Addicted to diet coke.. help :(

ogmomma2012

*sigh* For -some- people, -some- people compensate by eating more food when they know their drink doesn't have calories. -Some- people are triggered by a sweet taste despite it not having any calories. All the studies include these people who, for -them-, become more susceptible to over-eating or crave sweet things to a higher degree, HOWEVER the conclusion is that it is NOT the drink itself that is to blame. I don't like soda any more, but even when I did drink diet sodas it did not make me crave anything more than I already did, and I didn't eat more than I already did. I was able to lose weight with diet soda in my life.

My choice to rely primarily on water is simply because my tastes have changed, not because soda is "toxic" or has "chemicals" or any other fearmongering word people have attached to soda.

Caffeine is addictive, no doubt about it. If caffeine is what keeps you coming back to soda, maybe you should try caffeine free and see how that suits you.

I have been addicted to other substances and now that I have been clean of mostly everything it feels good to be in control of my body rather than feel it being altered by something else.

Aaron_K123

Right on ogmomma

BridgetHarrington

I can't speak to the science end of it. But I can speak to my brother and two friends. All three were about 30-40 pounds overweight, and all three drank at least a 6 pack of Diet Coke a day. My brother was going through two 2 litre bottles in work every day! All three decided to or had to (one friend got hypersensitive to caffeine) quit cold turkey. Both friends (females) lost the 30 pounds and then some. My brother lost 55 pounds. No changes in lifestyle, diet or exercise. So you can't convince me that Diet Coke doesn't do something to the metabolism when three unrelated people quit it and made no other life or diet changes and lost a good amount of weight.

I personally don't drink the stuff. I drink plain water, black coffee, unsweetened tea made from tea bags or unflavored seltzer water.

Hornsby

BridgetHarrington wrote: »

I can't speak to the science end of it. But I can speak to my brother and two friends. All three were about 30-40 pounds overweight, and all three drank at least a 6 pack of Diet Coke a day. My brother was going through two 2 litre bottles in work every day! All three decided to or had to (one friend got hypersensitive to caffeine) quit cold turkey. Both friends (females) lost the 30 pounds and then some. My brother lost 55 pounds. No changes in lifestyle, diet or exercise. So you can't convince me that Diet Coke doesn't do something to the metabolism when three unrelated people quit it and made no other life or diet changes and lost a good amount of weight.

I personally don't drink the stuff. I drink plain water, black coffee, unsweetened tea made from tea bags or unflavored seltzer water.

Magic...

stevencloser

Hornsby wrote: »

BridgetHarrington wrote: »

I can't speak to the science end of it. But I can speak to my brother and two friends. All three were about 30-40 pounds overweight, and all three drank at least a 6 pack of Diet Coke a day. My brother was going through two 2 litre bottles in work every day! All three decided to or had to (one friend got hypersensitive to caffeine) quit cold turkey. Both friends (females) lost the 30 pounds and then some. My brother lost 55 pounds. No changes in lifestyle, diet or exercise. So you can't convince me that Diet Coke doesn't do something to the metabolism when three unrelated people quit it and made no other life or diet changes and lost a good amount of weight.

I personally don't drink the stuff. I drink plain water, black coffee, unsweetened tea made from tea bags or unflavored seltzer water.

Magic...

Definitely. Especially since I only started drinking it well into my 50 pound weight loss.

singingflutelady

I drank massive amounts of diet coke when I was anorexic and fell to bmi 15.9

stevencloser wrote: »

Hornsby wrote: »

BridgetHarrington wrote: »

I can't speak to the science end of it. But I can speak to my brother and two friends. All three were about 30-40 pounds overweight, and all three drank at least a 6 pack of Diet Coke a day. My brother was going through two 2 litre bottles in work every day! All three decided to or had to (one friend got hypersensitive to caffeine) quit cold turkey. Both friends (females) lost the 30 pounds and then some. My brother lost 55 pounds. No changes in lifestyle, diet or exercise. So you can't convince me that Diet Coke doesn't do something to the metabolism when three unrelated people quit it and made no other life or diet changes and lost a good amount of weight.

