Six months ago I was addicted to Coke. I’d have a Coke or two at lunch, another on the way home and maybe a couple at night. On the evenings I’d play basketball I’d stop at 7-11 and grab a Double Big Gulp after the game. I’m not sure when I become so attached to Coke, but it was probably when I was in Jr. High and I’d sneak up to some apartments behind our home and plop 25 cents into the machine. I’d drink the can empty as I walked home. It didn’t matter if it was summer or winter. There just wasn’t a time when a Coke didn’t sound good so I kept drinking it for any occasion. I never needed an excuse.
But last July I decided to lose some weight and kept a journal of everything I ate. I quickly realized that half the calories I was consuming came from Coke. So I decided I’d substitute water or Diet Coke for all that Coke was drinking. The first few weeks were terrible. I’d go into work with a headache as my body tried to ween itself from all that caffeine and sugar. But I eventually made it over the hump, and I’m proud to say I’ve not had a single ounce of Coke since the end of last July.
I created a quick spreadsheet to see how many calories I’ve saved over the last 6 months by not drinking Coke. I’ve lost over 50 lbs. since July and I’m certain that much of that is due to giving up Coke. I’m not sure how many ounces of Coke I averaged per day but I’m guessing it’s easily in the 40-50 oz. category. But even a conservative estimate of 32 oz/day Coke habit has saved me over 55,000 calories or nearly 16 lbs. (3600 calories = 1 lbs weight). This assumes I replaced Coke with a non calorie drink like water or no calorie diet beverage which I’ve done.
**Nutrition info pulled from Nutrition Data website
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