as many glasses of water with a meal as I wanted without feeling guilty about it and it started to stick and become a habit (or I'll have lemonade, OJ, etc.)..  OTOH, there are just times when I need the "fizzy" so I'll have something.  Give yourself some time to make the change.  You're doing great!  Remember it takes 21 to 90 days to make or break a habit but only a second to set your mind to it!

thatgirl85

What really helped me is making sure I was drinking enough water.  My midwife told me to drink an ounce per pound.  Once I was drinking water regularly throughout the day, I really didn't want anything else.  Good luck!  It's a hard habit to kick.

hlkay31

Keep going with this!  Well done!  What worked for me is to drink some soda water with lime/ La Croix or something of the sort.  So when I was craving something cold with bubbles, this did the trick.  Well done.

britzymama

Another trick that has been working for me..I will drink lots of water while I am at work and as soon as I have the hurge for a nice Diet Coke, I will mix water with 1/2 of those crystal light packets.  They are better than soda and they are yummy too!

strumpet

My motivation for stopping pop was to eliminate artificial sweeteners from my diet.  So I said "no diet, no crystal light".  I was too concerned about the empty calories of regular pop to have more than one a day, so I'd have one only if I REALLY wanted the caffeine boost (I hate coffee & tea).  The fear of weight gain weaned me off pretty quickly. So when I got pg, I hadn't had any pop in almost 3mo, and for the previous year had been drinking only 1 or 2/wk.  It took me about three years to get to that point.  I did the crystal light thing at first - that helped (but I'd consider it just as bad if pg), then switched to drinking a glass of water with a small piece of fruit on the side.  The water quenched my thirst and the fruit made up for the water not being sweet.  After a while I found I wanted the fruit less.  If I really needed the caffeine boost, I'd just have the damn pop and not beat myself up about it (hence the 1 or 2 /wk).  Really, the best way to kick the habit is to just stop buying the stuff.  Don't keep it at home, and if you have to have pop, just stock only your least favorite one.  If there's too much temptation at work, just keep a water bottle with you and drink from it as often as you can so you are never actually thirsty when you are there. 

I didn't have any pop for the first 2 mo of being pg, but the m/s, gas and constipation got to me.  It's gross and weird, so I'm sorry, but pop keeps me regular.  So I'd have 1 per day for the rest of my 1st tri, then went back down to 1 per week my second and into third.  We'll see how long that lasts .  I guess I haven't really given it up, but I'm at a point where I don't feel like it's a habit.  

strumpet

kelleighxnicole:

thanks ladies .. nice to know i am not on my own in this soda kick. i am trying my hardest, and went all day long without a glass of soda until almost six pm. which is extremely good for me, because usually i persistently drink it pretty much on the hour after lunch time! i had a killer headache from going all day without it, lol, so i had a few glasses in the evening, but way better than drinking it ALL day. going to try to cut down to 0 glasses though.. wish me luck!

If I let myself have the pop earlier in the day (instead of depriving all day), it was easier to get through the rest of day with only one - and it staved off the headaches. Maybe if you let yourself have only 1 sometime in the afternoon, you'll get comfortable with just 1/day, then you can start having 6/wk, then 5/wk.... then eventually 0/wk.  

Everyone is different, but I'm sure you'll find something that works.  Good luck though - it's great that you are being healthier!

LindsayMusgrave

Cola seems to be the only sweet thing I can't go without so I know how hard it is to quit it. That being said, I have done it before and feel SO much better when it's not in my system. I've pretty much found that if I go "cold turkey" for three days, then I don't even really want it anymore. Good luck!