I am a coffee and Diet Coke junkie. I know this MUST be bad for my physique, let alone my bones. Basically, I’m going to bite the bullet and give it up.
Former caffiene junkies, have you noticed any benefits in the way you look as a result of giving it up?
Honestly, I wouldn’t bother. As vices go, caffeine doesn’t break the top 50.
I spend more on Diet Coke than I do on vegetables, but it doesn’t seem to affect my progress. Certain articles actually recommend loading up on caffeine pre-workout.
DI
Every once in a while, when I feel my caffeine consumption is getting too high, I take a week off from it to “reset”. It really sucks, and I feel like shit for a few days, but after that week I’m no longer dependent on coffee, and I can go days without it. When I do drink it I need only a cup to get the effects. Eventually my consumption levels return to normal, but that takes quite a while. I find this “reseting” of my caffeine requirements/tolerance useful because I start to feel really shitty when I get above 1.5L per day coffee consumption.
It works for me.
As long as your coffee’s not loaded with empty calories (cream, sugar, etc., etc.), I dont’ see what’s wrong with it.
Well, you might get yellow teeth.
When I give up my coffee for a day or two, I get a mean look on my face. It’s a definite benefit for me since people tend to leave me alone and let me lift!
Since caffeine is a diuretic u might retain a little more water weight
Despite what Berardi says in the Caffeine roundtable article, there is no way I would give up my pre-workout or early morning coffee. Like mentioned above, if you are just drinking black coffee and not a whipped cream iced mocha caramel frappacino, which would probably give you more of a sugar buzz than a caffeine buzz, I wouldn’t worry about it. I have a french press, and I make the thickest, darkest, strongest cup of mud possible. so good!
Phaedrus
you will realise how much you rely on it when you try to come off for two weeks. way better pumps when im off. in saying that, i bloody hate cardio without it.
better pumps when im off caffeine.
i got headaches straight from hell when i quit a few years ago
i heard u actually go through withdrawal
I use it almost as a supplement. Especially when I’m crunched for time and have to workout in the AM. I feel more alert and have a jolt of energy to lift more and heavier than I would without. Diet Coke wouldn’t have the crap calories from the sugars in regular. However, I do admit to Mountain Dew being my afternoon “pick me up”.
I just finished a two-week hiatus from an ECA stack, and in week two I cut my coffee/tea intake to one cup on training days only. As expected, I felt like shit for that week, but when I went back on ECA and three/four cups of coffee a day, I felt like a lion.
Hey, caffeine is a drug and if you use it you are a drug user (and if you need it you are a drug addict). I admit to both. However, to paraphrase Knight RT, as addictive drugs go it doesn’t even break the top fifty.