Getting rid of the soda

[MEF01]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this board.

I desperatetly need to lose weight. I don't eat much junk at all. Very very rarely do I have dessert or snacks. Im starting to exercise again and WW points. BUT, i drink A LOT of pepsi, WAY TOO MUCH!!!

Does cutting out soda from your diet really make a big and noticeable difference? I have tried before but it was so hard, I can't believe how hard. Any suggestions? Water gets old really quick and I don't like the taste of diet drinks.

thank you

 

[NeverlandClub23]

It really does make a BIG difference. The daily recommended amount of carbs (according to the nutrition tables found on packaging) is 300 carbs per day. Each can of soda (bottles have more!) has about 40 grams of carbs (all bad carbs). Not to mention all of the "empty" calories. I lost about 11 lbs. a few years ago when I gave up regular soda (I didn't have much to lose so it may be more for people who weigh more or drink more soda, although I was drinking A LOT).

I didn't like the taste of diet soda either but I can't stand water so I started mixing half regular and half diet and after getting used to that took a little "regular" out each day until now I enjoy the taste of diet soda. To me it was just like coffee, wine, and beer. Once I got used to it I couldn't figure out how I had never liked it in the first place!

Good luck!

 

[~Brandy~]

I started Weight Watchers in February 2008 and the first thing I did was switch regular Coke for Diet Coke. I was drinking a LOT of it... like I didn't even want to count how much. A case every few days, at least. I absolutely hated the taste of diet, but wasn't willing to deal with the caffeine migraines, so I forced down enough to keep the headaches away.

Fast forward to today... I have lost almost 60 pounds and finally, truly prefer the taste of diet. It was probably at least six months before I drank it easily (but still wanted regular) and only in the last month or so do I actually prefer it.

So I guess the point is, even the most hardcore of regular soda fans CAN switch... it just takes some serious commitment. Now regular sugar Coke tastes terrible to me. It was a big change for me, but I didn't expect the transition to take sooooo long.

 

[goofyinohio]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this board.

I desperatetly need to lose weight. I don't eat much junk at all. Very very rarely do I have dessert or snacks. Im starting to exercise again and WW points. BUT, i drink A LOT of pepsi, WAY TOO MUCH!!!

Does cutting out soda from your diet really make a big and noticeable difference? I have tried before but it was so hard, I can't believe how hard. Any suggestions? Water gets old really quick and I don't like the taste of diet drinks.

thank you

Hello and welcome to the WISH Boards!

I wouldn't recommend cutting soda out all the way though. At least not at first. Drinking Soda makes a huge difference. Let say you are having 3 cans of pop a day. That's about 450 calories for just those three cans. You probably know this, but it takes 3,500 calories less than you should have to lose 1 pound. So in roughly 8 days just by cutting out those 3 cans you could lose a pound.

If you get your activity in combined with less calories from pop the weight will come off even faster.

I used to hate Diet pop. You couldn't get me near it. Before I started losing weight this last time I started drinking Diet Dr Pepper. It took me a little while, but I got used to it and now like others prefer the taste of diet. Should I have pop at all? No, but I still do.

Good Luck with your weight loss.

 

[CobraBubbles]

It really does make a difference, once I figured out that if I drank I think it was 2 pops a day and didn't burn them off I'd gain a pound every other week...yikes. I haven't given it up but I've cut down.

I don't recommend switching to diet. I don't recommend switching one unhealthful thing to another. They are finding out that diet pop has a lot of harmful chemicals in it that could make you sick in the long run, and I've also heard studies that it may hurt your weight loss goal also.

Just stick to what you like, but cut down (everything in moderation). Cut down to 1 a day...then maybe 1 every few days or so. Once you do get on water and get off of pop it's actually easy but it's a REALLY hard cycle to break at first. If you go strictly to water you will be amazed all of a sudden at how sweet pop is and how much it doesn't quench your thirst.

But I think you shouldn't cut out all pleasures in life so I'm not saying you should cut it totally out. I hate water, too, but don't give it so much power or thought. Water is something to hydrate you, nothing more or less. I also find that it helps to get into water by doing something physical which will make you really thirsty and you'd gulp down anything!

Good luck!

 

[Mary Anne]

I never drank reg soda, only diet. However, I drank way to much of it easily a six pack and then some a day. This time around on WW I decided to drink water and just go cold turkey with the diet soda. I also stopped drinking coffee. I guess I was lucky as I never got any headaches but what I did stop getting was heart paputations (sorry I know I'm spelling that wrong and the spell check isn't helping -- you know what I mean when you can feel your heart racing?). OMG, I had no idea what a difference that would make.

Now 8 months later, I never think to have a diet soda, and coffee is a real treat that I have for desert if we're out for dinner.

 

[UP Disney]

Yes, it makes a big difference. I was a huge pepsi drinker - I drank 100-120 oz. a day. I also don't like the taste of water. I know that others say to drink diet pepsi but I can't stand the taste of that either. I decided if I'm going to get used to something that I don't like it might as well be water. I lost about 10 pounds (out of the total 30 that I need to lose) just by making that change. I lost another 15 by just watching my portions and trying not to have dessert every day. If I craved something, I had it but just in smaller quantities. I do still drink pepsi every day but I drink less than 24 oz. per day. Some days it is only about 6 oz. I just could never get rid of it totally. Every time I tried, I just gave up and would be back to drinking way too much again.

 

[alexb]

I was diagnosed with diabetes this past October and one of the things I did was to stop drinking pop cold turkey. I drink a lot of water now and based upon a suggestion from my dietician I add lemon or lime juice to the water to add a some flavor. It doesn't add any sugar or carbs so it works for me. They also make crystalized lemon in packets that are the size of a sugar packet called TrueLemon (also no sugar) that you can take with you on the go.

Cutting out pop is just one of the many life changes I've made and the results have been worth it. I decided not to try to switch to diet for several reasons. Fortunately I don't miss drinking pop at all.

 

[lisah0711]

I'm not a fan of plain water, unless it is really, really hot. I find that putting a little slice of lemon or lime in my water makes it much more palatable as a substitute for diet soda. There is something about the bubbles in the soda that I really like but club soda or sparkling water just isn't the same.

Good luck with making the switch and remember one day, one little change at a time, adds up over time.

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

When I switched from regular to diet, I also switched brands. made it so much easier for me. I used to drink pepsi, but went to diet coke. I couldn't stand diet pepsi. Maybe you could try switching brands to see if it is easier to switch to diet?