New Challenge: Giving up caffeine.

I have been having a very difficult time getting up in the mornings. I attribute this to many reasons: I eat crap. I eat more crap later at night. I drink too much coffee and Diet Dr. Pepper, and I hardly exercise. So this is what I propose to myself.

Start by gradually decreasing the amount of caffeine that I consume each day. Typically in the mornings I have been making 7 cups of coffee. I drink 2 cups in my car on the way too work and then I have a huge mug that holds around 4.5 cups that I drink the rest of the day. Oh wait, it gets better. Then for lunch I usually have 1 can of DDP. Then if I go out to dinner, I will have more diet coke. Now combine this with my diet and there is no doubt that I am having trouble getting up in the mornings.

So here is my plan. For the next week I am only going to have 2 cups of coffee at work. I am going to make 2 cups of tea in the morning that I can drink on my drive to the office. Additionally, I am going to drink more crystal light iced tea. When I go out to eat. If I can't get decaf diet coke then I am going to drink water.

My long term goal is to lessen the crystal light consumption as well and replace that with water.

The real motivation for this change is my sleeping habits. So, I am going to make some changes in the way that I eat at night and if I get the hunger pangs late, I will supplement that with a piece of fruit, hot tea, and water.

I am going to go for gradual changes first, I can't handle total caffeine withdraw all at once.

I think that this will help me with my 3 PM grogginess as well.

So, today so far I have had my 2 cups of coffee, and that is about it. As always the real test is when I go home. I was going to stop at the store on my way home anyway to pick up some more coffee, but now I don't have to. I already have tea at home.

So, for the month of November.... I am giving up almost all caffeine. Let's do this.