The FOFC No Soda Dynasty
 

Seems like a lot of people are interested in this. For me, personally, if i'm going to attempt something using you guys as a support group, it's necessary to have a dynasty going with some regular updates. With my weight loss dynasty when I fell off the wagon I just ignored it, but with others going along here hopefully I'll be a bit more accountable myself :)


If RPI-Fan(who got us all going on this) or any others aren't interested in more consistant updates, that is cool, but I imagine there are some of us who would rather have something like this instead.

Personally, I expect to be updating this daily for a week or two to make sure I get going strong, and perhaps just weekly or a couple of times a week after that. Have at it, and good luck everyone!


PARTICIPANTS:



JeeberD: No sodas since 9/25
indoorsoccersim: No sodas since 10/3
RPI-Fan: No sodas since 10/4
Passacaglia: No sodas since 10/4
Godzilla Blitz: No sodas since 10/5
primelord: No sodas since 10/6
Oliegirl: No sodas since 10/7
lurker: No sodas since 10/17
Radii: No sodas since 10/17
Dodgerchick: No sodas since 10/22
Ardent Enthusiast: No soads since 11/1

EDIT: Last updated 11/1

10/4 - I'm eating lunch now and drinking a Dr Pepper. This will be my last one for a year if I reach the stated goal at least :)

Personally, I have quit cold turkey multiple times and have always had success for a week, a month, sometimes even 2 months. But making it a permanent change has always been a problem. I *like* water, but I like soda more sometimes and I give in.

I have a 32 oz water bottle at work. *IF* I fill it up the second I get to work and just don't go to the damn soda machine, I'll be fine. I drink 80+ ounces of water just during the work day when I do this just because if its in front of me, I'll drink it. So after I finish this last lunchtime soda, I'm filling up the water bottle and it begins.

We don'tkeep sodas that I like in the house, so that's not a problem, I haven't had a soda at home in quite awhile.

Good luck. I don't drink soda and haven't for 20+ years. I was never addicted and I quit when I was little so I had no problems with it. Hope you're able to stick with it.

I quit it for hockey. Got hooked on powerade, never have gone back.

Just an FYI....I have also declared in the No Soda thread I am doing this....last night was my last soda....I have already downed close to 64 ozs of water today

I'm in as well. One year no soda. I'll try to post updates, but promise to post here if I fall off. I'm having a Pepsi as I write this, and will have one more later in the day. I'll start on October 5 (my daughter's birthday!).

Radii: Maybe you could edit your first post to include everyone's name and their current status (out on a certain date, still going)? That way we can see at a glance how things are going?

I am weaning myself off as well. Down from my 3 twenty-ounce bottles a day already, I around 1 1/2 bottles a day. Right now, I am drinking my final bit for the day.

What a great idea, with Rosh Hashanah around the corner! I'm in! I don't know if I'm an addict, but I generally can't pass up the chance for pop at a restaurant -- and when I do order pop, I take full advantage of free refills, cause, damnit, I'm making that 2 bucks worth it! I love coke, and when I do buy a 12-pack, it moves quickly. However, I also like milk, and that goes quickly as well. The only reason I don't buy pop all the time is because it's such a pain to carry it. I'm with Detox on "ade" -- I just started running three times a week, and I bring a bottle of gatorade with me. So I don't drink a ton, but I drink enough where giving it up is a big deal (lurker can back me up on this). I suppose the next thing would be to give up coffee, which physically does weird things to me, so it's bad for me in the short-term as well as the long-term.

Anyway, my lunch today included a Mug Root Beer, no ice. Maybe if the stupid place had coke products instead of pepsi products, I wouldn't be in this with you guys!

Yeah, right around the corner (check your calendar, it's today).

Anyway, so I guess I'm going to have to go all Claire Huxtable on your ass? :p

I'm already at the point where I don't think it's worth it to get pop at a restaurant since I'm such a slow drinker. It's not worth $2 for me to get two sips in. So count me in too.

good idea GB. I included passacaglia and lurker even though I don't know what the hell this "pop" stuff is that they're talking about ;)

Am I adding you as well Kodos for cutting this out or are you going the possibly more sane slow weaning off method?

