Guity!

I have been horribly guilty of not following my goal of stopping soda intake.  It's just so damn easy to grab a bottle of the stuff when I'm at the grocery store or the convenience store.  This morning I had about four ounces of Pepsi, left in my car, nice and cold, and not very flat.

Once I got to work I had a 20 ounce Coke Zero.  I resisted the urge to ask my daughter-in-law to pick me up a Pepsi when she ran to the store.

Another difficult thing is going for fast-food.  I tend to buy value meals and the choice for the adult drinks are minimal.  I don't like fruit punch or orange flavors and I'm not big on drinking milk with meals.  Most places serve Coke and I think Dasani water is the worst tasting stuff in the world.  I'm going to have to weigh my options and try something new.  Maybe iced tea, although it's not my favorite either.  I think opting for a kids meal would be helpful because there seem to be more non-soda options.

I will say this:  I'm much more conscientious of the choice I make.  On the days I stop in to Subway for (6 inch egg white, ham, and American cheese on flat bread) I no longer get a soda with it.  I keep water in my car, well I have for years, and drink that in stead.

So I am doing better, but not good enough. I have to get on top of this.

I made my lunch for tomorrow (Yay!) so a Pepsi One it will be and water the rest of the day.

Set Back

It's been a crazy busy few days.  Deadlines at work and all.  But I perservered and didn't drink any regular soda.  Because I didn't have any cash on me, I bought Coke Zero, 20 oz. bottle.  Not my favorite choice, but my company is a Coke company.  They sell Pepsi products, in cans, but only regular and diet Pepsi and regular and diet Mountain Dew.

But Friday night I drank a third of a can of Barq's rootbeer, which, thankfully isn't a full can.  Saturday I had to work and I bought a 20 oz. bottle of Pepsi.  I drank the whole thing.  Sunday I had one 12 oz. can of Pepsi.

Today I was good again and drank Coke Zero.
1/6 - 240

Nutritional Value

After comparing the nutritional values of Pepsi and Pepsi One, I've decided drinking Pepsi One during the week isn't so bad.  Pepsi has 100 calories, 25 mg sodium, and 27 g of sugar per 8 oz. serving.  Pepsi One, on the other hand only has 1 calorie and 25 mg sodium, and no sugar.

According to Pepsi's site, Pepsi One has 36 mg per 8 oz. of caffeine, but Pepsi only has 25.  I think I'll take the added caffeine over the sugar. 

Day Two

I had one can of Pepsi today.
I don't normally bring my lunch to work if I get home after 9 the night before, as is the case on most Sunday evenings.  So, I bought breakfast and lunch today.  I stopped at McDs on my way to work.  (Not my normal choice, but the 24 hour Subway by my house is getting remodeled and my options between 5 and 6 a.m. are limited.)  I REALLY wanted to get a small Coke with my egg McMuffin, but my willpower perservered and I ordered a small orange juice.

But, by mid-morning the lack of caffeine and sugar from the soda was starting to set in and I was tired.  I decided to go with it for today, knowing I was going to be strong and not buy a bottle of Pepsi on my way home.

I didn't buy that bottle of Pepsi, but it hasn't taken the craving for one away.  I've been busy since I've been home and that's helped.

Now I'm going to relax and figure out what words I can spell with my crappy letters in Words with Friends.  I've got two games going.  In one I have mostly consonants and one vowel.  In the other I have the opposite, but my consonant is a J.  Lucky me.

Today's THE Day

How have I done today?  Not so good.  I had one can of soda with lunch.  It was mostly to ward off the caffeine/sugar headache (I should say lack of) I was getting.  It helped.

Over the last year I've developed a bad habit of stopping by the Holiday store for a soda and something to munch on during the trip home.  I'm glad it's gotten colder out so that makes me less likely to want to do that.  It'll also get me home ten to fifteen minutes earlier, which will be nice for getting to bed at a decent time.  Maybe more incentive to make my lunch even though it's later in the evening...

I have four 12-packs of Pepsi One sitting at home waiting to be drank (or is it drunk?).  I'm still undecided if I'm going to rule it out.  Definitely all sugared soda will be gone.

I'd love to get the rest of the household on this kick as well, especially my son and his wife.  They keep sugared soda in the house on a regular basis.  They limit the amount the kids drink, which is good, but they also allow them to drink a lot of other sugared drinks.  Getting them to drink water during the day is hard.  At night the boys have no problem keeping a bottle by their bed in case they get itchy throats or to soothe a cough.  It would be nice if they would drink more water or milk during the day.

The Last Day

Today is the last day of drinking soda.  I haven't been trying to get in all I can though.  I've been busy doing laundry and watching "The Battle of Shaker Heights".  I think I may have one final Pepsi with dinner though.

I'd also like to make another goal of bringing my lunch to work more often.  It seems since I've been back from the Philippines that I just don't do it as much.

At first it was because I was out of the habit.  When I was in Manila I went out to lunch every day.  It was covered by work and the food is fantastic there.  How could I pass that up?

And now that I am working more hours, usually staying later, by the time I get home I don't feel like exerting the energy to making it.  It's pure laziness.  It only takes me about 20 minutes to put things together because I usually bring the same stuff every day.

I'm not as tied to this goal though. It does save money but my real focus is on stopping the soda intake.