So along with doing the Binge Free Challenge this week (woohoo day 4! ), I have also quit drinking diet soda. I used to have 1-2 a day, sometimes more. I don’t drink coffee, so I would use it as my morning caffeine. If I was stopping to get a diet coke, I would usually get some sort of fatty binge food. I wanted to stop drinking it altogether, because I have read a lot of articles about how awful it is for your health, and how it can counteract your efforts to lose weight. It was really the first couple days, and don’t get me wrong, I still crave it right now while it is late afternoon at work and I am feeling groggy. The funny thing is I really feel like not drinking it, has helped me not binge. I don’t feel like I want to snack all day long. I have read that it can make you snack more, but I didn’t really think about it being true til I noticed it the last couple days.

Has anyone else noticed this? Also, does anyone have any ideas for flavored drinks that do not have a lot of calories, or fake sugars? I’ve been drinking green tea in the morning…

If you are feeling lot of fatigue a multivitamin might help with that.

You could also have a cup of coffee in the morning instead of a soda to get that jolt of caffeine. If you can't do black you could do a splash of half and half and a packet of sweet and low or something.

Over time you get used to water but you could also wean yourself off of soda with things like the green tea you are doing and also something like crystal light

I used to drink one diet soda a day and decided to severely cut back. I think it's good for a once in a while treat but not everyday. And I also experienced a whoosh weight loss once I stopped drinking it. Must be all the sodium making me hold onto water weight.

Thanks BeeRab! Yeah I have just started taking a multivitamin!! I have never been able to drink coffee, because I dislike the taste so much, even with added things in it (unless its chocolate or caramel haha

Crystal Light is a good idea for help with weening I also the last couple of days have had a small glass of orange juice and just counted it into my WW points.

Thanks again!

@ LataJones, I feel like I have been losing faster this week, without the diet coke. Or i just feel less bloated. I will probably still indulge in one every once in a while at a movie theater or something

Interesting, you guys! I know that diet soda isn't necessarily great for you (ok, I admit that I am aware that it's simply bad), and yet I drink it anyways. I didn't drink hardly any soda for months and months, but for some reason we just started buying it. I also drink 1-2/day. Usually one in the afternoon and one with dinner. I don't really have a craving for them at all, they just happen to always be in the fridge and I (sadly) would rather drink a diet Dr. Pepper than water.

I might quit drinking them and hope for that whoosh! I am maintaining, but the scale has been stubbornly stuck at the high end of my range and I want to drop even 2-3lbs to get in a more comfortable spot.

I also love diet soda but I've also found I stay on plan better when I don't drink diet ANYTHING -- not soda, not Crystal Light, not diet tea. I'm now a water and crazy-amounts-of-tea-with-sweetener girl, but I'm cutting down from 1 packet to 1/2 packet of sweetener per cup, and it does make a difference in cravings 2 hrs later.

The really big problem with diet drinks, I think, is that they get you used to these really intense flavors... and that makes every other part of your meal "bland" in comparison. When I drink water, my salad tastes great.

I too am obsessed with soda, and I've been soda free for a week. I've been trying to drink at least 4 bottles of water daily but I really dislike the nontaste of it. Has anyone heard of fruit 2 0, is that okay to drink?

Hi Lm932 - I have heard of Fruit 2.0, but I noticed there was sodium in it, so i stayed away from it. In general, I am trying to stay away from any drinks with artificial sweetners. I understand the desire to drink something with flavor, and I have struggled with that as well. It has gotten easier, after a full week without any diet coke though. I brought a water bottle to work, and i put a 1/2 cup of frozen berries in it, and after an hour or so it was this great flavored cold water! I also have been having 1 8oz glass of orange juice(natural, no added sugar) and that has been helping a lot too.

I agree with Daisy, I was addicted to diet pop like literally drinking a 2L bottle every day and for New Years my resolution was to stop drinking pop and drink more water. I tried drinking crystal light instead but I got intense cravings for pop and I started supplementing that need for pop with junk. Now that I am on straight water and tea I find I have less cravings, mood swings and my food tastes better. I think the artificial sweetner is the worst part of pop so drinking anything with it is just as bad. Now if I really want something bubbly I will mix some sparkling water with 100%cranberry juice. yum.

