A question for people who have stopped drinking diet drinks
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I was hooked on them for years. I was drinking at least four a day. I went cold turkey when I started having mini seizures and found a link saying that aspartame could cause seizures. So I haven't had a diet drink in probably 3 years. I never had another seizure and also have less fluid retention problems and just feel better in general. I now only drink water or unsweet tea (sometimes with razzberry).0
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I used to hate water and I just could drink it, so I changed sodas with fruit juices which gave me way more energy to work out and made me feel lighter. Then I started drinking water while working out and now I drink only water, except special occasions (like being depressed)0
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i stopped drinking diet coke and it made me sad
so i started again
no difference in my ever constant loss!
but i will say, i think people sometimes have soda INSTEAD of water, and thats the problem
you have to make sure youre drinking all your water.0 -
"I think it is healthier not to drink them, but don't expect any magical change when you stop."
That's a shame - I was really hoping it would kick-start weight loss and I'd feel much better and have lots more energy...............
Everyone is different though. You might.0 -
Well, I've amazed myself so far today as it's almost 24 hours since I last had a diet coke! :laugh: I feel fine so far, no headache or anything.
Today I have drunk plain water and, when I started to feel a craving for something else(!), I had a glass of sparkling mineral water with ice and a couple of slices of lime. It was delicious!
I really hope stopping the diet coke will make a positive difference.0 -
Don't know if there was a "feeling" BUT, I can say all that sodium has helped with the bloat every day. That alone was about 5 pounds!!! I have one every now and then and YES, I can feel the sodium the next day. But it is a treat now when we go somewhere or a just cause treat. I have replaced it with water and green tea AND juice. The less fake food we eat the better.0
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I definitely feel better. I use to drink about 4-5 cans of coke zero or diet dr pepper a day. I always felted bloated from it, and I never drank water.
So in order to get my water in, I quit sodas a few months ago and never looked back. I only drink water now..and just plain water. I personally think it helped me get past the 160's. I lost weight last year but only got down to 165 and couldn't get any lower and eventually gained the weight back. I am now 152.
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I was an addict too. I drank anywhere between 6-8 per day. what I had to do to release myself from the control diet coke had on me was first, make up my mind to endure the headaches or withdrawals symptoms. I did this by slowly reducing the amount by 3 cokes per day then spacing the remainder through out the day. now I am completely off for the last five weeks I don't even desire any other sodas. I now make fresh juices like carrot or cucumber and ginger sweetened with stevia. I can't say I see any difference in my weight by the switch but I certainly feel better in my body.0
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I was an addict too. I drank anywhere between 6-8 per day. what I had to do to release myself from the control diet coke had on me was first, make up my mind to endure the headaches or withdrawals symptoms. I did this by slowly reducing the amount by 3 cokes per day then spacing the remainder through out the day. now I am completely off for the last five weeks I don't even desire any other sodas.
I think it's a good idea to slowly phase out the diet coke. I'm planning to slowly reduce the amount I drink and will have just one can later today if I really really feel I need it, aiming to make the space between drinks longer.
It's quite scary how much of a hold diet drinks can have over us. A big well done to everyone who has managed to kick their diet drink habit. Hope I'll be joining you very soon.....0 -
Good for you! It really gets easier after a few days. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks for me.Well, I've amazed myself so far today as it's almost 24 hours since I last had a diet coke! :laugh: I feel fine so far, no headache or anything.
Today I have drunk plain water and, when I started to feel a craving for something else(!), I had a glass of sparkling mineral water with ice and a couple of slices of lime. It was delicious!
I really hope stopping the diet coke will make a positive difference.
I still drink coffee in the morning and started drinking unsweet iced tea (instead of adding splenda) for the caffeine. But even with that, I'm drinking way less caffeine and haven't had any headaches.0 -
Tomorrow will be 3 weeks for me.
Fantastic!!!
