Water is a wonder when dieting

On Monday I decided to scrap every other drink but water for a whole week.  Just to see if I can do it.  So, for 7 days, I'd drink water with my meals (except with raisin bran and milk for breakfast).  I've failed miserably.  Pepsi is my chocolate ice cream.  I was fine on Monday and Tuesday.  But I cracked on Wednesday and Today I'm 1/3 through at 8 ounce pepsi.  I'm about to put it in the fridge though.  I've still cut down on my soda intake CONSIDERABLY and those empty calories will hurt me no more, so long as I stop now with the soda.  I love water.  I remember when I use to weigh myself at night.  I would have had a large amount of soda that would bring the scale up.  This caused me to not drink anything after a certain hour for fear of gaining weight.  But of course, I'd only be fooling myself.  I'd be light in the morning but I'd also be dehydrated.  I don't want to lose water weight.  I want to lose fat. So if I drank water throughout the day and night and was heavy then I'd rest easy knowing that I was well hydrated and the water would move right through my body.  No calories.

 Now, of course, this is common sense.  But still.  Water is my friend.  No soda.  So all I have to count is what I eat.  I suppose that's a nice convenience.  I also keep a journal to track my dieting.  I've been slipping a bit today.  I was 125 this morning.  I want to hit the 24's tomorrow.  I really do.  I hope I get there.  I need to make 109 but September though.  Soda is just so good.  But I'm making progress.  That's all I can do.  Does anyone have any (free) tips to get me to stick with only water for the next 4 days?  I'd get rid of the soda if it were mine to get rid of.  But this summer I'm staying with my parents and they are stocked up on soda.  Oh how do I escape temptation?

ask them to not buy any soda! it'll do everyone some good :)

if not the best is to try and cut down on drinking soda rather than cutting it out.. i tried cutting out sugar (EVERYTHING that had sugar in it) for 6 weeks - i did manage until then, but afterwards the only things i could eat were sugary foods! or maybe you can try drinking no calorie sodas like diet coke.

Hi, I usually find that once somethings opened and tasted that's when it becomes a problem. I just can't have a little bit of a tasty something!

I don't drink sodas, I don't like the bubbles coz they hurt my mouth... and I never touch cordial! so if I want something other than water to drink I tend to dilute my juice 50-50...  and fruit infusions are good too!

Have you tried fizzy water on its own or mixed with juice?

Well you can ration it out to yourself. Either choose to have 1 pepsi per day or maybe earn your pepsi by drinking water. Make yourself drink 2 bottles of water before you can have 1 bottle of pepsi, or maybe 3 bottles of water before you can have a pepsi, and then you have to drink 3 more bottles of water before you can have another pepsi. Whatever  you choose to do, make sure you can stick to it and then STICK TO IT! You can slowly make it more restrictive, but start small. You want to be able to succeed in the beginning so you will be motivated to progress.

yes I've tried fizzy water.  Nasty.  And not bubbly enough.  I'm the opposite of you.  I LOOOOOVE it when the bubbles burn my tongue.  fizzy water isn't fizzy enough.  It's got to make my eyes water.  I suppose i could drink soda in moderation.  I have tried the diet soda thing and diet soda isn't bad.  But the sodium is doing more harm than good.  I end up dehydrated but still heavy.  So moderation sounds like a good idea.  I'll try.  But like you said sweetigem, you can't have a little bit of something tasty. 

Just do what I did. Quit cold turkey and deal with the shakes of caffeine addiction for 2 weeks. Every time you get a headache or craving breathe deeply and tell yourself that water's the best thing you can do for yourself. I have a soda now once a month and it's almost hard for me to down its' so sweet and sugary!

 

Soda's tasty when it becomes a treat :)

My sister Gave up meat for a while (a personal fast) and when she had it again she couldn't keep it down.  It had been so long that her body had to get use to it all over again.  So I believe you.  I'll consider cold turkey.

I kicked soda cold turkey.  I visited my parents for a week and they literally had a mountain of 24-pack Mt. Dews and I couldn't keep my hands off them.  I was drinking about 5-7 cans in a day.  When I returned to my home, I went to the grocery, bought the water flavor packets that were on sale and also bought two 24-packs of generic bottled water.  I had a really bad headache for almost 3 days but after that I felt fine.  Flavor packets for water are nice because they usually only add 0-15 calories per bottle and they taste good.  I think that some taste better than Dr. Pepper ^_^.  It's not wrong to drink a bit of soda here and there though.  I am a sucker for cream soda but lucky for me, so are all of the people I live with so when it's there, I get one glass and then by the time I finish it, all of the rest of the soda is gone.

If I were you, I'd tell my parents what my plans for drinks were and ask them to keep their soda either hidden in their room or to hide them in the fridge.  I hate how my parents drink so much soda.  It's effecting my two brother's health too, they used to be very healthy and had average weight but now they are very overweight and unhealthy.

btw, soda tastes better when you can't have it but every two weeks, keep that in mind. 

Well, I'm a person who focuses on the details, so I cut up a fresh lemon into eight wedges. Every glass of water (and I like glass not plastic tumblers) gets a squeezed lemon wedge. And I drink with a straw. For some reason it's easier for me to drink and I drink faster.

