Last Tuesday night, hours before Ash Wednesday, I made the (possibly crazy) decision to give up coffee for Lent. There was no “last cup” to savor and no time to mentally prepare. I’m not sure if it being a last minute decision help or hurt the situation, but once I made it through day one I was committed.
Over the past few months I found my coffee intake creeping higher and higher. Sometimes on the weekends I would have up to four cups, usually on weekdays I had two. I started cutting back to a max of two per day, and sometimes switched out my second cup for decaf. I didn’t notice any effects from making those changes, so I felt like I could manage giving it up altogether for 40 days. I thought I would share how this process has gone so far.
I knew the hardest part of giving up coffee would be my morning routine. If you have read any of my WIAW posts, you’ll know I always drink coffee right away when I wake up and read blogs. Then I do my workout, and usually have my second cup of coffee when I get to work. These times of day would be challenging because it’s a routine that I am used to. So on Wednesday, rather than reading blogs without coffee, I did my workout right away and then ate breakfast while reading.
I felt ok throughout the morning, and didn’t really notice (physically) that I didn’t have caffeine. I drank a ton of water during the first few hours of work. I guess during the time when I am drinking coffee I’m not really drinking any water!
Around 1pm I started to get a terrible headache. It lasted the rest of the day, pretty much until I went to bed. I was really surprised even though I have heard this happens when caffeine is cut out abruptly! I guess I didn’t realize it would happen just going from 1-2 cups per day to nothing.
After dealing with such a terrible headache I thought about how I was going to handle this process and remembered that I could still have caffeine. I didn’t want my intake to be as high as it is when I drink 2 cups of coffee a day, but I figured tea would be a good middle ground. So on Tuesday morning I bought a cup of tea on my way to work. Later that day I bought a box of green tea and a box of regular tea so I could make my own at home and not spend $1.65 on a single cup.
Since then, I have been drinking about two cups of tea per day. (One cup of regular black tea in the morning and one cup of decaf green tea later in the day.) I haven’t had any more headaches!
I think the toughest time for me was the weekend mornings, when I would usually enjoy a few leisurely cups of coffee (and I’m really not in the mood for tea when I first wake up). I also smell Rob’s coffee all morning long which makes me miss it even more.
I really think that coffee is one of the hardest things I could have chosen to give up. Even wine would be easier, because I only drink it a couple days a week, sometimes even less than that. Coffee is also tied to so much more than just the taste and the caffeinating effects. I associate it with quiet mornings (my favorite time of day), special treats (like a trip to Starbucks) and relaxing weekends. But that’s the point of giving something up for Lent: making a sacrifice. I was reading an article about choosing something to give up for Lent, and found this:
Once you’ve chosen what you’d like to give up, consider the following questions:
- Is this something I like?
- Is this something I enjoy doing/eating?
- Is this something that’s important to me?
- Do I think this will be a challenge throughout Lent?
- Will I appreciate this when I can have/do it again on Easter?
- Am I giving this up because I have to (someone is making me), or because I want to?
- Is this a true sacrifice?
- If you answered yes to all of these questions, you’ve chosen an excellent Lenten sacrifice.
I definitely answered YES to all of those things! Some other things I have given up other the years are soda (back when I used to drink it), dessert, red wine, Starbucks, and Facebook.
If you are a coffee drinker, have you ever stopped drinking it? How did it go?
Have you ever given up something important to you (either for Lent or any other reason)?
I think that this will be an interesting experiment for you …
I gave up soda just about 16 months ago – I initially said I was stopping drinking soda for a month in late 2014, because I was drinking at least 1 – 1.5 24oz Diet Mountain Dew bottles per day. So I stopped. And since then I haven’t had soda. And I simply changed to water, and stay more hydrated and have less acid in my system.
With regards to coffee – I had bought my Lisa an induction tea kettle for Christmas in 2014 and we use that all the time, and have greatly increased our tea consumption – almost exclusively non-caffeinated herbal teas. I love the hot beverage in winter, and it keeps my coffee consumption lower. For me coffee is one cup with breakfast, and fill a travel mug for the whole morning. No desire to give it up … or wine for that matter 🙂
Good luck!
I’m not sure when I stopped drinking soda, but it was kind of a gradual process that started maybe 5 years ago or so. And now I don’t even like it anymore, so it’s not something I miss.
I think it would be good if I could get more into tea during this process (which I really like, I just always chose coffee over tea) and just drink less caffeine overall! I do plan to continue drinking coffee once Lent is over, hopefully just in more moderation.
I saw the title of this post and said OMG! I am very impressed! While I have switched my cups to decaf after my first cup in the morning, giving it up altogether would be extremely hard, especially since I can’t drink tea. I am curious to see how it goes for you!
I don’t think it will be too bad (I’ve already adjusted I think), but I do miss it, especially in the mornings!
oof, the no caffiene headaches are rough. I’ve had to quit caffeine (or drastically lower, at least) twice now for pregnancy, and it’s no joke! Go you for giving up coffee! Once you get past the beginning, it’ll be easy peasy!
Thanks! It’s definitely been easier after the first day, and just that little bit of caffeine from tea has probably helped.
