Giving up diet soda. So hard!
Replies
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OP, you obviously didn't read or post in yesterday's soda thread!
Be aware that there are certain topics on these forums that elicit strong opinions - many of which have been discussed to death. The majority of people will be totally up front (and respectful) with their comments but at times tend to rub new-ish posters the wrong way.0 -
Lynette4321 wrote: »i gave up sweets and diet soda and it's the diet soda that I miss so badly! I was drinking soda that didn't even have caffeine, but I apparently have quite an addiction.
I don't like spring water and I'm sick of water. What am I going to drink with pizza? Any ideas?
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Lynette4321 wrote: »People love saying they're addicted to things. That removes any sense or personal responsibility for their actions. Give up sodas or don't for whatever reasons you want but get rid of the idea you're addicted to them. At worst you have a habit that's easily broken.
Really. If you can't be helpful, just leave it alone. I had no idea a post about diet soda would cause such controversy.
People on these boards generally prioritize being right above being helpful or supportive. I regret any time I come in here to look up something specific, because inevitably, it's buried in pages of whining and accusations. Next time someone asks why you're giving it up, tell them you prefer your tooth enamel stay on your teeth where it belongs. Diffuses the whole "I'll pretend I believe you should do what you want, but btw, my plan is better than yours" problem that pops up in every thread around here.
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EvgeniZyntx wrote: »EvgeniZyntx wrote: »EvgeniZyntx wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »why do people need to defend diet soda as though it's a huge travesty to give it up? if she wants to give it up, it's her life.
I think if she wants to give it up she should. Some people probably feel better not drinking it, especially if they seem to drink it to the exclusion of everything else. I give up coffee from time to time since I can get into a pattern of going overboard with it (right now I'm trying not to drink coffee or caffeinated tea after noon and it's driving me a bit crazy, since I was overdoing it).
However, sometimes people think they ought to give up something instead of really wanting to, and diet soda is one of those things where you hear that it's poison or making you fat or silly things that are not true. If people are giving it up for those reasons, and not more factual ones, they might want to know that it's not necessary--for example, that lots of people are able to drink it and lose or even find it helpful.
I don't agree with the frequent advice that you should change your diet as little as possible when starting a weight loss plan, since for me it's motivating to see myself doing something positive, and some of the bigger changes go along with that, so I can see that side.
But, on the other hand, if I had added on to my dietary changes when I started a requirement that I also drop coffee--which happens to be something I can use in place of how I used to use food, as a break, a relaxing taste treat, whatever--I would have made this harder for myself and deprived myself of something I enjoy, for no reason. I actually made the call when I started that I wasn't going to worry about coffee until I was really comfortable with my eating. (And now that I'm close to goal I'm messing with it and might drop it for a while.)
Similarly, I like to give up foods as part of my Lent practices, usually meat plus sweets. This time I did not (I started losing weight last January, so was still somewhat in the early stages), in part because I don't want my practices to relate to weight loss efforts, but more because I thought adding things would make it more difficult than it needed to be when I mostly wanted my diet to feel natural and enjoyable. This year I might well go back to my usual.
So I do think that sometimes newbies to MFP seem to be doing too much at once and adding difficulties that are not necessary (if you really miss diet coke and end up having more trouble not overeating cookies, that's not helpful). However, that's going to depend on the person, so I think it's both useful to present the "you don't have to" ideas to OP and challenge things like "aspartame will KILL you TOMORROW and make you FAT" (not said by OP, of course) and also to respect her decision and answer her question.
When I gave up diet soda I lost a lot of weight, whereas I couldn't before. It did not lead to me eating more cookies. It might have actually lead to me craving less cookies. I don't know. I was also counting calories, so that was probably what did it, but I had a hard time losing prior to this and this time the pounds just flew off and i was able to keep it off for almost 2 years now. I don't know that the giving up soda had anything to do with it, but it might have. Also, if you're drinking soda, it's pretty much guaranteed that you will be drinking less water. Isn't water good for you? myfitnesspal recommends 8 glasses a day. I know that's an unnecessarily high amount, but if I'm drinking soda instead, it's likely that amount will be reduced to zero.
I suppose it hasn't been proven definitively that the chemicals in soda are bad, but that doesn't mean they aren't.
Water in soda somehow doesn't count for ... water. Check.
You started counting calories and lost weight but it was maybe because you stopped drinking soda at the same time. Check.
Chemicals aren't shown to be bad. But maybe they are. Check.
Logic, this post has it.
I'll buy that being used to the taste of sweetness might influence your palate and make you crave other sweet, calorie rich things and thus increase the tendency to go over on your calories. That seems to be a personal taste thing.
well, water is in foods too, but pure water sounds better. pretty sure when they have the 8 cups of water recommendation, they mean actual water, not water in foods.
doesn't matter if my post is right or wrong. giving up diet soda will not kill you.
man, i think some of the people here have diet soda as their personal god.
oh and i stopped counting calories regularly almost 2 years ago and still kept the weight off and it was extremely easy. any other time i tried to diet, i put it right back on. diet soda is possibly the reason.
No actually, the recommendation on water comes from an old paper and is "equivalent of" not actual distilled water (which is gross) you can have it in tea or tomatoes or what not.
Giving up anything won't kill you - you can give up apples, pork or caramelized puppies and it doesn't matter. The point is, for the majority of people that focusing on the majors is more important than random abnegation - that is what we try to get across.
That the OP decided that she wanted to stop drinking diet soda is fine - I don't care. Is it the best strategy for weight loss when some struggles with willpower? Heck, NO. Study after study shows that you only have so much ability to modify behavior by strength of will - one might want to focus that on the major factors that influence weight loss and quality of health.
