This is a great thread with lots of good information. I just joined the forum today. I drink a of diet soda and am having a hard time with losing weight.
Diet soda seems to trigger cravings for other foods for me, especially salty foods like chips. I'm relieved to hear I'm not the only person who has that problem.
I can't seem to find an alternative to diet soda that I like though. Regular soda has too many calories and flavored water doesn't have the carbonation and caffiene I crave.
I quit drinking diet soda because it always made me hungry or if I was eating something I would overeat. Not only that ,but it dehydrated me and I hated drinking something and not having my thirst satisfied at all.
What worked for me was to drink a single can of the real stuff with dinner every night. Eventually though, as my diet improved, the soda became too sweet and I just quit drinking it altogether.
athenac: you could have been writing for me! diet soda makes me crave salt. I could just eat an entire bottle of salt (ewww gross I know). I stay away from sodas for the most part, sometimes I just feel like I need it, when I do I have one. Anyway I think it has something to do with the carbonation that makes you bloat, but I am no scientist!
It is so interesting to see how the same thing can affect us all so differently. Soda does quench thirst for me--when I am really hot and thirsty, I LOVE sitting down with a big Sprite (although that's very rare now, as I typically only drink diet). It also doesn't trigger any cravings for me. In fact, if I'm feeling the munchies or a twinge of hunger between meals, I drink a soda and feel quite satisfied--I think the carbonation makes me feel full, so it actually helps me to eat less instead of more.
What about the Coke Zero? That has splenda, which is basically sugar without the calories, a little different than saccarine. Anybody know about this one?
I drink a can or diet coke most days... sometimes two... and have steady weight losses each week. I do think it depends on the person and of course it is healthier NOT to have it and drink water or tea instead. I have been trying to minimize my intake just to be sure I am getting enough water. Its rather easy to have the diet coke instead of water which is certainly a no-no.
When I wasn't watching my caloric intake, I drank regular Coke like a fiend (all those calories are probably what heaped on most of the pounds!) When I'm watching my intake, like now and hopefully the rest of my life, I drink Diet Mountain Dew. I drink water too, of course, but I've never really liked drinking water with food. I don't mind drinking it with dessert or fruit, but with regular food it makes me kind of ill to drink water. Don't ask me to explain... Anyway, Diet Mtn Dew is my alternative because it's the only diet drink that doesn't taste horrific to me. Is it bad for me? Probably. Does it keep me on track with my calories without making me feel deprived? Yes, absolutely. I don't think it stalls my weight loss because I've had consistent losses every week, but as others have said, everyone is different. Oh, and I drink it with caffeine in the morning and then switch to caffeine-free at night.
Is anybody else like me with water? I don't know...when I drink it with food it grosses me out somehow. I drink it all day while I'm teaching, though, and while I'm working out, so I get plenty of it.
I hate drinking water any time. The only time I don't mind it is when I'm really thirsty, and then it has to be room temperature too. If there's something I don't like more than water, it's cold water. It makes me feel sick to my stomach most of the time. But I do drink it because I know it's important for weight loss. And I NEVER drink water with my food unless I'm at a restaurant. I always drink Coke Zero with all of my meals. My body seems to reject any liquid that isn't sweetened.
But I agree with all other posters: you have to experiment to figure out whether or not diet pop is a benefit or a detriment to your weight loss. It never seemed to bother mine. I recycle cans and when I go to turn them in, I still get surprised about how much I drink.
And on another note, I never retain water from drinking pop! Even when I drink 3 or 4 cans in a day, I don't see the scale jump up. Even the frozen meals I eat with 25% of the RDV for sodium don't cause any retention.
What about the Coke Zero? That has splenda, which is basically sugar without the calories, a little different than saccarine. Anybody know about this one?
#1, Coke Zero has aspartame (which I believe is Equal), not Splenda (which is sucralose).
