I have had a long love affair with soda. Growing up, soda was a treat reserved for rare occasions when my family ate at a fast food restaurant or on Sundays when my great grandmother made me split a 6 oz. glass bottle of Coke with a cousin. In high school I started drinking at least one 20 oz. bottle of soda a day – and sometimes more.

My first month of college, I discovered diet soda, and I soon became obsessed with it. I thought it was guilt-free and gave me that oh-so-necessary boost of caffeine every college student “needs” to survive.

When I returned home during the summers from college, I would make sure to buy diet soda to keep in my parents’ once-soda-free fridge. I went through Diet Dr. Pepper so fast, my mom (who is a nurse) jokingly once asked me if I would like an IV of Diet Dr. Pepper hooked up to my arm so it would get to my blood stream faster. Very funny, Mom.

For me, diet soda was a part of the college girl lifestyle. My roommate and I found a sale once and bought enough Diet Dr. Pepper to make two rows of 10 one liter bottles along the wall of our apartment. That’s 20 bottles for two people! I now wish I had tracked how long it took me to drink my half. I’m sure it would have been scary to see how fast I consumed such a large amount.

During my later college years, I started working out at the campus gym and also took up running. I learned quickly that being dehydrated would leave me with a painful stitch in my side, so I remedied this by drinking a glass of water before I ran or worked out. I would like to say that I always followed exercise with water too, but sadly sometimes it was followed by more diet soda.

As I became more interested in running and began to actually race, completing my first half marathon in 2005, I began to understand the importance of water and how it affected my athletic performance. I had never had a taste for water and could only tolerate it when I was extremely thirsty. I think the constant stimulation of fake sweetener and caffeine ruined my natural thirst for water.

In the past few years, as I have transitioned from a diet of mainly processed foods to a diet of mostly whole foods, I learned about the evils of soda and how it was affecting my health. I thought diet soda was much better than regular soda, because it had been marketed as what slim healthy women drink, and I was shocked to find that it is not a better choice.

I slowly started trying to drink more water and limited the amount of diet sodas I would drink per day. This became especially important during my time as a poor graduate student. Soda is expensive!

After learning the amount of water I should be drinking daily, I found it difficult to reach when I was still having my two diet sodas per day. Almost a year ago, I cut sodas out of my diet for the most part, but still didn’t consume an adequate amount of water on a daily basis. I could physically tell a difference on the days when I did not drink enough water. I was hungrier, more tired, and sometimes would even get headaches. Dehydration will do that to you.

When Bobby contacted me about participating in the NoFizz Challenge, I knew it was just what I needed to truly focus on getting enough water each and every day. I still have a soda occasionally, if and only if I really want one (once or twice a month). Participating in the NoFizz Challenge was not very difficult for me since I have mostly cut out soda.

The whole experience further emphasized how much better I feel when I am not borderline dehydrated. Especially as a runner, water is so important. While training for my first marathon, I attributed my successful runs to drinking plenty of water the day prior and the morning of the run.

For me, the challenge has not ended, because I continue to challenge myself everyday to drink at least 60 oz. of water, if not more. Monitoring this has become second nature and something I plan to continue indefinitely!