Hi, my name is Chriss and I am WAS a Coke Zero-aholic.
Those close to me know that I could often be seen with a coke zero in hand.
I wasn’t proud of it. Being a Personal Trainer, I definitely knew that putting all of those chemicals into my body was not a great option. (I have never and will never claim that I am perfect)
I would often say “I’m working on it”. But after repeated times of hearing myself say and write those words, I realised that they were not true. I was not working on it. I wasn’t doing anything to cut down or give up.
What started out as one can of CZ every now and then, escalated into one can each day, which escalated into up to one litre per day. (OMG, just writing that feels awful). For the ridiculous reason, somewhere in my silly brain, that it was more cost effective to buy a bottle from the supermarket than a can. Who did I think I was kidding??
2015 – My year of experiments.
I have themed the year of 2015 “My year of experiments”. I really like the concept. No hard or fast rules, just curious experiments on myself to see how I respond and react. There is no failing, there is only learning. I don’t know why, but this really works for me.
** Somehow this “experiments theme” makes me feel inspired and lit up. Like I am adding something to my life. It doesn’t make me feel deprived, like I am taking something away from my life.
1st experiment – – Give up Coke Zero.
I decided that I would give up coke zero as my first experiment. I did NOT tell myself “No CZ ever again, otherwise the world will come to an end”. I told myself, I am going to go without CZ today to see and record what feelings come up. To see and record when and why the cravings happen. If I did happen to give in to a craving (which I didn’t), it wasn’t going to be a big deal. As long as I learnt something and then used that knowledge the next day.
What I learnt.
The first thing I learnt was that thinking about CZ made me want one even more. I wanted one about 9 am on the first day of my experiment. This doesn’t normally happen.
I also realised some triggers I had.
I knew that I normally bought a CZ each time I went for a shopping day, each time I ordered a certain meal at a particular place, at 3.30pm when I was relaxing. These were quite easy for me to overcome thanks to being aware to actually look for triggers. These triggers were just habit associations and didn’t have a whole lot to do with emotions.
What was much harder to over come was wanting a CZ when I was stressed. This happened a few times and I didn’t give in to temptation due to reasons I will explain below in Finding my WHY.
Finding my big WHY.
I have been in this game long enough to know that the key to making a habit change is to find your big WHY. So I set about writing a list of reasons that might motivate me to keep strong in the face of temptation. I knew I had to find the most powerful one for me.
Here was my list.
1) Because “THEY say I should”
“They” being the media, the scientists, the experts.
Did this work for me?
Nope. No motivation here at all for me and I can pretty much guarantee that trying to change because someone else “says you should” never lasts long term.
2) To save money
I knew I would probably save money, probably up to $30 a week.
Did this work for me?
No. No emotion was there when I thought about this. I didn’t put much value on that $30 or so a week. (Which makes my prior rational of buying the bottle from the supermarket to save money even more ridiculous)
3) To feel better
Did this work for me?
No. I wish I could report that I felt crappy when I was drinking a litre of CZ per day, but the truth is I felt great then and I feel great now.
4) To lose weight
Did this work for me?
No. In actual fact, I knew that I would probably put on weight at first (Which I did by the way. Can’t say I am thrilled about that, but at least I was prepared for this).
Willpower runs out fast each day. I was using extra willpower to change this habit. I was aware that this might result in less willpower overall. I did find myself nibbling at foods that normally wouldn’t tempt me so much (damn those nuts). The fact that I was aware and prepared that this weight gain might happen has been a plus. I might have given up gone back to drinking the CZ if I had not been prepared for this side effect.
** I am fully expecting this to turn around when this change of habit starts to feel normal and run on auto-pilot. It’s been 4 weeks in and this is definitely starting to happen.
5) Long term health benefits
I know that putting chemicals into my body could not be a good thing over an extended period of time.
Did this work for me?
Honestly NO. I knew it should work, but it just didn’t. I felt no downside effects even when drinking a litre a day, even though I knew that it was not the best thing to do.
** If I hadn’t found the perfect motivation, I might have worked harder on this one. Turns out I didn’t need to.
6) To be a role model to my 11 year old daughter Holly.
Did this work for me?
Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner. This was everything to me. How could I advise my daughter to avoid drinking soft drinks because they are not good for her, then turn around and grab a CZ from the fridge. This one was a no-brainer.
It also helped that I told Holly I was giving up and that it was school holidays so we were together a lot. Holly kept me honest those few times I was stressed and very tempted to give in.
An unexpected benefit
As I write this, it has been almost 4 weeks since I drank a Coke Zero and here comes the unexpected benefit.
I feel a little bit proud of myself. This small win has given me a real confidence boost. I am now thinking about and excited about attempting new challenges. Funny how that happens.
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Disclaimer.
I may at some point drink a Coke Zero again. I am totally fine with allowing myself to have one if I go to the movies or out to a café for lunch with friends.
This will be another experiment in itself to see if ONE leads to spiralling out of control again. I will definitely write a 3 month and 6 month update.
🙂
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Chriss