Coffee keeps me so regular I just can’t see myself ever giving it up! I gave up fake sugar one summer and it really helped me to stop drinking diet soda on the reg. I will drink it now and then but we don’t keep it in the house. If it’s in the house I can’t control myself and will just drink it all day long.
I used to consume so much fake sugar and always got stomach aches and it took forever for me to make the connection! Now that I don’t drink soda anymore i don’t miss it. But I know that’s a strong habit for so many people!
Super impressed! I think I could go without coffee if I HAD to, but I just don’t want to. I will be curious to see how this turns out at the end!
At least you know you could quit if you had to! I realized it was a good choice for Lent because of how important it’s become to me lately.
I was intrigued by your title. I don’t think I could never go without drinking my coffee in the mornings. I was going to stay over at my sister’s this wk bc her husband is away but I told her no bc neither one of them drink coffee and therefore no coffeemaker. So what did Rob give up? How dare he drink coffee in front of you. I wouldn’t be able to resist. Especially when I smell the coffee in the morning.
Haha that’s funny that you wouldn’t stay there because they don’t have coffee! Rob gave up candy, so I’m sure he gets jealous when I enjoy some chocolate in the evenings!
I could give up coffee but I choose not to because I don’t drink a lot of caffeinated coffee. I drink a ton of tea as well. i think giving up hot beverages would be impossible for me. I would die of cold.
During the winter I think it would be impossible for me to give up hot beverages too! But then again I also drink smoothies in the winter. I really like tea but it’s something I didn’t drink much because I always went for coffee instead.
That’s so impressive and strong of you! You can do it! Will you drink some on Sundays, since those aren’t fast days? I did a bit of an Advent fast from chocolate this Christmas and then ate so much chocolate on Christmas day.
For Lent I decided to go with only purchasing fair trade coffee (both brewed at home and purchased out) and chocolate because it forced me to give up my fixation on budgeting and think about how my choices impact the poor.
I’ve never broken the fast on Sundays even though I know technically we can, but I just think it would be too hard to just have it on that one day. And I just feel like it’s more meaningful if I go the whole time without it. I think your Lenten sacrifice is great!
I agree, I definitely think giving up coffee would be much harder than giving up wine. Like you, I associate coffee with a morning routine and I treasure my weekend treats to our local coffee shop and Starbucks. Good for you for sticking with it!
I think it’s harder to give up something we enjoy every day that something we have a few times a week…although wine would be tough too:)
I pretty much gave up drinking caffeine about 2 years ago just because of a lifelong struggle with insomnia. I’d already stopped drinking soda for about a year prior to that, but just as with soda, I simply stopped. Quitting caffeine after even 12pm didn’t help, so I thought it was the only way. There was no “giving up” thought process and it didn’t feel too difficult since caffeine always stopped me from sleeping, but didn’t really “wake me up”. I do however still drink a lot of decaf coffee and tea, and if (1) it’s before 9am and (2) I had a poor night’s sleep, I’ll have one cup of caffeinated coffee. Now that I work full time that happens maybe once a week.
That’s tough to have so many issues with insomnia! As long as I stopped drinking coffee by noon I didn’t notice any problems with my sleep.
You’re tough! Giving up stuff is so hard. When my dad had cancer I gave up cooked food for 30 days. I ate 100% raw. I’ve also purposely given up running for 30 days, NOT because of injury but because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t using running as an unhealthy dependency. I’ve given up coffee for two pregnancies (my third and fourth I drank one cup a day). I think that’s about it?!
Wow, those are all important reasons to give things up! I do think that challenging ourselves in this way is good for us, and helps remind us we don’t need things as much as we think we do.
I only became a regular (excessive?) coffee drinker after having my third child, and even still I remember the withdrawal headaches when going off of it when pregnant so it’s definitely a real thing. The only other time I went off caffeine was completely by accident when I bought herbal coffee and had no idea it didn’t have caffeine! I’m not smart! Adam and I had headaches and felt tired for 3 days and thought we were sick before I made the connection with the herbal coffee. I wonder if you’ll jump right back in after lent or be over it?
That’s so funny about the herbal coffee! Not sure what will happen after Lent, but I am planning to go back to coffee (maybe just 1 cup a day) but continue drinking tea also.
Wow, I applaud you. I think about giving up coffee but then make excuses for how it won’t work for me. Like you, first thing in the am, before a run, I enjoy my coffee. And we just got an espresso maker so I don’t think it will happen anytime soon. But good for you! I look forward to reading more about it. Hopefully the headaches are gone now.
I think it’s a little easier to give it up knowing that it’s just for the short term and I can drink it again in a few weeks. But it’s still a challenge and will helpfully help me to enjoy it in moderation when I start drinking it again!
I do not consider my coffee habit problematic, I LOVE the taste of lattes and mochas but I usually stick to decaf. In fact sometimes I drink so much tea that I think tea might be becoming a caffeine problem. This is especially true during my current hiatus from alcohol. I always head straight for tea in the evenings.
