Hello everyone. My name is Jima, im 42 and weigh 292 lbs. i have tried the whole diet, lifestyle change thing numerous times and will do well for a few days, then ill want my glass of soda, or something and i blow it and just tell myself ill start again tomoz.. but tomoz never comes;( Food isnt the biggest issue for me.. i eat small portions, and half the time miss meals cause i forget to eat... i will admit i dont always eat what i should.. i do like cheese, etc.. but food wise according to fitday, i get about 1000 or less cals per day... where i have a huge problem, is i drink at least one 2 liter bottle of coke a day if not more;(... when i try not to drink any i get a raging headache.. caffeine withdrawls im sure...i tried to substatute it with coffee, but kept getting headaches.. DR said is two diff kinds of caffein.. just my luck cause i drink coffee black... i have tried diet pepsi, coke, and they gag me;(... anyone have any suggestions?? just deal with the headaches?? thats why i always cave, cause they really are incapacitating..also, i dont have diabetes.. i have the opposite.. im hypoglycemic.. so when i dont have soda i get light headed and my blood sugar drops.. i get real discouraged and wonder is there hope? lol... oh well, just wanted to introduce myself and see if any others are going thru this..

I've had nothing but diet sodas since 15, so I don't know that I'll be much help here, but I do know that the headache thing does go away if you just stick it out 2-3 days. Your body will get over the caffine withdrawl if you give it a chance to. (I dropped most of my caffine intake a while back and drink caffine-free soda too now and I was a HUGE coffe/soda drinker, so I went thru the headache thing myself.) By the same token, I still drink diet coke, but much less than I used to. Water - lots of water!

Have you tried Coke Zero? I know everyone raves about it because it tastes like regular coke - which is why I hate it. I can't stand the uber-sweetness of regular coke. You can sub other types of sugar - fruit for instance - to stop the blood sugar dropping. In fact, eating many small, low-cal snacks throughout the day should do better at keeping it even. Have you talked to your doctor about that?

Well the good news is it sounds like you'd have a very easy time losing weight if you just cut out that one thing... I don't even want to guess how many calories are in a 2L bottle!

I can't help either as I am a diet coke person, but I can tell you the headaches do go away after a few days. Take 4 advil every few hours and maybe try and ween off of it (alternate with 1 glass water) instead of crashing off of it if that doesn't work.

Maybe try something like crystal light if you dont like diet soda? Something to occupy your mouth? Sugar Free popcicles? How about a food that is on the healthy side that you really like?

Try not to skip meals and eat small meals often so you stay satisfied.

It sounds like you're not eating enough and you're getting the majority of your calories (empty calories) from the soda. 1,000 calories isn't enough for a person under 120 pounds...... When you lose weight, your daily caloric intake should taper down as you get into a lower weight 'bracket.' You'll have nowhere to go if you start with 1,000 calories. Here's a website where you can calculate how many calories you need per day.
http://www.icsdna.com/urwhatueat/tool4.html

As for the coke, I'm not better with my diet cherry pepsi habit. My husband hates the taste of diet soda as well, but he will drink diet wild cherry pepsi. You may want to give that a try. You may want to try getting an iced-tea maker and using Splenda. (just to get your caffeine fix w/out all of the calories.)

I definitely think you need to be eating way more real food. Your calorie range to start should probably be around 1800-2000 calories. Also, if you are hypoglycemic one of the worst things you can do for yourself is to keep drinking refined sugar. If you eat things with complex sugars and fiber then you can alleviate a lot of the swings you get because of your hypoglycemia. You should probably plan to eat often, which should help to combat this. It may take some adjustment since you say that now you don’t eat all that much, but if you want to lose the weight it is worth a try.

I agree with the others that you will probably need to just detox yourself on the caffeine and try going cold turkey using aspirin or your favorite pain reliever. The one other option I can think of is to try and wean yourself off Coke. If you are currently drinking a 2 liter bottle a day, start by trying to have only a one liter bottle a day. Then after a week try making it two cans a day, and then one, etc. This will take longer than stopping cold, but it may be the best way for you to kick the habit.

The other thing is to try and not have an all or nothing attitude. If you mess up, then the best thing to do is try to get back on plan as soon as possible. Don’t wait until tomorrow. We will all mess up here and there, but the important thing is to not let that derail you.