Today is day 2 without diet soda. I really have no urge to drink it at all. Out of all my crazy addict behavior with food, I never got "hooked" on soda. Sure, I like it, but I don't crave it. I open the fridge and think "Hmm, a diet Dr. Pepper sounds yummy," but I remind myself that I'm not having any diet sodas and reach for a pre-made bottle of crystal light and don't think another thing about it. It's nothing like the inner turmoil I would go through if there was a piece of cake I had to resist or something, haha. Funny how different stuff affects different folks.

I haven't made any other diet/exercise changes and I do actually feel a bit less bloated, but that may just be wishful thinking/placebo effect. We'll see if it shows up on the scale at all.

I drank a 20 oz. bottle of diet cherry pepsi yesterday (first time in months I've had pop...I was exhausted and needed a pick-me-up) and I then had some air-popped popcorn w/light butter and salt, and this morning I was up 1.5 on the scale! I'm hoping it's all the sodium that was in the pop and the salt. And the pop did leave me feeling really bloated. Not fun. You just might notice a difference on the scale if you stop drinking it for a while! I hope my 1.5 pounds disappears ASAP!!

I wanted to dig this thread back up...I'm in the middle of week 3 without diet soda so I thought I'd update.

I'm not sure if it made a significant impact on my weight, really. I was in the middle of bloat week/TOM when I quit, so my weight was high anyways. And I had the normal whoosh down of water weight. So unfortunately, I can't really tell if any of that was a result of giving up my two-a-day diet sodas. I also haven't really noticed a significant change in my cravings or desire to eat sweets or anything.

BUT, I am significantly less bloated. We moved back in January, and during the move we started buying sodas to keep in the fridge which we hadn't before. So I started regularly drinking diet soda in January and had been for about two months. And for that two months, I was just bloated and blimpy feeling. It was like a fat day that never ended, and I couldn't figure it out. It was frustrating and getting me down. About a week off of diet soda and all that bloaty mushy fluff disappeared and has been gone ever since! I have my taut skin and firm tummy back, no more poking a marshmellow. So the only way I can explain that is with the removal of diet soda from my diet. That's the only thing that changed.

And I'm still going strong without it. I've said several times that diet soda never really had much of a pull on me. A 12 pack of diet dr. pepper (my fav) has sat in the fridge this whole time. I look at it everyday and feel no desire to drink one. We've gone out to eat a few times and I drink water with lemon. At home I'll drink Crystal Light or ice tea if I really need flavor. To end the two-month long bloaty mushy fat day, giving up diet soda was absolutely worth it.

OK OK I feel like this post was directed at ME! I'll give it up! I swear - I am in the middle of a diet pepsi and as soon as I finish drinking it I will give it up! I will not drink another diet soda and see if effects me the same... here's my story -

I have been drinking diet soda since TAB was the only Diet Soda around - yup way back in the 80's. I have drank a ton of the stuff because back then no one knew it was bad for you......so fast forward 20+ years...... here I am at 44 trying to figure out how to give it up and drink water....

At work I have a diet coke/pepsi on my desk at all times - in the car - at my DD's gym and at home from the time that I open my eyes.... this will be a major major challenge for me along with giving up 1/3 of every food that passes my lips....ekkkkkk can I do this really? Is it possible for me to give up diet soda? in every photo of me there I am holding a cigarette ( gave that up in 2004) and a diet pepsi........I'm scared - can someone please hold my hand and do this challenge with me

I was never a huge soda person, regular or diet, sprite or orange soda was all that really interested me but they were easy to cut out after realizing how many calories and sugar I was drinking, ugh no thanks I'd rather eat my cals..

I did want some alternatives to plain water and even water with lemon.. sparkling water = best thing ever, haha okay not quite but I hate artificial sweeteners and this brand 'la croix' is made with only natural flavors and it's not as expensive as perrier and such.. they carry it at target and publix. I experiment with other brands, but la croix is my fav, just the lime, lemon, and plain flavors, the others have that medicine-y taste.

I also make decaf unsweetened iced tea and add lemon juice. Good stuff. Decaf coffee is another treat I'll have occasionally and always on weekends, I prefer it black, yumm, just tried a good brand from walmart.

Funny enough, lately I've really been craving a coke float.. some vanilla ice cream with diet dr pepper to be exact. Not enough to go out and buy the ingredients but I may have to give in pretty soon, everything in moderation right?