No More Diet Soda

Days 13-15

2012-01-19T13:03:00.000-08:00

Day 13
Sunday 15 Jan 2012

I slept until noon because I had stayed up late the night before playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. I'm kinda getting bored with it after 2 months and am just slugging through online games until I complete all the tasks (10th Prestige!) and then will probably sell it back to Game Stop. My interest in computer gaming is waning and looking at my age you might think it was about time. I bought Assassin's Creed: Revelations back in November but have barely played any of it. I might sell that one back as well. Diablo III is supposed to come out this year and I have friends who want to play that as a group...but DIII has supposedly been coming out for years and I may not live to see it.

Breakfast was some Kashi Go Lean: Crunch! that I am am trying out. Without milk, it tastes like what it is...fiber and protein. Frosted Flakes it is not. However, better than my usual breakfast of leftovers or nothing. I like to make omelets or scrambled eggs but don't like to clean up the dishes after so I've stopped making those lately.

Lunch was a sandwich and tea out on the balcony. It got up to 56 this afternoon so I enjoyed the day with an outdoor meal and a cigar. For dinner I confess that I had a soda. Not a diet soda, but a regular Dr. Pepper with all the sugar and caffeine you could want. It tasted strange yet satisfying and I only had one 12 oz can as opposed to 2 liters of the diet stuff. My aim in this endeavor was to go a year without diet soda and since I rarely drink regular I'm not worried about it. I didn't break my pledge and can keep going forward. I don't feel hypocritical in saying this since flavored sparkling water is essentially soda (water, artificial flavoring, carbonation) without sugar or artificial sweeteners and those are not considered to be bad for you.

Day 14
Monday 16 Jan 2012

Wow...Day 14. Two weeks without drinking a diet soda. I've made it this far before, but it is still a nice feeling. It was a Federal Holiday today so I stayed home and relaxed some more. I have lots of extra energy lately, so I decided to move furniture around and make my apartment look different after living in it for a year. I normally move at least once a year and so this is the first time since 2008 that I have stayed in an apartment long enough to renew the lease. I normally break them. My place looks different enough and I got a good workout. Those sofas with the cast iron frames and fold-out bedding sure can be hard to move. The piano stayed where it was. No sense in trying to move that by myself.

Day 15
Tuesday 17 Jan 2012

My life really isn't interesting enough to add something every day, but I found out today that the two classes I took at Northern Virginia College in the Fall Semester netted me an A and an A-. This means I'll be reimbursed by my company for tuition and books, and the GI Bill continues to do the rest. Thank you President Roosevelt (FDR) for that wonderful GI Bill and thank you President Bush (GWB) for extending and adding benefits during your unpopular term in office. I won't be taking classes this Spring semester because work is taking up more and more of my time, but I'll most likely take at least one class over the summer. Starting Week 3 of no diet soda....

Days 10-12

2012-01-19T12:41:00.000-08:00

Day 10
Thursday 12 Jan 2012

Nothing really exciting or memorable about this day. It was a payday, but that was about it, other than yet another day without diet soda!

Day 11
Friday 13 Jan 2012

Woke up this morning a few minutes before the alarm. As I lay there waiting for it to go off, I thought about how I am really enjoying my sleep lately. I feel more rested and I continue to recall dreams which as I mentioned is not the norm for me. Last night I dreamt (only word in the English language that ends in "mt" ... challenge me anyone?) that I was back in the Corps at A&M. This won't mean anything to anyone who didn't attend there as part of the Corps, but I was running around the Quad in uniform but just my socks, trying to get from one dorm to another and I got caught. What was funny is that one of my zips from my fish year caught me and in reality he had graduated and got his commission in the Army by that point. As I said if you didn't go there, this means nothing, especially the fish and zips part. I just found it funny how clearly this scene played out in my mind.

Day 12
Saturday 14 Jan 2012

I continue to have very vivid dreams. I have researched this online and really can't find any support for this claim, but I am becoming more and more aware that diet soda was the reason that I never remembered my dreams. Not an exciting post, but then most of the aren't. One more day without diet soda.

Days 7-9

2012-01-13T12:01:00.000-08:00

Day 7
Monday 9 Jan 2012

Woke up this morning with a slight headache...hope these will go away soon...and not one bit of hunger. I grabbed some fruit from the fridge and headed to work. I ended up only eating a peach and then my hunger was gone. I need to look into some sort of healthy cereal that I can add to my morning diet because although I don't consider myself to be on a 'diet' of sorts, I know that you should eat your heaviest meal at the start of your day and not the end like I tend to do. Salad for lunch as usual, still not bored with the choices at the local salad bar and a jalapeno roll for variety.

