Fritzy 22's Journal, 23 January 2018

I'm no doctor, but I can't see giving up your diet soda. We need to have enjoyment in our lives and if you enjoy diet soda why not in moderation! Your so close to goal, I think your amazing! You may be getting a cold or something I feel the way your feeling just before I get ill. Love you, Sis❤️ 

Thanks Patty! I'm getting close to my FIRST goal. My ultimate goal is somewhere around 130-135. 

Motivation is always the hard part. I generally go off plan after I reach a goal such as make it through the holidays without gaining. But the key is to start right back. It sounds as if you are working hard to get right back to it all. Just keep it up. We are here for you 

I was able to cut back my soda intake by drinking sparkling mineral water. I don't think a moderate amount of diet soda is really all that bad though.  

American Ice or Sparkling Ice drinks are a good substitute as they are carbonated. Be careful not to confuse them with American Clear Ice as it has Aspartame while the other two drinks do not.  

Really, really best to find your way to ditching the sodas, as both regular and diet severely damage your gut flora. Without a healthy gut, you increasingly screw over your entire body system. Think about it. Blessings! 

I use flavored stevia called Water Drops and I add them to either sparkling or still water. More still water lately. Soda is a going out treat for me now. That helps a lot. I used to put down a couple 64oz cups of Diet Coke a day when I lived in the Deep South. Can't even imagine that today.  

thanks everyone: Ann Marnae, I agree with you and want to eventually give up sodas altogether, but I'm not able to do it right now; Draglist, I've thought about allowing myself 2 to 3 cans of soda a week, first slowing it down before eventually stopping. MisK, Gingerk65, Katsolo, I've bought some sparkling water to see if it's the fizz that I want. What has been helping is using a water infusion bottle - I put berries or some other fruit in the container and it adds a little flavor to the water so I am drinking more water. I end up throwing the fruit out after drinking the water from that bottle for one day. And Newnbetter, what you said sounds exactly what happens to me. I was so motivated to get through the holidays and managed to lose over 10 pounds during that time. When I reached a low mark nearly 2 weeks ago, instead of keeping that motivation going (like I would have expected) I just seemed to get tired of it all. The last couple days have been better. While I bought diet coke as well as diet 7-up and ginger ale, I know that the caffeine in the cola is addicting. I'm drinking the ginger ale right now, and do not crave it like I do the coke or pepsi. So I'm okay with just a little bit of it.  

try lemonade or powder mixes like crystal lite. very satisfying! 

Hello. I kicked the diet soda habit too! I have since found what I think is a treat for me, ever heard of Kombucha? It is a nice fizzy drink that is chock full of probiotics, so unlike soda, it is actually good for you. The only drawback is that it is kind of expensive. However you can find them at Costco, Kevita kombucha, a six pack for 12 bucks so that is 2 dollars a bottle. The bottle has two 8 oz servings, so it lasts me two days. It does have 35 calories per serving, which isn't too bad for the treat factor. Kevita has flavors such as pineapple peach, tart cherry, raspberry lemon, all of which taste AWESOME. Also, my local health food store had a buy one get one free on another brand called GT's (so that was 1.85 per bottle), so I got six different flavors to try. I did not like the lavender, or trilogy flavors, but I did like the lemonade flavor, which only had 25 calories per serving, so that made it a keeper in my book. :) I got 3 more yet to sample. Target also sells both Kevita and GT's Kombucha, and they frequently have cartwheel deals for 25-30% off and or 2 for $5 deals. So alone or the combo is a good deal. Also there is another brand called Humm kombucha, which I have yet to try, and they also have sales and cartwheel % off offers. So, that one is next on my list to try. Kombucha is my new daily treat, in place of soda. Probiotics are good for you too!!! 

on the kombucha, it's great, but always watch the ingredients because some companies are still adding sugar or sweeteners. if you decide you really like it, you can make your own eventually, lots of online recipes and you will need to buy or otherwise procure some starter, called scoby (that's one speelling - lots of variations of that depending on where you look). i'm not really into it, but there are a lot of kombucha groups out in my neck of the woods these days and they literally make a party out of it. and then they wonder why people think california is weird. lol 

I hear ya on the diet soda. I am addicted to diet coke. But the one thing I noticed is when I binge eat I must have diet soda with it. If I had no diet soda, I don't want to binge eat. So last night I had just water, no food, while watching the hockey game. It was hard b/c you know how it is when you are watching TV and drinking your diet soda and having a little snack. Now I am working (well, ok I am goofing off at this very moment, lol) and I have a large diet coke from McDonald's and I drink it all day. Maybe I will stop drinking at night like I did last night? Well, hang in there on your eating plan and get your mojo back. Don't do all-or-nothing. If you can only walk 15 min then take it...if you can't do as far as you would like, don't sweat it. You still burned calories and gave your metabolism a boost! 

In 2010, I started using a Soda Stream to make carbonated water, then added a little lemon juice to it for flavor. It got me off of commercial sodas. Last year I realized that I no longer had the addiction to carbonation, so gave the machine to a friend who was trying to quit sodas. Artificial sweeteners will sabotage your weight loss. Your brain treats them like real sugar. 

Have you tried Mio drops? I get tired of water and use those to get me through the rough patches. If you have to find things you like, otherwise diets are impossible to adhere to. 

I can relate to your post & profile. I am also an 'all or nothing' and over the holidays I gained 10+pounds which is already 20+more than I want to be. I have a friend that just came into town (likes to eat out so I'm dreading that) she said I look good and shouldn't loose weight.....EEEKKKK But if I don't take control now it will go up steadily ! I can't do diet soda since I over do them and I think the new artificial sweeteners in them play havoc on my metabolism as does eating out. I try to stay with club soda with a splash of lemon/lime seems to help.  

Big food corporations make things addictive, so that they'll sell more. I resent spending the money on sodas that are bad for me, so I don't. I do make kombucha. It is super easy and you can use a commercial bottle of it for a starter. Mostly I use it for steaming vegetables and braising meats -- so delicious! You make it with sugar, but the fermentation process digests that out, so there's very little left. I use it in small amounts for flavoring, or to flavor water. It takes about a week to ferment. I just have a gallon jar of it sitting in a warm spot at all times. It's very useful in the kitchen and makes a refreshing drink. And gives you lots of B vitamins, enzymes and probiotics. It's easy and great to have around. It takes about 10 min. every two weeks to mix it up. 

thanks for all the suggestions! I was addicted to Crystal Lite - the raspberry ice tea. I always made a gallon of it and drank it instead of water. I know the diet soda isn't better (probably not worse either) than the Crystal Lite, but my intent is to eventually just have the soda once in a while as a treat. I like the infusion water bottle and tried it with sparkling water and it was good with berries used in the bottle. I'm not on a low carb diet, so the fruit in the water is okay for me. I may check out Kombucha the next time I go to Costco.