I switched over to seltzer water when I stopped drinking soda. It is kind of an acquired taste, but I love it now. (and even made converts out of a few of my friends!)

I used to drink about 5 or 6 sodas a day. They were basically my main source of hydration. I read "Skinny b*tch" and stopped drinking soda (Liquid Satan) OVERNIGHT. I am serious, I was addicted and now I haven't had a soda since. =)

I switched to drinking flavored sparkling water. I like it because it has the same fizziness that you get from soda.

I'm actually in the same situation right now... and I'm doing a few things that I found helpful. If you're drinking multiple cans a day, cut it down to just one to start with. After about a week, go to half a can and share the other half with someone else. Finally, because I'm a huge advocate in rewarding yourself for doing good, I let myself have 2 cans of soda per weekend, unless I plan on drinking alcohol. I've actually gotten to the point where I just have sodas on weekends now, and I feel loads better.

Be careful about fruit juices! Some are just as full of sugars and calories as a can of soda!

Flavored sparkling water is so good! The Crystal Geyser Berry one tastes just like soda to me. If it tastes too fizzy for you, pour it into a glass and it'll be a little better to swallow. Good luck! Soda is a hard one, but you'll notice that you won't crave it as much when you stop for a couple days.

Piggybacking on StefaPie's comment, I would suggest switching to carbonated water. If flavor is key, Whole Foods has flavored carbonated waters and so do many other grocery stores. to save $ you can grab some lemon jouice and put it in the selzer water yourself or add any other flavor you like.

i JUST quit diet coke on Monday. And I quit cold turkey, switched to poland springs sparkling with lime, which is quite lovely, and gives me something to look forward to at lunch. I finally don't have a diet coke headache. And although I kind of miss diet coke, now I won't rot my teeth or get alzheimers at forty...

I am down to 1 100 calorie coke every morning...I can't do diet, so those small 100 calorie sized cans are perfect for me

Well all the advice looks good. I can only encourage you to do it cold turkey by saying that since sugar or hfcs creates an addiction it just gets easier every day, you wont miss it at all.

I used to drink a 2-liter of diet soda a day and I had to stop! I replaced my soda with GT's Kombucha. It was awful at first but I am now addicted! It has the same bubbles as soda but 500 trillion times healthier!! Just give it a chance.

I've never had the habit of drinking soda more than once or twice a week. It was a while after I got into the habit of drinking more water that I noticed I rarely ever have any.

This is basically me. I've been addicted since a kid and I totally blame on the fact that my elementary school put a pop machine when I was in like 6th grade and its been down hill since then. Some days I can only have one pepsi, but most days its at least 1 or 2. Lately, I have been wanting to kick the habit but I have no will power and I am pretty weak and can justify the need for it (especially in the morning). I have quit for like 2 weeks before and it was hell. I was angry, cranky b*tch to say the least and I had a headache 24/7 and felt sick all the time. I just feel like I have become addicted to this sweet concoction like a smoker becomes addicted to nicotine. Dammit why can't they invent a pack or something!!

*Btw, I have pepsi sitting next me on my desk :/

I would also like to mention I LOVE the tingly/burning sensation that pepsi gives you. Idk, wakes me up and makes me feel alive. Kinda weird.... I know.

Quit cold turkey. Suffer through the headaches for a few days. After being off caffeine for a few years, I'd still occasionally have a Sprite, but after cutting it down to only have one every few months, I've had to give it up completely. Now if I try to have one, it makes me burp constantly afterwards. No one wants that! Thus, it became utterly unappealing. I don't miss anything about even the once-every-six-months Sprite anymore. (And I used to drink Big Gulps of Pepsi!)

We used to ALWAYS have soda in the house, now we just don't buy it. The only time I drink soda now is if we go out to eat, which isn't often. Just not having it around is helpful. Also I really like those flavor packets you put in water, helps me drink more water but not feel like I'm missing out on flavor. Crystal light is good, so are the south beach diet ones that have added protein.

I agree seltzer water is a good way to go, since it has the same carbonation as coke and can come flavored. The first time I drank it, I was not a fan, but after you get over that initial barrier, it tastes great!

