When I got my arse back into gear and decided that being overweight wasn’t for me and that I quite enjoyed wearing mediums and not being as un-athletic as I once was I noted that I was consuming a lot of little treats and one of those little treats that I found myself having almost once a day was a fizzy drink when I was in work. I can’t tell you for certain when it started, but when I was originally losing weight, I barely touched fizzy drinks and I felt really good for it. So now it has crept back into my life I have tried my best to remove it again, but to also not just stop with the fizzy drinks.
Previous experiences with fizzy drinks.
In a previous world I was a fizzy drinks fiend and would be drinking it nonstop as if it was the only liquid that could go into my body, it would be fair to say that I wasn’t exactly treating my body as a temple… Well potentially a bloated gassy temple!
How bad were my fizzy drinking habits you ask? Well the large Lucozade bottles were getting drank as if they were the normal small ones. Daily. I am pretty sure I was drinking at least 2 or so litres of a variety of fizzy drinks a day and this probably increased during my time at University (especially in the first 2 years) when a long day in the art studio meant that I “needed” energy to keep me going. Thus bad drinks. This would be compounded in the stressful days of hand in’s and trying to get art work and essays completed. Usually culminating in overnight studio work and needing something sugary to keep me awake to complete the work.
It wasn’t the best time for me and my body was taking the effects of it and I knew I was seeking any excuse to have a quick bottle and that broke into just recently were I was having a fizzy drink at my old job every day, just because it was easier to do so as a bottle was right there and I could get it cheap.
What will I drink?
When I got my act together I started drinking orange juice and cranberry juice, which is great! But soon after reading the cartons I noticed that I was in fact drinking a fair bit of unnatural sugar again and although it was less, I was not doing myself any favours with that route, so I went to water and more importantly for me I went to concentrated juice to add to my water. I am a bit of a sad act and I do enjoy a little bit of taste to my liquids and I thought why not buy the one type of drink that adds the least amount of sugar to it and one that I can drink to my heart’s content? So since really last month I have been drinking water with a little bit of concentrate in it while in work and at home. I think I am getting close to 3 litres of water a day while in work which is great! But not so much for the amount of times I have to go to the loo, but hey! Extra steps! I do feel a bit better for drinking way more, but I do get that bloated feeling I think just from drinking so much water. I have always been more of a drinker than an eater. Being constantly thirsty is a gripe we all have to live with I guess.
I am not completely fizzy free though…
I would be lying if I said I was never going to touch fizzy drinks again, I am not like Victoria, who I do not believe I have seen drink a fizzy drink since I have been with her. I know I will want to have one at one point, but I have just got to keep the correct mindset in choosing not to have one. That is not to say that I won’t want to add one as a little treat to myself now and then, but I will have to earn the right to have it. For instance after a running race in which I have pushed myself very hard I imagine my first instinct will to try and get some sugar into my system and sadly the quickest option for me is a fizzy drink. Drinking a little tin after a race to me is acceptable, though Victoria is a little more dubious on that matter. I think the only other time I will “treat” myself Is maybe at the cinema as I do like a little sugary treat, but I probably wouldn’t buy any food if I did, to try and limit the intake.
Will temptation come?
Yesterday (well yesterday from when I post this) I got severely tempted to just buy a fizzy drink and I have been trying to work out why. I think it was because I was a little tired and drained and felt I needed to have that drink to get me awake and ready again, I have been helping out in my old job for a week now in between my other duties and being around the temptation to get that cheap bottle has came back a tiny bit. Luckily it hasn’t affected me too much as I have been able to just stick to my juice. Well done me? I am happy that I have kept fizzy drinks away for almost a month now and that only on the rare occasion has the temptation came back to grab a bottle or tin. I think in a couple more weeks the inkling of getting one will fade further. That’s the hope!
Did you become slightly addicted to fizzy drinks? As silly as it sounds. What did you do to limit yourself? Let me know below! Until next time!
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Scott H Gilliland 
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