I personally don't drink the stuff. I drink plain water, black coffee, unsweetened tea made from tea bags or unflavored seltzer water.

Magic...

Definitely. Especially since I only started drinking it well into my 50 pound weight loss.

Aaron_K123

singingflutelady wrote: »

I drank massive amounts of diet coke when I was anorexic and fell to bmi 15.9

stevencloser wrote: »

Hornsby wrote: »

BridgetHarrington wrote: »

I can't speak to the science end of it. But I can speak to my brother and two friends. All three were about 30-40 pounds overweight, and all three drank at least a 6 pack of Diet Coke a day. My brother was going through two 2 litre bottles in work every day! All three decided to or had to (one friend got hypersensitive to caffeine) quit cold turkey. Both friends (females) lost the 30 pounds and then some. My brother lost 55 pounds. No changes in lifestyle, diet or exercise. So you can't convince me that Diet Coke doesn't do something to the metabolism when three unrelated people quit it and made no other life or diet changes and lost a good amount of weight.

I personally don't drink the stuff. I drink plain water, black coffee, unsweetened tea made from tea bags or unflavored seltzer water.

Magic...

Definitely. Especially since I only started drinking it well into my 50 pound weight loss.

Not to derail the topic of the thread but huge kudos for overcoming anorexia and becoming the badass I see in your profile picture.

singingflutelady

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

singingflutelady wrote: »

I drank massive amounts of diet coke when I was anorexic and fell to bmi 15.9

stevencloser wrote: »

Hornsby wrote: »

BridgetHarrington wrote: »

I can't speak to the science end of it. But I can speak to my brother and two friends. All three were about 30-40 pounds overweight, and all three drank at least a 6 pack of Diet Coke a day. My brother was going through two 2 litre bottles in work every day! All three decided to or had to (one friend got hypersensitive to caffeine) quit cold turkey. Both friends (females) lost the 30 pounds and then some. My brother lost 55 pounds. No changes in lifestyle, diet or exercise. So you can't convince me that Diet Coke doesn't do something to the metabolism when three unrelated people quit it and made no other life or diet changes and lost a good amount of weight.

I personally don't drink the stuff. I drink plain water, black coffee, unsweetened tea made from tea bags or unflavored seltzer water.

Magic...

Definitely. Especially since I only started drinking it well into my 50 pound weight loss.

Not to derail the topic of the thread but huge kudos for overcoming anorexia and becoming the badass I see in your profile picture.

@Aaron_K123 Thanks! I am deconditioned atm as I am taking a break from the gym for medical reasons (I have fistulizing Crohn's colitis). It was a lot of work and still struggle with dysmorphia but that's life. I went through inpatient, day hospitalization and outpatient treatment. Ironically now I have Crohn's and have to restrict my foods a lot (not calorie wise but for medical reasons). I also was a huge laxative abuser back in the day (12 years ago) and wonder if that contributed to developing crohn's as I have no family his of it but I'll never know.

cerise_noir

BridgetHarrington wrote: »

I can't speak to the science end of it. But I can speak to my brother and two friends. All three were about 30-40 pounds overweight, and all three drank at least a 6 pack of Diet Coke a day. My brother was going through two 2 litre bottles in work every day! All three decided to or had to (one friend got hypersensitive to caffeine) quit cold turkey. Both friends (females) lost the 30 pounds and then some. My brother lost 55 pounds. No changes in lifestyle, diet or exercise. So you can't convince me that Diet Coke doesn't do something to the metabolism when three unrelated people quit it and made no other life or diet changes and lost a good amount of weight.

I personally don't drink the stuff. I drink plain water, black coffee, unsweetened tea made from tea bags or unflavored seltzer water.

