Cutting Out Caffeine: Surprising Benefits and How to Quit

00:00Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident. And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask for you to do is if you could leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else. The biggest thing that I can say that I'm noticing so far is the opposite of what I'm experiencing in a crash.

00:31When I get up in the morning, typically I would dive into my phone and I would dive into, like I would do the apps thing that I talk about trying to navigate away from. I've definitely loosened my boundary on that. And more so throughout the day, if I'm sitting at my computer and I'm working on something, you know, my phone's right next to me, sometimes I would pick it up and I would just kind of like sit there and like dead scroll. I am not doing that anymore. Yo, yo, yo, you guys. What is going on?

01:02Welcome to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikki Stott, co-founder of Warrior Babe. And on this podcast, we talk about mindset and methodologies and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I am your host, Nikki Stott. And welcome to today's episode, episode 157, where I'm going to talk about a personal experience that I am going through right now. And it led for me to embark on this journey because I was experiencing some specific things within my body and my mind that I didn't like and I needed to address.

01:41And so in today's episode, you guys, I'm going to share with you why I decided to cut back and now entirely give up caffeine. So here's my story, you guys. So the decision of what it's been, it's been about like two and a half weeks now. I started around on May 30th. It was a Monday. And the decision kind of came with what I was experiencing with, but also was like, I'm just doing it. And if you guys don't know me, like this is typically how I go about embarking on new journeys and new challenges and new adventures.

02:18It's how I started my whole fitness journey. And it was, I wanted to get into, I wanted a better body. And I thought the way the path was from episode one that I share with you guys was going the bodybuilding route. And so I met with a coach and signed up with a coach and then started my journey all within three days. And it sounds similar to why, to this journey that I'm on on giving up caffeine. I decided on Sunday that I was going to cut back on it.

02:53And I had the intention that it was eventually going to be completely cut out. And that's where I am right now. It's about, it's day three of me having it completely cut out. And I'll tell you guys right now, like this is the, this has been the hardest part so far. Sorry, there's a little gnat flying around and also an ambulance going on outside. So it's kind of distracting. But the main decision for me to entirely cut out, or I would say like I gradually weaned off,

03:27was mainly because I was feeling, okay, let me actually just first start with, the caffeine intake that I was consuming. It was ridiculous. It was so much. And whenever I share this with any of like friends or people in person, they're like, oh my God. And maybe you guys are the same way. And maybe you guys may be feeling the same way that I felt. And maybe it's like an inspiring story for you to try it too as well. And if not, whatever. I'm just sharing this to just share it with you guys.

03:58And also because I was supposed to record a podcast right now at this time. And I was like, I can't think through concepts and like methodologies and like training and macros and workouts right now. So I'm just going to show up and share my story on this. But I was consuming. Okay, so you guys know chameleon cold brew, concentrate coffee. Okay, concentrate coffee, concentrated coffee or concentrate coffee is what I was drinking.

04:29And I was drinking about 16 to 20 ounces of it. But I wasn't diluting it with water. And some of you guys are probably like, well, how many milligrams of caffeine is that? It's around 450 to 500 milligrams of caffeine. And that's what I would have first thing in the morning. And then I would have typically like an energy drink in the afternoon, along with like a diet coke, which has minimal caffeine, but it has caffeine in it. And so that was upwards of like around maybe like 800, 900 milligrams of caffeine in a day.

05:01And like, I have never consumed that much. But for the last like four, five months, four months, I have consumed that much caffeine. And it was getting to the point where I would love to see your guys's faces right now too. Like, if you guys think that's normal, if you guys are similar, or if you're like, holy cow, like I have one cup of coffee in the morning, and that's it. It was getting to the point, you guys, by the end of the day, I was exhausted. And it wasn't because of like work or like anything like that.

