The broken new year's resolution

[Beyond the Bets]

So I was at the grocery store the other day, and I was in the soda aisle, and then I saw something pretty unbelievable.

A husband and wife, probably in their early 30s, were arguing over soda. Well, no, that isn't exactly right. They were arguing about what is soda and what isn't soda.

Best I could tell, they had made some sort of New Year's Resolution to give up drinking soda. Unfortunately, they did not properly define what is soda and what isn't soda, and because of this, they were now fighting.

It all began when the husband picked up a 12-pack of off-brand diet cranberry sparkling juice. Something like that. Maybe it was sparkling soda, but I don't think cranberry juice can also be soda. Either, apparently, did the husband.

But the wife took exception and called him out.

"That's soda," she said, before removing it from the cart.

"No, it ISN'T," the husband said, and now he was getting angry.

He placed the cranberry sparkling stuff back into the cart, and did so in a spike-the-football kind of way. This, of course, prompted the wife to then forcefully REMOVE the soda from the cart.

"That's soda!" she said.

The husband became outraged and leaped (yes, leaped) over to a 2-liter bottle of Pepsi. Now holding it above his head, he cried out, "No, THIS is soda!" Then he heaved the Pepsi into the cart.

Then, he grabbed a 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew. "And THIS IS SODA!"

Then, another bottle of Mountain Dew. "And THIS IS SODA!"

"Are you done?" the wife asked, and now she's pissed.

"IS THIS SODA!?" the husband yelled, now clutching a 12-pack of root beer. "Well, IS IT? WHY YES, I THINK IT IS!"

Whoosh. Into the cart it goes.

"Well, great," the wife said. "You continue to be FAT. And I'LL TRY TO BE HEALTHY!"

Then, woah, what's this!? Now THE WIFE is heaving 2-gallon waters into the cart, a cart that is now overflowing with liquid — some soda, some water, and some soda that might not be soda.

I stood there in the aisle, stunned, unsure of what to do.

And all I could think was, "Man, I sure hope the bread didn't get smushed."

[DOP]

I have been known to drink massive amounts of soda. I can confirm that it's the lack of exercise that is making that guy fat. I'd rather run 2+ miles everyday than give up drinking the good stuff!

[ChiefZilla]

Gee, classic mistake. You need to properly lay out the ground rules if you're making New Year's resolutions.

That way, when February rolls around and you weigh even more than you did on Dec. 31, at least you'll know that you followed the rules for all of two weeks.

[itg_sports]

I gave up sodas (or cokes as we call it in Texas) for the New Year. Specifically Dr. Pepper and Orange Crush. Its been 3 days and I am very proud of myself. Straight water except for a Gatorade this morning. I've dropped a pound and a half.

[Beyond the Bets]

Once, I read this horrible story that scared the living shit out of me about soda increasing the risk of pancreatic cancer. I was at college, and I called my mom, and I said: "Yeah, I've got some bad news."

"What is it?" she said.

"I'm done," I told her. "I just read something terrible about soda increasing your chances at developing pancreatic cancer. And, um, well, I hate to say this, but I have been drinking anywhere between 80 and 150 ounces of soda every day for the last four years."

"You WHAT!?" she said.

I had not expected that response. I figured she would laugh at me. But now she also seemed to be expecting the worst, and that threw me into a huge state of panic.

"Why did I drink so much soda?" I kept asking myself.

During my walk to class, I kept saying to myself: "I'm never drinking soda again. Never. Not one more time from now until the rest of eternity. I'm done. Goodbye, soda."

To the right of the classroom, there was a vending machine.

I deposited $1.25 and got myself a Diet Mountain Dew and then walked into class.

[KepowOb]

I'm happy I never got into the whole soda thing. I'm not a big fan of sweet things in general, and for the most part I just don't gravitate to soda much.

I did have a time when, during the summers, I basically never left the computer in my basement. I was probably 12-14 at the time, and my mother became a bit concerned.

Rather than trying to get me to go outside though, she was more concerned about my hydration than anything else. I'd sit there all day and drink nothing at all. So she started buying iced tea in bulk. She'd get these 1-gallon containers, and at first she was happy as I started drinking from them.

Then she became concerned again, when after getting sick of going to the fridge all the time, I just started leaving the iced tea next to me, allowing me to fill up my glass without having to leave my chair. I started going through the gallon of ice-tea in 4 days, then 3 days, and then I polished one off in two days.

The iced tea was replaced by big water jugs, and that worked out pretty well.

Of course, then I started drinking beer and coffee....

[lindetrain]

I have to imagine I'd weigh 10-15 pounds less if it weren't for Mountain Dew. Always loved it in high school, but when college rolled around and I could buy and have as much of it as I pleased at all points in the day, it got pretty bad. I've had stints where I'll have 4-5 a day, and at times I have to stop buying it just to try and cut back. Many of my fast food decisions are based on whether a place has Pepsi products or Mello Yello.

Whenever I try to cut it out in an effort to drop a few pounds, my body has such an adjustment to make from drinking more hydrating beverages, that I pee every 10 minutes...

[Beyond the Bets]

Drinking soda just gives you more reason to exercise. Not necessarily a bad thing.

[louiemdj]

What about pop? I rarely ever drink soda or pop or whatever you call it. We don't buy it unless we have company.

Pretty sure the only time I drink it is when it's mixed with liquor or when I'm in some dirty place like Mexico, and I'm afraid to drink anything else.

[JSpauny]

I loved Mountain Dew to a fault like lindetrain said. However, I stopped drinking it in college because it didn't mix well with whiskey and scotch. I only bought sodas that mixed with them. College curbed my soda addiction....and started my liquor addiction.