Speaking of my hiatus from alcohol, i think it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But man I feel so much better day-to-day. Including during workouts. I feel kind of invincible. Might be in my head, but whatever works.
I used to have a mad diet soda “addiction” but somehow, as I focused on being healthier that just went away, wasn’t too painful. I started drinking those low-sugar (but real sugar) adult sodas. And sometimes I just mix sparkling water with a little 100% juice. I think that’s how giving up bad habits should be. You should get to a point in life where you want to give them up, then it’s easy. Forcing yourself to do things you’re not ready for is not as easy.
I agree! It was easy for me to stop drinking soda because I realized I didn’t like it that much and I had read about how it’s not good for you. I stopped drinking alcohol for 30 days last year when I did the Whole30, and it wasn’t too bad but I definitely didn’t feel like I wanted or needed to cut it out for good. I think there are some things that are just not worth whatever negative effects they may bring, but usually I just try to enjoy things in moderation and that works out pretty well.
Good for you- coffee is definitely a good sacrifice for Lent! I am not a coffee drinker, although lately with the cold dreary weather I’ve been making decaf mid morning to have something to sip while I work. Even though it’s not caffeinated, I’m beginning to understand the addiction… 🙂
I have definitely grown more addicted to coffee over the years- I used to drink it just for the caffeine but somehow I grew to truly love it! I think I would be ok with just drinking decaf, but I really like the taste and warmth of coffee.
I brew a pitcher of iced tea for the week and take my thermos to work. I drink tea in the mornings and then fill the thermos with water during the afternoon. I’ve never liked coffee, and brewing tea each weekend for the week saves me trips to Starbucks.
That sounds like a good plan! I am really enjoying the tea I have been drinking lately.
I totally feel you on the no coffee front! Whilst I didn’t give it up for lent, I’ve had to stop drinking it after a recommendation from my acupuncturist and the first week was so hard, haha! After being on vacation and drinking at least a coffee a day I felt like my day was missing something (and it was!).
Now I’ve just replaced coffee with delicious teas (my tea collection is even more insane than before) and hot chocolates/cocoa!
Wow, good for you for giving up coffee! I’m not sure if I could do it permanently but I guess I will see how I feel after Lent is over! I definitely want to try more kinds of tea during this process.
What perfect timing for me. I stopped drinking coffee on Monday. It wasn’t even planned… I just didn’t want it that morning and I haven’t had any since. So that’s been strange…but I think I’m going to keep it going. I’ve thought about giving up coffee many times, but it has never gone much past the thought, as – like you – coffee for me is more about my morning routine (which is my favorite part of the day – tea so does not do the same thing in the morning). Its often more about the idea of the cup, rather than the actual energy boost (most of the time). So I know if I really really wanted to give it up, I could. But do I want to is the question. I commend your dedication!! And I love that the tea made your headaches go away.
I can definitely relate to what you described! And that’s what I have been thinking about for when Lent is over…I don’t want to get back into the same coffee habits. I’m hoping it can become more of a “treat”, or maybe just stick to decaf since I know I don’t really need the caffeine. Good luck if you do decide to stop drinking coffee!
I took a week long break from coffee last year and drank SO MUCH TEA. I already drink a lot of hot tea but I took it to the max during that week. Since I had so much tea I never had a caffeine headache or anything, but I missed the smell of coffee. I associate that smell with comfort in the morning and I missed it a lot!
Hopefully each day gets a little bit easier without coffee!
I love the smell of coffee and that definitely makes me miss it! It hasn’t been too bad and hopefully the next 5 weeks will go by quickly:)
I’m trying to cut way back (maybe even give up) on coffee too. I agree that the ritual is the hardest part! I actually just bought some dandy blend from Amazon that’s really been helping me to replace the coffee.
I’m glad you’ve found a way to combat the headaches!
It definitely helps to find something else to drink instead! I think that first day was the worst when I didn’t have anything..at least when Im drinking tea Im getting a little caffeine plus a warm drink!
I’ve never developed a coffee habit – I mean I’ve tasted it but it just isn’t for me (or any other hot beverages really – they just don’t sit right in my stomach). I am also a severely lapsed Catholic so no Lent stuff either – although my Mom always gives us chocolate for Lent which I don’t think I could ever do. That said, drinking coffee in moderation has a ton of health benefits and I even enjoy the smell of my husband’s fresh coffee in the morning as long as I don’t have to taste it!
Interesting that you like the smell but not the taste! I plan to continue drinking coffee after Lent but definitely in more moderation:)
Great job!!! I gave up coffee years and years ago, because I only liked the “bad” kind…you know, a white chocolate mocha with peppermint, LOL!!! I have since switched to tea, or sugar free Monsters (I know, terrible).
I actually started liking coffee a lot more when I started drinking it black! I guess I developed an appreciation for the taste or something. Im not big on the sugary coffee drinks so at least I’m not also trying to cut that out!
Whoa you are WAY stronger than me. I used to have four cups a day and now only have one, maybe two, but I HAVE to have that. Zero isn’t an option haha. But I guess that’s the point of lent 🙂
I do think cutting back is much easier than cutting it out all together! But yes, I guess that is the point:)