I love coffee.
A lot.
I love the smell of it brewing on my stove.
I love the taste of it.
I love the way it feels like a treat or a reward.
I love the ritual of it.
I love the community it creates.
I love the way it wakes me up.
I love going out to get a cup of it.
I love meeting friends and talking over it.
I love coffee so much that I take pictures of it.
OK, now I just sound insane.
Did I mention I love coffee?
I love it so much that sometimes I drink it in the morning, noon, and night.

I have a problem.
Thats a lot of coffee.
A lot of caffeine.
A lot of half and half, a lot of sugar, and a lot of milk.
Because I like my coffee sweet and milky.
That’s a lot of extra calories.
I haven’t done the math, but I don’t have to.
I just know.
And when I wrote a couple of weeks ago about my numbers (weight, inches and body fat) being up, I wondered if cutting back on coffee would make a difference.

You see, I have been making a lot of little changes in my life: drinking more coffee, getting bagels for breakfast more often, eating ice cream more often because pumpkin ice cream is out only once a year,
and lots of other little indulgences that on their own didn’t seem like a big deal, but were adding up over time.
The truth is, if I keep going the way I have been, those little changes will turn into big changes.
Bigger waist, bigger jean size, bigger numbers on the scale.
So, I decided to make another little change.
I’m (almost) giving up coffee.

I rebelled at the idea first.
But the more I thought about it, the more I thought about the trouble I’d had sleeping, my anxiety, my sometimes racing heart, and my mood swings, the more I thought that this would be a good change.
A hard one to be sure, but good.
Most of the time, the changes we make in our diet will make a difference in our waistline–for a little while anyway.
But hopefully, they make a bigger, more lasting difference in our overall health.
Sometimes it takes a wake up call to get us to make these valuable change in our diets.
For me the wakeup call came when I realized that I was allowing weight and inches to creep back onto my body by not being thoughtful about what I was putting into my body.
That led to the realization that all that coffee might be doing worse things for me than just putting a little extra sugar around my middle.

So its been two weeks without coffee, and I am still alive.
I’ve been drinking decaf tea and it is getting better and better.
I did have a cup of coffee when I went out on a date with my husband. (I also had a piece of pie, but we’ll talk about that later)
I like the idea of coffee being a treat for me rather than a necessity.
It feels like I am not depriving myself completely of something I love.
Instead, it becomes something to look forward to.

I realize giving up coffee is not the grandest or most inspiring gesture, but making significant change in our lives doesn’t always have to be grandiose.
It just has to be something.
Remember, for better of for worse, little changes lead to big changes.
Let’s make them for the better!
Are you making any changes, big or small in your life to become more healthy?
I’d love to hear them.
Share them on the Long Beach Boot Camp Facebook page and tag me.
Until next time, keep on Living Fit!

Greta