Hello everyone! I'm pretty new to this site; this is only my second post. I'm working really hard on losing all the excess weight I've gained over the last few years. Everyone seems so supportive on here so I'm hoping for some advice! When it comes to unhealthy habits/addictions, one that I can never seem to get rid of is my diet soda addiction. I actually do drink enough water (I think)...8 glasses a day for the most part. I guess I use diet soda to fulfill my sweet tooth or something. I also justify it by telling myself that it's 0 calories (I'm counting calories to lose weight). But I also know that its really unhealthy and I think I'd just feel a lot better and possibly lose more weight if I could get rid of it completely.

I've heard from several sources about replacing it with a seltzer and lime/lemon but that just sounds less than appealing

Does anyone have any tips on this? Thanks so much!

Hi,

I switched to Lipton Diet Berry Green Tea as a healthier option to soda. I don't like the taste of tea, but I love this stuff. It tastes more like a lightly sweetened strawberry flavored water. It's not an overly sweet taste and kind of refreshing. I used to crave soda, but I definitely prefer the tea to soda now. On occasion, I'll feel like having a soda, but I only drink Caffeine Free Diet Coke that comes in miniature bottles. After a couple of months of drinking mostly tea and water, I can't even make it through one of the little bottles of soda without getting sick of it because it's too sweet.

sparkling water + pure cranberry juice+ xylitol for sweetness + splash of lemon. straight black coffee for the caffeine

I forgot to mention that something carbonated might help with that soda-ish craving. Maybe try Sparkling flavored water, or I know I've had Lipton's Diet Sparkling Mixed Berry Green Tea too.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll have to try them!

the thing that got me to readily switch from diet soda to tea is just look up the ingredients on your soda can. Read about the aspartame. I am pretty convinced that I will be more than thinner once the aspartame is out of my system, but I will be healthier too

Ditto! Can we say "excitotoxin"?

personally, my diet coke a day habit keeps me sane. seriously. but thats just me.

I think its a matter of just slowly replacing the diet soda with another beverage. I love Calistoga mineral water in the Very Berry or Orange. Its bubbly and delicious. Or iced tea is always a nice option. Be careful with caffiene headaches if you're used to having caffiene every day.

Ditto on the caffeine headaches...I gave myself a major coffee addiction (thanks, grad school) and now that I'm on break, I limit myself to 1 cup in the morning. Its enough to satiate the cravings and also keep the caffeine headache away.

Just try gradually replacing it, cold turkey is hard and can drive you insane.

Good luck

Ditto to everyone here. My family has ALWAYS had a major Diet Coke addiction.... We've switched over to Caffeine free which doesn't bother me anymore. The only caffeine I really have is my morning cup of coffee. I can also tell a HUGE difference if I do have something with caffeine in the afternoon. I have a really hard time getting to sleep at night.

A friend and I were discussing sodas the other day and she brought up a good point (as she is an avid DC drinker as well).... I don't think it's so much about the caffeine habit (as that can be kicked pretty easily) as much as it is about the carbonation/sodium.

With that being said I try to limit myself to 2 sodas a day. I drink one on the way to work and then I have one when I get home, but I try to make sure I have all my water in for the day BEFORE I allow myself to have a DC when I get home.

I honestly don't know what kicking the habit all together will do weight wise... but GOOD LUCK!!!!

Oh I loooove diet Coke something fierce! But I've basically weaned myself off of it, I do have it a couple times a week but nothing like I used to (at least 32 oz. a day!)

So what I did was tell myself I could have Diet Coke after a certain time (I think it was 3pm) but ONLY if I'd drunk a full 64 oz of water all ready. That way I wasn't depriving myself, but I also rarely craved the soda after drinking all that water.

I'm in the same boat as duckyellowfeet. I like drinking soda however I do limit myself to 1 per day, usually at dinner time and after I have had all my water for the day. I personally don't think soda, especially diet soda, is going to have a huge effect on your weight loss as long as you are not using it in place of water.

Ditto!

One thing that really makes me think twice about diet coke is what it does to my bones. The ingredients, fake crap and all that isn't a HUGE concern to me. But what it does to my bones bothers me. I still drink it, but have really tried to cut back.

I do like the suggestion of the carbonated water - lots of times it's the carbonation that I want. Might have to give that a go.

Thanks for all the replies! I like the idea of trying to gradually cut back instead of just quitting altogether. Right now I drink about 3 cans of Diet Coke a day...the problem too is that sometimes I'll buy a bottle of it on campus from the vending machines which is like 2.5 servings but i drink it all as one serving. Anyway, I think I'll try cutting out one or 2 of my servings of it a day and see if I go crazy lol. I love all the replacement drink ideas too. Thanks again!