It might very well be that going cold turkey is the best thing in terms of soda and palate choices for some people. I make no comment on that and if you read my posts I'm not challenging the OPs decision to do that - however the logic that it doesn't count as water, etc. well that's just off.
BTW, in the last two years you never drank a single soda? Did you suddenly gain weight?
Personally, soda isn't a god. Rarely drink the stuff - but at 60 cals a bottle for the stuff I do drink, it hardly influences my weight at all.
well, i believe it helped stop my cravings for other things. also do buy into the fact that it's chemicals and therefore not all that great. you don't have to if you don't want to.
no, i didn't give it up entirely. i still drink it as a mixer with alcohol sometimes when i go out drinking. gotta mix alcohol with something. i gave up diet soda as an every day thing to drink with meals.
distilled water is not gross.
So you drink soda with moderation. Got it. Hope it isn't making you fat. You actually do what everyone is recommending.
BTW - distilled water is not a good idea. And taste being a personal thing and everything, you might like it but it is generally accepted as poor in taste. It is also possibly unhealthy to drink it as it might leads to mineral leaching. Don't take my word for it.
WHO: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientschap12.pdf
I cut down on diet soda drastically. I am not doing what everyone is recommending. They are saying there is nothing wrong with drinking it all the time. Nope, not making me fat. Already said that I have kept my weight off for almost 2 years and haven't even had to log to do that. I think that lowering my diet soda intake by like 95% has helped with this. Apparently you disagree, but you're wrong. You're also not me.
meh, I mostly drink tap water or water through my works filter on the tap. If by distilled, you mean bottled water, I rarely drink that. Didn't read your link. Don't care.0 -
I have no plan to give up Cherry Coke Zero. But for you, try out no-cal sparkling flavored water. Tons of flavors and tastes great.
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LeanButNotMean44 wrote: »Lynette4321 wrote: »I don't feel good about all the chemicals. Also, it keeps the sweet tooth going and makes it hard to stay away from sweets.
What about all of the chemicals in water? Lead, chlorine, etc. OTOH, if you don't want to drink soda, then don't drink it. I have one diet Coke per day (more on the weekends when I "cut" it with Captain Morgan) but I also drink 64ozs of water. AS long as soda isn't totally substituted for water then I don't see it as being an issue (for me).
oh yes, lets stop drinking water because of the "chemicals" *rollseyes*-1 -
EvgeniZyntx wrote: »EvgeniZyntx wrote: »EvgeniZyntx wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »why do people need to defend diet soda as though it's a huge travesty to give it up? if she wants to give it up, it's her life.
I think if she wants to give it up she should. Some people probably feel better not drinking it, especially if they seem to drink it to the exclusion of everything else. I give up coffee from time to time since I can get into a pattern of going overboard with it (right now I'm trying not to drink coffee or caffeinated tea after noon and it's driving me a bit crazy, since I was overdoing it).
However, sometimes people think they ought to give up something instead of really wanting to, and diet soda is one of those things where you hear that it's poison or making you fat or silly things that are not true. If people are giving it up for those reasons, and not more factual ones, they might want to know that it's not necessary--for example, that lots of people are able to drink it and lose or even find it helpful.
I don't agree with the frequent advice that you should change your diet as little as possible when starting a weight loss plan, since for me it's motivating to see myself doing something positive, and some of the bigger changes go along with that, so I can see that side.
But, on the other hand, if I had added on to my dietary changes when I started a requirement that I also drop coffee--which happens to be something I can use in place of how I used to use food, as a break, a relaxing taste treat, whatever--I would have made this harder for myself and deprived myself of something I enjoy, for no reason. I actually made the call when I started that I wasn't going to worry about coffee until I was really comfortable with my eating. (And now that I'm close to goal I'm messing with it and might drop it for a while.)
Similarly, I like to give up foods as part of my Lent practices, usually meat plus sweets. This time I did not (I started losing weight last January, so was still somewhat in the early stages), in part because I don't want my practices to relate to weight loss efforts, but more because I thought adding things would make it more difficult than it needed to be when I mostly wanted my diet to feel natural and enjoyable. This year I might well go back to my usual.
So I do think that sometimes newbies to MFP seem to be doing too much at once and adding difficulties that are not necessary (if you really miss diet coke and end up having more trouble not overeating cookies, that's not helpful). However, that's going to depend on the person, so I think it's both useful to present the "you don't have to" ideas to OP and challenge things like "aspartame will KILL you TOMORROW and make you FAT" (not said by OP, of course) and also to respect her decision and answer her question.
When I gave up diet soda I lost a lot of weight, whereas I couldn't before. It did not lead to me eating more cookies. It might have actually lead to me craving less cookies. I don't know. I was also counting calories, so that was probably what did it, but I had a hard time losing prior to this and this time the pounds just flew off and i was able to keep it off for almost 2 years now. I don't know that the giving up soda had anything to do with it, but it might have. Also, if you're drinking soda, it's pretty much guaranteed that you will be drinking less water. Isn't water good for you? myfitnesspal recommends 8 glasses a day. I know that's an unnecessarily high amount, but if I'm drinking soda instead, it's likely that amount will be reduced to zero.
I suppose it hasn't been proven definitively that the chemicals in soda are bad, but that doesn't mean they aren't.
Water in soda somehow doesn't count for ... water. Check.
You started counting calories and lost weight but it was maybe because you stopped drinking soda at the same time. Check.
Chemicals aren't shown to be bad. But maybe they are. Check.
Logic, this post has it.