05:33It was like, because I, I, I'm attributing it to my poor adrenals were just like, dude, what are you doing right now? Like, you're killing us. And I just felt run down. My body felt so heavy. All I wanted to do at like six o'clock was like fall asleep. And I typically haven't been like that. And like you guys know from Dr. Cabral being on my podcast a couple months ago, like it's not rooted in anything with like hormones or cortisol, or maybe the cortisol was probably through the roof.

06:03I don't know who knows. But Dr. Cabral read my, my test results a couple months ago and was like, dude, best results that I've ever seen. So I knew it wasn't linked to that. And I knew it wasn't anything hormonally going on. Um, so I tried to rule things out and on top of feeling that way too, I felt like my brain was so freaking foggy, like trying to have conversations with people. I would tune in and tune out and like, I would be listening, but like, then I would like go out into outer space and like, yeah, I would just, I was so spacey and I'm not typically like

06:37that. But, and it was just, things were harder than, than, than easier with, with that much caffeine. And so, and I didn't have, like, I wasn't like, I drink this and I have energy, you know? And I used to be like that. I love that about the caffeine because I get like a little kick in the morning when I have it. So the decision was like, when I was feeling that way, I was like, dude, something needs to change. And, you know, just like that Sunday, I was like, all right, this is it. Like I'm starting tomorrow. I'm going to gradually wean back on my caffeine.

07:08And so for the first week, I, I took out, like I drank half of the concentrate. So I drank around probably eight ounces of the concentrate in the morning. And then I just completely cut out like any and all energy drinks in the afternoon. And even like reduce the diet Cokes to like one or two, three a week. And so that's, that was a pretty big drop. And initially, because I was still giving my body like the caffeine in the morning, it didn't feel so impactful.

07:40Like sure, by like four o'clock in the afternoon, I was like, okay, like, you know, I could use a little bit of a pick me up right now. I could maybe I would love to have an energy drink, give me a little extra boost to finish out the day. But like, I guess because I had made this decision, it kind of just helped me carry through like what I noticed in the first week, you guys, and even more so into the second, but mainly the first it was like, oh, I just enjoy this experience so much. Like I enjoy the experience of having my coffee in the morning. I enjoy the experience of sipping on coffee while I go through, you know, my company's

08:15communication channels. I just enjoy the experience so much. And then I realized that it was more of a more of a like, want more than it was a need. And that's how it's kind of been for like the first these last two weeks. And so that was like the first week. And then I actually traveled to Austin. And I had a little bit more caffeine on that Sunday than I had for that entire week. And or no, Monday, the new Monday that I had that entire week.

08:46And I could, I was like, oh, my God, like, I could feel it. Like, I was like, wow, like, this is this is a good sign. So my body's like adjusting to it. So I came back from Austin. And that next day, I decided to cut down from the eight to the four ounces. So I had the four ounces of the chameleon concentrate. And that was it. And that wasn't too bad. Like, I actually found myself not really like entirely finishing the four ounces. It was more so like, I was just sipping on it throughout the day.

09:18And it got to like be new. And I was like, okay, I'm pretty solid. Like, I'm good. I don't I'm not feeling the the crashes. And like, I wasn't feeling the small effects I was feeling the week before. But I will tell you right now. Um, so just some like cons of giving up caffeine while we're on this one right now, because this is some of the things I was experiencing was, or I'm experiencing right now. Actually, let's just get that get into that. So and I'll talk about like the the pros of giving up caffeine and the cons of giving up

09:49caffeine. But this week, Monday, two days ago, I'm recording this on May 15. It's a Wednesday. This will release on Monday of next week. Um, I decided actually Sunday night, I was like, whatever, this is it. I'm cutting it out completely. And like, I don't know if you guys if you follow me on Instagram, I'm sharing this on my Instagram story periodically through throughout the journey. But Monday, I was like, I wrote on Instagram story. I'm like, all right, I'm causing causing these like calling these like phases. So phase one was completely or phase one was like deciding deciding factor and cutting

