wow, I guess I'm quite different here with my opinion...but I say...

If you're drinking the amount of water you should, then drink your soda. I drink soda....probably 24 ounces at least a day. I love my Diet Sprite, Coke Zero, Fresca and all those great sodas. Forget about tea, or crystal light...(not you, I mean myself)...I hate them.

But from the sounds of it, you're not drinking the water you should be drinking. I would say at first maybe replace all your soda with water and then once you get used to drinking at least 64 ounces of water, (takes 21 days to form a habit) then you can start incorporating your soda again. :) That's my solution anyways.

I limit myself to one soda a day (diet pepsi), usually with dinner so it's a treat. I stick with water otherwise, but sometimes have a diet snapple with lunch.

I don't see how diet Coke can make you gain either, BUT...I do believe it can make you RETAIN weight. There's so much speculation on the carbonation, the sodium, etc. But it IS proven that water DOES help you to lose weight.

I still have a diet soda from time-to-time. I had one this past weekend. But to break my daily habit of 4 to 6 diet sodas, I switched to flavored, carbonated waters, then to flavored non-carb waters, then to just water. Try taking it in stages.

My boyfriend just told me tonight that Diet Soda is the worst thing to drink. Now he couldn't tell me why and we went back and forth with "No it isn't, yes it is, no it's isn't" and then just aggreed to disaggree..?? I don't know what he was talking about?

I have switched to more and more water and I'm proud of myself but soda will never totally be out of my life...I love diet soda. What's different than having a coffee with artificial sweetner? I don't get it..anyone else get it?

So many great answers thanks!!

I am shamed to admit that I did NOT drink any water for the longest time. Seriously. I would just drink diet coke. Thats it. I am surprised by body didnt shut down or something.

Im at about three bottles of water a day. I am going to "try" to get more water in me.

Well I have drank only one diet coke and two waters since my last post on this thread lol

I am still drinking diet cokes but am also drinking tons of water. I really feel like I am cleaning my body out when I drink alot of water.

I'm not all that sensitive to fake sugar, so it doesn't spark food cravings for me. Can't say anything about fluid retention as I've never really paid attention. The reason why I try to stay away from Diet Coke is that I've heard few times that it interferes with the absorption of calcium. :yikes: Sorry, I don't have any studies or anything, but that was enough for me. Good job on your water-drinking!

Yay, Beth! That's terrific; you've really turned it around in just a week. :carrot:

Originally Posted by Meg:
How can a 0 calorie drink make you gain weight? It doesn't even have that much sodium in it. :?:

Its actually not a 0 calorie drink. It has something like .5calories per 100ml.

Food products with fewer than 5 calories per serving can be labeled as calorie-free in America.

Originally Posted by BabyBrownEyes:
My boyfriend just told me tonight that Diet Soda is the worst thing to drink. Now he couldn't tell me why and we went back and forth with "No it isn't, yes it is, no it's isn't" and then just aggreed to disaggree..?? I don't know what he was talking about?

I have switched to more and more water and I'm proud of myself but soda will never totally be out of my life...I love diet soda. What's different than having a coffee with artificial sweetner? I don't get it..anyone else get it?

Pop in general (diet or not) is horrible for your teeth. The acids in the pop eat away at your teeth enamel. Most diet pops contain aspartame, which is supposedly bad for you as well.

Aspartame is only bad for you in VERY high quantities..you would have to drink something like 80+ cans a day in order to have a reaction from it.

I get the acid and enamel thing....but he was saying DIET pop....wierd. I don't drink a LOT of pop compared to some people....every time I've been to the dentist they say my teeth are great. I have cut back on it a lot.

Good info here.

Raises hand.... teehee, I'm a diet coke addict too!!

Glad to see you have made such progress in the last week Beth!! Woohoo!!!!

I am limiting myself to one diet coke a day and then just drinking water as an alternative. To tell you the truth the diet coke is 'like' my binge food... without it I think I would be turning to unhealthy choices so I figure the diet coke helps to keep me on track :)

I use diet coke instead a real binge too. It makes me feel full. It tastes good and fills my sweets craving.

Originally Posted by bethmart:
I am shamed to admit that I did NOT drink any water for the longest time. Seriously. I would just drink diet coke. Thats it. I am surprised by body didnt shut down or something.

Actually, the recent research all suggests that liquid in any form hydrates you. They are finally researching caffeine and it turns out that the idea of caffeine taking hydration away from our bodies was an untested myth.

There may be lots of other reasons to drink pure water, but hydration needs can be met from all beverages. That's likely why your body didn't shut down -- it didn't need to!