I'll buy that being used to the taste of sweetness might influence your palate and make you crave other sweet, calorie rich things and thus increase the tendency to go over on your calories. That seems to be a personal taste thing.
well, water is in foods too, but pure water sounds better. pretty sure when they have the 8 cups of water recommendation, they mean actual water, not water in foods.
doesn't matter if my post is right or wrong. giving up diet soda will not kill you.
man, i think some of the people here have diet soda as their personal god.
oh and i stopped counting calories regularly almost 2 years ago and still kept the weight off and it was extremely easy. any other time i tried to diet, i put it right back on. diet soda is possibly the reason.
No actually, the recommendation on water comes from an old paper and is "equivalent of" not actual distilled water (which is gross) you can have it in tea or tomatoes or what not.
Giving up anything won't kill you - you can give up apples, pork or caramelized puppies and it doesn't matter. The point is, for the majority of people that focusing on the majors is more important than random abnegation - that is what we try to get across.
That the OP decided that she wanted to stop drinking diet soda is fine - I don't care. Is it the best strategy for weight loss when some struggles with willpower? Heck, NO. Study after study shows that you only have so much ability to modify behavior by strength of will - one might want to focus that on the major factors that influence weight loss and quality of health.
It might very well be that going cold turkey is the best thing in terms of soda and palate choices for some people. I make no comment on that and if you read my posts I'm not challenging the OPs decision to do that - however the logic that it doesn't count as water, etc. well that's just off.
BTW, in the last two years you never drank a single soda? Did you suddenly gain weight?
Personally, soda isn't a god. Rarely drink the stuff - but at 60 cals a bottle for the stuff I do drink, it hardly influences my weight at all.
well, i believe it helped stop my cravings for other things. also do buy into the fact that it's chemicals and therefore not all that great. you don't have to if you don't want to.
no, i didn't give it up entirely. i still drink it as a mixer with alcohol sometimes when i go out drinking. gotta mix alcohol with something. i gave up diet soda as an every day thing to drink with meals.
distilled water is not gross.
So you drink soda with moderation. Got it. Hope it isn't making you fat. You actually do what everyone is recommending.
BTW - distilled water is not a good idea. And taste being a personal thing and everything, you might like it but it is generally accepted as poor in taste. It is also possibly unhealthy to drink it as it might leads to mineral leaching. Don't take my word for it.
WHO: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientschap12.pdf
I cut down on diet soda drastically. I am not doing what everyone is recommending. They are saying there is nothing wrong with drinking it all the time. Nope, not making me fat. Already said that I have kept my weight off for almost 2 years and haven't even had to log to do that. I think that lowering my diet soda intake by like 95% has helped with this. Apparently you disagree, but you're wrong. You're also not me.
meh, I mostly drink tap water or water through my works filter on the tap. If by distilled, you mean bottled water, I rarely drink that. Didn't read your link. Don't care.
No. distilled means distilled. Not bottled. Most bottled waters aren't distilled water.
So moderation works. Good to know.0 -
Lynette4321 wrote: »People love saying they're addicted to things. That removes any sense or personal responsibility for their actions. Give up sodas or don't for whatever reasons you want but get rid of the idea you're addicted to them. At worst you have a habit that's easily broken.
Really. If you can't be helpful, just leave it alone. I had no idea a post about diet soda would cause such controversy.
People on these boards generally prioritize being right above being helpful or supportive. I regret any time I come in here to look up something specific, because inevitably, it's buried in pages of whining and accusations. Next time someone asks why you're giving it up, tell them you prefer your tooth enamel stay on your teeth where it belongs. Diffuses the whole "I'll pretend I believe you should do what you want, but btw, my plan is better than yours" problem that pops up in every thread around here.
seriously. o.p. wants to give up soda. not sure why the people who worship their soda god have such an issue with this. they can worship their soda god all they want. doesn't mean the o.p. has to.-2 -
EvgeniZyntx wrote: »EvgeniZyntx wrote: »EvgeniZyntx wrote: »EvgeniZyntx wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »why do people need to defend diet soda as though it's a huge travesty to give it up? if she wants to give it up, it's her life.
I think if she wants to give it up she should. Some people probably feel better not drinking it, especially if they seem to drink it to the exclusion of everything else. I give up coffee from time to time since I can get into a pattern of going overboard with it (right now I'm trying not to drink coffee or caffeinated tea after noon and it's driving me a bit crazy, since I was overdoing it).
However, sometimes people think they ought to give up something instead of really wanting to, and diet soda is one of those things where you hear that it's poison or making you fat or silly things that are not true. If people are giving it up for those reasons, and not more factual ones, they might want to know that it's not necessary--for example, that lots of people are able to drink it and lose or even find it helpful.
I don't agree with the frequent advice that you should change your diet as little as possible when starting a weight loss plan, since for me it's motivating to see myself doing something positive, and some of the bigger changes go along with that, so I can see that side.
But, on the other hand, if I had added on to my dietary changes when I started a requirement that I also drop coffee--which happens to be something I can use in place of how I used to use food, as a break, a relaxing taste treat, whatever--I would have made this harder for myself and deprived myself of something I enjoy, for no reason. I actually made the call when I started that I wasn't going to worry about coffee until I was really comfortable with my eating. (And now that I'm close to goal I'm messing with it and might drop it for a while.)
Similarly, I like to give up foods as part of my Lent practices, usually meat plus sweets. This time I did not (I started losing weight last January, so was still somewhat in the early stages), in part because I don't want my practices to relate to weight loss efforts, but more because I thought adding things would make it more difficult than it needed to be when I mostly wanted my diet to feel natural and enjoyable. This year I might well go back to my usual.
