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Comment by daxfohl | Hacker News Reader

I'll be the contrarian. I was a pot per day drinker and quit for three months and felt no different, just missed the coffee. I quit the quit and I'm back to a pot per day, feeling much better.

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> felt no different

> feeling much better

Does not compute :P

I interpreted this as

> felt no different

Felt no physical difference, just missed the coffee

> feeling much better

I'm happier now that I'm back on coffee

"no different", meaning no particular reason to stay off it. Just a bit groggier in the mornings.

It depends on the person, I can go on and off caffeine with no repercussions, but my wife goes through grueling withdrawals when she does it.

A pot per day can be a lot, or a little depending on the bean and the roast, so I can't comment on that.

Caffeine metabolization speed varies wildly across the population due to genetic reasons. When you compound it with multiple cups per day, you will get a quite different experience.

I never have withdrawal symptoms just cravings, usually after lunch. But I strictly drink maximum 1 cup per day, 2 if I didn't sleep so well, and when I feel my tolerance going up, I take a week or two of caffeine break to reset the tolerance. Cafeeine is a tool to me.

Same for me but with sugar. Quit for a week, felt no different, went back to my usual (not particularly high) consumption. It's a bummer too because I had read so much strong criticism of sugar on HN and about how much it affects us without us realizing it, I thought maybe I'll actually feel something better which would be exciting! Nope, just bored because I had to cut out most of the interesting (to me) food in my life.

I'll throw in my two cents as someone who quit sugar in the past six months: I wasn't really free of the addiction until more than two weeks had gone by. Since then I lost 20 lbs without exercising and I just have these periodic moments in the day when I feel a huge surge of energy. After a couple months I cut my total carb intake to < 120g / day and increased my fat intake. Then I switched to a revolutionary new diet: Three meals a day. (No snacking / grazing.) Since adding these changes I've lost another five pounds and am steadily losing 1 - 2 lbs a month without any additional exercise.

Anyway, a week just annoyed the f outta me. I'd give it two or three weeks at least. It takes that long to cut the cravings I didn't even realize I was having.

Yeah I also quit sugar for like six months and wish I had stuck with it. If anything, the best part about it was the effect on decision fatigue. "Do I grab this snack while I'm in line or not", etc. No decision to make.

I guess I didn't stick because I didn't really "feel" different, and had a moment of weakness. I agree it takes a couple weeks to really get used to it but the cravings do eventually (mostly) go away.

Did you quit caffeine too? Tea, chocolate, soda etc

If so, awesome! If not, I tried a similar thing but only really noticed the difference once I quit all types.

Yeah, I don't really drink soda or tea, and I didn't specifically avoid chocolate but I don't eat much of it to begin with.

I only had minor withdrawal headaches for a day or so and after that it was fine.

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