I've just managed 25 hours then the craving got too much.... However, the next gap will be even longer!0 -
nothing but water and milk here, feelsgoodman, hate aspertine and I hate the sluggish feeling sugar gives me, so i don't drink anything else
maybe i'll do 1-2 sodas a year0 -
Stopped cold turkey 14 months ago. Only water, seltzer, and unsweetened brewed iced tea. And never looking back!!0
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Diet Dr. Pepper was my crack!!! I drank about 3 cans a day! I stopped drinking it because of the chemicals. My acne has cleared up, I don't have so much of the "brain fog" & I just feel way better since I stopped the habit. It's going on 3 months and I actually don't miss it! I had to ease into kicking the habit though......the first week instead of 3 cans I had 2, the second week had I cut back on another and so on. You can do it! Good luck! :drinker:0
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it's interesting to see how many people commented on their skin. I was just noticing this morning that my skin looks amazing and was wondering why. I gave up diet coke May 2. I used to drink a lot of it (6-8 cans a day), but then I got really bad acid reflux and had to give it up. Started drinking it again eventually and cut back to 1-2 a day, but even that will trigger my acid reflux after just a few days. Did it help with my weight loss? Hard to say, but my skin looks great, I'm losing weight consistently, and I don't get the daily headaches I used to. I also gave up crystal light on May 2 - trying to cut out most artificial sweeteners. I still get some, but I don't add it to my water. When I'm ambitious I'll do the fruit thing too - slice up an orange or lemon or lime and make a pitcher of water - but for the most part just drink filtered water. I used to find plain water boring, but now that's what I'm used to.0
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All I can Really Say Is It Make's You One Step Closer To Your Goal:) And Try Drinking Glaceau sparkling zero calorie Fruit water0
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I am on week 8 of no soda. I have drank soda for 20+ years, sometimes as much as 4 liters a day, but more recently 2-3 20 oz bottles a day. Here is my story.
Days 1-3: Cravings, Headaches. (I purposely stopped on a Thursday night so the worst of it would be over the weekend.
Week 1-2: Cravings subsided, started drinking flavored water and crystal light
Week 3: We went out to eat and I ordered a glass of diet coke. I asked the waiter to bring it our with my dinner and not refill it. I only took 3 maybe 4 sips the entire dinner, as even at this point it was too sugary for me.
Week 4: I realized I had replaced soda with equally as bad flavored water drops, so I switched over to plain water/ or fresh lemon water.
Week 5: I started dieting, and quite honestly don't even want soda.
Stopping soda alone wasn't enough for me to lose weight, but my joints and body felt way better. I also had more energy from the water, and less cravings for sugary foods.
I found giving up one thing at a time to be helpful. (i.e. first soda, then a few weeks later flavored water, then sugar snacks, then I eased into dieting.0 -
Well, I had quit diet coke because I figured might as well have the good sugary kind. Now I really don't like the taste of diet. I'll drink both sparingly, but just don't care for it anymore. I'd rather have a good brewski. For caffeine, I drink coffee black or iced tea.0
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i used to drink at least one 20 oz bottle of Diet Coke a day.
Now, I only drink it on occasion. Like, if I get a combo at a restaurant or something. I dunno, I just don't feel my best when I'm drinking it anymore. Makes me retain like a beast.
I've made friends with unsweetened tea and black coffee. Not for the health benefits, but the taste. There's something awesome and smooth about them both that gets me going!0 -
I wasn't a diet drink addict per se, but whenever I did low carb I drank diet sodas, but my favorite was minute maid light lemonade. When I was younger i didn't notice any side effects, but almost two years ago I started getting really bad burning pains in my feet. I ended up going off low carb and the pains got better (neuropathy
). I did some research and loosely concluded my body was making nasty byproducts from metabolizing the aspartame that were causing nerve damage. I switched to diet drinks with stevia (Sobe) and didn't have any problems.
So the point is there is no easy way to get off Diet Coke (I have many friends that are hooked) other than weaning yourself down, substituting another form of caffeine if you need to (I love Fuze half lemon/half ice tea now, and they have a low sugar non-diet version/orange cans, 70 calories) and take these headache/zit/foot pain stories as incentive to get off the Diet Coke.0 -
It'll make you gain weight even if its low in calories.
That all I have to say. But you can do that!
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It'll make you gain weight even if its low in calories.
That all I have to say. But you can do that!
First post and it's epic wrongness.