So I do think that sometimes newbies to MFP seem to be doing too much at once and adding difficulties that are not necessary (if you really miss diet coke and end up having more trouble not overeating cookies, that's not helpful). However, that's going to depend on the person, so I think it's both useful to present the "you don't have to" ideas to OP and challenge things like "aspartame will KILL you TOMORROW and make you FAT" (not said by OP, of course) and also to respect her decision and answer her question.
When I gave up diet soda I lost a lot of weight, whereas I couldn't before. It did not lead to me eating more cookies. It might have actually lead to me craving less cookies. I don't know. I was also counting calories, so that was probably what did it, but I had a hard time losing prior to this and this time the pounds just flew off and i was able to keep it off for almost 2 years now. I don't know that the giving up soda had anything to do with it, but it might have. Also, if you're drinking soda, it's pretty much guaranteed that you will be drinking less water. Isn't water good for you? myfitnesspal recommends 8 glasses a day. I know that's an unnecessarily high amount, but if I'm drinking soda instead, it's likely that amount will be reduced to zero.
I suppose it hasn't been proven definitively that the chemicals in soda are bad, but that doesn't mean they aren't.
Water in soda somehow doesn't count for ... water. Check.
You started counting calories and lost weight but it was maybe because you stopped drinking soda at the same time. Check.
Chemicals aren't shown to be bad. But maybe they are. Check.
Logic, this post has it.
I'll buy that being used to the taste of sweetness might influence your palate and make you crave other sweet, calorie rich things and thus increase the tendency to go over on your calories. That seems to be a personal taste thing.
well, water is in foods too, but pure water sounds better. pretty sure when they have the 8 cups of water recommendation, they mean actual water, not water in foods.
doesn't matter if my post is right or wrong. giving up diet soda will not kill you.
man, i think some of the people here have diet soda as their personal god.
oh and i stopped counting calories regularly almost 2 years ago and still kept the weight off and it was extremely easy. any other time i tried to diet, i put it right back on. diet soda is possibly the reason.
No actually, the recommendation on water comes from an old paper and is "equivalent of" not actual distilled water (which is gross) you can have it in tea or tomatoes or what not.
Giving up anything won't kill you - you can give up apples, pork or caramelized puppies and it doesn't matter. The point is, for the majority of people that focusing on the majors is more important than random abnegation - that is what we try to get across.
That the OP decided that she wanted to stop drinking diet soda is fine - I don't care. Is it the best strategy for weight loss when some struggles with willpower? Heck, NO. Study after study shows that you only have so much ability to modify behavior by strength of will - one might want to focus that on the major factors that influence weight loss and quality of health.
It might very well be that going cold turkey is the best thing in terms of soda and palate choices for some people. I make no comment on that and if you read my posts I'm not challenging the OPs decision to do that - however the logic that it doesn't count as water, etc. well that's just off.
BTW, in the last two years you never drank a single soda? Did you suddenly gain weight?
Personally, soda isn't a god. Rarely drink the stuff - but at 60 cals a bottle for the stuff I do drink, it hardly influences my weight at all.
well, i believe it helped stop my cravings for other things. also do buy into the fact that it's chemicals and therefore not all that great. you don't have to if you don't want to.
no, i didn't give it up entirely. i still drink it as a mixer with alcohol sometimes when i go out drinking. gotta mix alcohol with something. i gave up diet soda as an every day thing to drink with meals.
distilled water is not gross.
So you drink soda with moderation. Got it. Hope it isn't making you fat. You actually do what everyone is recommending.
BTW - distilled water is not a good idea. And taste being a personal thing and everything, you might like it but it is generally accepted as poor in taste. It is also possibly unhealthy to drink it as it might leads to mineral leaching. Don't take my word for it.
WHO: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientschap12.pdf
I cut down on diet soda drastically. I am not doing what everyone is recommending. They are saying there is nothing wrong with drinking it all the time. Nope, not making me fat. Already said that I have kept my weight off for almost 2 years and haven't even had to log to do that. I think that lowering my diet soda intake by like 95% has helped with this. Apparently you disagree, but you're wrong. You're also not me.
meh, I mostly drink tap water or water through my works filter on the tap. If by distilled, you mean bottled water, I rarely drink that. Didn't read your link. Don't care.
No. distilled means distilled. Not bottled. Most bottled waters aren't distilled water.
So moderation works. Good to know.
so condescending. people would have viewed my drinking it twice a day before as "moderation" too. that does not work for me. as a mixer, drinking it once a month works. different levels of "moderation".
whatever, i drink tap water. why are you telling me about distilled water?-3 -
me and the op will stick with mostly water and you soda god people can stick to your soda. why do you care?-3
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EvgeniZyntx wrote: ».
It doesn't come out distilled....
Not sure what you mean by the post above.
I can't use my tap water for my Keurig, we have mega hard water (lime and calcium) which would kill that machine. I am aware of the leaching, it is a little unnerving. Just one cup a day, I am not too concerned.
That being said, my DH drinks more coffee than I, so this week I did buy "spring water" for the machine. I know that probably has a high mineral content as well, but not as much as our tap water.
I do not drink distilled water as "water", I just use it in the Keurig.
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You can try water with a little juice (1-2 oz per 16 oz bottle or use seller water with a little juice.0
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I was drinking a liter of diet Pepsi a day along with 12-14 cups of coffee. Now, I'm down to 12 oz. of pop/4-5 cups of coffee. I drink more water than ever before (6-10) glasses a day. There are many flavorings for water on the market, drink flavorings and mio. It will offset the taste of the water.0
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I'm glad I found this. I used to drink maybe 3 cans of diet coke a day but often felt gassy and found it wasn't always agreeable to my digestion. Decided to go cold turkey with the view to perhaps reintroduce in the future but I honestly don't miss it at all! I drink lots of sugar free squash and water, I have about a billion different flavours (I really like orange and pineapple). Occasionally have a fresh lime and soda water if I'm eating out but feeling loads better for it. If one day I have the biggest ever urge I won't deny myself but I think I have now also learnt how to quench thirst properly ie feeling infinitely more satisfied after a pint of water than after a pint of diet coke.
