might not sound like a big deal, but as of today, i am quitting soda. i have been a soda ADDICT my whole life and even though i switched over to diet when i started my weight loss, i still drink almost 2 liters a day. i'm hoping that switching to water will boost my metabolism a bit.

this is going to be almost as hard for me as quitting cigarettes (which is next on my list), so even though it doesnt sound like much of a big deal, it is HUGE for me!

i am sure the caffeine withdrawal is going to make me an unpleasant person to be around, does anyone know how long it lasts?

also, if anyone knows some health benefits to switching from diet soda to water that they could share, that would help my motivation!

I quit drinking soda a while back It wasn't so hard for me even tho I would drink it every day... the good thing about it is i feel a lot less bloated once I just started drinking water good luck!

I say this alot here... but I drink alot of teas now. iced and hot. I'm still getting the caffeine from tea and coffee, so I don't know about withdrawals. Teas have a ton of health benefits, so I don't worry about the caffeine. Mineral water and flavored seltzer helps when I want something fizzy.

sodas have a bunch of chemicals (besides the artificial sweeteners) that are just not good for you. they were also doing a number on my teeth, so that alone made it worth it to slow down with them.

My sister had headaches for a couple of days when she quit drinking soda. My MIL used to have bad headaches/migrains, and huge doses of caffeine was one of the things they gave her, so some correlation there. I think it expands the blood vessels.

I'm just trying to cut down right now, from a 6 pack of Diet Pepsi 12 oz cans a day to 2 or 3. After that we'll see.

Cigs are on my list too.

So much to do.

You go girl! You can totally do this! Once you get that stuff out of your system, you will feel sooo much better. And your weight loss will reflect that! Stay strong!

Yeah the Level of withdraw will depend on you and how strong the addiction is. Many do not realize with regard to the "Diet" vs. regualr soda that the artificial sweetener is actually worse than sugar. As the other person stated, that wil help you drop some weight, and of course feel better. Kudos to you on your decision to stop consuming that poison. As an extra motivator keep in mind that it is the media advertizing followed by the ingredients that cause the addiction in the first place. You are/were being victimized by the giant food conglomerate to participate in this nasty food experiment they have many Americans sucked into and making everybody sick in the name of BIG business. It's discusting, but it's good you're beginning to step away from it. Yes getting away for the cigs will be a great next step, good part is there are many ways both natural as well as medically to help you stop that with less strain.

Girl, thats ALOT of soda! Im positive if you stop the soda, you will loose tons!! I used to drink soda, starbucks, and italian sodas and I quit and lost lots of weigt!!! And im with you on the ciggarettes!!! Im gonna try and quit soon

I cut out diet soda a few years ago and don't miss it at all. In fact I can't believe I put all those gross chemicals in my body. I still drink coffee, but just in the mornings and usually half caf (half decaf and half regular).

Good luck with this! If you can't go cold turkey, try cutting down a little each week.

I don't have any words of wisdom or anything of the sort but I do have some understanding because I can relate.

From the time I was 14 until about 6 or 7 months ago, I drank a 12 pack of canned sodies every day...every day. It was part of my daily routine..my diet, if you will. Now I have a 20oz bottle once a week. I didn't wean off them or anything, I just decided I didn't want to drink all those sodies so I told my bf not to buy them for me anymore except the one 20oz bottle a week. I have replaced those sodies with water..yep, I drink water all day long every day and I really haven't had any withdrawals or anything from it. I wish you all the luck. You are a strong person and you can do anything you put your mind to

I am with you on giving up soda! I am about to make that leap myself. I will still be drinking coffee and tea for caffeine however. As I get serious migraines, I am not willing to give up one of the only things that helps. Trust me when I say that there is little that I wouldn't try to stop the pain when I'm about twelve hours in to a halo migraine.

However, I am really hoping that cutting out the soda will help with weight loss. It is going to be tough, but we can do it!

One thing that helped me to cut back was to remind myself that pop can leach the calcium from your bones. I don't want to have osteoporosis when I'm older just because I was too stubborn to give up my soda pop.

One side benefit was that I have cut way, way back on my migraine medication since I cut back on the diet Coke. I was taking a lot of migraine meds and I think that, since January, I've only gotten 1 refill. So that's really, really good for me.

But seriously, think of your bones and teeth being slowly melted away from all that fizzy, acidic liquid constantly washing over them. Change to water, and if you need something fizzy, get one of those flavored, unsweetened fizzy waters (like Talking Rain). I thought those were terrible at first but that was only because I was accustomed to sweet soda. Once I got off the juice, I liked the Talking Rain.

Thanks for all the support gals! Day one has been a success so far, its SO hard! I can't believe how addicted I am.

For everyone who commented that it helped them lose weight, was that on diet soda? I assumed that since I'm on diet which has no calories, it wouldn't really effect my weight loss.

Hopefully in a year I will be at goal weight, as well as junk food, soda, and cigarette free! No more addictions!

You Can do it,
It's not easy, but just tell yourself you can do it for one month, it really does help if you think you don't have to do it forever. After you have been away from it for a while you will be suprised at how nasty pop tastes. I stopped pop on December 31st, it was about the 3rd time I've quit but this time it has held. I did have a taste the other day, like I said it was so nasty tasting.

I feel so much better without it, I just have more energy and lots less pain.

Good luck
Bette K

I stopped drinking soda over 2 years ago on a daily basis because I found out I had an ulcer and any form of caffeine would bother it I do however drink them at certain restaurants because im weird about certain places water but I will just get a diet. One interesting fact which will make almost anyone want to give up soda was something a park ranger told me when I toured the Florida caverns she said that the caves were formed by carbonic acid and that the carbonic acid in soda pop is 150 times greater than the acid that carved out the caves. Creepy thought huh?