I'm in as well, though I really couldn't tell you when the last time I had a soda was...maybe a month ago when my parents were in town and I had grape soda at my sister's house? I'm not sure...

Anyways, it shouldn't be difficult for me, as long as I don't have to make too many long drives. I suppose on my trip down to Austin this weekend if I start feeling tired I can grab a cup of coffee, but it'll be kinda hot for that.

So wait, Old Major, I mean RPI-Fan, said something about throwing in frappucino drinks. Is it just soda we're boycotting, or fraps as well?

Oh, and unfortunately guys, lurker and I aren't with you on the 'No Yoda' part -- there's a pretty good chance we're going to see one of the Star Wars movies this weekend.

I feel bad for you guys, this last week I've discovered the most AMAZING pop ever. It's 3 quarters Sierra Mist, 1 quarter Mug Root Beer. You get the initial taste of root beer with an aftertase of sierra mist. Sounds weird, but my god it's the best tasting liquid I've ever experienced. And for that I could never quit, but good luck to you guys.

I gave jeeber 9/4 since he said about a month.

As to the frapputhingies, that's up to each individual I suppose :)

For me, it's easy. If i'm not drinking fully loaded sugary sodas, I only drink water or the very very occasional glass of milk or OJ. I have actually had one milkshake this year and it was a couple of days ago. I don't like coffee, can't stand diet sodas, etc etc, so this is a strictly soda challenge for me. To each his own IMO.

i can't wait. I'm the devil's advocate on this one.

Soda. Soda. SODA. SODA!!

I figure if you see how obnoxious I'm going to get on you guys, maybe you will stay on, just to avoid my I Told You So's ;)

That reminds me(well ok, no it doesn't, but I meant to ask you awhile ago), are you coming back to BC in FOFC FBCB or have you given up on us? :) I still have you in place there.

Laughs.. I haven't loaded FBCB in a while, I'll attempt to fire it up tonight at least.

And sleep. Sleep very important too. I think. need more caffine to get through the day.

I bet you a lot of folks will suddenly decide they're coffee or tea drinkers early in this dynasty ;)

I've tried to quit cold turkey numerous times, but I always end up getting the headaches for caffeine withdrawal (I don't drink coffee). I may join this thread since you guys are into in, but after I finish the last two liter in my house.

Check the message board, I've added a couple of neat new features and wrote up a program to present the results, etc, which might make things a little prettier.

Doh, I lied! I forgot that I picked up some Gott's Cream Soda a little while ago. I polished the last one off last week, Radii...

I'm in, put me down for starting tomorrow...I had a sprite at lunch today.

For the record, I am not giving up frappaccino's or iced tea...though when I drink iced tea it's half and half so the sugar intake isn't quite so lethal.

I'm in - last soda was 10/03.

I'll wean and then let you know when I'm off.

Just wanted to tell you that you guys (and gals) suck if you can't give up soda. You can DO it!! There are millions of people out there who don't drink sodas. The biggest 'gotcha' will probably be at fast food restaurants. "I'll have a number two, with coke." Gets me every time. Watch out for it. Be prepared for it. Get in the habit of ordering water.

Good luck to you all. Us weak-willed, chicken-shit, soda dependent wussies will bask in your glory a year from now!!

you mean we'll be laughing at them a month in when they decide they are the slaves to carbonation they really are? :)

Now I'm feeling guilty even being in this thread...I always get water when I get fast food. I like the taste of water. Oh well -- this'll be incentive to not get Coke just because it's a free can at a work meeting or something.

I'm in, starting today. Tea is still an option for me, though.

I'm not a heavy tea drinker, though. I drink far more soda than I drink tea. Heh, the tea I drink is crystal light's powder mix at that. I'm good for two or three small cups (6 to 7 oz) of the tea a day I'd guess.