Know this thread seems to have got a bit heated but that's my story anyways.0 -
I was drinking a liter of diet Pepsi a day along with 12-14 cups of coffee. Now, I'm down to 12 oz. of pop/4-5 cups of coffee. I drink more water than ever before (6-10) glasses a day. There are many flavorings for water on the market, drink flavorings and mio. It will offset the taste of the water.
Many of those "flavorings" contain the same chemicals as diet soda. Also, Mio is required to be transported with a hazardous materials placard in large amounts because it contains ingredients that can be used as antifreeze. How is that better than diet soda?0 -
I had to give up pop in order to learn moderation. I have it every so often now( not diet, never did care for it)
I got myself off by putting fruit in water and stocking up on tea. Now I crave water, not pop and have it as a treat. I also stopped having breakouts after cutting back on the pop0 -
I don't think I could ever give up diet fizzy's ;-;0
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EvgeniZyntx wrote: »EvgeniZyntx wrote: »EvgeniZyntx wrote: »EvgeniZyntx wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »why do people need to defend diet soda as though it's a huge travesty to give it up? if she wants to give it up, it's her life.
I think if she wants to give it up she should. Some people probably feel better not drinking it, especially if they seem to drink it to the exclusion of everything else. I give up coffee from time to time since I can get into a pattern of going overboard with it (right now I'm trying not to drink coffee or caffeinated tea after noon and it's driving me a bit crazy, since I was overdoing it).
However, sometimes people think they ought to give up something instead of really wanting to, and diet soda is one of those things where you hear that it's poison or making you fat or silly things that are not true. If people are giving it up for those reasons, and not more factual ones, they might want to know that it's not necessary--for example, that lots of people are able to drink it and lose or even find it helpful.
I don't agree with the frequent advice that you should change your diet as little as possible when starting a weight loss plan, since for me it's motivating to see myself doing something positive, and some of the bigger changes go along with that, so I can see that side.
But, on the other hand, if I had added on to my dietary changes when I started a requirement that I also drop coffee--which happens to be something I can use in place of how I used to use food, as a break, a relaxing taste treat, whatever--I would have made this harder for myself and deprived myself of something I enjoy, for no reason. I actually made the call when I started that I wasn't going to worry about coffee until I was really comfortable with my eating. (And now that I'm close to goal I'm messing with it and might drop it for a while.)
Similarly, I like to give up foods as part of my Lent practices, usually meat plus sweets. This time I did not (I started losing weight last January, so was still somewhat in the early stages), in part because I don't want my practices to relate to weight loss efforts, but more because I thought adding things would make it more difficult than it needed to be when I mostly wanted my diet to feel natural and enjoyable. This year I might well go back to my usual.
So I do think that sometimes newbies to MFP seem to be doing too much at once and adding difficulties that are not necessary (if you really miss diet coke and end up having more trouble not overeating cookies, that's not helpful). However, that's going to depend on the person, so I think it's both useful to present the "you don't have to" ideas to OP and challenge things like "aspartame will KILL you TOMORROW and make you FAT" (not said by OP, of course) and also to respect her decision and answer her question.
When I gave up diet soda I lost a lot of weight, whereas I couldn't before. It did not lead to me eating more cookies. It might have actually lead to me craving less cookies. I don't know. I was also counting calories, so that was probably what did it, but I had a hard time losing prior to this and this time the pounds just flew off and i was able to keep it off for almost 2 years now. I don't know that the giving up soda had anything to do with it, but it might have. Also, if you're drinking soda, it's pretty much guaranteed that you will be drinking less water. Isn't water good for you? myfitnesspal recommends 8 glasses a day. I know that's an unnecessarily high amount, but if I'm drinking soda instead, it's likely that amount will be reduced to zero.
I suppose it hasn't been proven definitively that the chemicals in soda are bad, but that doesn't mean they aren't.
Water in soda somehow doesn't count for ... water. Check.
You started counting calories and lost weight but it was maybe because you stopped drinking soda at the same time. Check.
Chemicals aren't shown to be bad. But maybe they are. Check.
Logic, this post has it.
I'll buy that being used to the taste of sweetness might influence your palate and make you crave other sweet, calorie rich things and thus increase the tendency to go over on your calories. That seems to be a personal taste thing.
well, water is in foods too, but pure water sounds better. pretty sure when they have the 8 cups of water recommendation, they mean actual water, not water in foods.
doesn't matter if my post is right or wrong. giving up diet soda will not kill you.
man, i think some of the people here have diet soda as their personal god.
oh and i stopped counting calories regularly almost 2 years ago and still kept the weight off and it was extremely easy. any other time i tried to diet, i put it right back on. diet soda is possibly the reason.
No actually, the recommendation on water comes from an old paper and is "equivalent of" not actual distilled water (which is gross) you can have it in tea or tomatoes or what not.
Giving up anything won't kill you - you can give up apples, pork or caramelized puppies and it doesn't matter. The point is, for the majority of people that focusing on the majors is more important than random abnegation - that is what we try to get across.
That the OP decided that she wanted to stop drinking diet soda is fine - I don't care. Is it the best strategy for weight loss when some struggles with willpower? Heck, NO. Study after study shows that you only have so much ability to modify behavior by strength of will - one might want to focus that on the major factors that influence weight loss and quality of health.
It might very well be that going cold turkey is the best thing in terms of soda and palate choices for some people. I make no comment on that and if you read my posts I'm not challenging the OPs decision to do that - however the logic that it doesn't count as water, etc. well that's just off.
