I am an admitted Diet Coke addict and I can't imagine not being able to drink Diet Coke for the REST OF MY LIFE after surgery.

How can I break the cycle? Have any of you been in my shoes and been able to do this?

Sadly, this is my biggest concern for this change in my life.

You just need to decide what your priorities are. If you want the band you will have to give up the diet coke. You cannot have carbonation with the band. Most of us had vices we gave up in order to be banded. You just need to do what you have to do to be healthy. If you are unable to make this change then maybe the band isn't for you.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, it isn't meant to be. Just a dose of reality!

I am also a recovering DC addict and thought it was going to be the end of the world. I don't look at it as that I'll never have another one for the rest of my life. There are a lot of people who have carbonated drinks later down the road with the band.

I have been able to drink iced tea and get the caffeine, to avoid the dreaded caffeine headaches. I'm only 3 weeks post op and there have been a couple of times where I wanted to down an ice cold can of DC, but it's just not worth it and the feeling passed quickly.

After your surgery, something changes (or it did with me) and having one just won't be as important. I also quit smoking cold turkey when I heard that I wouldn't be able to have the surgery while continuing to smoke.

I think Bunz has a good plan and it's what I was going to suggest to you...first find a different route for the caffeine and then taper that. (caffeine can make some people hungry so if it does that to you...watch out!)

Odds are sometime down the road you may, if you wish, be able to drink carbonated bevs again (and I mean a year or two out, not the 2nd week of recovery) so don't think of it as "forever" but just "for now". Maybe that will help you be strong.

You can do it!

My doctor says that I can still drink carbonated drinks..i.e. my Diet Coke, if I so desire. I am hoping to NOT drink them anymore.. geez, think how much money I will save!!! My daughter had the lapband and she occasionally does drink a coke but mostly does iced tea.

Linda

I have been a big soda drinker all my life. I would have anywhere from 4-7 diet cokes a day or go get a couple of large DC's from McDonalds (love the fountain fizz). When I was told no more carbonated beverages, I stopped cold turkey to test myself during my six month diet. I was so surprised that it was as easy as it was. After the six months, I allowed myself the occasional DC as a farewell in the two months before surgery. It is now over three months since surgery and I haven't so much have had a sip of DC. I drink water most of the day, two mugs of green tea and sometimes a crystal light. I really don't even miss the DC even when seeing my daughter and husband drink it in front of me.

I too am a Diet Coke addict. What I did to wean myself was to cut down gradually from 6-8 DCs a day to 3-4 and then from 1-2. When I started my pre-op diet, I just stopped having them at all, and you know what, there was no withdrawal headache or anything. In fact, I don't even desire one. You'll be able to kick the habit, it's just one day at a time.

Who would have thought that I can drink at least 100 oz of Water each day. I amazed myself. :thumbup:

I can and do drink diet carbonated beverages (OK with doc). I don't as much now as I did before surgery, but I've had no problems. I used to drink at least one a day, now I have approx. zero to three a week. I don't keep it in the house much anymore, which has helped me cut down.

You can progressively let it sit and go flat more and more each day. There isn't much taste to diet coke once it goes flat and you may lose your liking for it over time.

I used to drink a 12-pack of caff. free diet coke every 2 days. And I'd throw a real coke in every other day or so too. My mom had a heart problem when I was growing up so I grew up on the caff. free diet stuff. I just used to drink it for the carbonation.

I was drinking 5-6 cans a day right up until the night before my surgery. Even chugged one right before midnight (my cutoff).

I was banded on March 23 of this year and have not had one single sip of a soda since. I thought it was going to be torture. I really didn't know how I was going to manage.

I've been fine. I think I unintentionally went to grab one in the fridge at work about 2 weeks after surgery and realized what I was doing. I didn't want it. It was just habit.

I think I've longed for a soda maybeeee 2-3 times in the past few months, but I didn't do anything about it and the craving passed.

I really just... don't miss it. I drink Water, tea, milk, juices, etc. and I feel a lot better. I wish it were so easy to give up other things.

I have just told myself NO. No I can't have a soda. And then I realize that I really just don't even want it anyway.

You can do it. Honest. I used to be the biggest soda addict ever.

I wasn't exactly an addict, but I drank one or two sodas a day (Dr. Pepper or Jones Soda berry Lemonade). I had a couple throughout my three week pre-op diet, but found I didn't really crave them. Since I had surgery over seven weeks ago, I've had one small sip of Sprite, but it tasted awful to me.

I don't really miss it, though I imagine I'll probably indulge once in a while. My surgeon allows soda 60 days after surgery and beyond.

In high school, when I *was* an addict, I stopped cold turkey for quite a while. I still don't know why I started drinking Dr. Pepper again after that!

Drink your last one day before surgery and never look back. I miss my diet coke but I just drink water, water and more water.

Excellent suggestions, ladies! Thank you.

I don't drink them for the caffeine. I've been off caffeine for several months now. I just love the taste and feel that a DC goes with certain types of food. Maybe that's my problem? The foods that I associate DC with?

Anyway, I feel more comfortable about it, and addelapp5 - you crack me up with the story about chugging one right before your midnight cutoff the night before surgery. I think I might just have to do that.

Also, I think that by thinking of it as breaking the habit for now and not that I won't be able to have one someday down the line sounds manageable :w00t:

Thanks!

I can tell you that no one was a bigger diet coke drinker than myself. I would drink probably 1 1/2 2-liters a day... I quit a few weeks ago cold turkey. I started drinking cold iced tea since it has been so hot outside... I also started adding a little sugarfree sweetner to it to just give me a sweet taste. Good luck to you!

Here is another good reason to curb the cola. It's been found to cause muscle weakness as it robs the potassium from the body.

Excessive Cola Consumption Can Lead To Super-sized Muscle Problems, Warn Doctors

I miss DC so much but have not had one and plan not to have any cause my Dr. say none at all. In all my diets over the years, I have given up everything but always had my friend DC to get me through the day. I stopped drinking caffeine years ago due to my anxiety and drank Caffeine Free DC for years. The day before my Surgery we were out of CFDC so i made my husband go to Stop & Go and get me 2 20 oz bottles he said you will not drink both of those before 12:00 am. I assured him I would but I did not and when I came home from the hospital there the bottle sat and all week long there it sat. My husband drinks diet coke but will not touch the caffeine free. Thank God that my Grandchild wanted a little coke and she is only 3 so we don't give her caffeine so she drank some of that and we poured the rest out. I MISS my diet coke.