Drinking a diet drink doesn't make you gain. Overeating does.0 -
I used to drink a lot of diet sodas, mostly diet coke. Once I started making changes in my eating and drinking more water I started to cut down on the diet drinks, as I would just drink them all day long. I slowly cut back and now I rarely have one and don't miss it at all. I stopped getting heartburn like symptoms, and felt much less bloated, both of those things I think were from the carbonation. Last time I had a diet coke it made my throat and belly hurt, funny that I used to drink them all day long.0
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It'll make you gain weight even if its low in calories.
That all I have to say. But you can do that!
First post and it's epic wrongness.
Drinking a diet drink doesn't make you gain. Overeating does.
That is just symantics---Calorie wise it may not make you gain...but the chemical combo that is in it will make your body crave sweets until you finally eat something with sugar. Best thing is to cut out as much artifical sweetner that you can. I do no diet sodas, sugar free deserts, or anything with nutrasweet, equal, or sweet n low. If I am at home, I drink tea sweetened with stevia. I have given it up for 8 weeks--no cravings for soda or sweets. I did not have the headaches either. I just replaced it with water...lots of water.
Since giving it up, I have NO cravings for sweets, I have had no binges, and I have lost 27.4 pounds. I changed my diet, but without having sweet cravings, it is so much easier to eat healthier. Studies have shown that America's obesity problem has increased since the introduction of the Sugar Free drinks and food. No wonder, since the sweet taste makes your body release insulin--expecting glucose in the bloodstream. When the body does not get the glucose, your body craves sugar to level out the insulin.
Start looking for the artificial sweetners, and avoid it. Crystal light and many of the water flavorings have it in them too. If you want to cut it out, flavor with lemon, orange, or any fruit juice. At least it is natural, and your body gets something that it can use and is good for it than the poisionous crap that will make you have cravings.0 -
An update: since starting this thread last week, I have managed to cut down my diet coke consumption to just one can per day! I am pleased with this, as it means I've only had 7 cans in the last week instead of 21 - 28 so that's a big improvement.
However, I need to try to cut back further. I've been getting headaches when I've gone over 24 hours without a diet coke and as soon as I have one I feel fine again - worrying how addictive it is! I don't drink coffee or tea (except fruit ones) so that's the only caffeine I have.
The plan for the next week is to leave longer gaps between them and hopefully have a few diet drink free days - I'm going to try anyway!0 -
Carrie1610: Well done on cutting down. I used to drink 4 or 5 cans a day and I know how hard it is. Lots of water and fruit teas (but especially water) will help with the headaches. I still have them if I'm out, but only 3 or 4 a week and hopefully will cut down more. Keep it up!
Since I have cut down, I noticed I almost never get heartburn any more (but cutting down on fat and sugar helped with this too), and I don't know if any one else experienced this but I feel a lot calmer and happier. I used to be very moody, snappy and got bad headaches when I drank a lot of coke, bt this was probably down to not drinking enough water and bad diet as well.
Also better skin, definitely less spotty around my chin and mouth, and it used to be quite bad.0 -
Duckymoo: I'm drinking lots of chilled sparkling mineral water as well as plain water which helps a lot.
So far I've not really noticed any difference in how I feel, except maybe I'm a little less bloated.0 -
I stopped drinking soda regularly years ago. Before I started MFP I would have a very occasional (maybe like 1-2 a month) diet drink.
Now I drink kombucha every day. It tastes amazing, has probiotics, and doesn't have many calories. You can buy it at a growing number of grocery stores (expensive, like $3-$4 a bottle) or make your own, which I think is really fun, and cheaper than commercially-bought bottled anything.
If you end up making your own kombucha- http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-kombucha-tea-at-home-1738580 -
RuningRichel: that's the first time I've heard of kombucha - I've just googled it to find out more.
Have you noticed any health benefits due to stopping the diet soda?0 -
I was a hardcord Diet Coke drinker...8-10 cans per day! I initially started kicking the habit by drinking one can then one bottle of water. I didn't allow myself the next can until the water was gone. I then did one can and two bottles of water in between, etc. I haven't had a Diet Coke since 4/25/2012. I cut caffeine completely. When I stopped cold that day, I had a massive headache for three days. Took some Aleve and went to bed at 7pm each of those nights. I haven't looked back and don't miss it. I lost 20 pounds within the first two months. My skin is SO much healthier...not so dry. I am less hungry between meals and have had zero heartburn.
It was tough but it was the best decision I ever made!0
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