Stop Drinking Your Calories

Did you know that if you are a soda drinker, you are taking in a lot of calories that are not being turned into energy which will cause you to gain a lot of weight. I put it to the test over Thanksgiving. Here's my story.

The Friday before Thanksgiving, my husband and I left to go up North to visit our families. Saturday my friends and family gathered at my mom's house to celebrate Thanksgiving early. That day I drank about 5 glasses of Coca Cola. The next day I drank about 2 glasses. The rest of the week I drank about 2 glasses a day. Even though it was the holidays, I did not indulge myself in a lot of food. However, because I was out of my normal environment, I also did not get my usual fruit intake. To make a short story shorter, I ended up gaining 7 pounds. In only one week. JUST FROM DRINKING SODA AND NOT EATING ENOUGH FRUIT!

I have been back in my normal environment for 4 days. I haven't had any soda and I've been eating my normal consumption of fruit. I've already lost 3 of the seven pounds that I gained. This says a lot about soda and it's affect on our weight and health.

I challenge you to cut out soda, alcohol, sweetened tea, sweetened coffee, mixed drinks such as pina coladas (which by the way has more calories than you should have in a whole meal), and other drinks that have added sugars, artificial sugars, and/or added fructose. Replace it with water, 100% real fruit juice not from concentrate (i.e. Florida's Natural Pure Premium Orange Juice with lots of pulp or Tropicana's Pure Premium Orange Juice with lots of pulp), and/or Unsweetened tea and coffee or tea sweetened with a little bit of honey. While taking this challenge, increase your fresh fruit and vegetable intake. Doing this alone will cause unnecessary calories to drop off. (If you don't already drink beverages with added sugars and fructose [including drinks with artificial sweeteners] and you can't keep the weight off than your problem is the foods you are eating.)

I have a cousin in Texas who lost 40 pounds in a few months by cutting out soda. Basically, he lost the equivalent of a child. You can believe he felt a lot better and had a lot more energy.

If you are willing to take this challenge, keep me posted on your progress. GOOD LUCK! :)