Hey everyone -

I need a little advice. I've tried so many times to quit drinking pop. I think the longest I've gone without pop was during lent (what is it...40 days?) a couple years ago. But I can't seem to kick the habit. Mountain Dew is my biggest weakness, but I'll drink any kind of pop as long as it's available.

Have any of you quit drinking it cold turkey?? How did you do it? Was it like a step program you'd do for alcoholics?? LOL. I'm seriously a pop-aholic. And the worst part is, my mom is ALWAYS buying it, even though she knows I'm on a diet. Right now there's a huge 24-pack of dew and a 24-pack of pepsi in our fridge (it was for thanksgiving, we obviously didn't drink even half ot it). So now I'm grabbing 2 or 3 cans a day.

HELP!! Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi LaBonita!

Oh, girl. I totally know where you're coming from!!! I was SO addicted to pop it wasn't even funny.

I quit drinking it cold turkey about two months ago. It took me two good weeks to pop detox and I was a total bear for most of it. It's all that sugar and caffiene I think. I started drinking ONLY water (no juice, no pop, no other drinks) and I really noticed a change.

I had a lot fewer headaches and I wasn't nearly as bloated. Also, my teeth were much whiter! I started losing weight faster too.

I found that getting a lot of exercise - especially cardio - really helped because I was so thirsty and only wanted water.

Keep at it, it will take a LOT of willpower but trust me, if i can do it so can you!!

LaBonita, I totally know where you're coming from! Mt. Dew is my weakness too. Both regular and Code Red... I usually have 1 can per day. I know I shouldn't in order to be serious about weight loss, but it's SO hard not to, especially if I'm feeling tired. The thought that I "just need a little pick-me-up" with the caffiene and whatnot makes me immediately want to buy a can.

I work today, and I would usually buy a can from the break room, but I'm determined not to. Grrrrr.... Time to get my "game face" on. *whines*

I sympathize as well! I was a total Diet Coke-head, but my all-time favorite was Diet Rite. I told myself it was healthy because it was made with Splenda instead of Nutrasweet. (Not sure what my reasoning there was. )

But at the suggestion of a friend, I stopped drinking it pretty well cold turkey. It was hard at first--sometimes I wanted it so badly I could cry. But I started drinking almost nothing but water and tea sweeted with Stevia extract (you can Google this if you don't know what it is; it's available at health stores like GNC). My weight loss sped up as well, and overall I just feel much better when I stay away from carbonated soft drinks.

Good luck!!!

Haha, pop is a strange, strange creature. It sneaks up on you when you're not looking!

I think it might help if you start by asking your mom not to buy it anymore! And if she drinks it too, you could try to convince her that it's not a good drink for her either.

After that, there's soOoo many drinks out there besides pop. I'd recommend - Crystal Light (it even comes in individual packets to make it ultra easy)
- skim or 1% milk (good fat, carb, protein ratio and 90 or 110 calories per cup)
- homemade iced tea (use splenda if you want it sweeter)
- and of course(!) water.

If you're looking to make a clean break from pop drinking some of that stuff might help, but if you're just going straight to water I agree with Juliebee that exercise helps a ton

Good luck!

I had the same type of problem. I love pop. I have switched to diet because the sugar in regular pop is too much for my new lifestyle. I actually started the switch by mixing regular Coke (my weakness) and diet 2/3 regular, 1/3 diet. Eventually I got it to all diet. Then I started increasing my water intake. I would still have a pop but I would also have 2 liters of water. Then I bumped my water up to 3 liters and tried to make the rule that I can’t have pop until I have all my water. Well that doesn’t always happen but it discourages me from drinking pop if I’m trying to get all my water in first.

Before this lifestyle change I drank 6 regular 20oz. Mt. Dew per day. I gave it up cold turkey. Hated the taste of diet pop, so have it rarely. I drink water, crystal light, unsweetened tea or coffee. I have now been almost 17 months without the mt. dew and don't crave it anymore. My son and DH bring regular pop into the house daily and I am not at all tempted by it.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think I'm just going to have to slowly get off of it. Maybe allow it 3 times a week (one can only), and slowly get rid of it from there. We'll see how this works!