COUNT ME IN!!

I was gonna order a cheeseburger combo for lunch today and realized they didn't have a big selection of "non soda" drinks, so I opted for a Taco Supremo Salad and had water. My body thanked me for it :)

It's amazing how one choice ended up changing my whole meal. This might help me lose some weight. Hmm...

BTW, my last soda was sometime last week. I think it was a diet Mt. Dew... yeah, that's what it was.

Oh yeah, I'm one of those "replace soda with tea" people. I started today :p

Same thing... had 2.5 hours to kill before my night class, and to watch the baseball game I wanted to buy dinner. Instead of the subb w/ fries & a soda (or two), I went with the subb w/ 3 milks (3 milks cost less than a small soda!!!) and am happy to have overcome my first challenge.

Challenge #2: Overcome the habit of drinking a soda in the morning at work (when I work the 6am-? shift), and even moreso avoid drinking a soda with lunch at work.

I'm in.

What are some good soda-alternatives (other than water, of course)?

My #1 is probably milk, but I don't know of many others... OJ is also something I'll probably drink more of.

So:

1. Water
2. Milk
3. OJ
4. Hot chocolate

Anything else?

~rpi-fan

I drink quite a bit of Crystal Light. In all honesty, I don't normally drink a lot of soda, in my opinion. I've been good for a 20 oz bottle a day at work typically. While home on leave, and without my Crystal Light, I drank quite a bit of Diet Dr. Pepper. 4 cans a day or so, it made me feel horrible.

All else fails you could buy some lemonade mix or Kool Aid.

Radii: No soda since 10/4 (FTR)...

Can you cross people off the list in big bold letters if they drink a soda? Or at least, can you cross me off the list if I do? Thanks!

~rpi-fan

GOOD FOR YOU!! That's freaking awesome RPI! The first of many obstacles you will overcome :)

I have a technical question...I love to drink Vodka Tonics, I use diet tonic water, does this count as soda b/c it's carbonated or does it count as water b/c it's stocked the bottled water aisle? If I have to give up VT's that may be a deal breaker for me :(

I'm with you on the milk. How much do you drink? I can drink a gallon of fat free milk a week.

Other alternatives:

1.) Hot and Iced Tea (I drink a lot of green tea, but mostly herbal tea.. not even decaffeinated since it still has traces of caffeine)

2.) Apple Cider

3.) Sobe Beverages - they're incredibly tasty and they have tons of flavors to suit everyone

4.) Juice - all kinds of course like apple, orange, grape, grapefruit, etc.

5.) Lemonade

6.) Smoothies - make your own with milk, ice, a little sugar (or in our case, Splenda), fruit. Very refreshing and filling

7.) "Italian Soda" - not sure if this is allowed, but its basically sparkling water with a couple tablespoons of DaVinci Syrup. DaVinci Syrups come in sugar and sugar free versions.

8.) Flavored water - there's a brand out there and I can't remember what it is off hand, but there's lots of flavors like strawberry, citrus, and others. One of them is Nestle Pure Life

Hope it helps, I'll be downing lots of milk and water from now on.

GLUCK!!

I was wondering the same thing, I'd say it's okay... hmm.. :confused:

Dodgerchick:

All sodas are basically carbonated water and syrup. That Italian soda fits that mold so it would probably be cheating if you wanted to really stick to the "no soda" rule.

Edit: Actually it depends on what the purpose of this is. If it is to give up caffeine and sugar then it seems like it would be fine. But then some commercial sodas would be fine too. I don't see any great advantages to giving up carbonated water itself for a year so it seems to be vodka tonics would be fine. So I guess it depends on what "no soda" means. No commercial soda? No carbonated water flavored with syrup? No carbonated water at all?

Edited the original post w/ all the new additions.

Good luck to all of you, but I still can't believe that people actually say "pop."

I'm in ... no Arm & Hammer for one year.