10:22back on it. Phase two was like cutting back on the cutback. And then phase three is I'm completely wiping now. It's been completely wiped out of my system for the last two days. Hey, hey, just want to drop a huge appreciation to you guys listening to the show. It means a lot. I hope you guys are enjoying it. And there's so much more to come with it. If you are enjoying it, hit the subscribe button. I'd appreciate that tons. And also it would help this podcast reach others who need to hear these messages too. Thanks so much, guys. Let's get back to the show. And some of the things I'm experiencing right now is and more so any more than anything that

11:00I've experienced in the last two weeks of starting this journey is crashing. I am crashing. I mean, guys, the fact that I had I just had six seven meetings today. And the fact that I still had to get on and record this podcast, it I need I know I needed to do it because I wanted to get it out to you guys like one and I just have immense dedication to show to showing up and getting you guys new podcast. But also, too, I've talked about this so many times before, but I have tons of discipline.

11:32And I mean, I'm like 90%. I'm also human. There's been times where like, I'm just like, no, this isn't happening. But this is a show to you guys that I'm leaning on my discipline despite how I feel I'm showing up. And that I can attribute that to 99%. The reason why I have so much success is because I don't have motivation to do things. I have discipline to do things. And that's what I encourage you guys to have when you're, you know, starting out on your fitness journey or you're, you know, in your fitness journey or you're starting out with learning how to eat better or you're tracking macronutrients.

12:02Like every single day, you're not going to want to do those things. But if you have the discipline to do them, you will, you'll be just so proud of yourself for showing up. So I knew I had to do this. And I was, I was like, so close to just being like, now I'm going to call it. But I'm here. Where was I going with that? Jesus. I think I was talking about the symptoms that I'm feeling like I am crashing. Yeah, I'm crashing.

12:32Like I'm so tired throughout the day. More so I realized it around like one. I feel the lull like I was on meeting yesterday and I could feel like, oh my God, my eyes are burning. I'm getting tired. You probably, if you guys are watching this on video right now, it's hard for me to keep my eyes completely open. Like they're half open. So I'm having these, I'm having this, I'm having the headaches. The headaches don't really come on until like mid afternoon. The other day, yesterday I woke up with a headache and then it went away.

13:05So there's mainly the symptoms that I'm experiencing. I will say definitely like a decreased alertness at the moment. Difficulty in, especially when I'm in, like you guys can kind of say it happening, especially when I'm in this state of where I find myself at during the day of crashing. It's difficult for me to concentrate on things. And then the attachments that I've had to coffee, it's more like I express, it's like, it's more

13:41of a, like a habitual attachment, right? It's like a week of the morning, I have my cup of coffee. I enjoy that experience. So these are some of the types of things I'm experiencing, but I want to kind of, you know, segue into what the pros I'm experiencing too as well, especially you guys are following me on social. Like I am, I got to say, I'm pretty funny on my stories because I'm being a bit dramatic. Like people are like, why are you doing this? I'm like, bro, it's all questionable, man. Like I'm joking around. It is hard. Um, I will say that it is hard.

14:14Um, and I'm being funny and dramatic on it, but I will say there are definitely some pros I am experiencing when I'm not in the moments of crashing, in the moments of losing my concentration, in the moments of being entirely like alert. Um, ladies, are you feeling frustrated with body changes you're experiencing during menopause? It's time to take control.

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15:18Visit warrior babe.com forward slash apply today to start your transformation. That's warrior babe.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get back to the show. The biggest thing that I can say that I'm noticing so far is actually when I'm not crashing is the opposite of what I'm experiencing in a crash. My ability, when I get up in the morning, typically I would dive into my phone and I would dive into,

15:48like I would do the apps thing that I talk about trying to navigate away from. I've definitely loosened my boundary on that. And more so throughout the day, if I'm sitting at my computer and I'm working on something, you know, my phone's right next to me, sometimes I would pick it up and I would just kind of like sit there and like dead scroll. I am not doing that anymore. When I wake up in the morning, it's like, okay, you know, what do I need to do? Do I need to sit down at the computer right away and get ready to work? Am I going to the gym? Am I going to an appointment?