My neighbor puts fresh fruit into her water. Just chunks of fruit. And I was at a party once where they had sliced cucumber in the water. I can't eat cucumber because it gives me horrible heartburn, but I could drink that water and it was delicious!

I like that fruit in water idea.. I think if you're struggling with water intake making the water as 'interesting' as possible can help.. like adding lemon, or if you like green tea, or drinking with a straw can make it easier to go down especially if the straw is thick..

Bring a drink bottle with you EVERYWHERE. if you permanently have one in your handbag you'll find it just goes...you don't even need to think about drinking it :)

Maybe make some rules/guidelines for yourself until you get into the habit. i.e: drink one drink bottle of water at EVERY meal, or every time before you have a 'snack.' This also helps to decrease hunger (as we all know feelings of hunger can actually be dehydration).

I used to be addicted to diet coke. Now I drink freshly squeezed juices where I used to drink coke, it was hard at first, but so worth it... I get this KICK of natural energy when I drink this juice called "Green Juice"  - It's pretty much every green fruit or vegetable i can think of blended in a juice. Mainly just celery, cucumber, spinach, other dark green leafy vegies, mint, parsely, and a tinnyy bit of pear or apple or sometimes even pineapple for sweetness :)

I don't really care for the fruit and water idea.  I hate adding flavor to water myself (unless it's lemonade).  I hate lemon and water.  At restaurants, I take the wedge out.  Yuk.  BUT at red robin they do have this strawberry lemonade in it with real strawberries and I LOVE that.  Of course it's very high calorie so it's a treat.  I do carry water wherever I go.  I went somewhere yesterday where they were serving punch with a big block of ice cream.  Crazy!  But I had my water so I was able to avoid the punch-ice cream bowl.  Thank GOD for big purses. 

isabelle it's not that water is boring.  I like water.  Soda just tastes better.  But it's not so good for you.  It dehydrates you and adds more sodium than you need.  But the caffeine, sugar, and bubbles get you addicted.  

Crystal Light to go is the best...only 5 cals per 8 oz and they have so many flavors there is bound to be one you like that will make you want to drink you 8 glasses a day

I used to drink soda and I still do 2oz every 2yrs. LOL When I see it I picture it in my head as something nasty, sugary, fattening and the craving goes away immediately.

I'm trying to kick the soda habit as well. It's just so darn good! I made the switch to diet a few years ago and haven't looked back. But I know diet isn't good for me either, so...

One thing that I've been doing to try and cut back is instead of having a soda, I'll make myself a "spritzer". I take 5 ounces of 100% cranberry juice, 11 ounces of club soda and it actually makes me forget about soda! It's only 80 calories for a pound of liquid. Not too shabby. I've played around with it and 5:11 seems to be the best ratio. It tastes like cranberry flavored sparkling water instead of watered-down fizzy cranberry juice.

You could do it with any juice, but I'd HIGHLY recommend having it be 100% juice, no cocktails. I tried it with cran-raspberry cocktail, found out that it's mostly HFCS and it just tasted awful.

Original Post by sweetigem:

I don't drink sodas, I don't like the bubbles coz they hurt my mouth... 

OH MAN!  Same here!  Everyone thinks I'm crazy when I say that drinking carbonated drinks is like drinking pain.

GAH!  The pain is the best part!  I'll have a bottle of pain with torture on the side and a little bit of sting for dessert. 

Original Post by sneakytiptoes:

Original Post by sweetigem:

I don't drink sodas, I don't like the bubbles coz they hurt my mouth... 

OH MAN!  Same here!  Everyone thinks I'm crazy when I say that drinking carbonated drinks is like drinking pain.

YAH!  I totally triple that!  I've only met a few people like that, but I can't even STAND drinking them!  My friends all wanted me to try one a few days ago because I hadn't had one in forever, and I like spit all over them, it was disgusting!  :)

Original Post by practicallypeach:

yes I've tried fizzy water.  Nasty.  And not bubbly enough.  I'm the opposite of you.  I LOOOOOVE it when the bubbles burn my tongue.  fizzy water isn't fizzy enough.  It's got to make my eyes water.  I suppose i could drink soda in moderation.  I have tried the diet soda thing and diet soda isn't bad.  But the sodium is doing more harm than good.  I end up dehydrated but still heavy.  So moderation sounds like a good idea.  I'll try.  But like you said sweetigem, you can't have a little bit of something tasty. 

 I'm a bit confused.  Diet Pepsi (which tastes just like coke to me) has 25 mg sodium for a 24 oz bottle.  That's a little over 1 mg per ounce.  what is your average sodium intake per day?

Safiyah

Get some of those Crystal Light packets or, even cheaper, the sugar free kool aid.  A wedge of lemon, lime, orange, or grapefruit is good too.  Either get a good water filter or some good bottle water.  IDK about where you live, but here, the tap water is VILE certain times of the year.  I agree with the kicking it cold turkey.  I used to drink soda.  Now I just can't do it.  I'll have 1 a month, tops.  They're just too sweet and icky now. 

Hansen's diet soda has no sodium.