Quote:
Originally Posted by cortandcooper
I find this common comment unfair, though I know you're being light-hearted. I've lost weight before, 80 lbs, and re-gained it because I moved to the US and my entire lifestyle changed for the worse - lived in bad neighbourhoods, had no sidewalks to walk anywhere anymore, had a lot of financial stress, among other reasons - but I digress. During that previous weight loss, and now, I can easily fit in bacon cheeseburgers and fries (though for my heart, I wouldn't want to eat like that every day) while calorie counting and still lose weight (I know some people can't do this). But if I was drinking a ton of additional calories, they would put me over the top. I'd rather use my calories on a burger and fries than sugar water.
With that said, I find all diet soda disgusting, so I stick with water primarily. But when I order water with the occasionally unhealthy meal, I'm sure people would make similar comments.
As for the OP - studies claim that diet soda triggers increased appetite so it makes some people want to eat more. This might depend on the individual person, their body, whether they are sensitive to triggers, etc.
I agree with all your comments. I think the humor in that commonly-recited scenario about the big macs and the diet soda is probably aimed at people who generally want to "cut back," not for people like you (and me) who are actually monitoring our calories. In our case, every calorie counts, so even if I can shave a just a
few calories off here and there (e.g., skipping the cream in my morning coffee---which is only about 40 calories), I'll do it. Diet soda certainly qualifies as more than a few.
However, like you, I do not like the taste of diet soda. Also, to the OP, this is probaby just my paranoia, but I don't like any sweetener that has been "manufactured" in some lab. No thanks.
All of this is easy for me to say, though, because I am not a big soda drinker. I get a hankering for a soda about twice a year (tops), and when I do, I just get a small, regular Coke. So, it's easy for me to preach againt diet soda because sodas aren't my weakness. If they're your (i.e., OP's) weakness, then I think it's better to substitute diet sodas for regular sodas until you can wean yourself off of soda. It will help in your weight loss efforts mainly because you'll be cutting calories from your diet.