How to Break the Diet Soda Addiction

I drink Diet Sodas constantly.  I can easily go through a 12 pack of 12 oz cans each day plus a three or four 22oz bottles.  Should I quit cold turkey?  Will the sudden decrease in my caffeine intake cause headaches or other withdrawl symptoms?  Should I try alternating Diet Soda with water and build up the amount of water and decrease the amount of soda?  I have lost nearly 12lbs in the last seven weeks, and I know I need to quit the Soda, but it tastes SOOOO good.  Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Heather

I wouldn't quit cold turkey.

I was pretty heavy into it too. Then I cut it down by half. Exactly like you mentioned. Water, soda, alteration. I'm happy at half. I don't see any need to cut it down more. I've lost 175 pounds drinking diet soda. I've maintained that weight loss for almost 2 years drinking diet soda. I don't believe it when people say cutting it out completely will dirastically increase your weight loss. I LOVE my diet dr pepper. :) Is it healthy? Well no. But it keeps me sane.

I broke free by just not buying it because I was overdoing it. Now I can drink one without going crazy. I only drink them with meals, for me which was lunch and dinner. If I was still thirsty and wanted more, I always just drank water or water with crystal light. I dislike plain water with meals, need flavor, so I do this.

I haven't bought any in two weeks though.

There are lots of flavorful drinks besides diet soda that have little or no calories.  Drinking these might help you ease off the diet soda:

• hot (boiled) or cold water with lemon juice
• tea (again regular or iced)
• club soda
• coffee or espresso
• milk (not calorie free, but very nutritious and filling)
• crystal light
• propel

I'm sure there's tons I'm forgetting.  Re: caffeine withdrawal, most sodas really have very little caffeine.  For example, 12 oz of diet coke has a mere 45 mg of caffeine, while just 8 oz of regular coffee has 145 mg caffeine.  Just to put it in perspective.  Good luck on getting off the juice =P

when i was try to cut down on diet soda i would just drink some tea instead. and water of course! =P

but yea, id say dont go cold turkey.

Been there.  The allure of the fizz...

It really depends on you if you go cold turkey or not.  If you can say to yourself that you are going to cut your drinks to half - and stick with it - that is probably the best solution.  If you can't stick with it - then get rid of it all and don't buy it.

As far as the caffeine, substitute your sodas with something like tea or coffee, that will keep your caffeine intake about the same.  When you have the sodas under control, then you can work on reducing your caffeine.

as someone who's gone through caffiene withdrawl multiple times, i'd say cold turkey is the way to go.

I've gone cold turkey multiple times on my coffee addiction, and each time it's one or two days of feeling stupid and tired, but after that i feel a lot better... till that small cup of coffee is sitting there with my name on it -.-

i just like coffee... i dont mind drinking it on a regular basis. It's just i go OVERBOARD and get stomach aches and feel all empty inside.

everything in moderation!

x17star18x: Wow. You are amazing to have lost 175lbs and then keep it off for two years! I've lost 130lbs and maintained my new weight for 2 weeks so far. Not quite 2 years, but I'm proud of it nonetheless.

As for diet soda, I love it and think it's totally fine in moderation. Everything is! I had two or three cans a day of non-caffeinated diet soda as an accompaniment to my meals while in weight loss mode and I continue to do the same thing in maintenance mode.

Op: I would suggest slowly cutting back to a reasonable amount, there's no reason to completely deny yourself something that you enjoy so much. I understand that it will be hard at first, but learning to enjoy diet soda in moderation will make you feel so much better about it in the end because there won't be so much guilt attached to it anymore. Good luck!

Mo.

When I tried to get off pop, I bought carbonated water and mixed a little in my pop to dilute it.  I did that more and more until it was about half and half.  Then I found I was able to do without it because I wasn't so addicted to the flavor.

