Quitting Soda Helped This Woman Lose 30 Pounds In 3 Months

I don't remember when my soda habit started - that's how young I was when I took my first sip. I've always loved the sweetness and the fizziness. And that crisp feeling of the bubbles as they went down my throat. Growing up, I only drank water when one of my parents suggested I have a glass. Why would I drink water when I could have grape, orange, or strawberry soda? The yummy possibilities seemed endless.

I drank five or six cans most days during these early years. And, of course, it didn't help that I was often washing down junk food. It was around the age of 10 that I started to think of myself as a fat kid. That's when I started to notice that my clothes were always tight and that most stores didn't carry the cool clothes that all the other kids wore in my size.

I played volleyball and basketball, which gave me more friends and made me active daily, but I didn't change my eating habits. In fact, I ate more - and washed it all down with soda - because I was always so hungry after practice. My teammates liked me, and my coaches referred to me as "the muscle" or "the power," which is a nice way of saying "the fat girl on the team." I was the funny, chubby friend who always poked fun at my own weight because I thought that if I made fun of myself, no one could hurt me but, well, me.