I drink about 4-5 diet coke's a day--I use to drink regular cokes but cannot afford those extra calories hence came the trade for diet soda instead. I know diet cokes are bad for me, but I'm addicted. I know I need to drink water but I find no pleasure in drinking water throughout the day. I try the water thing for about 3 days then I fall of the wagon. If you are a reformed soda drinker and have traded your diet soda for water how did you make the change and how long did it take you to become a water-aholic?

cj

omg me too i just cant bring myself to drink water i have lost weight pretty nicely trading diet soda for regular but i found that when i did an experiment and went one week without diet soda my numbers were fabulous ! but i still caved and went back to it .... id say try cutting it down to one a day with dinner .... im trying that now myself ....

for 23 years I drank a 12 pack of diet cokes everday without hardly ever missing one day of doing it but for the past 6 months, I have drank water almost exclusively except I have one 20oz diet coke a week now. When I first stopped them, I just kept myself busy doing other things so I wasn't always thinking about diet cokes plus it helps to not have them in your house available and now I really enjoy water.

One thing that has helped me are those Crystal Light individual packets to add to my water - they have a ton of flavors and I don't bloat up with them like I do soda.

Okay - I'm right there with ya. Or, I was.

I think Diet Coke has some secret, addictive ingredient because it was almost as hard to kick the DC habit as it was to kick ciggies! But, it IS possible. Nowadays none of my hard-earned money is going to Diet Coke 12 packs or Marlboros!

I used to stop on my way to work, drive-thru Carl's Jr. & get the largest DC. Then I'd finish it at my desk and go to the cafeteria on my 10:00 break. Another giant DC. Same at lunch. Same for afternoon break. Drive thru AGAIN for the afternoon drive home. Then I'd start on my cans in the fridge! What the

I felt so much better after kicking it to the curb - my GERD really got better. Here is what I did:
Moved to Diet 7up - no caffeine
Mixed low-sugar fruit juice in Diet 7up
Starting experimenting with herbal teas
Bought the iced tea maker & always had some in the fridge
Started drinking low/no cal flavored waters (Propel & Fruit20 are my favs).
Haven't had a Diet Coke or any other carbonated pops in over a year. My tummy is much happier!

Good luck! Oh, as far as water, I used to HATE drinking it. So, I pour water into my plastic tag-along bottle & stick it in the freezer. For some reason I like it very much when it's almost icy! Strange, but works for me.

I started avoiding the sodas just because they are so bad for your teeth and another poster here reminded me that I read one time the carbonation leaches calcium from your bones.

I've been a water drinker since I started doing the diet thing in my early teens... but what I usually do is drink from a disposable plastic cup, I noticed drinking from certain cups the water will take the taste of the cup/glass. You can try a spritz of fresh lemon, lime, orange to flavor it. Drinking it ice cold helps too.

I drink Diet Coke all day long and not a lot of water and lost weight really easily. It's the one vice I can't give up yet and I don't want to.

Hey all - I had to give up diet coke too as I was finding myself heading towards 3 cans a day (so addictive) - I have been off it for about three months now and decided I felt like one the other day - just one - however when I took a sip YUCK! All I could taste was the chemicals..... I couldn't finish it and I haven't had another since.....

Thanks for all your feedback, I'm glad I'm not the only person who is addicted to the diet cokes. I'm really going to try to cut back and hopefully become a waterholic..

Maybe it's the taste of your water? I found I couldn't get myself to switch from soda to tap water, but I succeeded when I switched to reverse osmosis water. I get it in refillable jugs from a dispenser at the grocery store. And I don't actually think our tap water tastes that bad, so I was surprised when it worked. I actually crave water when I'm thirsty, now, which feels like how it should be!

I was going through AT LEAST a 2 liter bottle of Diet Coke a day (With or without rum...) when I decided I needed to get myself under control. As suggested by Shrinking Amy, I buy the Crystal Light packets. I drink water all day except at my morning snack and afternoon snack..then I have crystal light with my snack. It is a tasty and low calorie beverage without the caffeine addiction/jitters and the damage to your tooth enamel.

Now I will occasionally have a Diet Coke if I'm out to eat. Otherwise, milk, water, Crystal Light, VFusion veggie/fruit juice, 100% fruit juices, decaf iced black or green tea are my beverage options on a daily basis.

Kat

i WAS completely addicted to the caffeine I got every day from a can or bottle of Coke alongside coffee every/every other morning... probably since I was 16 years old. I'm 23 now and started the Transitions Lifestyles System which made me quit cold turkey from week 1 detox... I'm in week 4 and have only had one diet soda in week 2... I just cut up lemons and put them in my water (with tons of ice) throughout the day and it keeps me drinking water. We need to have 8, 8oz glasses a day... so I buy a HUGE bottle of water at the gym in the AM and keep refilling it at work and squeezing in some lemon juice at random.

Through the program we were educated on how TERRIBLE soda is for you... even if its diet. I had a friend who got aspartame poisoning from drinking too much diet soda and he was losing his mind... it causes brain tumors... he had to go to the hospital because he could hardly remember his name or where he was from and had to lay down on the floor at work because things started spinning. At that point he drank about 5 diet colas a day. Now he drinks water... while aspartame poisoning was temporary we all became more aware of what that stuff can do to you... artificial sweeteners create formaldehyde in your body... yeah... the stuff they use to preserve your body with WHEN YOUR DEAD! so cut it out if you can, i know drinking diet soda may seem like a better idea but do some research. I'm sure no one is loses weight just because they drink diet soda, i'm sure exercise or watching what we're eating would have something to do with it. I know everyone's body will react differently but there are NO proven studies that diet soda will help lose weight. aspartame/sweet & low etc etc will make you hungry. There's EVEN a warning label on these items. TRY really hard to get your water in, they have carbonated waters with splenda. it's worth a shot! GOOD LUCK

I was drinking up to 2 liters a day of the stuff for awhile. I'm down to 1 can a day. I didn't like the taste of tap water, it always had weird off tastes of chlorine and other strange icky stuff. But once I got a britta water filter for the tap it was a little better. I still can't drink water in the morning, makes me nauseus. But I add a cystal light flavor packet (or what ever generic one is on sale) to a big bottle of water-like 32 oz size and drink that. Then I slowly started adding more water to the mix and can easily drink water now with just a little squeeze of lemon or lime juice. (actually those packets of Just Lemon or Just Lime) It just took some time to re-educate my taste buds.

I was trying to get off the soda habit because of all the talk about how it messes up your tooth enamal

I have a diet soda every other day, but I only drink water otherwise. Diet soda is something I use as a craving suppressant for regular soda.

I drink diet soda's and splenda sweetened tea's all day long, every day. I've lost over 60 pounds doing it. When I've had regains, it was because I wasn't diligent in weighing my food and tracking my calories. I have a bad, bad tendancy to just mindly pop handfuls of food in my mouth withought thinking, for no particular reason.

Everyone has a different body, and I do believe that some people are more sensitive to certain ingredients than others might be. For some people, peanuts are a deadly and real poison. Other can eat them by the handful with no ill effects. Just because something is bad for a few people doesn't mean that it makes sense for everyone to avoid them.

In my opinion, plain water is vastly over-rated. Worry about your food and exercise, not over your non-caloric beverage choices.