I do love Perrier. I found another lime fizzy water with nothing gross or weird, but I have to go quite far away to get it. If I make it to the weekend, and I plan to, I might go get some as a reward.

I am SO TIRED right now but it's after lunch and I haven't cried yet, so that's something. Usually when I try to give up Diet Coke I find myself outside crying for no good reason sometime around ten am. So this is a step up. I'm only exhausted. Headache about half an hour ago but I took something and it's gone. Sooooo sleepy.

I am totally addicted to seltzer water. My favorite is the cheap brand, even over perrier. I love the taste and the carbonation- I even love it flat. And SO much better than diet coke!! You can totally do this!!

Hi Pucedaisy!

Your avatar was taken at my favorite pub in San Francisco, have you been there? That's the owners dog, Suki. How funny! :)

HI NN!

I had to get off soda's because of the salt (high blood pressure) so I could not drink selzer water, either.

ICED TEA helped me a LOT! Tea has about half the caffeine of DC, it's natural and CHEAP. Would that be acceptable to you, or do you need to get totally off of caffeine?

And once I was really off of it, all I can taste now when I try a DC is SALT. I dont know how I ever drank so much of that!

Good luck to you!

It's really not the caffeine that's such a problem - it's the caffeine all day long, you know? So I'm about to have a coffee in a few minutes and that's ok. But coffee all day long would be an issue. I grew up on sweet ice tea (hello, South!) but that's clearly not an option. I'd also like to get off artificial sweeteners altogether, but one thing at a time. I'm not wild about all the fake stuff in Diet Coke, either. I wish I could find an herbal tea I liked, but so far I'm not a fan. I do have a decaf green tea that I like cold, but I'm a little leery of decaf all day because I've heard it can drive up your cholesterol.

I'm kind of fuzzy right now...really tired, and I keep mistyping a LOT. I feel kind of clumsy.

Well I made it all day yesterday but I woke up this morning with a BLINDING headache. I thought I would throw up. My husband found half a bottle (like a 20 oz) in the back of the second fridge and I don't know how it got there, who put it there, or if someone drank directly from the bottle and I DON'T CARE. All I know is my headache is gone. I hope this ten ounces gets me through the day because I don't have anymore and I don't plan on buying any.

That was seriously the worst headache I've ever had. I wish I could buy a 12 pk of cans and just drink one a day for a while but I know I'm not a one a day kind a girl. If I have them, I'll drink them. If I had found this half of one yesterday, I would've thought about it all day long and then downed it at some point mid afternoon.

But I got one day! And I'll get the rest of today, I'm sure!

Nicole- sounds like you're off to a good (if painful- ouch!) start. It WILL get better!

BlueFlower, if you see this- yes, I lived on Pierce St (between Haight and Waller) for 6 years! And I miss it every day. Toronado is an awesome bar. No dogs allowed- ha!

HI Pucedaisy!

The Toronado is my home pub, we go a few times a week. I'm a beer judge (among other things). I have a pitty that I bring in, she plays with the owners pitty... good times!

Hi NN!

OK, I just remembered, when pulling yourself off of caffeine you need to increase your proteins and water or you'll get horrible headaches! :( Sorry, I forgot about that, or I'd have mentioned it yesterday. Also might try weening off more gradually. They recommend motrin for the headaches, too.

http://caffeinewithdrawal.org/

Can you drink unsweetened iced tea? That saved me!!
I also cannot drink caffeine in the afternoon or I have more trouble sleeping.

Iced water with lemon/lime?

I hope you can find a substitute. :)

I quit all diet sodas too (though I was only having one a few times a week), but it wasn't as hard as I was expecting. I didn't crave them, I just had to stop reaching for them out of habit. I don't eat any artificial sweetners now, and I've notice my taste buds have adjusted and natural sweets, like fruit, taste incredible now.

I have a similar experience, but not with artificial sweeteners (I still use that stuff) - but the *real* ones. When I gave up the sugar, my taste buds came alive to the wonderful tastes of fruits and even veggies. An apple (which I used to abhor) now is one of my biggest and favorite treats. It amazes me just how super sweet they are.

When I quit diet coke (years ago) I tried to replace the things about it that I liked or was used to, like the caffeine, the carbonation, and the taste/sweetness.

For the caffeine, I switched to one cup of coffee in the morning temporarily, and then cut that to a half cup and so on until I was off it. It was easier for me to gradually get rid of the caffeine that way to avoid the headaches, etc., and at the time I did not like the taste of coffee, so the coffee itself did not pose an issue and was easier to quit.

For the carbonation I used club soda (approx 75mg of sodium) and then switched to seltzer water (usually 10mg of sodium or less), and Perrier.

For the flavor, I also had seltzers with natural flavors like lime or lemon (no chemicals or artificial sweeteners).

The other thing I did to try to make it a more enjoyable transition was buy all kinds of different waters from different places in pretty bottles etc.

It was hard because I was addicted and drank it all day long, but using the tactics above really worked for me.

Now I drink plain water, seltzer, green tea, and the occasional decaf coffee.

I hope it’s all going well for you! You can do it!

My grandmother always used to tell me how she quit smoking by pretending that she had never smoked at all. She said that whenever she craved a cigarette, she would just say to herself, "Well, I've never smoked before, so why would I need to smoke now?" And, after quitting cold turkey after 20+ years of smoking, she got through her cravings using this technique and stayed cigarette-free until she died.

For a long time, I thought that my grandmother must be completely bonkers. But then I quit smoking and Diet Coke (in the same week!! jeepers creepers!!). Despite my skepticism, I decided to try it my grandmother's way, seeing as how I had quit both before but picked up the habits again. I was REALLY surprised that it worked quite well! It didn't actually stop me from having cravings in the first place, but it did help me manage them better. I also found that pretending I had never acquired a Diet Coke habit prevented me from using side effects of quitting (i.e. massive, massive headaches and mood swings) to justify starting again.

Of course, this method does require an incredible talent for doublethink, or at the very least, a powerful imagination combined with a slightly loose grasp on reality.

In any case, good luck! You can do it, and it's definitely worth it! You'll get to the point (and more quickly than you think) where it wouldn't taste good anymore even if you had it.

Good Luck!
I went from drinking 8 cans of regular coke to drinking a 12 pack of diet a day. And now I only have 2 cans of Pepsi Max. The rest of the day is all water.

Me too. I am on day 3. My only sweet alternative will be honey.

I made a post a long time ago about me and my diet coke. I gave up a lot, and I refuse to give up that one simple pleasure. I applaud those who do it, but as I see no actual harm in it, besides the caffeine, I will continue to have my 2 20s every day. If it keeps me from grabbing a candy bar..its good enough for me.

I quit on wensday. I had intense head aches the first few days but they've gotten better. It doesn't help that I work at McDonald's and at the end of the day I'm just craving a soda. But today the fountain drinks were broke so I didn't have a chance to get any. I like Nienna's way of doing it, I think I'll do that from now on.