16:18Whatever it may be, I get up and I, you know, take care of Maverick and then I go and do that thing and my phone is just secondary. Throughout the day, this bad boy is like right next to me the last couple of days and even through the weekend. And I have just been able to lock in on what I am working on. And my ability to stay in and not, I don't feel the need to come out until like I've got it done, if that makes sense. Like there's a couple of projects that we're working on right now and I needed to make sure

16:50the team was like supported in that sense. And I was able to just lock in, finish a document and like come out. And then I'm going back into other documents now and I'm able to lock in and like, okay, I've done what I've made some headway here. I can come out. I haven't been able to fully, like I used to be able to do that, but recently, like I've, like I said, loosened that, loosened that boundary too as well. So what I didn't mention what I was experiencing too, actually at the beginning, why was a, was a reason why I started on this journey was asleep.

17:24You guys, if you follow me on social, like I am proud of how I sleep. I sleep pretty freaking good. But what I was experiencing is my HRV was getting lower and lower. And my HRV, if you guys don't know what that is, heart rate variability, it's how your body handles stress and my HRV has been low. And usually I'm like 150, 140 and like I'm cruising, but it's been like 80s, 70s.

17:55I'm like, what? Like, who is this? Like, what is going on? And my, my sleep effectiveness, uh, efficiency wasn't that it wasn't good. Um, and typically like I see that vary throughout the month, throughout the month because of my period. But typically when I'm like not on my period and it's like the, the, the weeks following that I'm pretty strong with sleep, but that's even been affected. So something that I've noticed in the last two days of completely cutting it out is I've been able to sleep better and I've been able to fall asleep.

18:26Um, my like latency is like seven to 15 minutes, whereas like before too, in terms of like getting to sleep and falling asleep, you know, I would, I would kind of rustle and bustle some nights, not all the nights, but I would rustle and bustle and like things would be going on in my head. I'd be thinking about work. Um, which that also comes with like how you wind down, but I, I'm attributing some of it to at least the caffeine intake I was, I was, I was consuming. But, um, that's another positive side effect.

18:56I'm sleeping better. And then another really solid side effect that I'm noticing is my ability to outside of being crashed and when I'm in the crash mode, which you guys are experiencing that right now as I'm sharing this podcast, but, uh, I'm able to articulate my thoughts way better and way clearer. And I'm also able to be way calmer when I'm interacting with the group, the group of coaches, the team, uh, one-on-one individually when I hold those types of meetings, um, in person

19:28with my assistant, like I'm able to just be way calmer and I can think through my thoughts faster and then I can articulate what those thoughts, thoughts are easier. And I think that's, that's honestly the biggest upside for me and what I'm experiencing. Energy, you know, people talk a lot about energy. Um, I haven't really noticed energy yet. I'm hoping that that comes, um, in a couple, uh, a couple weeks, but to, to like where I'm

20:01going with, um, where I'm going with this, right? So how long do I, like somebody asked me that today, they're like, how long are you planning on doing this? And like, if you guys have, maybe, maybe you guys are like, oh, like it's, it, that's super, it really, it's honestly comes down to like a test of my willpower. What I'm realizing through this entire thing, like I didn't have to do it. Sure. I was experiencing some things that were leading to be like, dude, you're probably consuming way too much caffeine. I've never done this type of thing before.

20:31I've consumed caffeine, no, like all of the time and didn't even think about it. But what I'm realizing is, is like, this is a, this is a really big test of willpower. It's like, do my, I still have coffee, the chameleon concentrate there in my fridge. And I think that can totally tie to like, when you guys have like things in your cabinets that you know are there and you know that you could snack on and you could eat, it's like, do you, like, I could easily go and have that cup of coffee right now.

