Coke Zero

PRMinx

sijomial wrote: »

My thoughts are that as a person with 109lbs to lose there are far more important things to focus your energy on than a zero calorie drink.
Calories, nutrition and exercise would strike me as infinitely more important.

Wow, do you have a flag stalker? SMH. This was good advice.

OP, big picture. A diet soda is not going to derail your efforts. I'm not a big soda drinker (never have been) but there are some days at work where I just NEED one. And if I'm hungover? I go for the real stuff. Diet soda has never made an impact on my weight or performance. If I have a regular soda, I just make sure it fits my cals.

amcook4

weight loss wise, you can have all the diet soda you want. Weight loss is strictly about calories, diet soda has no calories. I'm down 80 pounds and drink plenty of diet soda.

Hornsby

If you want to cut them out, go for it. They won't effect your weight loss though unless they cause you to binge or crave other things and you can't control it. They are less than 5 calories after all.

tekkiechikk

OP, like most of us with a lot of weight to lose, the one thing I would caution is not to give up too many things all at once. It becomes a drag trying to overdo it in the attempt to get healthy. Diet soda is probably the least wicked thing you could give up at this point so if you enjoy it, don't worry about that the handful of calories. Track them like everything else and focus on your main goals (eat less, move more). I love Coke Zero and would continue to drink it but gave it up for other reasons (weirdly, diet soda brings on the hot flashes, ugh!). Good luck, you can do this

wonko221

It would be helpful to understand why you are cutting carbonated beverages.

I've got a few things that i cut arbitrarily from my diet while i get healthy, because i know that it would be too easy to slip into bad habits with them. For instance, i won't keep ice cream in my home; when i serve ice cream, i over-serve it. I wouldn't be satisfied with a healthy portion right now, so i just avoid it.

If you would find yourself drinking too much coke zero if you kept it in the house skip it, at least for now.

But if you drink plenty of healthy fluids otherwise, and want to know if it's okay to occasionally have a coke zero as part of a healthy lifestyle, then it should be fine.

SconnieCat

sijomial wrote: »

My thoughts are that as a person with 109lbs to lose there are far more important things to focus your energy on than a zero calorie drink.
Calories, nutrition and exercise would strike me as infinitely more important.

Not sure why this post was flagged.

Diet beverages have no impact on weight loss. CICO is the formula for weight loss. If you want a coke zero or four.... then drink up. If you'd rather have water.... enjoy. I have at least one diet coke every day and chug diet sprite when I'm sick or hungover. I've had relatively consistent weight loss (i say relatively since weight loss isn't linear and there are normal fluctuations) and I enjoy soda.

Honestly, it's a personal preference.

MaryCS62

I drink it, but rarely. I usually limit my caffeine intake to the morning, with my 14oz of coffee. I try not to drink any after 3pm, because I don't want the caffeine to keep me up. Since I'm usually drinking water, I don't really have room for it. I'll occasionally drink a diet (non caffeinated) soda with my dinner, but that's about it. The only time I drink a large soda otherwise is if I need the caffeine -- ie, long drives, or working a double shift at work.
My DH drinks coffee & diet mountain dew by the gallon daily -- but he also doesn't sleep much!

markiend

low cal and zero gives me a bit of a headache, so I drink normal coke instead

whysmell

They're not good for you, but as far as weight loss you can drink them all day and still lose weight

tigerblue

Moderation in all things!

I have one maybe once a week. Sometimes a diet soda, or some other kind of low/no cal drink really helps me to keep from snacking. I tend to overdo it on decaff coffee for this reason!

kampshoff

I generally avoid full-sugar sodas and artificial sweeteners, but if I'm having a mixed drink that calls for cola, Coke Zero and its flavored variants are pretty decent.

I cut soda out of my diet nearly completely (aside from the occasional root beer or rum & cola) about two years ago and I find that I don't miss it much at all. I don't think that it's necessarily "bad" for you, but I didn't like drinking my calories when I was drinking the full-sugar stuff, and I just don't like the taste of most artificial sweeteners. Also, not having the stuff in the house makes it less likely that my kids will pick up a taste for soda. So far, they haven't.

mimipuma

People with more knowledge on this may correct me (which is totally fine, I don't want to spread disinformation), but a few things I've heard about diet soda are:

1) The caramel coloring is carcinogenic (1 can has an acceptable amount, but more than that in a day is not considered 'safe' for some brands, although Coke has much less of 4-Mel than Pepsi). (http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/01/caramel-color-the-health-risk-that-may-be-in-your-soda/index.htm)

2) Carbonated drinks can expand your stomach (Is this true? I drink La Croix, so I'm not taking it that seriously, but I've heard about it in regards to gastric bypass surgery - maybe it is a much more pertinent issue in that case than otherwise).

3) Your body treats artificial sweeteners like regular sugars, so while diet drinks don't have calories they can still affect your blood sugar levels. (http://www.webmd.com/diet/20140917/artificial-sweeteners-blood-sugar?page=1)

4) People who drink diet sodas tend to make up the caloric difference elsewhere (which if you're tracking on MFP shouldn't be an issue). (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/)

And then, my anecdata: When I stopped drinking diet soda, I dropped ten pounds in the next few months. However, I also changed other eating and exercise habits, and correlation =/= causation. As many of the people on this thread have told you, they drink diet soda and they're doing just fine.

TL;DR: Do what helps you achieve your goals and feel happy and healthy. Good luck.

nickatine

I have a couple rum and coke zeros every evening. Hasn't hindered my progression one bit.

likehlikeo

I drink Diet Coke on a daily basis (1L every day at the office..keeps me from snacking in a way). The only thing I'm afraid of is the potential damaging of my teeth.

JoyeII

I think it doesn't matter.