BTW, in the last two years you never drank a single soda? Did you suddenly gain weight?
Personally, soda isn't a god. Rarely drink the stuff - but at 60 cals a bottle for the stuff I do drink, it hardly influences my weight at all.
well, i believe it helped stop my cravings for other things. also do buy into the fact that it's chemicals and therefore not all that great. you don't have to if you don't want to.
no, i didn't give it up entirely. i still drink it as a mixer with alcohol sometimes when i go out drinking. gotta mix alcohol with something. i gave up diet soda as an every day thing to drink with meals.
distilled water is not gross.
So you drink soda with moderation. Got it. Hope it isn't making you fat. You actually do what everyone is recommending.
BTW - distilled water is not a good idea. And taste being a personal thing and everything, you might like it but it is generally accepted as poor in taste. It is also possibly unhealthy to drink it as it might leads to mineral leaching. Don't take my word for it.
WHO: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientschap12.pdf
I cut down on diet soda drastically. I am not doing what everyone is recommending. They are saying there is nothing wrong with drinking it all the time. Nope, not making me fat. Already said that I have kept my weight off for almost 2 years and haven't even had to log to do that. I think that lowering my diet soda intake by like 95% has helped with this. Apparently you disagree, but you're wrong. You're also not me.
meh, I mostly drink tap water or water through my works filter on the tap. If by distilled, you mean bottled water, I rarely drink that. Didn't read your link. Don't care.
No. distilled means distilled. Not bottled. Most bottled waters aren't distilled water.
So moderation works. Good to know.
so condescending. people would have viewed my drinking it twice a day before as "moderation" too. that does not work for me. as a mixer, drinking it once a month works. different levels of "moderation".
Sure, there are different levels of moderation.
And I wasn't being condescending. Distilled is a specific process - you boil the water and then condensate to remove all minerals. It was goes into your iron, batteries and sometimes baby formula (where it no longer is distilled as it is re-mineralized by the formula) but apparently upstream in the conversation somehow you had the position that it tasted good? I assumed you knew what it was if you used the word.
Condescending is trying to ridicule a position of moderation by pigeonholing us into "worshiping soda gods".
0 -
EvgeniZyntx wrote: »EvgeniZyntx wrote: »EvgeniZyntx wrote: »EvgeniZyntx wrote: »EvgeniZyntx wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »why do people need to defend diet soda as though it's a huge travesty to give it up? if she wants to give it up, it's her life.
I think if she wants to give it up she should. Some people probably feel better not drinking it, especially if they seem to drink it to the exclusion of everything else. I give up coffee from time to time since I can get into a pattern of going overboard with it (right now I'm trying not to drink coffee or caffeinated tea after noon and it's driving me a bit crazy, since I was overdoing it).
However, sometimes people think they ought to give up something instead of really wanting to, and diet soda is one of those things where you hear that it's poison or making you fat or silly things that are not true. If people are giving it up for those reasons, and not more factual ones, they might want to know that it's not necessary--for example, that lots of people are able to drink it and lose or even find it helpful.
I don't agree with the frequent advice that you should change your diet as little as possible when starting a weight loss plan, since for me it's motivating to see myself doing something positive, and some of the bigger changes go along with that, so I can see that side.
But, on the other hand, if I had added on to my dietary changes when I started a requirement that I also drop coffee--which happens to be something I can use in place of how I used to use food, as a break, a relaxing taste treat, whatever--I would have made this harder for myself and deprived myself of something I enjoy, for no reason. I actually made the call when I started that I wasn't going to worry about coffee until I was really comfortable with my eating. (And now that I'm close to goal I'm messing with it and might drop it for a while.)
Similarly, I like to give up foods as part of my Lent practices, usually meat plus sweets. This time I did not (I started losing weight last January, so was still somewhat in the early stages), in part because I don't want my practices to relate to weight loss efforts, but more because I thought adding things would make it more difficult than it needed to be when I mostly wanted my diet to feel natural and enjoyable. This year I might well go back to my usual.
So I do think that sometimes newbies to MFP seem to be doing too much at once and adding difficulties that are not necessary (if you really miss diet coke and end up having more trouble not overeating cookies, that's not helpful). However, that's going to depend on the person, so I think it's both useful to present the "you don't have to" ideas to OP and challenge things like "aspartame will KILL you TOMORROW and make you FAT" (not said by OP, of course) and also to respect her decision and answer her question.
When I gave up diet soda I lost a lot of weight, whereas I couldn't before. It did not lead to me eating more cookies. It might have actually lead to me craving less cookies. I don't know. I was also counting calories, so that was probably what did it, but I had a hard time losing prior to this and this time the pounds just flew off and i was able to keep it off for almost 2 years now. I don't know that the giving up soda had anything to do with it, but it might have. Also, if you're drinking soda, it's pretty much guaranteed that you will be drinking less water. Isn't water good for you? myfitnesspal recommends 8 glasses a day. I know that's an unnecessarily high amount, but if I'm drinking soda instead, it's likely that amount will be reduced to zero.
I suppose it hasn't been proven definitively that the chemicals in soda are bad, but that doesn't mean they aren't.
Water in soda somehow doesn't count for ... water. Check.
You started counting calories and lost weight but it was maybe because you stopped drinking soda at the same time. Check.
Chemicals aren't shown to be bad. But maybe they are. Check.
Logic, this post has it.
