Originally Posted by kandnhome
I think most of those are good ideas. On #2, though -- why stop drinking iced tea? if you mean the bottled crap, if you read the label, you'll see it's probably not even really tea. I love (unsweetened) iced tea. It's refreshing and tasty, and beats the hell out of plain water. Water with plenty of lemons/lemon juice = good stuff too, but it can get old if that's your only alternative to water.
I recommend yerba mate, if you can find it. It's sold in tea bags or as a loose leaf tea (use a french press). Sweetened with Stevia (a natural, non-caloric sweetener), you have a delicious, nutritious, calorie-free drink. It's great hot or cold, too. Throw some citrus, salt and sugar in and you have a decent drink for a ride. It's pretty well caffeinated too, about 1/2 as much as coffee (or about 2x as much as regular tea). I can't get enough of it.
I know it sounds like BS, but a journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step. So too does you reaching your fitness goal start with a single pound. There are no insignificant milestones.
Another option, is to make your own iced tea, get a tea pot, boil some water in a kettle, put a little in the pot, swirl it around, and throw out the water from the pot, now add tea bags, and fill the pot with boiling water. Now you have some properly made tea, let it steep to a strength you like, and move it to a heat proof container, like a large jar or large mouth glass bottle. It's important to remove the tea from the pot before it has a chance to get bitter. Let it partly cool, you can put something on top but leave a gap, so that it doesn't seal. Add lemon and a sweetner, Splenda or Stevia are better then some of the other fake stuff, like Aspertame, you do this while it's still warm, so that the sweetner dissolves easily, it does not need to be hot. Put in the refridgerator to let it get good and cold. Pour into glass, and add a couple of ice cubes, and you have the best ice tea you have ever had.