Hi all!

I'm Cindy from Northern Ca. I lost 70lbs on WW 3 yrs ago and fell off the wagon just as I was about to knock on onederlands door I slipped right back into my old habits and regained most of my weight by Jan '06, then in Feb I quit smoking and packed the rest on plus 6 more Now that I've got 7 months of not smoking under my belt it's time to work on the rest of me again.

So, I recommitted on Monday 8/28 and have been OP since then. I had my first WI this morning and am down 5.6 lbs!

I really need to work on getting my water in, I'm a diet-coke-aholic and it's a hard habit to break. Plain old water is just not my thing.

Welcome back!!

Try drinking the flavor packets (like crystal light) in your water bottles. I am also a DC fan. Some recommend going cold turkey. I make myself a deal. 17 oz of water (start of the day), then 12 oz soda, then 17 oz water, etc and finish the day with water. That makes 2 soda cans per day. Sometimes if I'm still thirsty at the end of the day, I have another water (but not soda because it is close to bedtime).

I was diet-coke-aholic/coffee/tea and ex smoker and out of the two I think I had a harder time breaking the coke more. I need caffine or I can't seems to function without it.

I have been a non-smoker for about a year would be more if I did not break down once last year and had a smoke feast while my husband was gone.

I had my husband take all the soda out of the house and limit myself to max of two cups of caffine drinks per day. I tend now to have only one but can't go without it past 10am or I get headaches. I also started to look for drinks that I would like that would be counted as water. I really like water and have no problems drinking it but sometimes I like more.

I really like Talking Rain Sparkling Diet Ice drinks and you can get them at costco, but not sure where else and I goto into sugar free drinks to go. I like the crystall lite ones and have even tried the kool-aid ones since my son likes them also. If I really want a soda I get one but just buy a can and make sure I don't do it a lot. After a while it gets to be easier, just have to give it a chance.

Hi there Cindy! And a big on the loss! You are off to a great start!

I also am a major diet coke addict. In fact, it was the only craving I had when I was pregnant years ago! A couple of years ago my Dr. told me to cut way back on the caffine due to a heart arrythmia - so I switched to caffine-free diet coke. Some people wonder why I bother with soda at all when I'm drinking caffine-free diet - but I LOVE it. My DH and I go thru a 12 a day if we don't watch it...I try not to have more than 2 or 3 a day now...on top of my water, not in place of.

I wonder where you are in Northern CA? I was born near Mt. Shasta and have been out there to visit twice. We moved when I was 3 months old, so I never got to live there. I LOVE the Pacific NW and Northern CA....so beautiful!