No, I drink 48oz of Diet Coke before lunch most days. Once or twice a month I'll need a third on the drive in, bringing me up to 72.

(EDIT TO ADD: Now that you mention it, I could probably keep a six-pack of the small 8oz bottles for those drives in, foregoing the 24's. I wouldn't mind hearing more on the costs/benefits of Diet Coke, it's been a staple of mine since the mid-1980s, and my mother is convinced that THAT is why I'm huge.)

I can't imagine sweetening coffee enough to make it drinkable to a newb would be comparable to the zero calories the Diet Coke offers.

Don't worry, after logging that first bagel, the remainder of the bagels AND THE SPREAD went right in the dumpster. You can put the spread debate to rest, it's moot ITT.

if you get coffee that's good enough, you don't need any sweetener!

I fully understand the need for sweet coffee EDIT: and caffeine to wake up. I drink a 16 ounce coffee with sugar (2 packets of Sugar in the Raw) and half-and-half every morning. However, I used to put 4 packets in there. It took me a while, but I cut down and am now satisfied with 2.

And Gizmo is right that the higher the quality of coffee, the less sugar it requires.

Yeah, two packets of real sugar is gonna be more calories than the 0 you get with diet soda... but coffee has more caffeine per ounce than diet soda, which means you won't need to drink as much of it to wake up. And, some people say that it has other health benefits in and of itself.

48 oz is just a ****ing giant load of liquid to put in your stomach every morning no matter how many calories it has in it. I've got to think that it gets you used to being incredibly full all the time, which probably contributes to your overeating.

OP - listen to cleinen.

A lot of the advice I'm reading ITT so far is somewhat FPS but may be valuable in like 6 months or a year or whenever it is that you first conquer setting up a better routine in general that has you losing weight consistently.

Also, I'm kind of curious, does this whole thing piss you off, make you angry, and fire you up? Or are you just depressed about it and willing to "try anything" at this point? Or did a lightbulb go off in OOT and you thought "wtf, let's give this a go, seems like I can turn things around"?

I guess I find what you make of this whole thing more interesting than any other part of this thread.

As far as the caffeine goes, there's also nothing wrong with getting some cheap no-name caffeine pills and popping one in the morning, that's what I do. Saves $$ and you won't have to piss 47 times a day (although you'll still go a lot since it acts as a diuretic).

This.

My whole life has been based on "I've tried everything," and I learned otherwise in OOT. So I simply HAVE to try this.

+1 to this^

Good luck man, I honestly mean that. i hope you stick with it, and see the reward that Cleinen and many others in this subforum have seen.

This is what I was trying to say - you'll need to make this THE priority for a while, maybe a long time. How should I eat? How do I make that? Where do I go to buy that? I'm going to be ______ for 3 days with my friends and they eat pizza every night and drink all day. How can I prepare to not fall in that trap?

Not to say you can never have those foods again. They just need to be the exception and not the norm. Some friends/family may think you're being weird but most will be supportive. The ones who aren't, f&*k 'em - it's your life you're saving.

Worrying about butter vs margarine (I agree butter is better), 2 cubes of sugar vs. 4 in your coffee, fat free mayo vs. regular mayo are all small potatoes in the big picture. We should be talking 2 tortilla wrapped hot dogs vs. 4 eggs, 2 sausages & strawberries for breakfast and almonds or yogurt for snack vs. pizza slice.

Well, if you're starting to drag at some point, let us know what we can do to help with motivation. My guess is that squishy concept is going to be the one real obstacle. All other mistakes or delays won't matter in the long-run if you can stay motivated b/c they will just be blips imo.

Subscribing.

It takes an enormous quantity of calories to maintain 380 pounds. It may "seem" high, but it's definitely in the ballpark.

A target of 2700 calories is a reasonable place to start for someone with a history of major hunger issues. Losing 3 pounds per week isn't too shabby if it's sustainable which is obviously the big issue.

This. Absolutely this.

I really have no idea on the science of Diet Coke, personally I've never cared for the stuff. When I stopped drinking (lots) of regular Coke, I didn't switch. Was really surprised not to miss the caffeine more, I drank coffee for a week or two in the morning but eventually stopped out of indifference.

Definitely experiment with what you eat. Some things will make you full and some won't. Personally nothing starchy (carby) fills me up -- I could probably eat a whole box of Cheerios and be hungry again in an hour. Give me a little protein and fat and I'm good for hours.

subscribed.

completely concur with loco's suggestion and AB's reply to it. Walking is the nuts. The diet thing is going to take some time to figure out. An important thing to remember is ****ing up isn't an excuse to fall off the wagon completely. You're going to **** up at some point and down some awful ****. You just have to face up to it and get back on the wagon immediately.

I'm imagining how many calories I'd burn if I had to carry a 200 lb. weighted vest every day.

Obviously 100% what El Diablo said.

Bad second level thinking ITT.

? wtf are you talking about. Please don't make this into an El D slurpfest. No one has taken a hardline stance with ytf at all. Seems like most here agree with the "start logging food, keep a deficit, walk" approach.