Hey everyone I quit soda

 Hello everyone, this is Refried. Today is Oct 10.  It is 11:30.  At 4 pm I have inspection at my apartment. I think I will do okay. I just have to do the dishes, make the bed, put up some clothes, and take out the trash.

I already did some laundry. 

There has been a recent life change to announce.  I unexpectedly stopped drinking soda and now drink water.  It happened over about a month and a half and I am starting to see signs of weight loss.  That was why I did it, in a panic, I just started drinking water and then two or three times decided not to buy cokes.  That was a challenge because buying them is also fun.  I never thought I would quit. But I think it is going to be permanent.

I think this will be a key month, two more weeks and then that will be two months.

I will tell everyone what I think the secret is.  A lot of the advice online talks about substituting the drinks. 

But what I did is severely switch to water, not even refrigerated, and the real substitute is that I bought extra candy at stores, like whole candy bars, mostly Charleston Chew, so I was still indulging in sugar.  I did not do it like drink for drink, and I don’t know if it would work if you did that.  I just ate as much candy as I wanted. On Sept 11 I bought 10 candy bars. And then sometimes I would eat too much candy. But sometimes I would forget about it.  And the whole time I was drinking water.  And now it has been a month and a half, so why turn back? I can imagine my life without coke.

Now the trick is to start reducing that other stuff.  I am still drinking two sugary coffees a day.  Possibly I will get it down to one but I don’t think I will really have to. I think I will still lose the weight at two coffees and occasional candy.

That is crazy, isn’t it, well I drank a lot of soda.  I am also walking, and I might reduce some psych meds and then it will really be over and I will be in a different bracket.

I have lost 5 pounds so far.  That is enough to motivate me.

So that is good. I was in a psychiatric hospital program which has benefits and drawbacks as far as weight goes.  But I think it did contribute to why I got used to drinking water.

So I can’t say that people can easily just do it but see if you try what I did.  Like don’t go for the weight loss at first.  Don’t do both things. Just cut the soda and use any indulgent substitute, and then after a month, see if you don’t’ take pride in “not drinking soda.”

We will see how it goes for me.  It was an emergency and now I think I will slowly be okay.