kenseth03

Yeah I am heavily addicted and can't seem to find something I like to take the place of the sodas. My doctor said that with cutting out the sodas and a few days of riding the bike each week the weight should start falling off of me. I just have no will power!

jaxgtr

, Please tell me that they are at least diet.

kenseth03

Regular Pepsi is my curse!!!

Neil_B

You might be able to lift lighter weights. As one guy with joint problems to another, my trips to the gym became a lot more pleasant when I realized it was silly for me to get into a contest of "how many plates can you stack?" So my lifting program isn't to build big muscles, but to tone what little I have and slowly add to it.

jaxgtr

Oh damn . Dude, can't imagine what your blood sugar is. Hopefully you can find something better for you this year as a replacement.

Neil_B

Decafinated or herbal tea worked for me. I generally brew it myself so I can control the amount of sweetener I consume.

Nimitz87

well with caffine you have to "wean" yourself out of it...and honestly 3 liters a day is one of the highest I've ever heard of. do you drink from 12oz cans? if so thats pretty easy to slow down.

just have ONE less can each week...yes each week. that way your dependency of the caffine will slowly decrease.

Chad

Neil_B

How horrible. At least, if you must, drink the Real Thing.

kenseth03

Believe me gang I ain't proud if it. Years of a unhealthy lifestyle with fast food and sodas has been very hard to overcome. I love riding my bike but I just can't get my diet in order.

JoelS

All it takes is willpower. Alternate a soda and a big glass of water. Before you know it, you'll have cut way back on the soda. That stuff is evil.

Neil_B

The fellow who taught me to be a cyclist, a fellow Clyde poster, was very strongly against drinking soda. "No athlete should ever drink it" he wrote me once.

Nimitz87

tell the guys on the tour that get it in their lunch bags...can't thing of the french word....mazette? spelled horribly wrong I'm sure.

all joking aside of course.

someone once told me "Moderation..."

Chad

Nimitz87

try the once a week cutting back deal....let us know how it goes.

Caffine is extremely addicting, and I'm sure if you tried quitting cold turkey you would definitely have withdrawl symptoms

Chad

kenseth03

First of all Joel that is good advice and I am going to try it. And secondly I didn't mean ot hijack this thread which is about you and your awsome achievement. Congrats on a job well done!

JoelS

No worries. I hope the water idea works out. Once you get used to it, go to a soda and 2 glasses of water. Before you know it, you'll be off the pepsi and the weight will really start to drop.

kenseth03

I sure hope so. I will give it a try.

mwbirren

soda (Coke) is my problem too, probably average 4 cans a day. Oh yeah, and the beer too.

lutz

Soda:
I am also addicted to the sparkle.
Perhaps you could try some "apple-schorle" as a kind of fix. A very popular drink in Germany.
A fifth of the glass of apple juice and then filled up with cold club soda. Certainly a step up from any coke.

jaxgtr

I tell you this. A woman in my office drank at least 8 cans a day at work and she gave it up cold turkey. Had head ache and all sorts of addiction issues, but after a week off the stuff, she was good. She lost 35 lbs just from not drinking the soda's. She said she changed nothing else.

mncyclist

I don't post here often but I have been following this post. Kenseth03, I used to chew tobacco and the way I cut way back was to make myself drink a bottle of water before I could put in a dip. That way at least I was doing some good. Sometimes I would chug that bottle down just so I could get a nicotine fix but as time went on I would forget that I needed the buzz as I was drinking the water. Like I said, at least I was getting some water out of it which I didn't normally drink.

Might work for you also. My demon is sweets and baked goods, I don't have too much of an issue with pop although I do normally have 1 a day.

Good Luck

vXhanz

Way to go!

sumguy

Christmas night the doctor said I have a kidney stone and should not drink soda or caffeine. It was that simple and I haven't touched it since Christmas. Can't say I miss it or even notice a change. I also cut 1-1.5qt/day of milk to 1pint every couple days. I do miss my milk with chocolate instant breakfast mix.

JoelS - its awesome you can control your diet so well. I tend to binge eat. I know how to eat healthier its just hard to turn that switch and stay the course.

gerald_g 

Congrats Joel - a great story.

Mine is similar, but not quite as impressive yet.

My diet plan is simple.

no sugared soda - soda is a hard one for some folks - I know it too.
no Slurpies (slushies) - I was major addicted to these in the summer
and they are like concentrated soda.
say no to dessert most of the time
slightly smaller portions when I remember

That's it for me so far, no other changes.

I bike what this board would consider a small mileage really. Try to train a bit for the spring MS-Tour, and keep going over the summer. This year, I did all my trips within my small town via bike, but I still commute via car since it's 35km one way.

I'm down abut 35lb so far, currently 185 - aiming for 20 more to go or so.

I need a winter activity now or a trainer, so I can do something during this weather (-25C)

SeizeTech

I once heard that people that drink diet soda drink 3 tp 4 times mores soda. I can't speak for the acuracy of this statement. but I tend to think it's true.

77midget

[QUOTE=mncyclist;8116976... the way I cut way back was to make myself drink a bottle of water before I could put in a dip. That way at least I was doing some good....

Good Luck[/QUOTE]

^x2 (except replace Dip with Mountain Dew). This method works great with Soda, since it fills you up a bit before you even touch the soda. One of the 'neat' properties of soda is that it can fool the body into thinking that it is not 'full', and thus you consume more-this is why FF chains push it so much....'Supersize!!'....but think about it. If you are consuming that much soda, which I used to (2+L per day) you are also eating more than you should because you don't 'know' you have had enough.

I found that when I quit soda, I filled up a lot quicker at meals. I replaced it with water mostly, but Iced Tea (real brewed stuff, no HFCS) sometimes, and skim milk at home.

As for the original subject of 'the after pic' DAMN. Thats all I can say. Nice work.