Well shoot... I didn't even consider that. You have a point because the first ingredient in soda is carbonated water followed by high fructose corn syrup (sugar) or some kind of color. Never thought about it.

Thanks for clearing it up.

Soda sounds like something you'd get at a drive-in in the 50s.

Oh yeah, and if we're being technical about it, I think my last Coke or soda/soft drink/whatevs was on 9/30.

Everybody up here calls it "pop". Even after six years living here, I can't get used to it and I never say it myself, preferring a very neutral "soft drink" term when asking at restaurants. Oddly enough, I never called it "coke" while growing up in North Carolina, which I think is what the popular term is supposed to be there. Probably the result of having a Yankee-inflected heritage (dad from Illinois, mom born in VA, but grew up either in NY or Miami).

No kidding. There are some sick, sick people out there...

I read a study that looked at soda consumption during meals. Basically, one group of people was given soda with a meal and the other group was given water with a meal. Interestingly, both groups ate essentially the same amount of food. The study concluded that soda consumption doesn't help eaters feel full, so the calories gained from soda consumption during meals are all "extra" calories. Replacing soda with water during meals should be a great way to lose weight.

One 12-ounce Coke has 155 calories. Roughly 22 and a half cans of Coke result in one pound of body fat. Even if you drink only one 12-oz. Coke a day, cutting it out and replacing it with water will shift your body weight down about 1.3 pounds/month.

And on another note...

My caffeine withdrawal headache is kicking in. :(

MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

TOLD YA SO!

Last time I tried this the headache lasted almost two weeks. This is going to suck. Hard.

You can do it, GB! Beating the sugar addiction and the caffeine addiction means you have two reasons to give it up!

Since I'm back in this thread, I'll mention that lurker said I wouldn't be able to do this. That'll show her!

Oooo. Sir Fozzie is giving us a villain. That always makes for a good dynasty. :)

I'm the Devil's Advocate. I will MOCK any who fall relentlessly.. giving you guys a reason to stay on the straight and narrow ;)

Include me in the mocking!

Dola,

Anyone substituting soda with another type of caffinated beverage is wasting time.

Hmmm. Strongly tempted to go over my 1 - 1/2 bottle allotment. Eyes watering because I'm really tired. Be strong, you damned alien!

i'm surprised at fozzie's consistent and unprovoked hostility through this thread and the other on the main forum and i wonder what issues he has that compels him to this. whatever the issues are, they're enough for him to read and post in the less-frequented dynasty threads for a dynasty he is not participating in. that takes some level of commitment.

does he work for pepsi?
is his portfolio heavily invested in KO?
is he overweight and has he tried unsuccessfully to lose weight, so now trying to quash any attempts by others to improve themselves?

He's a part of the High Fructose Corn Syrup industry that is trying to fatten up and destroy America.

He just enjoys being an ass?
He is trying to give you a taste of what will happen if you fail?
He can never get his stubby fingers under the pop top and is relentlessly tormented by the forbidden treasure inside the can?
He lost is Dungeon Master's Guide and this is how he vents his frustration?

I got nothin'.

This is not true at all. While not ideal, drinking a non-acidy & sugary caffeine drink (plain coffee) is a significant improvement over soda.

Coffee has little/no negative impacts on your teeth, while soda is terrible for them. And the acid in soda for you is uber-bad, and that same stuff isn't in coffee.

Made it through the day without any issues... instead of ordering hot lunch (pizza, etc.) with the boys, went to Price Chopper and got a muffin (not great, but still not as bad as pizza), with a quart of milk.

Whatever helps you sleep at night

What the fuck is your problem?

I don't even drink coffee. But the fact is, there are things in soda other than caffeine that makes it unhealthy.

I think you are missing the whole idea that SirFozzie and I are just joking around with you guys.

Someone's a little touchy since they lost their soda fix :D

Dola,

FYI with the exception of mixed drinks I haven't had a non diet soda in about a year and only drink Diet Cokes when I go out to eat and then only about a third of the time.

