Water Challenge Conclusion - Baby Steps!

I've learned something about myself while attempting this water challenge. I've learned I am REALLY addicted to diet soda. I suspected it, but this confirmed it. I did not make it the entire week without diet soda, but I DID get a whole lot more water in than I usually do and I drank LESS diet soda. So overall that's not too shabby. At least some progress was made. I did catch myself snacking a lot though. Again. :( I was consciously trying to avoid doing that and it happened anyway.

So my new goal for this week will be to continue as I have been. Lots of water - limited diet soda. It's certainly better than the way I was doing things before. To borrow from Bob in What About Bob?...

Baby steps away from the soda.

Baby steps toward the water.


In other news, I have an inbox full of all kinds of stuff I want to blog about. Now I just need a day full of time to do it in. Here's to hoping it actually happens.

Water Challenge: Day 1 recap

Hey everyone!

Well, so far I've done very well. Yesterday I went from barely getting a glass of water a day, to getting almost 64 oz. I was just about 3 oz. shy is all. No diet soda, even though we had some in the house. :) Yay me!

Today I plan to carry my water bottle with me as we run errands so I won't be tempted to go through the drive through and get the gallon sized diet soda I usually get. While I find I'm not actually craving it that bad, like I thought I would, I do know old habits die hard. Getting a diet soda at certain places is definitely a habit for me. I catch myself instinctively heading for the soda machine when we are in Wal-Mart. Why? Just something I've always done. I walk around and shop with a diet coke in my hands. So my battle will be breaking routines as well.

Hope you are all doing good as well. Feel free to check in and let me know how it's going.

On an off-topic note: I've found some really great stuff lately that I'd love to share with you. Hope to get to that later today.

Water Challenge

Hey everyone! I've decided I'm going to challenge myself to drink more water. And while that's great by itself, I'm also challenging myself to go without a single diet soda for at least 1 week. Why you ask? Because I want to see if I'm capable of doing it. I drink way too much of the stuff and I'm afraid is has become an addiction of sorts. While I think an occasional diet soda is fine, I drink it all day, every day. And it's not Zevia, which would be better for me. It's that fountain stuff with caffeine and aspartame. Diet Rite isn't available at most restaurants and Zevia is sadly in none. Since we are on the go a lot I'm always grabbing a soda somewhere. You know, one of those BIG monsters that last me all day.

Yesterday I drank mostly water and only one diet soda, so I'm thinking that maybe I can actually do this. We shall see. Anyone wanna join me? My goal is to start tomorrow, Monday June 8th, and go all the way to Sunday, June 14th, without so much as a single diet soda droplet passing over my lips. Now the last time I did this, I gained weight because I started snacking more. My plan this time is to be aware of that snacking and avoid it.

If I can do this for a week, then maybe I can do it for two. Then three. Then... who knows! I might just kick this habit all together. Then I make sure my diet drinks will be unsweetened tea and Zevia, AFTER I've consumed all the water I should be drinking.

Feel free to join in if you have similar issues. I'll be posting daily, if possible, about my progress.

New Sponsor

Hey everyone! I hope you've been having a fantastic week!

I'd like you to help me welcome Zevia as a new sponsor of Healthy Low-Carb Living. Zevia is a diet soda I can feel good about drinking and I'm thrilled they've come on board to help me spread the message about the low-carb lifestyle! With their help I'll be able to continue blogging and keeping you updated on the latest in health, diet and fitness in the low-carb world. (I'll admit to being a slacker on this lately, but that will all be changing soon.)

Zevia is a great tasting alternative to the artificially sweetened diet sodas that are on the market today. Sweetened with stevia, Zevia allows you to enjoy your soda without the worry of chemicals or sugar spikes. They just added two new flavors, so now you can enjoy the following:

Root Beer
Twist (Still my favorite!)
Cola
Orange
Black Cherry
Ginger Ale

Here is a review I wrote last August about Zevia on Examiner.com.

I really appreciate Zevia's support and I hope you do as well. If you'd like to try Zevia for yourself, check out the banner at the top of this page.

Win Zevia - Nature's Answer To Diet Soda

The wonderful people at Zevia have graciously agreed to give 5 readers of my examiner column, and this blog, a free mixed case of Zevia sodas! Also, 20 of you lucky peeps will receive a BOGO (buy 1 get 1 free).

So be sure to check out my review of this stevia sweetened soda on today's examiner column. Then enter the giveaway by sending me your full name and address to healthylowcarbliving@gmail.com. (All your info is kept confidential and will not be shared or sold. It will only be used to send you your prize.) This giveaway will run until Thursday September 11, 2008. The winners will be drawn randomly on Friday September 12, 2008. So get your entries in asap!

Experiment gone wrong...

Happy Thursday everyone!

I'm not reporting on my weight because I've decided to stay off of the scale until sometime next week. I just need a break, so I'm going to eat healthy and not think about it for a while.

I have learned something very valuable about myself in the last couple of weeks. I've learned that cutting out diet soda is detrimental to my weight loss efforts. It true! I've struggled, since getting back from vacation, to eat right and get back into ketosis. When we got back I declared a no "diet soda" zone in the house. That way I'd have to actually leave the house and buy one if I wanted some. This would ensure I'd drink more water. The result? I drank more water, less soda... and gained weight. Now the gain can't be blamed on more water or less soda. The gain is due to the fact that I munched a lot more.

I'm used to walking around with a diet rite in my hand. I tried that with a water bottle and it just wasn't the same. I found myself constantly looking for a snack. After looking things over I realized what I was doing and decided to make a conscious effort not to do that. For two days I struggled through not snacking, and failed. So yesterday I decided to add back diet soda, and it went wonderfully as usual. I had no cravings, no munchies. Just my regular meals, my water, and my diet rite. I was happy and satisfied.

I think the diet rite satisfies some kind of craving that I didn't even realize I had, until I'd cut it out. Whatever the reason, I've decided to bring diet sodas back into the house. It seems to be key in helping me eat right. And that's a good thing.