My name is Kate, and I'm a Diet Coke addict

Yes, I am.  A total addict.  Love.This.Stuff.  Have done for years.  And this is an addiction I will be kicking in a few weeks.

HELP!!!

A little bit on my DC background before we move on:

Why do I drink Diet Coke?  I enjoy it.  It fills me up - so I believe that I eat less when I drink it.  It curbs my 'hunger'.  Water hasn't done that for me in the past.  And it's 0 calories!  Get filled up and not consume calories: win-win!  I hate coffee so Diet Coke has always been my caffeine.  It wakes me up and keeps me going.  And I hadn't thought about it till now but it's also my 'thing' that I drink.  When I say that I go for 'coffee' with a friend, I really mean that they drink coffee, and I drink Diet Coke.  You don't 'go for water'.  That's not why I drink it, but it is a factor that fuels my addiction.  That's about it.  Oh, and I guess I'm addicted.

How much Diet Coke do I drink?  *Warning* - those against diet soft drinks may want to skip this paragraph.  This is the gory addiction stuff, all laid out on the table.  I have monitored this a little bit this year and I drink anywhere between 1.5L - 3L a day.  That sounds so bad, I know.  I mostly drink 375mL cans.  On average, I drink at least 5 cans a day, I have been known to drink up to 8 but that's not every day.  It's the first thing I drink in the morning.  I drove my friend to the airport this morning and cracked one open on the way, at 4:30am.  I know how much I am addicted but I was still taken aback a few weeks ago when I had a coffee with my old boss.  (Sorry, he had a coffee, I had a Diet Coke). ;)  He's in charge of stocking the Social Club soft drink fridge at my old work.  He told me that since I left, Diet Coke sales have dropped across the whole building (approx. 300 staff).  He said that some Diet Coke is close to expiring because it's not being bought at the same frequency as when I worked there.  He was then able to tell me how much I was drinking, on average, per day.  That's pretty bad, hey.  #howembarrassing.

I know it's not the best thing for me.  I know that there's that dangerous chemical in it.  I know that it's not healthy.  But I enjoy it and it makes me full without consuming calories.  This has been the dilemma up till now.  At the start of the year, I made it one of my 2012 goals, to reduce my Diet Coke intake.  And I did!  I set up a plan, and I reduced it to 2 a day.  I know that still sounds like a lot, but read my earlier paragraph again.  I did however then develop a replacement addition to diet flavoured mineral water.  But from a Diet Coke point of view, I was doing really well.  But then some life tough stuff happened, and I consciously took up a few bad habits that I had gotten rid of.  It wasn't even to help me cope.  It was moreso because I didn't give a shit.  I know, that sounds bad.   And since then I've been 'meaning to' reduce it again.

After some hits of inspiration from some fellow 12WBT'ers and Mish herself, some soul searching and some plain common sense, I have decided to reduce it again, this time for good.  My goal is to have no more than 3 per week.  I may reduce it further down the track, but for now this is my plan.  Note that I didn't say that I was giving it up, I am just reducing it.  For now.  This is a huge enough thing for me.  I have actually thought this out and made this decision.  Call it Phase 1 if you like. :)  I've spoken to a few people lately about why Diet Coke is not good for weight loss.  If weight loss is so important to me, then maybe this could be a valid reason for me to finally want to reduce it!  Nothing else has worked in the past, maybe this could be it.  And I think I'm finally starting to understand the effects.  One of my friends, Ruth, explained it really well the other day so I think I will have to rehash this chat....

As you may have seen, I have placed this as my Week 6 goal for Round 4.  This falls on the week in between Christmas and New Year.  That's kind of cool timing really.  I can enjoy Christmas with it, reduce it before NYE and still achieve my 2012 goal by doing it this year.

I've been trying to drink more water this week.  I'm supposed to drink 4L a day, more if I'm exercising.  I never thought I had an issue with drinking water.  I truly didn't.  I drink a lot of water.  I always have a water bottle with me.  One of my gorgeous friends, Leanne, wrote something on the importance of drinking water.  It's been really popular and this amazing girl knows what she's talking about.  Yet, I never read it.  Not for any other reason other than I didn't think I needed to.  I already drank a lot of water!  (And Diet Coke.  Shhh.)  That story was for people who don't drink water.  That's not me!

Operation 4L of Water a Day: how to

Well it wasn't until this week, when I started actively ensuring that I drink 4L a day, that I realised: I don't drink enough water.  Not nearly enough.  4L is a LOT.  The funny thing is, it is so much that I actually haven't had as much time to drink Diet Coke now, because I've got so much water to drink first!  Tricky ;)  The coolest thing about my new Operation Water, is that for the first time ever, it is sort of making me full.  And yesterday I went to get a Diet Coke out of the fridge, went and sat down, and realised that I had in fact grabbed a water!  What the??  The water thing is catching on a lot sooner than I thought. :)  Another friend, Bella, has put Leanne's water story on her blog.  Check it out.  I will be :)  Water As Told By The Water Goddess


So here is my Diet Coke plan:

12 STEP PROGRAM (UMM, WITH ONLY 8 STEPS)

1. Decide to break the habit 
2. Plan to drink more water
3. Actually drink more water
4. Read Leanne's water story 
5. Talk to Ruth again
5. Research Diet Coke / water
6. Try some other drinks (eg. soda water, mineral water, lemon in water, diet cordial)
7. Reduce Diet Coke: 'DC Day'

So there we have it - and I've already ticked off 3 of those steps!  I'm not going to do the cutting down before DC Day for a few reasons.  I'll suffer any headaches that come, I know they're temporary.  But by the end of Week 6 / the end of 2012, I will only be drinking 3 Diet Cokes a week.  I'd love to hear your stories if you've kicked the diet soft drink habit, or if you have any tips.  I am going to do this properly this time and make sure I don't replace this habit with a new one, like my old diet mineral water addiction.

Do you know the most important thing here?  I think about 'the' addiction, my attachment, my history, the fact that I am so in tune with Diet Coke, that I can have a Diet Coke at midnight and still sleep straight after...none of that matters when I remember the main reason why I am doing this.

I may not 'want to' do it and not yet completely understand just how bad it is for me, but I know that this is just another step into making myself into the best version of myself that I can be.  And I want that. 

It's called being healthy.

xx