21:01And it's like, but what happens in my brain personally is like, then you're just letting yourself down. And that's the way you think I should think about it too, as well, when you're embarking on a fitness journey, which I think is a beautiful parallel. Although you have the choice to eat the food that you know is either out of your macro range for the day or just isn't, you know, the pizza or like, you know, burger more, more times in a week than you should.

21:32You have the choice. You have the choice to, to take, to, to have that. I mean, then you have the choice to not have it, right? So like, I have the choice. I can go into my fridge right now and I could take the chameleon cold brew and I could drink it and I could probably, you know, I have an entire great feeling after consuming it, but then I'm also letting myself down. So that's a cool parallel to think about. Oh, someone was like, what, how long are you going to do this for?

22:05Like, what's your thoughts on like the, I also realize I'm saying like, and you know, a ton of times right now. Um, I think that I'm going to carry this out with no caffeine throughout the rest of May. So it's May 15th. There's what, 31 days in, in May. So I'm going to try and carry it out for the rest of the month and see where we're at and kind of reassess things then. I think I'm going to do a follow-up podcast to share with you guys where, where I'm at

22:36at that point and how I'm doing and what I'm experiencing. Cause you guys are getting a full on, full on experience here right now with me on like how I'm feeling three days post cutting out completely and the crashes and all that kind of stuff. So if you guys are looking to, you know, maybe there's some of you guys are inspired by this. I know I've talked to some people that have been inspired by it. But the way that I would, if, if I were you, it tips on like quitting caffeine is do exactly

23:08how I approached it. Do the gradual reduction. Start like, first like commit to it and be like, all right, I'm going to do this and I'm going to fully like send it. Start by just cutting back slowly rather than completely quitting it abruptly. And then what I have been this week drinking is in something that would be an alternative is decaf coffee. Now I know decaf coffee is not the best for you, especially with the way it's made. And I'm just saying that because it's not good the way it's made, but I mean, it's going

23:43to hold me over. It's the experience that I enjoy the most. But I have been drinking the decaf. Just actually today was the first day that I had the decaf. I had it this morning because yesterday was rough. Yesterday was really hard. But you guys could have like herbal tea or infused water or things like that are great alternatives. And then I would just like assess how you're feeling. Like I think it's cool how I'm breaking it down personally on like phase one, phase two, phase three. I completely made that up. And I have, you know, different feelings and emotions physically and mentally that I've

24:16experienced in each of those phases, right? That I share with you guys. And if so, you guys are if you're, you know, inspired by cutting out caffeine if you want to or don't want to. Those are some cool strategies of which I would probably recommend that you try. So I planned on coming back and doing a podcast in like, I don't know, maybe June, end of June or start of July to let you guys know how, probably mid-June actually, if I'm stopping

24:48this June, depending on where I'm at. We'll see how I, we'll see where it goes. But if you guys want to stay tuned with the journey, go check out my Instagram at Nikki stat, N-I-K-K-I-E-Y-S-T-O-T-T. But thanks for listening, you guys, to my journey. Maybe it was inspiring. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe you're like, holy cow, how'd that person consume so much caffeine? Maybe you're the one that consumes that much caffeine. I don't know. But I hope that, you know, some of those pros and cons to what I said of like what you may be experiencing and what you can look forward to, maybe it could have been inspiring to

25:20start your own caffeine reduction journey. Anyway, majority of this was just to share with you guys a personal experience I'm going through as I'd love to be just open, honest, and transparent on this podcast with y'all. So if anything, I hope you guys enjoyed my story and I will see you in the next podcast. Peace out. Hey guys, real quick. If you're interested in taking your body to the next level, lose body fat, build more muscle, feel more confident. Do it alongside one of our 30 plus professional coaches. Work one-on-one with her to eliminate all of the guesswork that you may have.

25:54And all you need to do is just do the work that she tells you to do to get to those goals of yours. And to learn more, click the link below this podcast and apply to our VIP program right now.

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