Make each drink a conscious choice, rather than a mindless one. Drink only calorie-free beverages.

Why only calorie-free drinks?

Next couple of weeks will be an experiment in stretching your comfort zone.

The point here isn’t to go all-or-nothing.

Or that some drinks are “bad”.

The point is to bring your attention to the quality of what you’re drinking.

• Do your drinks make your body, performance, and/or recovery better?
• Do they add value?
• Or do your drinks make your body, performance, and/or recovery worse?
• Do they subtract value?

All you’re doing here is making each drink a conscious choice, rather than a mindless one.

Think before you drink.

Just add water

Start with simply substituting water for your normal calorie-containing beverages (such as juice or Gatorade).

Drinking enough water will ensure that you stay well hydrated.

Start your morning with a glass of water.

Leave an empty glass on your bathroom sink so you’ll see it when you wake up in the morning. Before you jump in the shower, fill the glass and drink.

Sip water between bites of your meals.

This will also help you eat to 80% full more easily.

Buy a slick water bottle and carry it with you.

We recommend eco-friendlier and responsible options.

Or heck, recycle a glass bottle or jar.

Work with your nutritional level

Of course, like all our habits, this one is on a continuum.

YOU figure out how to move along YOUR continuum to be “a little bit better” for YOU.

Level 1

Keep it simple and do-able. One small step at a time.

Move into this no-calorie-beverage habit gradually. For example:

• If you normally have a double-cream coffee, try cutting to one cream or using homogenized milk instead.
• If you normally have a latte, try a misto — a smaller shot of steamed milk rather than half and half. Or just a regular coffee.

• If you normally have regular soda, try a diet soda. If you normally drink diet soda, try soda water with some lemon or lime.

• If you normally have 3 glasses of wine in the evening, cut it to 1 or 2 glasses. (Or try some Primal Scream therapy after a crazy day at work.)

You get the idea.

Level 2

Try the no-calorie-beverage challenge!

If you’re looking for something a little tougher, go cold turkey instead of scaling back.

Sometimes a few days of “Ugh, this tastes weird!” will actually work better than a longer period of “Gee, this drink is almost what I prefer, but not quite.”

It’s up to you

Whatever you choose…

Take the next two weeks to experiment with being a calorie-free drinker.

Try it.

Challenge yourself.

Observe what happens.

Observe where you get annoyed, irritated, or resistant. See where you can stretch or nudge into small but important changes.

What to do today:

1.Pay attention to what you drink.

Review your food records from a while back.

Did you note your drinks? If so, what are your drinking habits?

If you didn’t write down your drinks, notice what you typically want to drink today.

2.Choose a simple and do-able step for you.

Take one small positive step today. Make a substitution or two. Or cut back.

Figure out where you could make a change today, and try it.

3.Help yourself remember.

One easy way to do this is to fill up your water bottle in the morning, then keep it with you.

When you see it, you’ll remember: Drink calorie-free beverages. Then have a swig!

4.Choose what counts as “doing the habit” for you.

If you can say in good faith that you’ve had a calorie-free drinking day, then tick off the habit.

If you’re not quite there yet, that’s OK. (We get it. Lattes are tasty.)

Keep working on it, and making those small but important changes as you move along the continuum.

5.Notice any resistance that pops up as you do this experiment.

Do you feel deprived? Annoyed? Like this is some nit-picky BS?

Notice that. Don’t try to change it. Just pay attention.

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