- No more soda. Cutting out soda and other sugary drinks reduced my calorie intake by almost 25%, which is honestly kind of crazy. For reference, a 12oz can of Coke is 140 calories. That adds up fast. There are even more calories in beer, but if you lead with "Stop drinking," people tune out real fast.
I was able to ween myself off of soda by buying the tiny 8oz cans for a while. It helped to reduce the amount I was drinking without disrupting my daily patterns, which was super important. I was honestly surprised at how effective this was. After a while, even 12oz started to feel like way too much.
- Prevent yourself from buying calorie-dense food. It's a lot easier to resist snacks in the grocery store (assuming you're not hungry lol) than it is to resist them in your home. Even if you find yourself eating out a lot, this is still a relatively easy step in the right direction.
Soda is huge! I quit it back in December and have lost 15 pounds since. It's not just the calories in soda, but it's also how it screws up your sense of thirst and hunger. Water doesn't taste good when you're addicted to soda, so you crave more soda when thirsty. And I was way more ravenous when drinking soda. I'm sure some people are able to lose weight while still drinking soda, but my experience has been that it's way more difficult (bordering on impossible).
The way I quit soda was by divorcing caffeine from sugar. I switched to coffee or caffeinated tea for caffeine, and to oranges for my sugar fix. So. Many. Oranges. Once my body got used to those substitutes, I weaned myself off caffeine entirely (using wean caffeine -- caffeine pills that decrease in dose every few days). And then I started swapping some oranges out for other, less-sugary fruits.
And now, 3-4 months out, my cravings for soda are nearly entirely gone. I still get occasional cravings in certain situations (especially road trips), but I can normally have a glass of water or a piece of fruit, and I feel satiated.
I was able to ween myself off of soda by buying the tiny 8oz cans for a while. It helped to reduce the amount I was drinking without disrupting my daily patterns, which was super important. I was honestly surprised at how effective this was. After a while, even 12oz started to feel like way too much.
- Prevent yourself from buying calorie-dense food. It's a lot easier to resist snacks in the grocery store (assuming you're not hungry lol) than it is to resist them in your home. Even if you find yourself eating out a lot, this is still a relatively easy step in the right direction.