I'll buy that being used to the taste of sweetness might influence your palate and make you crave other sweet, calorie rich things and thus increase the tendency to go over on your calories. That seems to be a personal taste thing.
well, water is in foods too, but pure water sounds better. pretty sure when they have the 8 cups of water recommendation, they mean actual water, not water in foods.
doesn't matter if my post is right or wrong. giving up diet soda will not kill you.
man, i think some of the people here have diet soda as their personal god.
oh and i stopped counting calories regularly almost 2 years ago and still kept the weight off and it was extremely easy. any other time i tried to diet, i put it right back on. diet soda is possibly the reason.
No actually, the recommendation on water comes from an old paper and is "equivalent of" not actual distilled water (which is gross) you can have it in tea or tomatoes or what not.
Giving up anything won't kill you - you can give up apples, pork or caramelized puppies and it doesn't matter. The point is, for the majority of people that focusing on the majors is more important than random abnegation - that is what we try to get across.
That the OP decided that she wanted to stop drinking diet soda is fine - I don't care. Is it the best strategy for weight loss when some struggles with willpower? Heck, NO. Study after study shows that you only have so much ability to modify behavior by strength of will - one might want to focus that on the major factors that influence weight loss and quality of health.
It might very well be that going cold turkey is the best thing in terms of soda and palate choices for some people. I make no comment on that and if you read my posts I'm not challenging the OPs decision to do that - however the logic that it doesn't count as water, etc. well that's just off.
BTW, in the last two years you never drank a single soda? Did you suddenly gain weight?
Personally, soda isn't a god. Rarely drink the stuff - but at 60 cals a bottle for the stuff I do drink, it hardly influences my weight at all.
well, i believe it helped stop my cravings for other things. also do buy into the fact that it's chemicals and therefore not all that great. you don't have to if you don't want to.
no, i didn't give it up entirely. i still drink it as a mixer with alcohol sometimes when i go out drinking. gotta mix alcohol with something. i gave up diet soda as an every day thing to drink with meals.
distilled water is not gross.
So you drink soda with moderation. Got it. Hope it isn't making you fat. You actually do what everyone is recommending.
BTW - distilled water is not a good idea. And taste being a personal thing and everything, you might like it but it is generally accepted as poor in taste. It is also possibly unhealthy to drink it as it might leads to mineral leaching. Don't take my word for it.
WHO: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientschap12.pdf
I cut down on diet soda drastically. I am not doing what everyone is recommending. They are saying there is nothing wrong with drinking it all the time. Nope, not making me fat. Already said that I have kept my weight off for almost 2 years and haven't even had to log to do that. I think that lowering my diet soda intake by like 95% has helped with this. Apparently you disagree, but you're wrong. You're also not me.
meh, I mostly drink tap water or water through my works filter on the tap. If by distilled, you mean bottled water, I rarely drink that. Didn't read your link. Don't care.
No. distilled means distilled. Not bottled. Most bottled waters aren't distilled water.
So moderation works. Good to know.
so condescending. people would have viewed my drinking it twice a day before as "moderation" too. that does not work for me. as a mixer, drinking it once a month works. different levels of "moderation".
Sure, there are different levels of moderation.
And I wasn't being condescending. Distilled is a specific process - you boil the water and then condensate to remove all minerals. It was goes into your iron, batteries and sometimes baby formula (where it no longer is distilled as it is re-mineralized by the formula) but apparently upstream in the conversation somehow you had the position that it tasted good? I assumed you knew what it was if you used the word.
Condescending is trying to ridicule a position of moderation by pigeonholing us into "worshiping soda gods".
huh???? I never used the word "distilled" with water. I said I drank water. I said nothing about "distilled". Then you or someone else started telling me that distilled water is bad.
I'm not ridiculing a position of moderation. I take issue with people telling me that limiting diet soda in my diet had nothing to do with my losing weight when in fact they have no clue. I was mocked for stating that.0 -
That being said, I have no issue with those who to choose to give up diet soda. I do however have an issue with people stating that the flavor packets for water are somehow better for you when they contains the same artificial sweetners and such that diet soda does. To me that is hypocrisy.0
-
SwankyTomato wrote: »EvgeniZyntx wrote: ».
It doesn't come out distilled....
Not sure what you mean by the post above.
I can't use my tap water for my Keurig, we have mega hard water (lime and calcium) which would kill that machine. I am aware of the leaching, it is a little unnerving. Just one cup a day, I am not too concerned.
That being said, my DH drinks more coffee than I, so this week I did buy "spring water" for the machine. I know that probably has a high mineral content as well, but not as much as our tap water.
I do not drink distilled water as "water", I just use it in the Keurig.
Once you run distilled water through a coffee machine, with coffee - it is no longer distilled. In fact, the issue with hard water is that the process of percolating is close to a distillation some of the water evaporates and re-precipitates in the coffee maker, thus the issue of liming.
As the distilled water passed through the beans it absorbs minerals from the coffee - hence not an issue, it is no longer distilled. Drinking it straight MAY be a bad idea, using it in coffee is perfectly ok.0 -
That being said, I have no issue with those who to choose to give up diet soda. I do however have an issue with people stating that the flavor packets for water are somehow better for you when they contains the same artificial sweetners and such that diet soda does. To me that is hypocrisy.
agree. when i limited diet soda, i went to pure water in place of it.0 -
LeanButNotMean44 wrote: »Lynette4321 wrote: »I don't feel good about all the chemicals. Also, it keeps the sweet tooth going and makes it hard to stay away from sweets.
What about all of the chemicals in water? Lead, chlorine, etc. OTOH, if you don't want to drink soda, then don't drink it. I have one diet Coke per day (more on the weekends when I "cut" it with Captain Morgan) but I also drink 64ozs of water. AS long as soda isn't totally substituted for water then I don't see it as being an issue (for me).
oh yes, lets stop drinking water because of the "chemicals" *rollseyes*
Where did I say anyone should stop drinking water? Eye roll back atcha'.