My head is fucking killing me, but its from some pain in my jaw after a recent dentist appointment and from what I think is a stress related headache that came on last night with some.. duh, stress, so if i'm having a caffeine headache I won't even notice it. No problems on day 1 w/o soda, with about 60 oz of water downed today.

yeah, it's all good. I am a soda addict, and interesting to see if it can be done, I've tried a couple times and couldn't follow through. the headaches and the

It's all in good fun.

Me too. It is from oodles of angry little brain cells jumping up and down and screaming, "WHERE THE HELL IS OUR CAFFEINE?"

Not to mention that I have the energy level of a dead slug now. I can barely see the keyboard I'm slumped so low in my chair.

The worst thing? My wife will come home and have an ice-cold Pepsi right in front of me with her dinner.

Life was so much easier yesterday. :)

I was reading this for the first time as I was finishing my 5th 20oz bottle of Dr. Pepper of the day. It has suggested to me that I may have a problem. :)

So I am in too. I have 3 cans of Dr. P at home I will polish off tonight sincde my wife doesn't drink them and tomorrow I shall be soda free for a year. Or at least until lunch. We will see.

Keep hanging in there guys and gals. The headaches WILL go away.

I've gone down the path of quitting a couple of times. But I wasn't willing to put up with the caffeine headaches for a week straight and eventually went back to drinking pop.

I've decided to passively participate with this dynasty. I'm only drinking a Coke when I feel the caffeine headache coming on. That should get me down to maybe one a day instead of 4-6 per day. The hope is that I'll be able to move from one to zero at some later date, but quitting cold turkey has failed miserably for me in the past and I just don't want to do that to myself again. I'm expecting at least one person in this dynasty will end up going this route as well if they don't abjectly surrender to the power of the beverage industry outright.

I wish all of you the best of luck in this. I was very happy when I completed nearly 12 months with-out a soda. I then didn't have another for 6 months or so. Now I generally have it every 4-6 weeks or so either in a resteraunt or movie theatre. It's a special treat and I really enjoy it on those occasions when I have it, while being careful not to go back to my former ways.

Ha, you had soda at The Silo a few weeks ago. :)

So did I. :)

Indeed. You noticed that I didn't order one at first but then decided it was a special occasion and ordered one :). I haven't had one since.

I did notice that, I felt I pressured you into it. :)

By the way, I nearly bought Monster Energy drinks earlier today for my trip tomorrow. I wasn't thinking about my commitment at all. Glad I didn't :).

Umm... we can't have energy drinks? Aww man.. no, I didn't have any, but I ocassionally do. Alright, those are out.

There aren't any rules... do whatever you want.

For me, these would be fine (at first at least) since I'd probably drink them in moderation.

My problem with soda is, I either have to have it ALL the time, or not at all.

You guys are funny. As Ramadan starts, there are people that aren't eating or drinking ANYTHING for about 13 hours.

Now, I'll join in the bitching! Yesterday went pretty well for me. I often buy a 20 oz. coke on my way to my tutoring job, but since I knew I wouldn't be doing that today, I filled my water bottle with orange juice. Worked pretty well. However, when I got back home last night, I saw there was a half-full 20 oz. of coke left over from when I came back from tutoring a couple days ago. I told myself the coke was probably flat by now, so that helped make me not want it. However, even though I told myself it was worthless, I didn't dump it out. Wonder why? I mean, I *am* lazy, but was there something subconscious going on there?

Oh, and I've decided that I'm with the No Fraps Gang. In fact, I'm cutting out any coffee-related product as well. I'll still drink tea, though.

Up at 4 this morning to help the barracks with urinalysis for the students, I almost accidentally grabbed a soda. I caught myself, though. Kind of funny, I nearly had one because I was too sleepy.

Just to add to the temptation...I heard Fresca (or was it Freska)... is coming back ;)

Nothing but water (and a tiny bit of Peach Tea at work) for the past two days... :)

Just goes to show how much of a 'habit' it really is.