Day 8
Tuesday 10 Jan 2012

I mentioned that last week I had tried seltzer water and decided not to waste money on that again. I was at the store for lunch and looked at other options. Tonic water was okay, but had salt and Quinine added. Flavored carbonated spring water contained Aspertame and was just as bad as diet soda. It came down to flavored mineral water and flavored sparkling water. I chose the sparkling water since the label claimed it came from springs in Maine, one not too far from where I used to live awhile ago. The brand was Deer Park and the flavor I chose was Lime Essence.

Not too bad, certainly not the burst of goodness that diet soda brings, but it was tasty and refreshing and I wouldn't mind buying it again. I only paid $.06 for the 1 liter bottle anyways. It normal sells for $1.00 if you are a store club member (really annoying concept when you move as much as I do -- I have about 18 store cards -- but it paid off in this instance) and they have an aisle coupon you can pick up that is good for $1.00 off the price, so I just paid tax. I may just go back and buy a flat of 20 for $1.20 while that special lasts.

Day 9
Wednesday 11 Jan 2012

Had really vivid dreams last night about being in a Blackhawk over Iraq. Won't go into it, but they seemed to capture more of real life than fantasy. Not quite an out-and-out nightmare, but they reminded me of a few experiences I had a few years ago. The headaches seem to be a thing of the past and I am grateful for that. Last night I was bad and ordered pizza, but that means I had leftovers for breakfast this morning and for lunch as well. Pizza for three meals in a row? Well...it had spinach, feta, black olives, chicken, and lots of bell pepper strips on it, so I consider it somewhat healthy. I'll make sure and eat something leafy for dinner, but I might end up finishing that pizza for dinner. It had 8 slices and my new reality is that without diet soda tricking my body into thinking lots of calories are coming...2 slices fills me up and I'm done.

Days 4-6

2012-01-09T19:05:00.000-08:00

Day 4
Friday 6 Jan 2012

Today I woke up with a mild headache and so drank a few cups of water while getting ready for work. I once again remembered my dreams, strange as they were. Breakfast and lunch flew by and I decided to try something new for the afternoon. When I was at the store for my salad, I picked up a bottle of flavored seltzer water...raspberry lime. At first the carbonation was a nice reminder of what I had given up, but the flavor was too sour and the aftertaste was a little bitter. I might still try flavored sparkling water (naturally carbonated as CO2 saturates ground water passing through limestone rock...chemistry rocks!) or maybe tonic water but seltzer was out. I'd rather drink tap water than pay for that again. Live and learn.

Day 5
Saturday 7 Jan 2012

Today I awoke around 8 and rolled out of bed. I had promised myself that I would clean up my apartment after being gone for 10 days and then not cleaning since I got back. I put a comedy on the TV and turned up the volume so I could hear it in the other rooms. A few hours later and the place looked visitable again.
I drank some V-8 and had a few scrambled eggs for breakfast (I like them with green onions/scallions) and lunch was some tamales I had left over from my trip to Texas. I actually still have about 3 dozen of them in the freezer. Nice to know I don't have to buy dinner for awhile.

Day 6
Sunday 8 Jan 2012

Today may have been the worst day so far. I woke up around 10 when the sun hit my window and immediately wanted a diet soda. My head hurt (possibly I slept with my neck at a bad angle) and I felt sluggish and dehydrated. I fixed the second part by drinking a big glass of orange juice and followed that with a large cup of iced water. I waited a bit and then went ahead and took some Aleve. I don't like taking painkillers unless I absolutely have to because my body gets used to it. I used to take two 500mg Tylenol every morning when I woke up while I was in the Army no matter how I felt because I knew we would be doing something that would be painful. I got used to that and gradually they stopped working but I didn't want to take more than a gram at a time. On days when it's just a little headache, I just suffer through it. This morning I took the pills.

I'm not sure if I was craving soda or if my body was still in the withdrawal phase. I had hoped it would be over after 4-5 days, but there I was still paying for it. I really didn't do much today except sit outside on the balcony (it was a mild 59 in the mid-afternoon) and smoke a cigar and read a book.