ETA: "Tap water is treated with a large number of chemicals in order to kill bacteria and other microorganisms. In addition, it may contain other undesirable contaminants like toxic metal salts, hormones and pesticides, or it may become contaminated by chemicals or microbes within pipes (e.g. lead, bacteria, protozoa)." - Google0 -
Agreed.That being said, I have no issue with those who to choose to give up diet soda. I do however have an issue with people stating that the flavor packets for water are somehow better for you when they contains the same artificial sweetners and such that diet soda does. To me that is hypocrisy.
As for everyone else, I didn't notice the part where the OP asked if she should give up diet soda. I thought she asked for alternatives to diet soda to pair with pizza. I suggest red wine.
0 -
LeanButNotMean44 wrote: »LeanButNotMean44 wrote: »Lynette4321 wrote: »I don't feel good about all the chemicals. Also, it keeps the sweet tooth going and makes it hard to stay away from sweets.
What about all of the chemicals in water? Lead, chlorine, etc. OTOH, if you don't want to drink soda, then don't drink it. I have one diet Coke per day (more on the weekends when I "cut" it with Captain Morgan) but I also drink 64ozs of water. AS long as soda isn't totally substituted for water then I don't see it as being an issue (for me).
oh yes, lets stop drinking water because of the "chemicals" *rollseyes*
Where did I say anyone should stop drinking water? Eye roll back atcha'.
i re-read your post. if i'm drinking diet soda, i will drink less water. my total intake of liquids will not go up. i'd just be substituting soda for water. thus it is not good.0 -
huh???? I never used the word "distilled" with water. I said I drank water. I said nothing about "distilled". Then you or someone else started telling me that distilled water is bad.
I'm not ridiculing a position of moderation. I take issue with people telling me that limiting diet soda in my diet had nothing to do with my losing weight when in fact they have no clue. I was mocked for stating that.Aviva92 wrote:distilled water is not gross.
Ergo, you had an opinion on the taste.
You stated that you lost while starting a calorie deficit while also limiting your diet soda and that perhaps the limiting of the soda influenced your weight loss.
Perhaps. I'm going to continue thinking it was the deficit. Could the limit of soda and other behavior impact the way you maintained your deficit. Certainly.
But there are just as many people here that lose with diet soda.
It's possible both ways. But I have yet to see someone lose weight without a calorie deficit of some sort.
The point people make - if it is so hard to give up, you can focus on other things and still succeed.0 -
I have recently given up diet soda and feel better all around. I had started drinking less and one day when I ran out, I decided enough is enough. I missed flavor though, so I started putting lemon and cucumber, or orange and ginger, etc., in a large container of water in the fridge. I wasn't doing it for any detox. I just wanted something that tastes good and is natural and low calorie. It worked and I was able to quit soda without even missing it.
I think diet soda makes me crave more of the wrong stuff too.0 -
Agreed.That being said, I have no issue with those who to choose to give up diet soda. I do however have an issue with people stating that the flavor packets for water are somehow better for you when they contains the same artificial sweetners and such that diet soda does. To me that is hypocrisy.
As for everyone else, I didn't notice the part where the OP asked if she should give up diet soda. I thought she asked for alternatives to diet soda to pair with pizza. I suggest red wine.
0 -
EvgeniZyntx wrote: »huh???? I never used the word "distilled" with water. I said I drank water. I said nothing about "distilled". Then you or someone else started telling me that distilled water is bad.
I'm not ridiculing a position of moderation. I take issue with people telling me that limiting diet soda in my diet had nothing to do with my losing weight when in fact they have no clue. I was mocked for stating that.Aviva92 wrote:distilled water is not gross.
Ergo, you had an opinion on the taste.
You stated that you lost while starting a calorie deficit while also limiting your diet soda and that perhaps the limiting of the soda influenced your weight loss.
Perhaps. I'm going to continue thinking it was the deficit. Could the limit of soda and other behavior impact the way you maintained your deficit. Certainly.
But there are just as many people here that lose with diet soda.
It's possible both ways. But I have yet to see someone lose weight without a calorie deficit of some sort.
The point people make - if it is so hard to give up, you can focus on other things and still succeed.
I don't know what distilled water is. The post I was responding to was responding to my post and said it's gross. I don't think that water is gross. If you add in the word "distilled", I have zero opinion on it.
Yes, likely that I kept a deficit even though I don't log anymore, but also likely that giving up diet soda helped me to keep the deficit. I don't know how many calories I was eating prior to dieting to even compare that point.
Some people can lose with diet soda and some can't. Why can't we all be different?0 -
LeanButNotMean44 wrote: »LeanButNotMean44 wrote: »Lynette4321 wrote: »I don't feel good about all the chemicals. Also, it keeps the sweet tooth going and makes it hard to stay away from sweets.
What about all of the chemicals in water? Lead, chlorine, etc. OTOH, if you don't want to drink soda, then don't drink it. I have one diet Coke per day (more on the weekends when I "cut" it with Captain Morgan) but I also drink 64ozs of water. AS long as soda isn't totally substituted for water then I don't see it as being an issue (for me).
oh yes, lets stop drinking water because of the "chemicals" *rollseyes*
Where did I say anyone should stop drinking water? Eye roll back atcha'.
ETA: "Tap water is treated with a large number of chemicals in order to kill bacteria and other microorganisms. In addition, it may contain other undesirable contaminants like toxic metal salts, hormones and pesticides, or it may become contaminated by chemicals or microbes within pipes (e.g. lead, bacteria, protozoa)." - Google
so, now you're saying tap water is bad. soooooo what's your point?0
This discussion has been closed.
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