My surgery isn't until November but after reading alot of the posts on here I decided to start cutting back on my soda intake and hoping to be completely weened from caffeine by August. In doing so maybe it won't be so hard when i start the liquid diet.

As of yesterday I had a total of 16.9 ounces and at first it tasted good but by the end my stomach was not liking it at all. i had to force myself to finish it. Probably doesn't seem like a big deal for alot of folks but for a person that normally drinks nothing but soda and tea all day everyday its a big deal. Felt a little bloated last night too and the headache was mild...

Is this normal? Is there some way I can make the Water taste better without adding sugars? Someone suggested lemon but I dont really like the lemon taste. I also bought flavored water (tangerine) but it left an after taste.

I really want this to work so any help would be great. Thanks.

You can use decaffeinated tea w/splenda or truvia. Though I usually just get regular, unsweetened and add one of the two sweeteners I mentioned. I use sugar-free Hawaiian Punch singles in my water. They are so sweet, I can't tell they're not sugared. Look at your labels though, if you're watching carbs, because even though they are low, some of the flavors have 1-2 carbs per serving. Each "single" is actually TWO servings when you look at the nutrional label...so double everything. I never drink soda anymore and rarely drink tea. I do feel bloated sometimes too. I think its because I just haven't given myself enough time for the water to "go through" OR I drank it too fast. Good luck and God bless!

It depends on what kind of drinks you like. I use the Great Value liquid drink enhancers, they're a copy of Mio. My favourite is Southern Sweet Tea because I am a sweet tea fanatic and it helps me feel like I am having my tea and drinking it too ha ha. They have other flavors, like strawberry watermelon and lemonade that aren't too bad honestly. I like them because they are zero calorie and use splenda (sucrolose ?) as a sweetner.

I do also have the great value version of crystal light. My kids like the cherry and cherry limeade, they think its Kool aid. I like it too but don't drink it as much because they use aspartme as a sweetner and it makes me a bit nervous because I already have liver issues.

I understand about the Water. Plain water after the first glass makes me nauseous. It's a left over from my childhood and I blame my older sister for making me drink water until I was sick as a dog. I don't have the soda issue because since they took out my gallbladder my system can't tolerate any kind of soda anymore. If I drink it I feel like someone is stabbing me.

Mostly just experiment until you find something that you like. You can start weening yourself off of sugar slowly. Sometimes if I don't have anything to add to the water I put a few spoons of splenda in it to make it drinkable.

I remember a time when I didn't drink anything but diet coke and coffee. I have not had soda for almost a year and now I exclusively drink Water. Just cutting back slowly and replacing a few drinks a day can make a difference.

I still have my morning coffee but seeing as though my surgery is 8/1, soon I will be giving that up and I think I can do it!

I add lemon to my water sometimes but maybe lime might be good too. There are a lot of crystal light flavors you can try or milo. My son is diabetic so we've tried everything and I don't keep any sugared drinks or juices at home anymore. It will get easier! I actually now love water and choose it even when we go out to eat.

I haven't had a pop in months and honestly don't even miss it. I do drink 80-100 oz of Water daily. If I get a little bored with it (like today) I'll add a packet of the Crystal Light sugar free flavoring to it. Also, maybe try lime? Since you don't like lemon.

At first, I had to force myself to drink that much water. It was a chore. But now, it's like my body craves it and if I don't have water constantly around, I feel like I'm dying of thirst!

I like Mio type of products. I have 2 qts of ice tea in the fridge and squirt a little mio in it to make an Arnold Palmer.

tmf

I too enjoy gatorades mio products, especially the peach tea and blueberry lemonade. I also love vitamin water zero but only a few of the flavors, the squeezed lemonade is my favorite. I have also made my own flavored water adding fresh mint and lemon and letting it sit overnight. I hope this helps

I lost about 4lbs in just over a week when I gave up the southern sweet tea. I did like you and started to make changes early to see if it would help. The things listed above really are good, I happen to like water and I just have to remind myself now to drink, cold is best for me. I start my mornings with a full glass when I take my meds, fill a 32oz cup to sip on throughout the day. I try to refill it at least once to give me the 64 oz the doc recommends for me. I have also been told that it is very important for us to stay hydrated to help the band work correctly. My big problem now is coffee and those dang flavored creamers.<3 If I could just give those up.

What I do is drink my Water from a bottle with a pop top (no sure what you guys call those tops) and I always have it with me wherever I go and constantly take sips from it. By the end if the day I've drunk two of those which is about 8 glasses worth. Initially you will feel bloated but if you keep up the habit everyday your body will flush it all out.

Not sure if you like green tea, if you do you could make that up, cool it down and drink it cold. I do from time to time when I need a bit of flavor in my water, herbal teas are nice too but you might not like them cold.

I am the queen of soda! Literally drank nothing but soda for years, Water rarely if ever passed my lips. A friend once drew a picture of me and it included a pepsi bottle in my hand.

I literally would wake up in the middle of the night and go to the store to grab a coke sometimes. This is despite chronic dehydration, kidney stones, weight gain, and being Pre-diabetic for ten years. I was ADDICTED for realsies.

So, when the time came I realized I was gonna have to give up pop for keeps I went balls to the wall with it.

I didn't mess around with diet. I didn't mess around with carbonate calorie free juice. I just decided I had no other choice but to nip it in the bud and say sayonara.

So what I did was I went out and bought a huge box of bottled water, but half in the fridge and half in my car. I also bought four of the naglagene (or however you say/spell it haha) bottles and kept them on a constant rotation. I basically just tried to keep as much water around me as possible at all times and forced mysel to drink it. I didn't chug it or anything I just drank it through the day. And found that I was drinking close to 80 oz a day.

In the first few weeks it was excruciatingly difficult. I felt awful, had some killer headaches, felt like all that good in life was being deprived of me. But hey that's the nature of drug withdrawal (and believe you me caffeine and corn syrup are drugs)

This was about a month and a half ago. I since can't live with out water, I don't really crave soda at this point, feel soooo much better, my face looks way better, I sleep better and I've lost 15 pounds (I was banded a little under two weeks ago.)

I drink crystal light in an emergency. I have an occasional ice tea at the bar (I don't drink booze).

Also, a friend in trying treat me brought me a coke slurpee today, I literally took two sips of it and felt sick. It didn't taste good and I couldn't believe I've been drinking that crap for years.

So yeah, from the former Empress of Cola - you can do it! It may suck for a while but trust me you'll learn to love it. I say ditch it and the caffeine pronto cold turkey and you'll be surprised to find how much better you'll feel.

its been a little over a month ago since I posted this and I must say I have almost completely eliminated soda from my life. There has been a couple of times when i grap the soda before water then take a few sips and wonder why I did that but during this whole time I think I've had probably 2 20oz sodas. This mostly happens at work though. I have found that I dont like soda as much anymore and I take my water plain but it has to be super cold. I figure once I can get used to peeing what seems like every half hour I'll be golden Thanks everyone for the advice.