Days 1-3

2012-01-06T12:55:00.000-08:00

Day 1
Tuesday 3 Jan 2012

My alarm goes off and I slowly get out of bed to turn it off. It's a work day, following a long holiday that included me driving to Texas to see my family for Christmas. I haven't had to get up for work in two weeks, so I'm a little slow getting out the door and on my way. Normally for breakfast, I would stop at Burger King, McDonalds or Subway and get a breakfast sandwich and a large Diet Coke. Coffee doesn't interest me so when I need caffeine my choice is that sweet nectar of diet soda. This morning I am mindful of my resolution so I have a ruby red grapefruit I brought from Texas and some V-8 juice. It's not an Egg McMuffin, but it will have to do.

I arrive at work and everyone wants to know about my trip and how it went. After the usual small talk that follows a holiday, we all settle down to catch up on emails. I had checked mine a few times every day while on vacation in case there were emergencies so most of my morning was deleting messages that were overcome by events and completing paperwork. I could definitely feel that I was moving slower than normal and one of my co-workers asked if I'd had enough sleep the night before because apparently I kept spacing out during a phone conference. Since I was missing my usual cup of diet soda on the desk, I dug out an insulated mug from somewhere and kept that topped off with cold water from our office kitchenette because I know what is coming, and I know it will hit harder if I'm dehydrated.

I've quit diet soda a few times before. Once for Lent, once because it wasn't available during basic training, and a few times just to see if I could; but I always came back to the syrupy goodness. I am so addicted to the stuff that it's not out of the ordinary for me to buy a 2 liter of diet soda on my way home from work at 5pm and finish it by 10pm. I've also been known to stay up late on weekends and find myself out of diet soda and in my car on the way to the convenience store at 3am to buy some more. Imagine that...leaving the comfort of my home in the middle of the night to buy more diet soda when I can just as easily drink water and wait until morning. Nope...gotta have it. So I've managed to quit this nonsense a few times for a week, a month, 2 months and each time it is always the same...bring on the massive headaches.

When you have built up a tolerance to caffeine like I have and you suddenly cut it off, your body rebels and does all kinds of things to let you know that it isn't happy with you and the situation you put it in. I always get headaches when I quit caffeine, and I'm sure the other chemicals in diet soda suddenly lacking in my bloodstream doesn't help matters any. So there I was, sitting at my desk at 10am already dreading the headaches. When lunchtime rolled around, I wasn't really hungry which I attributed to the large amounts of water I'd been drinking so I walked to the nearby grocery store and made a salad at their salad bar and grabbed some crackers. At this time I usually get a sandwich, small bag of chips and a 1.5 liter of Diet Coke so two meals in and I was doing okay. That 1.5 liter bottle usually lasts me until 5pm so I had cut roughly 2 liters of soda out of my daily intake up to quitting time.

Back at my desk I ate the salad and crackers and drank more of that cold filtered water but I knew something was off. I was missing that sweetness brought about by fake sugars. Still no headaches so I thought maybe I'd be okay, but I was wrong. Just a few minutes before it was time to head home for the evening, I felt a tightness in my neck and shoulders. I rolled my shoulders and my head around like you do when you feel stiffness but it didn't help and then I felt that little tickle of discomfort you get in the base of your skull when you know something is about to happen. Only it wasn't a tickle. Laugh if you want, but I almost had to run to the restroom to vomit as a blinding flash of pain came across my features from the headache.

Luckily I am usually the last to leave so I turned off the office lights and put a cold cloth napkin on my forehead...and drank more cold water. That helped a bit so I got up, locked up the office and headed home. I walked in the door and took two Aleve with more water and then fell into bed. I must have gone to sleep because the next thing I knew it was 3am and I was thirsty again. I cautiously got up, felt only a twinge of the headache and walked to the kitchen. I admit that if I hadn't rid the place of diet soda two days before I would have most likely grabbed one knowing that at least the psychosomatic response would make it seem that I was feeling better. Instead, more cold water and back to bed. I did remember to put some clothes in the washer before going back to sleep so I'd have something to wear to work the next day.

Day 2
Wednesday 4 Jan 2012

I have another grapefruit for breakfast and take the V-8 with me for the drive to work. This day went pretty well, despite a lot of physical activity searching for files and moving them from one place to another. Around lunch I was definitely not hungry so I delayed it an hour and then went to the store for salad and a roll from the bakery. Still no soda -- diet or otherwise -- for me. The rest of the day went great and I got back home and had lamb, rice and salad for dinner. To drink? A beer that is a Texas microbrew that I can't get up here. Delicious, and not a drop of sweet soda. I played a few rounds of Modern Warfare 3 against some poor kids and then went to bed.