#2, please do some more research on Splenda if you think it's just de-caloried sugar--they've been sued over the phrase, "Made from sugar so it tastes like sugar" (I think that's the phrase...something like that) because it is actually such a far cry from sugar and so little of the actual sugar remains once it's made that they've been accused of false advertising multiple times. It has plenty of chemicals in it, and in larger quantities, it does have some calories (not nearly as many as sugar, but some).
Anyway, regardless of the type of sweetener, have you read everyone else's posts here? Diet sodas affect people differently--some in a positive way and some negative. If you haven't had any negative effects, then don't worry about it
Am I getting this right? - So basically it's not the soda itself that is slowing down the weightloss, but the cravings it brings on. Because if that's the case then you really can't say that diet soda slows down weightloss.
I am not a huge diet soda fan, but since I started my weightloss program and thankfully the weightloss has been quite steady, I do drink 1-2 glasses a day. For me, it gives me something sweet to "eat' without adding any calories. Thankfully it doesn't start any cravings for me, but if I realized that it did I would have to elminate it from my diet, which is easy for me to say, since like I said I am not a huge fan.
Again, this I don't understand. Caffeine is a diuretic (i.e., makes you pee!), and diet sodas contain so little sodium that unless you are drinking vast quantities a day, it shouldn't make much difference. Eating as healthfully as I try to, I could probably drink 10 cans of soda a day and still not go over my daily recommended sodium limit.
If there's some other reason soda might make you retain water, and I'm just completely oblivious, I definitely have my ears wide open
The diet soda I drink doesn't contain caffeine OR sodium, but it will still make me retain a bit because of the artificial sweetener - so it isn't really the minute amount of sodium in the soda, but rather the effects that the artificial sweeteners have on some people but not others.
The diet soda I drink doesn't contain caffeine OR sodium, but it will still make me retain a bit because of the artificial sweetener - so it isn't really the minute amount of sodium in the soda, but rather the effects that the artificial sweeteners have on some people but not others.
hmm...I've heard often that artificial sweeteners affect people differently in regard to causing cravings and such, but I've never heard that artificial sweeteners could cause water retention. Good to know...
In this case, though, I would blame specifically the artifical sweeteners, not the diet soda in particular, ya know? I mean, if eating "sugar free" candy could cause the same reaction, then I find it unfair to blame diet soda, if that makes any sense.
I'd be interested to see an experiment where the diet sodas consumed for a month at a time contained aspartame, then Splenda-sweetened sodas for a month, then NutraSweet (the one with saccharrine) for a month, and then no soda at all. Then you could tell if it was really the soda or just a particular type of sweetener that was affecting you, ya know? Of course, I doubt any of us would like to spend 4 months experimenting like this--I know I wouldn't
I cannot stand the taste of diet sodas... blech!! If I want a soda, I'll have a regular soda.
I used to have a really bad 6+ soda habit a day. That was about 15 years ago. I cut it down to 2 per day because of severe headaches (doc suggested I severely limit my caffiene intake) and coincidentally lost 3 pounds without even trying. Then I cut it to one per day, then I just started drinking nothing but water & occasionally tea. Now I have a soda every now & then; sometimes I will go thru what I call a Soda BreakDown - when I just crave soda & drink it as much as I like. Then after a couple weeks, I get tired of it (or have conquered my craving, LOL) and go right back to water. I drink (on average) 64 oz water per day. I love water. Which is good!
BTW, I've read (in many different articles) that by simply cutting soda from your diet, you can lose up to 15 pounds in a year without changing your diet or exercise program by any other means. Whaddya know!
Anyway, Diet Mtn Dew is my alternative because it's the only diet drink that doesn't taste horrific to me. Is it bad for me? Probably. Does it keep me on track with my calories without making me feel deprived? Yes, absolutely. I don't think it stalls my weight loss because I've had consistent losses every week, but as others have said, everyone is different. Oh, and I drink it with caffeine in the morning and then switch to caffeine-free at night.
