I switched to diet soda only like 6 months ago but I still drink alot of it!! Like... one 2liter to 2 a day.
How do I kick my habit!?!

i am working on kicking my habit as well. the hardest place is the grocery store, to bypass the soda aisle. and i only let my husband bring in soda i don't like and won't drink, so the house has no temptation for me. then i'm stuck with what is in the house (aka water).

i find it's easier after about a week off. i've been pop free for awhile now :-) i used crystal light to get over the hump, but now i just use water with lemon or i brew hot tea and throw a bunch of ice on it.

i cut out 99% of soda just by avoiding it at the grocery store. the other place is restaurants, but it just takes practice to order water, OR if you know how much your meal is, you can just take exact change + tip, thus leaving no money to be able to buy soda, lol.

the other thing i did was I bought a nice water canteen that I like to use, and it was expensive enough for a canteen that I don't want to NOT use it. so you could try buying yourself a pretty, stainless steel canteen if you think having something nice to drink water out of would help....


just fyi i got a bad headache for a couple days after kicking my diet soda habit, so be prepared just in case you get withdrawl from either the aspartame or the caffeine....

It will probably easier to cut back slowly instead of cold turkey. Maybe incorporate some flavored seltzer instead. I especially like the lime flavor because it tastes like Sprite, just not as sweet. I'm sure it's not the same but you'll get used to it. Good luck!

I tried going cold turkey with my soda addiction a few years back, and it wasn't pretty. I got headaches and cravings, which only got me drinking soda again. I drink only water and tea these days and I've been soda-free for almost a year now, but it's still hard for me to resist soda when the opportunity presents itself. I agree with what Tiffany said - cutting back and substituting soda with something else is the best thing to do.

Do some research on aspartames effect on your body... that might help.

Knowing whats in the foods we eat/drink that harm us will usually help ween you off it alot quicker.

Aspartame turns into formaldehyde in your system... and that was enough to make me stop drinking diet sodas like i was. My boss has had aspartame poisoning a few times and seeing someone go through that (constant headaches, stomach aches, it can even cause tumors) from drinking diet soda is enough to make me stay away.

What's helped me is turning to Seltzer water. there are SO many different flavors and you still get the bubbles.

Trust me, i used to drink 2 liters of coke in high school, now I allow myself to have a diet coke on special occasions. It isn't worth it to me because the chemicals in diet sodas actually make you more hungry.

Good luck!

What helped me kick it is I spent a month with my sister last year and she doesn't buy soda PERIOD. So I was stuck with milk (which I don't and wont drink a ton of...if any at all), water, orange juice or the occasional crystal light to go packets. I like the cranberry tea. This month without soda made it easier for me to come back home and do a mini challenge of my own 30 days without soda. I am now to the point that I can have a soda once in a while. Once every few mos I crave it and will drink a 1 liter in a week now. Other than that I just shove as much water into my body as I can. You get used to it as time goes on. The crystal light to go packs and a water bottler really are god sends tho when trying to drop soda.

I quit cold turkey last year and did it for 4 months, for some reason I started up again. I am also trying to quit it one more time.

The hardest part for me lately is the headaches......... Excedrin tension headache has worked wonders.

Good luck with your venture. You can do it.

I've been there done that a bunch of times. I've given up on the notion of quitting fully. At this point I average about a can a day, which is down from the all time high of a 12 pack a day. And I make that can with my soda stream so it's only half strength diet cola most days. It helps that I'm a coffee drinker, so an extra cup in the morning eliminates withdrawl headaches.

And when I want the taste, I make a 20 oz bottle of crystal light every few days. Then I add about 2 ounces of that to my 32 oz bottle of ice water that comes to work with me every day. I don't need the full flavor crystal light, just a splash in a bottle of water does the trick.

I'm glad I'm not the only one addicted to soda. At least you are drinking diet unlike myself.. who just started this program today. Starting tomorrow I'm quitting cold turkey and will just have to deal with the side effects of coming off the sugar and caffeine. I've been wanting to do it for awhile but haven't been able to last past 2-3 days. Let's just do it! ^5 (high five )

I went from drinking like 4 diet cokes and 4 frescas a day to none cold turkey. I would say the first two days was bad, but after that my taste for water increased, and I was fine. Now I am looking to give up my morning coffee(s), but I am unsure if it can happen.

When I was younger I was addicted to soda but then started drinking juice then sugar free juice and now all I drink is water so maybe try doing something like that slowly

I quit cold turkey about four years ago and never looked back (haha, I sound like I kicked crack)- I really don't like soda anymore, it's ridiculously sweet, all of it. I couldn't care less if I never had a single soda ever again. I realized that all it did was make me more thirsty and make my teeth feel dirty. I didn't replace it with juice or anything, just water and green tea (drink a couple of green teas a day). I understand it's not this simple for everyone, you could try cold turkey and if it's not working then just really cut back and let the old habit fade out....maybe have a soda or two on the weekend. My Fiance loves soda, loves, loves, loves, loves, loves the stuff! We call it his liquid crack. He tells me he'd rather have a soda than a brownie, me on the other hand, I'd rather have the brownie, I love chocolate and cookies and all that good stuff and would hate to give that up, so I can somewhat understand your soda addiction.

P.S: The headaches will pass, take a few headache pills for a few days, better than your addiction to soda in the long run. Best of luck to ya!

You did not say what brand of soda, but I bet it's loaded with caffeine, so you are not addicted to the soda, but the caffeine.

It's a tough habit to kick. Quitting causes massive headaches. I'm trying to back off on the diet soda. Switching one soda, then water, then soda. Can't deal with the headaches to go cold turkey.

I do know that if you decide to cold turkey, look around at the other things you drink that are full of caffeine. Coffee, tea, latte, etc. The headaches only last about 3 days. Then you have to be careful, you can have a bit, like one cup of coffee or one soda, or one glass of tea, but it's so easy to fall back into the habit.

I'm happy to say, I'm drinking less soda and more water, but will NOT give up my 2 cups of coffee in the morning. But all in all, drinking less soda, diet or not, and more water is better. The sweetners are also not good for us, and best off not drinking so much of that stuff you can't pronounce or spell.

I was drinking diet pepsi way too much, but when my gallbladder started acting up, I had to pretty much quit cold turkey. I had surgery in 2009. Now I have a small diet twice a wek. I'm drinking ice tea with Splenda instead. So, bad health can help break some bad habitd. But, not much fun.

Im attempting to kick this habit as well, so far so good. I've found that it's not so much the taste of soda that I crave but the crisp bubbley feel when I drink it so seltzer has been a good substitute. 4 days down and many more to go! lol Good Luck!