rrabbit...
It took a lot of willpower actually lol Willpower takes time. I do not suggest the flavored water as the artificial sweeteners are worse than real sugar. Honestly, once you just stop drinking the crap, you'll CRAVE water. It probably took me a few weeks to not want the other stuff to drink.
Of course, I'm also a juicer. I did the "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" juice fast in November and lost quite a bit of weight with it. Then of course, the holidays rolled around and I ate normal again, along with drinking sweet tea (still no pop) but sugar is sugar - and it depresses the immune system.
Juicing takes a while to get used to... but you can drink as much as you want every day. I was doing that along with drinking a bunch of water. Still not as much water as I should have been drinking.
I'm working on the water thing again. I stopped drinking the sweet tea. I detoxed for 2 days after not drinking that. Headaches galore.
Once you stop drinking the sugared drinks, you will have headaches or detox in some form... just so you know.
Anyway, I have a goal for myself of drinking 4 1/2 quarts per day of water, PLUS my juice when I start my juice fast again, which will probably be Dec. 27th.
I know when I started the juicing and got off the sugared drinks, I looked and felt like a different person. My family even said my skin looked healthier and my eyes were bright.
Anyway, if you're interested in learning more about "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" just search it on hulu and you'll see the movie there. It's about 1 1/2 hours long, but sooo interesting.
Good luck, rrabbit. Just make sure to have plenty of bottled water. (I like mine cold).
Oh, and if you can afford it - the best bottled water to drink (according to a health nut I know) is
http://www.mountainvalleyspring.com/ They can deliver if there's a store in your area, or you can more than likely pick it up at any health food store. It's delicious, and it doesn't have any of the crap that's in regular bottled water.
This is probably the size of the bottles I would buy - but when you think of it - if I'm drinking 4 1/2 of these a day - it would only last me a couple days at a time - so if you do the same thing - buy a few cases to stay ahead and not go without.
http://www.buypremierwater.com/1-liter-spring-water-in-vintage-glass-bottle_1031_p.aspx
An interesting fact about bottled water (I won't name brands, but it has a red label with white lettering) is that almost every bottle that I have drank of it tastes different. The health nut I know told me that bottled water like that one and other brands have a lot of acid in them. The
Mountain Valley Spring Water brand doesn't. It's free of everything yucky you wouldn't want to drink.
Anyway, I've babbled on and on about this, but I really do feel strongly about water and getting myself in shape in 2012 and hope I've helped you in some way.