So Long, Soda

After a week and some change, I’m still living mostly without soda! Diet Green Tea has been a lifesaver, it’s replaced my soda at most meals and has 0 calories. I’ve also been drinking various other flavors of tea, orange juice, water of course, and milk.

Changes or Progress I’ve Seen?
-I’ve eaten like garbage, so my weight isn’t looking any different. Granted, it’s been one week anyways.
-The lack of carbonation has really helped with my stomach. Since my gallbladder was removed in 2008, I’ve had trouble with all sorts of foods. While I’m still not perfect, I don’t think the bubbles were helping.
-I haven’t had too many problems with caffeine intake. I’ve gotten headaches in the past with no caffeine or less caffeine than I’m used to. Sometimes I have coffee, but not every day. I’ve grabbed a Red Bull here and there, but not enough to give me my accustomed dosage of daily caffeine. And guess what? No huge side effects! I had a terrible migraine one day that mainly came from stress and escalated at work while I wasn’t able to medicate. By the time I got home it was well on its way to knocking me out for a day, so I took a soda and migraine medicine to knock it out. I’ve found that caffeine helps the medicine work its way through my headaches better. But otherwise, no head problems or any other caffeine withdrawal symptoms. Surprising since I was accustomed to SO much soda.
-My husband gets soda I don’t like now. I always bought soda we could agree on, since we both drank it. This week he picked up Mountain Dew, which I hate, and has been enjoying one a day. He apparently has the self restraint that I’m lacking and can limit soda to one a day. It also makes it easier for me to forgo soda when I don’t have any I like in the fridge.
-I’m not ingesting empty calories to the tune of 300-600 extra calories a day. This was the whole reason I quit soda, and it’s a damn good one.

I’m hoping to keep it up. I don’t intend to never touch a soda ever again. That’s unrealistic for me. I limited it to special occasions, like eating out. So when we picked up food on Saturday, I had half a soda. And when my work had burgers and brats for sale and I brought dinner home from work, I had a soda. But just on any given night? No.

Now, I need to focus on MOVING. Jeez, my trips to the gym are nonexistant and my exercise DVD’s are sitting untouched. Even my Zumba for the Wii has been collecting dust in a bin. It’s getting chilly outside but I’m perfectly capable of working out still and I don’t. Bad. Not good for me at all. I always use excuses to convince myself something else is more important, but really, what’s more important? Being healthy or having a clean house? Getting 30 minutes of activity or 30 minutes of internet? Pathetic, sometimes.
My goal for the next two weeks is to do something active every day. Whether it’s a DVD, a trip to the gym, a walk up the 8 flights of stairs in my building, a brisk walk, something! Even 5 minutes of movement before I fall into bed would be better than nothing. This should be interesting because some other things are changing in my life, but really, when is life ever going to give you all the time in the world to work out? When I wasn’t working and was at home all day, every day, I STILL didn’t consistently work out. Really?! NEEDS TO CHANGE NOW.
Encouragement is welcomed