Who are these people who can just cut out soda, etc?

juliebowling1

I just don't understand why some people just cut out sugary drinks, fast food and maybe cut back on drinking and they lose weight. I've never been a fan of soda, I rarely eat dessert and I have had alcohol in over twenty years. Now, I readily admit I love pasta and potatoes and those have to go except for small portions now and then. But why do some people seems to lose so easily?
I don't mean to sound like such a whiner. Is it all about changing your metabolism?

HardcoreP0rk

Well I think it's probably specific to those people. Maybe the ONLY thing that's keeping them overweight is junk food or soda or a combination of the two.

barbecuesauce

juliebowling1 wrote: »

I just don't understand why some people just cut out sugary drinks, fast food and maybe cut back on drinking and they lose weight. I've never been a fan of soda, I rarely eat dessert and I have had alcohol in over twenty years. Now, I readily admit I love pasta and potatoes and those have to go except for small portions now and then. But why do some people seems to lose so easily?
I don't mean to sound like such a whiner. Is it all about changing your metabolism?

It depends on how much they're consuming. I know someone who was taking in nearly 1000 calories in cokes a day. I had a bad latte habit and probably cut 2000 calories out of my weekly diet. No telling with people who have alcohol problems.

It's your overall diet, not just carbs. Maybe look at where your calories are coming from. Cheese? Butter? Do you weight your portions?

SueInAz

There was an article in the NY Times just in the last few days about a woman who lost over 100 pounds by cutting out sugar. Turns out she was drinking 4 liters of Coke each day on top of what she was eating. If anyone cuts out 1600 extraneous calories every day (more than I usually eat total!), as she did by quitting soda, they are going to lose weight.

oh_happy_day

juliebowling1 wrote: »

I just don't understand why some people just cut out sugary drinks, fast food and maybe cut back on drinking and they lose weight. I've never been a fan of soda, I rarely eat dessert and I have had alcohol in over twenty years. Now, I readily admit I love pasta and potatoes and those have to go except for small portions now and then. But why do some people seems to lose so easily?
I don't mean to sound like such a whiner. Is it all about changing your metabolism?

It's not about metabolism. It's about how much they were consuming. If you eat/drink a lot of calorie dense items and then cut them it will make a big difference. And people may be consuming thousands of extra calories. For example a few glasses of wine, some non-diet cola, a small chocolate bar and a small fries could easily add an extra 1500+ calories to your day. If you cut those out, of course you'd lose easily at the beginning.

ryanflebbe

HardcoreP0rk wrote: »

Well I think it's probably specific to those people. Maybe the ONLY thing that's keeping them overweight is junk food or soda or a combination of the two.

This pretty much. They have different genetics and faster metabolisms. It took all that junk for them to get fat, take it all away and they lose weight.

Alluminati

It's about burning more calories than you consume, which varies from person to person. Comparing and fretting over it is a big waste of time, IMO.

ShandaLeaS

I was drinking almost 1500 calories a day in sweet tea plus 2 32 ounce Cokes a day.....

Francl27

You can gain a pound a month drinking one can of soda a day above your maintenance calories. If you drink 3 or 4 and stop, you can probably lose close to 1 pound a week...

Kymmu

I was never allowed soda ( soft drinks) or lollies ( candy) as a child as my mum worried about our teeth. I was allowed savoury treats. Consequently I have absolutely no sweet tooth, but could easily demolish a packet of chips or salty snacks. I don't buy them. It's conditioning

Bshmerlie

I was easily consuming 500 calories per day just by drinking coke. It's an easy thing to cut out to create a deficit.

Yoshirio

I use to drink a 2 liters a day of soda by myself. So yeah getting rid of that habit made a huge difference.

callsitlikeiseeit

i used to drink dr pepper all day long. made no difference when i stopped LOL

i guess it depends on where your cumulative calories are coming from.

middlehaitch

I used to drink a couple of cans of fizzy pop a day.

On a trip through the Mediterranean one hot summer, the easiest thing to carry and drink was 'agua mineral con gas' soda water. I never went back to fizzy pop. By the time I got home I had lost the taste for it.

The calories not used on the pop certainly added more nutrition for the last part of my weight loss.

Cheers, h.

Machka9

juliebowling1 wrote: »

I just don't understand why some people just cut out sugary drinks, fast food and maybe cut back on drinking and they lose weight. I've never been a fan of soda, I rarely eat dessert and I have had alcohol in over twenty years. Now, I readily admit I love pasta and potatoes and those have to go except for small portions now and then. But why do some people seems to lose so easily?
I don't mean to sound like such a whiner. Is it all about changing your metabolism?

Back 20-ish years ago, I worked in a donut shop. We were allowed to eat and drink whatever we wanted. So as you might imagine, I gained weight ... so much that I was in danger of having to ask my boss for the next uniform size up.

Now, I was already active ... going to the gym just about every day, cycling, walking, etc. And outside working hours, my diet wasn't bad.

So I decided to cut out all sugared drinks for a couple weeks to see what would happen. I still ate the donuts, and I still drank (water, black coffee, etc.).

I lost 5 lbs in those 2 weeks.