I'd recommend La Croix, berry flavor is good (orange isn't bad either)

Firstly, I just want to commend you for taking the leap for a more healthy life style. Congrats, girl!

Secondly, if you can stop cold turkey, awesome. If not, then like most of the other girls here I would reccomend mixing sparkling/seltzer water with 100% pure fruit juice. Have you ever heard of Izzes (pronounced Iz-eee)? They come in glass containers (some Starbucks sell them, and most all-natural grocers do, too) and they are delicious! They basically have the same "feel" of soda (fizzy, etc.) but just contains real fruit and sparkling water, so all the sugars in it are natural and there's no other added ingredients. You can also buy them in cans at Target My favorite flavors are grapefruit and blackberry!

Good luck!

I had 1-2 cans of diet coke a day until I just decided I didn't need it anymore. I started replacing my lunch-time diet coke with water, and dinner I have water or crystal light now. I feel SO MUCH BETTER and now when I do drink diet coke (weekends) I don't even finish the can. You can do it!

I am so addicted to Diet Pepsi - I'm reading all of these comments and they sound like good ideas but I'm not sure if I could really do it. I seriously jones for a DP if I haven't had one in a while.

Like many others I switched from diet soda to sparkling water (like Pellegrino or Crystal Geyser). I lost 4 lbs cutting out diet soda (and I drank a no caffiene, no sodium brand sweetened with Splenda). I'm not sure how that could be...but I'll take it! I call it my fuzzy water.

I would tell myself that I had to drink 3 glasses of water before a soda and by the time I had done that, I was full of water and didn't want soda.

I switched to Perrier, the big bubbles are still there but no more sugar. I wasn't that addicted in the first place though, just a glass of Coke from time to time but even that little amount of sugar was bad for my teeth. I definitely see the difference now. I'm always seen sodas like sweets or chocolate not like drugs so i'm quite surprised to see you can actually get addicted to that to the point you have a hard time cutting it... good luck anyway.. and you'll see you'll appreciate your glass of Coke much more when it's occasional as it tastes totally different (in a better way - imo).

Oh, and I also picked up some Dr. Brandt antioxidant water booster. It's spendy, but the blueberry flavor is sweet, adds no caffiene or calories, and may also help with keeping your skin looking better. If I want something flavored this does the trick.

I also quit cold turkey. I was getting kidney infections from the caffeine so I just quit drinking the sodas (the only caffeine I was consuming so it had to come from them) and I haven't had a kidney infection since. (that was 11 years ago).

well.. maybe it's not that low in calories, but i drink so much milk! i have a habit of drinking milk with every meal. i guess all that cafeteria food growing up got me trained to drink milk since milk was all that was served but yeah, no soda for me much.

Soda really can do a number on tooth enamel. Mine started to wear away, and I had to have some pretty expensive dental work on my four upper center teeth. This was from diet soda...I never drank the sugary variety!

i think that if you're that addicted to soda then it's like smoking and it can be hard to get off drinking it. i think that similar to smoking, you have to make sure that you're not in a place that you can always have soda - which means don't keep it at your house -and know that if you go out to eat there's water and juice...and then maybe you'll have success. what about slowly phasing it out of your diet - that could be a solution too since it could be hard thing to keep entirely out of your diet.

I am a huge juice lover but those are full of calories. I actually switched to coke zero, sprite zero, and fresca which all have zero calories but with the loss of calories you gain a little sodium. I also drink crystal light iced tea and add lemon slices to it to give it a slight kick. Honest tea is also a relatively low cal drink that still tastes pretty nice.

Unfortunately, most juice, like most soda, is very acidic and can also lead to enamel erosion. All the fun stuff, dammit! My dentist told me to stick with plain old water for most fluids, with an occasional small splash of fresh juice to add a bit of flavor.

i quit cold turkey last week. i was probably going through between 4-6 cans a day, and i realized one day how much i was spending on soda. the headaches and the tiredness were worth it...i feel so much better!

Yeah, after about 10 cavities in the past year (I am serious!) due to diet soda, I just quit cold turkey. Just think about your teeth.

I so agree with you cv! Nothing like dental bills to drive that home!

