Two pieces of advice, and please don't take them harshly as I have been where you are and understand the feelings.

1. Your whole day is not "screwed" because you drank pepsi. Pepsi is just sugar, water, carbonation, and a whole crapload of artificial flavorings and colorings. It does not have the power to destroy your day. Nothing is that powerful, except for you. (And possibly truly catastrophic life events. I'll concede that if, say, a close family member died, that would legitimately ruin your day. However, drinking pepsi is not a catastrophic life event.) I say this because it's easy to get frustrated, and use one slip up to excuse throwing the rest of your day away. Don't. Keep trying. You are human and therefore you're not perfect and never will be. You will only get better and better, and you'll only get there by continually trying to improve.

2. It might be more effective to start with small changes. Sounds like you've already effectively made one-- starting your day with a healthy breakfast. That's no small thing, so give yourself a little credit. Then make a couple more small changes. Maybe drink a smaller size of pepsi, or switch regular for diet, or have one can rather than three. Or anticipate the fact that you *will* get hungry during the day before you leave the house and pack yourself some healthy snacks and/or a lunch. Or figure out where you can buy healthier snacks during the day, without taking too much time out of your normal routine. You get the idea. Only you can decide what those steps will be, but if you decide and then take them, you will see results.

I wish you the best of luck and I hope you start to feel better about yourself and your efforts soon. You can do this!

I think NK08's advice is great!

Bring along your daily "survival pack" with you every day. Bring your meals and a ton of healthy snacks...(fresh fruit...small package of almonds...cut up veggies(....so when you feel like you are gonna cheat...grab something out of your survival pack. That way you won't feel tempted to cheat..and you'll feel bad throwing away the food you prepared! And Pepsi isn't that bad! Just grab diet! Remember...it's alot better than grabbing a BigMac! Keep up the great work! :)

Keep an abundance of healthy and nutritious food around. Limit the other stuff. That way, you have to go out of your way to consume that stuff.

Well one pepsi per day will not throw off an entire weight loss plan. If you love them, go ahead and enjoy one. Keep the rest of the day eating clean.

Personally I do not think any weight loss plan is either realistic or conducive to long-term success if it calls on us to completely give up on the foods we like. We still have to watch what we eat, but its okay to let loose.

Preparation, preparation, and preparation. Prepare ahead of time, so that you have healthier foods with you. People take raw nuts or sliced fruits with them to work to snack on. I will cook half a dozen chicken breasts at a time - enough for three lunches. If I know the next day will be hectic, I even cook my eggs at night so that all I have to do is heat them. It ain't easy but anyone who's made will tell you it is worth it.

Don,
That has been a downfall of mine. For some reason I have always had the mindset that I have to follow a diet strictly in order to lose weight, and to me that had always been giving up the foods that are bad for you 100%. And that includes Pepsi. I just don't know how to get around that. Whenever I have started eating healthy I would do that. And then when I screwed up, like having a Pepsi, then that meant I ruined it.

drinking pepsi doesnt screw you. the hardest part is losing the all-or-nothing diet mentality. have you ever tried to drink a diet pepsi or something instead because like you, i definately have to have my sodas as well!

i would make sure your breakfast is nutricious and not just a bowl of sugar rich cereal and something with some protein and stuff to keep you full and satisfied! also pack and plan your snacks for the day. i do this at work so i am not as tempted by the candy bowl and stuff because i know mine is better and i want to eat what i brought so it doesnt go bad. like i will cut up fruit and mix it in with yogurt so i have to eat it or i feel guilty for letting it go bad!

and dont use this as an excuse but if you over-eat its actually better done in the morning because just think...you have the whole rest of the day to get in some extra walkign or exercise to work it off!

I understand what you're talking about. Do you think the sugar in the pepsi could be the culprit? Seems like the 1st bit of sugar I have in a day will make my body crave high carbs the whole rest of the day. I used to be a Pepsi-aholic. I tried diet pepsi but it was nasty tasting because it taste's nothing like Pepsi. So I decided to try diet Coke instead, and that worked for me. I hadn't liked Coke to begin with, but the diet version was very tasty for some reason. I eventually quit drinking sugar soda all together. Only Diet coke..coke zero, cherry coke zero...etc. They all taste good.

And if you can't go without your Pepsi, don't drink it first thing in the day. Start the day with fruit. That will trick your body into thinking it has had it's sugar. lol

you know something......

diets don't work...

weight loss is a life long thing. you can't just stop after losing all your weight cause you're in trouble later on.

this is a WHOLE life change, eating and exercise.

what you eat is the biggest key to weight loss. exercise is important too, you have to move.

this right here

"For some reason I have always had the mindset that I have to follow a diet strictly in order to lose weight, and to me that had always been giving up the foods that are bad for you 100%"

GET THAT OUT OF YOUR HEAD NOW....

you're changing your eating but you can't give up what you love cause then you binge eat or what not and gain it all back. thats many dieters failures and guilty of...

you're not on a diet.

Lowering calories = weight loss

I eat 1200 cals a day, some days 1250 ( my ideal max ) and some other 1300 - 1500 when I pig out lol.

I eat very simple and love my meals

many ppl say at 1200 ppl go nuts and are still hungry and binge... depends on the person... I eat 6 meals a day.. the 3 main meals are always the same cause I can live with that cause I enjoy those foods.. my snacks are 100 calories and less... it can be fruits, low fat 80 cal fruit bars ( Popsicle ) or breyers and weight watchers makes lil 100 calorie ice cream cups... those 100 cal snacks of thinsations that have chips ahoy and stuff are god... just eat every 2 1/2 - 3 hrs and keep it fueled.

diet pepsi has few calories...

I can't speak for most people here but for me

serving size and how many calories is most important and I LOVE COUNTING CALORIES so easy and no need to read all the label junk lol

you can eat 1200 cals of chocolate and lose weight but of course thats not very good for you lol.

try it out and hope it helps you and you can do it...

oh and when I have weddings, parties or going out for drinks, I son't count that day.. but next day I'm back on board... everyone fucks up hun, just fix it the next day

look into counting calories and again get that shit about getting rid of the foods you love out of your head...

I agree with having healthy things at hand, a bottle of water or some bottles of that sugar free crystal light mixes to drink up, keep carrots, celery on hand, almonds, maybe don't bring money with you so you aren't tempted to get that snack. that is what i would do, but hang in there one drink is not the end of the world, now if you polish off a packet of oreos, *not looking guilty at all of what i did about 3 weeks ago..LOL* then that is a problem.

How about devouring an entire cake, three weeks ago, lol? I only meant to eat a couple slices, really I did. But before I knew it I scarfed the entire 4800-calorie beastie in two days. Wasn't the smartest thing I did, but then again, the cake tasted like it was made in heaven itself...

The good news is, three weeks later sticking with my diet and exercise, I've undid nearly the entire damage.

Yes folks, get rid of the "all-or-nothing" mentality, unless you genuinely do not desire any junk food, in which you'll never feel craving for it or feel like you miss it. If you truly enjoy the stuff, structure your eating around having it once in a while.