Day 3

Thursday 5 Jan 2012
Wow. I wake up a few minutes before my alarm and watch the wind blow through the trees outside my window. I feel great and I noticed another side effect of not drinking diet soda...I can remember some of my dreams. For the longest time, I haven't been able to recall any dreams. When I was younger, I could remember most of my dreams and keep them for a long time after waking up. The past decade or so, nothing. I always wake up with a start to either my alarm or some other cause and that sudden jolt completely blanks out whatever I happened to be dreaming about. Not last night. I had three separate dreams that really made no sense at all, but I could remember them when I awoke. Amazing how little things like that confirm that I had made a change for the better.

Breakfast today was half a link of dried sausage from the Texas Hill Country. Those Germans do it best. Lunch was pushed back an hour again today (I'm just not hungry at noon like I used to be and I bet that has something to do with the fake sugars causing appetite cravings) and was made up of another salad and roll from the store and plenty of water all day long. No problems today and no cravings.

To explain what I have been meaning by salad, the store charges by the pound and I usually end up with about a pound of food. I try and fill half a small container with mixed field greens (they add baby spinach) and then add cooked chicken, cauliflower, cheese, onion, green/red bell pepper strips, pickles, green olives and then top it off with ranch dressing. I used to use fat free ranch but that contains Aspertame as well, and that's one of the things I'm trying to get away from with the no diet soda adventure! I also used to add broccoli but it makes me belch later on in the day and I hate that taste in my mouth hours later.

Introduction

2012-01-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

Howdy! Let's try that again.

Howdy!

This blog is going to be centered around a New Year's resolution/bet I made with myself that I could go a full year (and hopefully the rest of my life) without consuming any more diet soda. I have other interests such as Harley Davidson motorcycles, online gaming and funny word play so those subjects and others might pop up from time to time. See what I did there--Pop? However for the most part I will concentrate on what I believe will be a constant struggle to keep away from those tasty fake-sugared carbonated beverages.

Have you ever struggled to break a habit, vice or criminal activity that seemed to consume your waking moments? Leaving aside the criminal acts for others, my biggest vice is diet soda. Be it Diet Coke, Diet Dr. Pepper, Diet Pepsi or any other Aspartame-added, absurdly acidic, carbonated concoction; they all soothe my palate and feed my addiction. That's right, I AM ADDICTED TO DIET SODA. I'll say it out loud, but of it I am not proud. I must break this habit and maybe I won't have to say good-bye to my seventies.

For most of my early life, I drank full on sugared regular Coke and never thought anything of it. I've always had a big build, but I never thought of myself as overweight growing up. When New Coke came out in the 80's I switched to other sodas but went right back to Coke Classic when they figured out they'd make more money bringing back the original. It wasn't until around my senior year of high school that I started noticing that I was having to drink more and more regular Coke (up to 5-6 12 oz. cans a day) to get the same satisfying feeling I'd come to know. I decided to switch to Diet Coke because it would save me all those calories and still give me the caffeine and carbonated boost I needed. I never was a coffee drinker, so my shot of pep came from the soda. So there I go, drinking 5-6 cans of Diet Soda every day.

So now we get to the present. I am considered by modern science (and my family) to be obese. It took a lot of things coming together for me to accept what others were telling me. From my point of view, I don't think I am that fat, but when I see myself in pictures...it's really hard to disagree with. I know that I self-rationalize away these things because I don't believe I am as big as I am, but every now and then reality pokes a big hole in my fantasy.

I guess that the final straw was this past Christmas holiday when I was at Sea World with some friends and we rode one of the roller coasters. They all wanted to be in the last car and I managed to squeeze myself into the seat -- which I maintain was too small for anyone with my build because my hip bones were scraping the sides of the seat...and this may be yet more self-rationalization but I could feel them scraping against the plastic and not any fat in between -- but the bar wouldn't close over my gut. I had to leave the ride and come back the next turn so that I could sit in one of the seats that was designed for people like me. I was slightly embarrassed that my friends saw all that and had to wait for me. I once again realized that how I saw myself was not how the world saw me.

So I decided that in 2012, I was going to remove diet soda from my life and it was going to start on the 3rd. I was in the middle of a road trip between Texas and D.C. when I made the resolution and I knew that 10-11 hour days on the road was not the right time to be going through caffeine and other withdrawals. I made it back home and had my final Diet Coke on 2 Jan 2012. If all goes well (and the world doesn't end in December of this year) I will make it to 2 Jan 2013 diet soda free.