Also, it may be helpful to look at any "triggers" in your life. For me, the biggest by far was when I was running errands. Now, I carry a re-usable water bottle or Thermos full of warm broth with me at all times. Sometimes I forget to do this. When I do, I try buy a bottle of water, or better yet, a drinking fountain.

Just do it the way my boyfriend had to do it. COLD TURKEY!
good luck =)

I have decided to quit diet coke-I haven't had one in 4 days and I am craving the energy rush! But after 3 cavities last year and continuous reading of the serious risks, I am saying NO MORE! Is diet sprite just as bad? How about Hansens? If so, I will stick with the flavored sparkling waters!

i stopped drinking it but when you go to restaurants sometimes u bend the rules and i started agin
its a struggle but i hope i win

There used to be soda in my house everyday. I was addicted to soda also. What I did was either hide soda from me or stop buying it, haha. So she started buying juice and teas. Now I'm addicted to juice and teas.

Ooops, **tell my mom to either hide soda from me or stop buying it.

Drink diet instead, or maybe seltzer water. I know diet still has a lot of chemicals, but at least you'd be cutting calories.

Noooo no. Don't do diet. Diet is just as bad.

I switched to tea. However, if I really want a soda (about once every 10 days), I will have a soda, but I alway choose one made with real sugar and not HFCS. I also always order water when out (unless they have flavored tea or lemonade, or we go to Fitz's for lunch - have to have their cream soda).

I ended up in the hospital for something completely unrelated and obviously there, I didn't have cokes (I'm from Texas, everything is called coke, sorry). I got out and realized my headaches were gone. I occasionally will have a kid's sized coke or something but the difference (and weight loss) have made me not miss it as much. I was drinking well, a lot more than I should have been. I still have a sip in the morning, like someone else says, it just feels good, but I try to stick with water and tea.

Thankfully I've always disliked any form of pop. Never had a full can in my life.
Chocolate is my kryptonite ahaha

I wish I could give you some good advice, but I drink about 3 diet Cokes a day sometimes. I know it's bad for me, but at least its calorie-free. If you really crave soda but want to cut calories, maybe switch to diet soda first, then wean yourself off of that. If I don't drink diet Coke (sometimes I'll go a week or so without any), I drink iced tea with mint.

My sister had a serious diet coke addiction and switched over to drinking the diet Lipton green teas/white teas in the plastic bottles. They come in different fruit flavors and she loves them.

A quick note to those who switched to sparkling water - this can still damage your teeth! My dentist said anything with carbonation, regardless of sugar, will wear away the enamel. Scary eh? I still like sparkling water once in a while though.

Though mostly I replaced soda with herbal tea, iced or hot.

Left a Coke in my locker way back in middle school and had to dump it out during a class locker cleanout a month or two later. Did you know Coke turns into solid brown fuzzy strands, rather like a long skinny wooly bear caterpillar?

That was the last time I regularly drank any soda, and if I were ever tempted I'd just think of what it does to teeth and gall bladders... and that you can dissolve a nail in it. Human bodies aren't meant to ingest that crap.

I never understand how so many people can drink so much soda per day. I can barely finish one can, let alone drink multiple cans per day. Drink water in place of everything.

Before you reach for anything with calories, ask yourself - Am I hungry/thirsty or am I eating/drinking as part of my leisurely activity? Food should not be a leisurely activity - at least not everyday.

I used to drink a lot of soft drink when I was a kid, but I rarely drink it these days. Main reason? I just don't buy it! If you don't have it on hand you can't drink it. My boyfriend and I don't even go down the soft drink aisle at the supermarket.

I also figure if I'm going to digest unhealthy calories, I'd rather it be something that fills me up a little (eg icecream or chocolate), rather than not at all (eg liquid).

On the rare occasion I do drink soft drink I usually opt for something like Coke Zero.

Just go cold turkey and drink water instead. It hurts the first two days but you'll be fine after.

I used to drink nothing but soda all day now I don't drink it all. I quit by going to diet, then caffeine free diet until I couldn't stand the taste and just quit.

It worked pretty well considering I haven't had soda in about 8 years.