Weight Loss Diaries – How I’m Saying My Farewell to Soda
Hi my name is Misti and I’m addicted to soda (Hi Misti).
Now while I can’t say I have 100% cut soda out of my life, I am working on slowly cutting the amount I drink daily down to a goal of 1-2 servings per week. Now anyone that has spent any amount of time with me knows that is a HUGE undertaking. At my worst I would drink up to a 12-pack of Diet Coke a day with a slip or two of water in between. Whenever these soda binges happened I noticed a few things: I was more tired due to the constant sugar/caffeine crashes, my skin was dull and flaky, my hair was just gross, and my body felt sluggish.
So how I am planning on taking this addition on?
The first is to drink more tea. Besides having a ton of good for you benefits, I’ve started to reach for tea everytime I want to get a soda. This means I have a constant stock of lemon, orange, green, and peppermint teas both at home and at the office. I’ve found that the tea helps to fill that need for something flavored and tides me over longer.
Second is keep drinking water. I recently invested in a camel-back water bottle and boy has it made a difference in my water consumption, mainly because of one simple (and silly) feature…the straw. I have noticed that if my beverage has a straw I tend to drink more of it, thus just by have a water bottle with a built in straw I’ve increased my water intake from basically nothing to about 60oz a day. My goal is to drink at least 160oz a day (basically half my body weight).
Third is to not deny myself. The tricky thing about cravings is about 95% of the time my mind is fooling me into thinking I NEED something. However, I’ve learned the hard way to not completely ignore those cravings since that tends to lead to a binge. The past few weeks I’ve enjoyed a soda only a lunch and only one can. If I feel that I need more I’ll reach for tea or even cranberry-lime seltzer. At home, I just don’t keep any soda in the house and stick to my tea, water and an occasional cup of hot cocoa.
What I’ve noticed in the past few weeks is I’m sleeping a little bit better, my skin is getting that smooth, healthy glow back, but most importantly my body doesn’t feel like its full of sludge.