5. The Guilty Pleasures/Addictions

Greetings readers!

Today's post is going to be a bit different, a slight spin on the normal Pinspirable postings. I have a confession: I am a Diet Coke-aholic and am trying to quit. My godmother (my cousin whose 16 years older than I) is a Beachbody Coach. She has completed Insanity, P90X, The Ultimate Reset, TurboFire, etc. You name the Beachbody program and she's done it. She started on New Years Day the "Les Mills COMBAT" set. Every week she does a free workout class at a local high school, usually featuring one of the videos. Last week's feature was of "Les Mills COMBAT," so I decided to attend, which happened to be my first of the free workouts. It was absolutely amazing! It features kickboxing, boxing, Tae Kwon Do, Capoeira, Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Karate, etc. My workout of choice, if there is such a thing, is boxing and kickboxing. After the workout, I immediately went home and logged onto her Beachbody page and ordered the set, which is supposed to arrive on Thursday! Woohoo!!

Before going home to order the videos, my cousin came up to me to discuss my fitness goals. I told her about being in 2 of my best-friends' weddings this year, which is one of my strongest motivations. Besides the weddings, I want to go out with my friends on the weekends and not rummage through 15 shirts, 3 dresses, 5 cardigans, and 3 pairs of jeans. No, that was not an exaggeration; unfortunately, 26 articles of clothing were tried on during the "New Years Eve Getting Ready Process" and it was dreadful, so I vowed to never again have to feel that pain.

Anyways.... while discussing my goals, she asked about my soda intake. She, her husband, a few of my aunts, and I are/were addicted to Diet Coke. Both my cousin, her husband, and one of my aunts are recovering addicts, as for myself and for a few of my other aunts, we're still very much addicts. My cousin began pleading with me and begging that I rid myself of the addiction. She asked me how many I consume on a daily basis and I was afraid to tell her. She said, "If it's more than 5, you're literally killing yourself." I didn't have the heart to answer her. My addiction had greatly increased and on certain days 6-7 were consumed. I know.... soooo bad!!!

She told me that the ultimate maximum one could consume a day should be 2. I immediately went "cold turkey" and have cut down to 2 daily, since last Wednesday. Almost a week through and I've consumed only 12, versus 36-42. So awful. I can't even face these numbers typing them to you, let alone realizing that all of that was once in my stomach.

 Tonight she sent me a link, which I want to share with all of you. For the past week, I kept thinking "I should go completely cold turkey and rid the addiction from my life, but 2 isn't bad." Nope, not anymore. 

The link consists of 6 reasons why not to consume Diet Coke and 4 directly affect me:

1. Why am I trying to lose weight if after a proven study it causes you to gain weight?
2. Ever since I was 12-13, I've been battling kidney problems. Come to find out, Diet Coke interferes with them and may drop their function by 30%. 
3. Recently, it feels as though my skin should be the number 1 candidate for a Proactive commercial, so off to a dermatologist I went and am now taking a daily pill. Maybe if I quit Diet Coke it will help? Who knew Diet Coke effected your skin?
4. Going along with the weight loss subject, it states Diet Coke may inhibit your ability to recognize the signals of fullness. Once again, why should I be consuming a product that's going to work against my weight loss?

Needless to say, there's 10 remaining in the last case in my house. I'm not going to lie, I'll probably consume the remainders, but after that they will NEVER be seen in my house again. Banned.

What's your addiction? Are there any hidden effects that you don't know about yet?

Till next time,
Bells