Ten months ago today, I stopped drinking soda. I didn't gradually wean myself off of them. I went cold turkey. I expected it to be a grueling personal challenge, something that I would miss as much as if I'd dropped a part of my personal identity. After all, soda drinking was something I'd always done.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it wasn't that hard to let go of this. I found ways to give myself acceptable alternatives, things I could have instead of soda that meant I didn't have to feel deprived. I learned to make different choices, taking tea instead of soda or water if there wasn't anything else available. The months went on, and I found that I very rarely missed soda, and usually only when I was really thirsty was I even tempted to drink it.
I had expected, as most people who told me about giving up soda had reported, weight loss to accompany this. It didn't happen. In fact, my body stubbornly refused to shed pounds or inches. It did, however, cause me to start examining my life to see where I was maybe making choices that were self-defeating in terms of the weight loss I wanted to achieve.
I began to realize that I was adding sugar into everything I drank - sometimes two or three tablespoons worth. And that was adding up to a lot of extra calories that weren't helping me gain control of my weight. So, I stopped doing that. I started drinking things without adding sugar to them. The needle began to budge, just barely, on my weight loss goals.
I entered into the Isabody challenge, dramatically altering my diet and habits. Bigger changes came. A healthier body began to show itself. I began to feel better about myself and to feel better in general. I shed over 25 inches and 18 pounds of undesired body fat. I have also become much more sensitive to sugar and need far less of it in my food to find that it tastes good to me.
Going without soda didn't prove to be the magic bullet I had hoped it would be, but it did many good things for me. It was as if making that one big decision in my life paved the way for me to re-examine my life and make a decision to make other, equally important, changes to the way I was living. I think that's probably the most important thing I've taken away from this journey.
I still have two months to go. My husband's been asking me if I plan to celebrate the end of my year with a soda. I haven't decided yet, but I don't think so. To be honest, I think I want to celebrate the end of my year without soda with a book. A book I can be proud to have written about my journey to a soda-free lifestyle. And maybe with that book, I can encourage other people who may have been thinking about giving up soda but have been hesitant to try it themselves.