Strange how a 0 calorie drink can keep people fat, eh?
Unless you watched every one of these above mentioned 24/7, you cannot make the claim that cutting a 0 to low calorie beverage had anything to do with their weight loss.


I've lose almost 100lbs and I drink any diet drink I'm in the mood for.

daniip_la

BridgetHarrington wrote: »

I can't speak to the science end of it. But I can speak to my brother and two friends. All three were about 30-40 pounds overweight, and all three drank at least a 6 pack of Diet Coke a day. My brother was going through two 2 litre bottles in work every day! All three decided to or had to (one friend got hypersensitive to caffeine) quit cold turkey. Both friends (females) lost the 30 pounds and then some. My brother lost 55 pounds. No changes in lifestyle, diet or exercise. So you can't convince me that Diet Coke doesn't do something to the metabolism when three unrelated people quit it and made no other life or diet changes and lost a good amount of weight.

I personally don't drink the stuff. I drink plain water, black coffee, unsweetened tea made from tea bags or unflavored seltzer water.

I prefer to believe science. And science says that Diet Coke does not contribute to weight gain.

WinoGelato

daniip_la wrote: »

BridgetHarrington wrote: »

I can't speak to the science end of it. But I can speak to my brother and two friends. All three were about 30-40 pounds overweight, and all three drank at least a 6 pack of Diet Coke a day. My brother was going through two 2 litre bottles in work every day! All three decided to or had to (one friend got hypersensitive to caffeine) quit cold turkey. Both friends (females) lost the 30 pounds and then some. My brother lost 55 pounds. No changes in lifestyle, diet or exercise. So you can't convince me that Diet Coke doesn't do something to the metabolism when three unrelated people quit it and made no other life or diet changes and lost a good amount of weight.

I personally don't drink the stuff. I drink plain water, black coffee, unsweetened tea made from tea bags or unflavored seltzer water.

I prefer to believe science. And science says that Diet Coke does not contribute to weight gain.

Pretty much this. My anecdotal n=1 data set includes me drinking Diet Coke for over 25 years including when I was a sub 100 lb skinny high schooler, when I was a college cheerleader and in the best shape of my life, when I started gaining weight after college, when I was at my heaviest after having two children, and all through my efforts here on MFP to lose 30lbs and maintain that weight loss.

So if looking exclusively at Diet Coke as a factor in that it would seem that it both made me gain weight and lose weight... But that's silly since it has zero calories and cannot be responsible for any direct effect on the energy balance. So I too will go with science for the win.

Aaron_K123

BridgetHarrington wrote: »

I can't speak to the science end of it. But I can speak to my brother and two friends. All three were about 30-40 pounds overweight, and all three drank at least a 6 pack of Diet Coke a day. My brother was going through two 2 litre bottles in work every day! All three decided to or had to (one friend got hypersensitive to caffeine) quit cold turkey. Both friends (females) lost the 30 pounds and then some. My brother lost 55 pounds. No changes in lifestyle, diet or exercise. So you can't convince me that Diet Coke doesn't do something to the metabolism when three unrelated people quit it and made no other life or diet changes and lost a good amount of weight.

I personally don't drink the stuff. I drink plain water, black coffee, unsweetened tea made from tea bags or unflavored seltzer water.

Individuals narratives are unreliable which is why we don't rely on them when we want to determine how the world works.

I am happy for your friends weight loss but saying as advice to someone else "well Bob and Francine did X and then Y happened so if you want Y to happen you should do X" is not good advice. Why? Well for one that is evidence that X caused Y and second that is not evidence that what worked for Bob and Francine has any relevance to the person you are attempting to advise.

This is why we do actual studies and no study has demonstrated a causitive link between drinking diet cola and gaining weight. Not to mention that doesn't even make any logical sense. To demonstrate causation you don't only have to have a correlation you also have to have mechanism and by what mechanism exactly would a 1-2 calorie beverage cause substantial weight gain.

Change your metabolism? What does that even mean...that is some hand-waving.