Skip junk carbs and go with protein, same calorie value but protein will give you the fill you up feeling quicker. One 300 calorie package of peanuts will stay with you a lot longer then sugared candy bars.

Of course cut out the Coke go with diet and don't reward yourself with other calories to replace the ones you had with the sugar soda.



Myself: started the new year at 196+ this morning hit the 174.0 mark, BMI of 24.96

Denise I gave up soda about 6 or 7 years ago. After that initial week, it was easy. But that first week... That's all I craved and I craved hard. I find it wasn't the soda that I wanted so bad it was that fake sugar crap. I did it again last year with sweets (wouldn't eat anything with fake sugar, and really really really tried to avoid sugary foods altogether) and again... The first week was killer and I must have had to restart like 4 or 5 times but once I got past a week.. I stopped craving it. I'm so convinced its this processed sugar and corn syrup crap. I try to avoid it at all costs now.

Don't forget that caffeine is an addictive substance as well. Your body will go through withdrawal symptoms until its cleared your system. It takes about a solid week.

Every time you get a craving drink some unsweetened grapefruit juice. It shocks the taste buds and helps calm the craving.

For kicks:

Roland Griffiths, a professor in the departments of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said that the studies had demonstrated that people who take in a minimal of one hundred milligrams of caffeine per day (about the amount in half a cup of coffee) can acquire a physical dependence that would trigger withdrawal symptoms that include headaches, muscle pain and stiffness, lethargy, nausea, vomiting, depressed mood, and marked irritability.

Good luck!

I gave up even diet soda a few weeks ago. I'll still grab one if I'm having a rough day and need a boost, but it's maybe 1-2 per week at most. I ballooned to about 208 when we got home from our honeymoon at the end of February, and pretty much solely through diet alone (I can't exercise much right now due to a chronic ankle issue), I've dropped down to 192 though I've been a little bad this weekend and probably gained 1-2 back.

Anyway, aside from the soda thing, I've had tremendous success through a combination of Weight Watchers and just cleaning the garbage out of my diet. I've never had *terrible* eating habits except maybe in college, but I decided to cut anything processed out and only buy meat that has no hormones or antibiotics. Another resource that I've discovered is the Hungry Girl recipes. She is super annoying to watch on TV, but her recipes are awesome and will really help with portion control. Try www.hungry-girl.com or go grab one of her cookbooks. Her 200 Under 200 cookbook has pretty much been my bible lately.

Good luck!

I used to be a MAJOR soda drinker years ago but fortunately was able to wean myself off slowly. I started by replacing my soda drinks with no sugar added fruit drinks like apple juice, orange juice, grape juice, etc. Those still contain a lot of natural sugar but it was a step in the right direction and still satisfied my sugary drink craving. After that I started replacing one fruit drink with water and over time replaced more and more fruit drinks with water. This was very slowly, over the course of a year. Now I have 2 fruit drinks a day and water the rest of the day and sodas are something special I treat myself to maybe twice a month.

I also traded white bread for whole wheat, multigrain bread and started eating fruits for snacks instead of things like cheese sticks, cookies, ice cream, candy, etc. Again, for this I took baby steps and slowly changed my eating habits. Changing cold turkey would surely have resulted in failure for me.

Luckily I've never been a huge soda drinker. I don't even buy it for the house, but I must have it when I eat fast food (which isn't often). If you don't think that you can cut it cold turkey then I would buy one liter of diet soda and make that last you a week or two. Depends how long the liters last you now? Once it runs out then don't buy it anymore. For sugar cravings I usually have a shot of cuban coffee, but I limit the amount of sugar that I put into the batch.

Cutting the white carbs is a great start. Everything wheat or brown is the way to go and not at night. I try to have my carbs for breakfast and/or lunch.

The hungrygirl website that Meredith provided is awesome. Some good recipes. You can also try

http://www.eatingwell.com/

Cutting out red meat will also help a lot!!!

Oh my goodness, I am just like you: Over-eater and addicted to soda. What makes it worse is I also have hypothyroidism so it's VERY important I eat well. But when you're on a small budget, it gets really hard. I weigh roughly the same as you and I even have the same goal weight. Weird!

weight loss it no fun and it gets harder as you get old..

I really can not stand sugar soda it makes me sick I do like diet soda but don't drink it much.

wishing you luck in you goals I always trying to loss but is is really hard being as old as I am.

I really don't have must to add to what has already be said..

Do keep up the walking with the dogs..

I try and walk mine dog twice a day about 2 miles each time.

Thanks, guys! Yes, Hungry Girl chick is annoying to watch on television! I will check out her recipes. I am looking at the other people who have posted about weight loss so that I can learn something from as many people as I can. The soda part is the worse. I'll serve myself a glass of regular Coke then, I'll decide to eat something with it. Not the other way around...so, logic would say that if I stopped drinking soda, the mindless eating will decrease.

I am, unfortunately, well aware of the symptoms of withdrawal and I'm not looking forward to them. I did do it once, years ago and it was tough...I didn't have the willpower so I gave in. I see the obese people coming into the ER and all the problems that they have and it worries me. Respiratory problems, problems moving, etc...It scares me! Plus, it is hard being a single woman in South Florida (hell, anywhere nowadays!) and be overweight. Anyway, gonna start this process (again!) tomorrow...Wish me luck!