Friday, October 29, 2010

Give Me Strength To Quit...


Every personal trainer I have ever had, every doctor, every health-conscious friend, has told me "cut out soda, it's bad for you." Problem is, I'm in lust/love/hopeless twitterpation with the stuff. Coke Zero. Cherry Coke Zero. Diet Coke with Lime. Diet Mountain Dew. Diet Sundrop. Pepsi Max. Pepsi One. Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper. There's nothing better than a tall frosty glass of fizzy goodness on ice--a few times a day.

Imagine my chagrin when I realized that if I want to "get healthier," I need to cut out three things (according to my mom, who has lost 190 pounds and has a new lease on life). Those three things are:
1) Soda
2) Sugar
3) All carbs except whole grain

For someone whose diet consists mainly of soda, sugar, and bad carbs, this will be a challenge. I've started small. I cut out soda on Wednesday. It was awful. Headaches, a general feeling of wanting to cry, etc. Yesterday was easier, but instead of "getting a drink" at Target like I usually do, I got a bottle of water. Wasn't the same, but oh well. New Good Friend didn't even last two days. She was doing this with me, but she folded and had a diet coke yesterday. So, I'm going it alone. I figure I'll try an experiment. Of the three, I love carbs the most, so this week, it's soda. Next week, I'm cutting out soda plus sugar. The week after that, I will cut out carbs. I will be soda, sugar and carb free, for three months. I know, I'm picking the WORST time of year to start a diet like this, but moving really stressed me out, and when I stress out, I eat.

It doesn't help that I have neighbors who get up as early as 4:30 to work out. They are all highly motivated, fit people. I am...not.

Gotta start somewhere, right? But the soda thing has been hard. I now know what a person trying to quit smoking feels like. I want to knock down the woman next to me in the parking lot, fight her for her fountain drink, and suck it down. I wouldn't even care if it was mostly ice-coke. I'd still love it.

Give me strength.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Good luck!!! I love soda too. I used to only drink soda on the weekends, and that seemed to work out pretty well. Maybe allow yourself one cheat a week?

Jennifer said...

I'm trying to kick the habit, too. ouch it hurts. And extreme kudos to your mom!!!

Michelle Miles said...

I stopped drinking sodas and lost 10 pounds - seriously. And the diet stuff is so bad for you - all that artificial sweetner is not good for you. Good luck! I know you can do it. :)

Anonymous said...

This is EXACTLY where I am. I have quit drinking all soda 3 times. The last I made it four weeks-the headaches are the worst!!!
Unfortunately, I have started drinking soda again. I will quit now with you and hope I can make it through and then NOT start drinkning it again!
Good luck!

We are 3. said...

Coming from a trainer, I can tell you that you can do it you will be surprised how much better you feel once those things are out of your diet! Our bodies were not made to eat/process those refined foods. With that being said, I love my diet coke too... just every once in a while, though. :)
Keep us updated on your progress.

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Aimee said...

I guess I'm lucky I don't like carbonation? But I do like Root Beer (made flat in a tall glass with lots of ice) with pizza. Good luck.

Lee Anne said...

The other day I caught the tail end of a tv segment in which a nutritionist recommended eating a piece of fruit every four hours. I didn't hear the whole thing so I don't know if it was to reduce sugar cravings or if it was for overall weight maintenance but I'm going to try it and see if it makes any difference in how I feel. I'd love to lose my sweet tooth!