There are a lot of calories in sugared drinks. For example, 250 ml (1 cup) of Coca-Cola has about 110 calories. I was drinking at least a litre, sometimes closer to two, of that or other sugared soft drinks. Plus I was adding sugar to my coffee, and I was putting away a lot of coffee. Plus I had developed a liking for a particular sweetened carbonated grapefruit drink, and would put away a couple bottles of that after work.

5 lbs is 17,500 calories ... over 14 days, that's 1250 calories per day. Yeah ... I was probably drinking that many calories.

Gozergirl

Cutting fast food helped me a lot.

boogiewookie

my husband just cut down on soda becase he thought he drank too much and lost 20lbs within a few months. he wasn't even trying to lose weight. we were both pretty shocked lol

lseed87

All about toxins. I used to only drink pepsi. Now I have tea and water, even flavored water. Sometimes I do drink some form of soda but its very rare.

AshleyCMoody

I've actually never liked soda because I hate carbonated beverages. The bubbles are unpleasant to me. But cutting out all caloric drinks was a struggle. I used to drink a lot of juice until I realized I was wasting most of my calories on drinks and would still be hungry. I have now become accustomed to drinking black coffee and water, but it wasn't easy.

allaboutthefood

Well just in pop and kool aid in one day was about 2640 in calories, not including the 4 cups of tea I had with 2 tsp of sugar in each. So once I gave that up and starting drinking water instead, I haven't had pop or juice in 5 months and I have maybe one cup of tea a week with only 1 tsp of sugar now. So yes I saw a big weight loss at first.

nordlead2005

I used to drink 500 calories/day and was stable at 210 until last winter when I started having a donut every day when I went up to 220.

Cutting the donuts and soda got me down to a 500 calorie deficit, so the rest came from smaller portions.

Anytime you can cut non-filling calories it makes losing weight easier. Sugar with no fiber or any other nutritional value tends not to be very filling.

cmtigger

Or the person is like my dad. He insists that he lost weight because he stopped eating pizza and fries. He rarely ate pizza and fries. And he will still eat them if someone offers them to him. He lost weight by retiring from a desk job.

lemurcat12

I quit soda with calories and booze and fast food way before I ever dieted (and when I was average weight), so I didn't have those easy fixes either. I looked at my diet and figured out where my extra calories were coming from and cut them. I also realized that one issue was that at one point I went from active to sedentary and at 5'3 and 120-125 (my comfortable weight) I can eat 2000+ and maintain if I'm active, but need more like 1500-1600 to maintain if I am not.

1500 is low, so knowing that matters -- I can either be really rigorous with my diet (including evenings out, which can add up), or I can be active. I chose the latter.

ninerbuff

It's not rocket science. They just ate/drank much LESS than they used to. Regardless if it was soda, chips, donuts, fried chicken, gravy, whole sticks of butter, hot dogs, pizza, etc., any reduction in calories results in less weight.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Whitezombiegirl

I don't drink soda - never have. I rarely drink as it gives me migranes. I am one of those people that eats chocolate etc. every day and still loses weight- thats because my meals are smaller than most people's meals. I don't have a large appetite. It's CICO. Oh I've never been one to eat junk food or go out to eat- so i don't miss it.

Orphia

Bshmerlie wrote: »

I was easily consuming 500 calories per day just by drinking coke. It's an easy thing to cut out to create a deficit.

Same here, at least 500 calories, but with soft drink and/or alcohol.

I gave up all the soft drink, and a lot of the alcohol. Priorities.

KateTii

My big problem was juice - I would easily drink a litre of the stuff in a day of work. Now I have switched to "infused water" (aka cut up fruit - put it in water/sparkling water) at work. I've changed other habits as well so I can't put it down to that entirely, but now being much more aware of calories I'm shocked at what a big impact it had.

Monklady123

This is why -- for me -- it is SO easy to lose weight in the first week or so. My diet overall has never been too bad, so if I just stop eating junk and drinking calories (mainly wine with dinner and another glass afterwards) I'll lose weight. Easy. Too bad it's more difficult as the weeks go on. lol.

enkiemonkey

I get what you mean. I don't drink soda. Not really juice either. And I don't have a sweet tooth. Plus I walk a ton given where I live. Yet I am not at my ideal weight.

Turns out my portions really are just too big and it's too salty

sheldonklein

juliebowling1 wrote: »

I just don't understand why some people just cut out sugary drinks, fast food and maybe cut back on drinking and they lose weight. I've never been a fan of soda, I rarely eat dessert and I have had alcohol in over twenty years. Now, I readily admit I love pasta and potatoes and those have to go except for small portions now and then. But why do some people seems to lose so easily?
I don't mean to sound like such a whiner. Is it all about changing your metabolism?

Why do you think it's easier to cut out Coke for a Coke lover than a triple portion of pasta? Eliminating 1000 calories a day is hard, whatever the source. And if you eliminate 1000 calories, you will lose weight. It has nothing to do with metabolism.

TimothyFish

If soda isn't your thing, it won't do you any good to cut it out. But I've seen people who stop at a convenience store every morning to buy the biggest sugary drink they can get. For them, just changing that one habit could result in weight loss.