With that much caffeine, yes you will have headaches and withdrawal.  I once had an involuntary cold turkey withdrawal when my traveling companions brought decaf coffee on a trip to the beach for a week.  The first three days I couldn't understand why I was so groggy and headachey.  I thought I was coming down with something.  Then we went out to breakfast.  I had a cup of regular, and suddenly my head cleared and I was fine.  It wasn't until we were packing up to go home that I noticed the almost empty can of decaf as we threw it away.  By then my addiction was broken and I vowed to drink less coffee.  So it doesn't take long to get over it. 

There's something to be said for cold turkey - just get it overwith.

Original Post by hswee6473:

I drink Diet Sodas constantly.  I can easily go through a 12 pack of 12 oz cans each day plus a three or four 22oz bottles.  Should I quit cold turkey?  Will the sudden decrease in my caffeine intake cause headaches or other withdrawl symptoms?  Should I try alternating Diet Soda with water and build up the amount of water and decrease the amount of soda?  I have lost nearly 12lbs in the last seven weeks, and I know I need to quit the Soda, but it tastes SOOOO good.  Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Heather

 

 Diet products and artificial sweeteners wreak havoc on your weight and fat loss efforts. I cut out soda over 2 years ago and don't miss it. Drink water. Try water with lemon or lime. There is no easy answer you just have to do it.

http://www.emaxhealth.com/11/586.html

http://naturalmedicine.suite101.com/article.c fm/sugars__the_ugly

Hey,

 

About three years ago I lost about 115 lbs and diet soda and artificial sweentners were my go to things to fill the void of not having to eat high claorie sugar items and the diet soda kept me full...despite what people say, this stuff was a MAJOR aid in my dieting as unhealthy as it is....even when I got really thin I continued to constantly consume these products....I mean I am talking like liters and liters of soda...I could plow through a 12 pack in a few hours...my recycling can in my dorm would always be filled with cans....and I put Splenda on EVERYTHING...when I didn't get my "fix" of this stuff I would honestly get headaches, diziness, etc....I also would be soooo bloated from all the bubbles and sodium at the end of everyday

everyone always commented on it and expressed concern...I usually brushed it off. But randomly one day last October I just decided to randomly quit one day and never went back...I am completely crazy about it too, I won't even chew sugar free gum...when I was on vacation a few weeks ago I did relapse and had a few diet cokes and I got really bad stomach pains and felt sick, so never again...stick with water, unsweetened iced tea, tea, coffee...and flavor with natural sweetners (honey) or even a pack of real sugar here and there (only 15 cals once in a while isn't going to hurt you at all!)...you can do it!

Don't buy it at home- only drink it when you go out!  It will be a treat and you'll appreciate it more.. and cut your grocery bill down :)

I cut out soda almost a year ago and have never looked back. I had to do it cold turkey because that's the only way I wouldn't be tempted. I bought 2 Nalgene bottles and filled them up with water, and that is what I drink now. I must admit, after the soda addiction was gone I felt soooo much better and WAY less bloated. Everytime I drink soda (usually at restaurants/fast food places on occasion) I feel pretty sick or bloated. That might have something to do with all the sugar in the regular soda though, since I'm insulin resistant. Either way, it's so worth it to stop drinking it. Especially all the aspartame in the diet kind. Yuck.

While it's nice to have a diet soda once in a while, I'm much happier having water.  It is hard to get out of the habit, and what clairelaine says is so true about the caffeine.  There are so many other additions that are much harder to break, I'd say go cold turkey.  Make yourself drink club soda at first.  It's nice with a bit of vanilla essence stirred in.  Then switch to filtered water.  Your body will be so much happier!

What worked for me was using Diet Kola Capsules for a month and drinking soda water for the fizz and 'habit'.  Now I just drink soda water.  It worked for me and was a cheap fix.  I was spending a lot on Diet Coke ...  and most importantly, I lost 10 Kilos and feel a lot better!  See http://www.dietkola.com on how to get some...

Judit