Keep it going guys and gals!!

Back up to 2 bottles today. I suck, and it's been a sucky day. :(

Sir Fozzie is going to jump all over you.

He sucks too.

Oh my...his FOF teams are driving him to drink!

Awww, come on Kodos, Have a coke and a smile..

One down, who's the next to fall?

Day three. Still hanging in there. Headaches were the worst yesterday. Head seems to be better today. Energy level is still low, but getting better.

Tought test last night: birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. When you don't drink soda, you begin to realize to what degree soda consumption is promoted in US culture and to what degree other drinks are hidden. The soda machine is displayed in an easy to find location with bright lights. The milk is hidden away in the kitchen, and a customer has to make a special request to get it.

Drinking soda in a place like that is almost a no-brainer. When you think, "What is there to drink?" you see the prominently displayed soda machine right in front of you and nothing else around. Finding something else to drink takes creativity and initiative, which is probably not in abundance when you show up with two hungry kids in tow.

Oh how the mighty have fallen

I don't think Kodos has fallen, really. He never said he was going to join the "dynasty", did he? He was trimming back each day and had a setback, right? Maybe now he'll join us?

For what it's worth, I had a hell of a time gradually cutting back on soda products. I tried the "3 Cokes today, 2 Cokes tomorrow, 1 Coke the next day" thingie, but it never worked for me. My problem is that I treat soda like potato chips: I have one and I can't stop. Much easier for me just not to start.

Although my recent attempts to give up caffeine/Coke met with failure, I have hope. I was addicted to Coca Cola when I was 13 years old, and then just gave caffeine up in a moment when I realized how jittery it was making me. I couldn't sit still. I still drank occasional non-caffeinated sodas, but probably had only six Cokes/coffees a year for the longest time. Then our kids were born and I got addicted to caffeine again. The thing that gives me confidence that I can quit now is the fact that I quit once when I was 13.

Well, I said no coffe-related products on Wednesday, then on Thursday morning, I order my caramel tea latte on the way to class. I usually don't drink it until I get to class, so by the time I tasted it and found out that it was a caramel latte (i.e. with coffee instead of tea), it was too late. However, I managed to have just that one sip!

If all you had was that one sip I wouldn't call it a failure, I'd reem into the place that gave you the wrong thing :)

Good job Blitz and Pass.

TeeHee. That sounded funny.

Busy day at work, I've had NOTHING to drink at all today. Time to hit the kitchen and get a glass of ice water...

I've been home for about 24 hours now. I'm certain my wife and inlaws believe I'm high.

I caved and had a caffeine free diet coke today...I know it's soda, but at least it was caffeine free and diet! Tomorrow will be better...I need to start bringing a bottle of water over to my parents house, they have a bar fridge they keep stocked with cans of soda and knowing they are there makes me want one SO bad!!!!

I gave up regular soda/pop/whatever you call it a couple years back. I lost about 20 pounds in 2 months just by not drinking it :eek:

I drink mostly diet sodas now, very rarely (maybe once every 2 or 3 months) will I have a regular one. I did it to cut back on sugar and calories. I still get plenty of caffeine from coffee and diet pop, I'm not really worried about that.

A couple of years ago, I went straight from about 4 to 6 regular Mountain Dews a day to water and a couple of Diet Rites a day. My wife and I came back from vacation, and agreed we needed to lose weight. So bang, no easing into it, just switched immediately. I can't stand coffee or tea, so I had no other liquid source of caffeine. For those of you who don't know, Diet Rite is about as close to water as you can get without it just being plain water. No caffeine, no sugar, no calories, pretty much no taste. I managed to make it through about 6 or 8 weeks before I decided I just couldn't do without caffeine. So, I started drinking Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, as I really didn't like the taste of Diet Dew. It look a little getting used to the taste, but compared to Diet Rite, it was heaven. Now regular soda tastes fairly nasty to me. I still drink 3-5 diet sodas a day, and there ain't no way in hell I'm going without caffeine again!