My 30 Day "No Soda" Challenge - Part 1

I'm addicted to Pepsi.  I don't know what it is, or why, but you know how coffee drinkers need their morning cup of coffee?  I need my daily ice cold Pepsi.  I wish I were a coffee drinker, because then perhaps I would be addicted to coffee and not soda and surely coffee is a slightly better alternative.

I've actually given up soda several times in the past, but there seems to always be a stressful situation hat triggers me falling right back into the old trap.  I've never documented my challenge, though, and it's hard to remember what life was like soda-free when you're in the midst of a glorious, delicious, carbonated gulp.

Please spare me all the articles, comments, and details about how bad soda pop is for you.  I already know.  And yes, even with knowing, it hasn't prompted me to change.

So why the change now?  Honestly, there are several reasons.  One, I am about 40 lbs. heavier than when I got pregnant with my first son.  And when I think about diets, workout regimens, and all the healthier choices I need to make, I get overwhelmed and just want to crash and burn that baby before it even gets started.  So I have to do this in bite-size pieces and naturally, the first step (and probably easiest for me) is to give up soda.  I can manage this one change.  Baby steps, I tell myself.

Second, I've just been feeling like crap lately.  I've been on a soda binge big time and my skin is icky, I keep breaking out with acne, I can't sleep at night and then when I do get a full night of rest I still feel exhausted and lethargic in the morning.  I'm grumpy, cranky, and irritated.  I feel awful about my self-image and my self-esteem is in the dumps.  Need I go on?

Last, my soda habit is costing me a lot more money than I realize.  I tried to not keep Pepsi in the house, because then I drink it too much, so I would easily spend $1 a day to run somewhere and get a $1 Pepsi.  When we went out to eat and I ordered a soda, that was at least $2 right there.  Add up those bills here and there and I'm like, "Well crap, I could have bought that spinning wheel by now."  Or that new laptop.  Or whatever expensive thing I have my mind set on at the time.

So thank you internet and blogger for the ability to document my challenge.  I told myself I would stick with it for 30 days and post updates on how I feel, or how I think my body has changed, and then after 30 days I could make the decision to stick with it or go back to my old stinky ways.

I'm hoping that by 30 days I will have lost a little bit of weight and it will motivate me to keep going.

I won't post daily updates, but just as I notice changes or something of significance.  All right...bottoms up, you dear glass of water.  We are going to be really good friends for the next 30 days.