Thank you for all the suggestions... ill try to wean off the coke just do it slower.. not cold turkey.. that should help the headache thing i think... and i know i dont eat enough.. hubby is on me all the time... ill make a hamberger.. eat 1/3 of it and give him the rest... he doesnt have a weight prob and wont ever i wouldnt guess... 6'5 and 220 lbs lol.... lucky dog.. he can have all the soda he wants lol...i wish i had the option of tryin diet cherry pepsi.. but dont think they have it here.. im american living in england and that doesnt help with diets... the food and everything is soo diff here.. i go to a grocery store and dont recognise anything lol...every brand im using now cept for coke or pepsi is diff to me... from fairy dish liquid to daz laundry soap... where is my dawn and tide? lol..again thanks for the help guys.. and ill keep ya posted... will cut down to half a two liter tomoz.. see how that goes)

Well the good news if you can cut out the soda you should be able to eat a lot more then you're used to and your body will be a lot happier because it's getting the vitamins it needs. Might help you keep on track better overall.

I can see how everything being different would make things tricky. Did you join the UK group? They might have some good food suggestions that we might not know of over there.

You can do it... I didn't think i ever could, but slowly but surely I'm getting there and that's after many fails and semi-sucessful trys with slip-ups!

Coming off all that caffeine & sugar probably will make you feel miserable for a few days - but in the end you need to go through it to kick the habit. Just keep the tylenol close by & keep the water intake up.

While you're doing the weaning process trying drinking your coke out of a nice glass with lots of ice - that way it will feel like a treat but you'll have less due to the ice. And try not to drink any of it in front of the tv/computer/paperwork. Drink it when you are aware & paying attention to it - that'll also make it seem like more.

P.S. - I used to love coke, cannot stand diet pops at all. I still cannot stand diet pops but now when I do have a coke I never finish it 'cause I find it doesn't taste good anymore. So there is hope!

I looks like 2 liters of coke is over 800 calories a day!

It will definitely help if you can wean yourself off of that and start adding in some more nutrition!

Wow! The folks here have awesome suggestions. I, too, battle with the soda issue. I am a Mt. Dew-aholic! Some days 2 20oz's. It is like my coffee first thing in the morning.

Your weight trackers are impressive. I would love to have you girls in my town for encouragement.

i used to drink soda ALL the time. i cant drink it at all now. even diet really. i have one now and then, but its just gross. the longer you go without it. the less you will want it. try flavored waters too. especially ones with no calories. honestly, cold turkey is the best way to do it. because you seem that you fall off the wagon and get discouraged. just dont have the temptation at all. it will be miserable for a few days, but start on a friday or something so you have the weekend to detox. drink TONS of water and get lots of rest. you will be ok

I used to be like you and drink a 2L bottle of coke a day plus some...I basically just decided that the calories aren't worth it. I started drinking Diet Coke and bottles of Poland Springs water. I also bought the Fruit2O flavored waters. I couldn't just give up the caffeine either which is why I switched to the Diet Coke. When I drink some Classic Coke now I find it sickeningly sweet. It won't happen overnight, but you can do it.

Just a little caffeine information (scientist mode incoming!)...

The caffeine molecule doesn't differ between items.. just the amounts. There's about 475mg of caffeine in 2L of coke. The average drip coffee has 18ish mg per oz. It would take drinking 3.5 8oz cups of coffee to get the equivalent caffeine. There's also the sugar rush to consider. So you have 2 addictions to kick at once.

I was a coffee snob, but it was hurting my tummy. Due to overuse of aspirin, aleve etc (at max doses) I had to have ulcers removed. My tummy is like a banana now (great to curb binging.. but I still manage to get calories in!). I have to be really careful with what's left! So I switched from being an espresso snob to drinking one cup of tea in the morning. My family still doesn't believe it!! I did this last November. If *I* can do it, ANYONE can!!

Meanwhile, these peeps here will give you great support in your quest to eat healthy and take care of your teeth (sugared soda is murder on them).

Please keep us posting on your progress!!

Luv,
Ratkity

If you're not eating whole grains, you might try adding some whole wheat bread or brown rice to your diet. In terms of keeping blood sugar stable, those are the best kinds of carbs (along with veggies).