Interesting. I've been a caffeine junkie for as long as I can remember. What made you decide to eliminate caffeine? How long before you started seeing positive benefits?
Caffeine dulls appetite, causes dehydration, increases the levels of cAMP in the heart cells, and my doctor told me that is is a 'constrictor' which reduces total volume of blood that comes to heart.
I was taking 400mg of yellow pill, and maybe 1 2-liter of diet soda every day, for about 4 years nonstop.
I started seeing positive effects about a week after I got off it. I gained a little weight, possibly because I'd been curbing water and in a state of slight dehydration for 4 years. My cardio, running, sex stamina shot up greatly. I just don't tire when I do cardio anymore. I stop at 30 mintues because I don't want to get skinny, but I'm not tired.
I started by just chistling down those yellow pills. 1 (200 mg) pill in the AM suddenly became 150 mg. Then after 2 days I would cut the nighttime pill to 150. 2 more days, cut the AM to 100 mg. It took probably 3 weeks to cut it completely. With soda, I cut down too, adding more and more ice to cups until it was 10 ice cubes and a splash of soda, then I just gave up on it.
I'd recommend it STRONGLY to anyone who wants to improve quality of life, seriously. I sleep, think, dream, and breathe better. Caffeine feels fcking awesome, but you live better without it.