You could say that I came by my obsession with Diet Coke honestly, coming from a long line of addicts. Anyone who has ever visited me in Atlanta can tell you how stocked the outside fridge is. To me, there’s only one thing on this planet more refreshing than an ice-cold can of Diet Coke and it’s its giant fountain counterpart. Pure bliss. Having diet coke in my life was a wonderful thing. It made me smile. It make me happy.
Until, like a bad relationship, it stopped making me smile and it didn’t make me feel so happy anymore. My stomach was a mess. My mind was a mess. My body was a mess. The nasty combination of carbonation and caffeine was one that just didn’t agree with me.
“Perhaps you should give up Diet Coke,” my friends and family suggested.
Give up diet coke?
BLASPHEMY.
It is the nectar of the gods, after all.
“But it makes me so happy,” I’d argue.
“But only when it’s not making you miserable,” they’d throw back in my face.
Well, hello there addiction, nice to see you.
Well, hello there bad relationship, nice to see you.
You know how you had those friends in high school who dated the wrong kind of guys because they were cool and popular and made them feel good about themselves…but you knew in your heart that they were making a mistake because the wrong kind of guys are usually assholes and treat them like crap but your friends can’t really see it at all because they are looking at these guys through rose-colored glasses?
(Me neither.)
Well, I was looking at the world through caramel-colored glasses.
When I got the giant “watch your salts and exercise” eye-opening, smack-in-the-face wake up call from Dr. Jack, I made some decisions right then and there. I got on my elliptical trainer. I stopped drinking Diet Coke.
The first three days were a nightmare. I was like Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting, only I didn’t go toilet-diving. At least I don’t think I did…
And then something happened.
I felt GOOD.
I stopped getting the shakes. I stopped having stomach issues.
I am one pound away from a weight I haven’t been in nine years.
I haven’t had Diet Coke in a month.
I cannot believe it took me this long to break up with Diet Coke. I don’t even crave it. But you can be damn sure that I am avoiding fountains like the plague. Because I am strong, but I’m not THAT strong.