Diet coke - does it make you put on weight

saraann4

I couldn't live without my diet coke in the morning. It's that or coffee which I have on rare occasions now.

obeserat

Its probably not the best thing for you. I fail to see why people say it will make you more hungry .
I drink a 2 litre bottle of pepsi max every day and I find it helps me eat less because I feel full when it
gets to lunchtime

1104Jen

Stop drinking it! Giving up sodas was this best thing I did a couple years ago. The artificial sweeteners in diet drinks make you hungry so you tend to eat more if you consume a lot of diet sodas.

^^^This! Plus it is filled wth chemicals! I quit all soda as of November 2011 and it was the best decision ever.

reasnableblonde

A lot of people tend to focus on the aspartame and caffeine, but I think it's actually the carbonation that gets a lot of people. When my best friend had gastric bypass, she was instructed to cut out all carbonated beverages. The reason? The gas bubbles can actually expand your stomach... making it easier to eat more.

I know for me personally, drinking 12 ounces of Diet Coke does nothing to curb my appetite (and may increase it). But downing 12 ounces of water tends to lead to eating less because I feel more full.

CassieReannan

I admit, when I am out and about I grab a coke zero or a pepsi max rather than a water. I see no problem having a can a day and slowly decreasing your intake. I drank 1.25L of pepsi max in one night last week and managed the biggest loss I have had in 2 months! Usually drinking a lot of diet drinks makes me gain water. Our bodies are unexplainable sometimes.

msprouse8

Definitely stop. I haven't drank tea in 8 years so I started with diet drinks........they make you retain fluids like crazy and the carbonation makes you bloat. Since March I have not had any diet drinks/sodas. I drink mostly Water with occasional milk/almond milk and sometimes a v8 fruit fusion. I allow myself one Crystal light drink mix a day. A few weeks ago I tried to drink a diet drink because someone handed me one on a hot day and I didn't want to be rude. It tasted like ACID in my mouth. Just wean yourself off!! You will thank yourself later!

JBankey

I feel this is so dependent on personality/. I drank diet coke when I was thin, I drank diet coke when I was fat, I drank it when I shattered my leg, I drank it when I finally decided to shed my weight. If you log everything and are disciplined, this doesn't matter. Stick to your goal and plan.

steveinct

Here is a link that has 68 different studies about aspertame. Read some and make your own decision. As for the people saying it is fine: they are finding studies that say wat they want to hear. If you are comfortable with that, then by all means keep drinking it. I will not put that poison in my body, but that's just me. And now you link to a crapload of studies about that junk:

http://aspartame.mercola.com/sites/aspartame/studies.aspx

adriadawn19

I used to drink 3-4 cans of soda a day but then i decided to start drinking mainly water because that was making me not want to consume water. So I quit and didn't really care, I realized the majority of my cravings were in my head. I will occasionally drink a cup of soda but it only equals like 2 cups a month.

I would just say to slowly cut down. If you are at 1 can a day right now try and only drink like 3-4 cans a week and keep cutting down till you are at 1 can a week. Then just stop and you probably wont even miss it.

LorinaLynn

As for the people saying it is fine: they are finding studies that say wat they want to hear.

And that goes both ways. Mercola is out to prove that it's bad, so they're only going to list studies that support that view.

Jenni129

Drinking diet soda gave me stomach ulcers and made my teeth sensitive (was drinking 3 cans a day for years). Since I quit (about a month ago), my stomach healed up, not sure about my teeth yet. I lost a bit of weight, too, where before I couldn't lose any. I am starting to feel full after a meal, which before I never felt full. I think my stomach was totally fried by the soda. There are stretch receptors in your stomach and I don't think mine were working because of it.

marieautumn

giving up soda was the best thing for me... i havent had soda in years. you dont need it. just drink water.

Matt_Wild

As for the people saying it is fine: they are finding studies that say wat they want to hear.

And that goes both ways. Mercola is out to prove that it's bad, so they're only going to list studies that support that view.

Mercola is a berk. Look at his positioning on vaccines as well. Complete raving loony thats out there to grab headlines, nothing more!

DMZ_1

Not sure, I rarely drink soda outright. I stopped drinking it about 5 years ago. Over the course of a year, I may consume a few 12 ounce cans and maybe I will mix it in an alcoholic drink, but keeping soda consumption low is a really good idea.

caraiselite

short answer : no

long answer : no

i believe it can make you stall (depends on the fake sugar additive), but that's a far cry from gaining.

try stevia? i hate it, but some people like it.

amydarling2012

I don't know if it really makes you put on weight or not. I know its not good for you BUT I had a horrible "addiction" to Mt. Dew. I would drink it all day long. I loved the stuff! I finally decided to give it up about 3 wks ago. I started drinking plain (no sugar/artificial sweeteners) Lime flavored Sparkling water and I LOVE it. I found what I really missed about soda was the fizz more than anything. I still crave a soda though and when I do I allow myself a diet Pepsi. Now I only want it every other day or so.

Bridget0927

I don't believe it makes you put on weight.

YOU make you put on weight. If you find yourself getting hungry straight after you have a diet coke, prepare for it and simply don't eat. It's just fake hunger (unless you truly have got an empty stomach) owing to the chemicals.

It's not very good for ya but it won't 'make' you put on weight.. it has no calories..

THIS!

magerum

Diet soda has aspertame which is a fake sugar which tricks your body into thinking its getting sugar when its not so in turn your hunger response is triggered and you will want to eat and your body will store this unnatural chemical as fat!

^ Simply wrong. Please provide ANY proof of this. It's not nice to spread rumors and mis-information.

Matt_Wild

Diet soda has aspertame which is a fake sugar which tricks your body into thinking its getting sugar when its not so in turn your hunger response is triggered and you will want to eat and your body will store this unnatural chemical as fat!

^ Simply wrong. Please provide ANY proof of this. It's not nice to spread rumors and mis-information.

Aspartame is two amino acids, a dipeptide - aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide. It cannot 'trick' the body into thinking it is carbohydrate - it is PROTEIN.

It cannot raise blood glucose levels as you are suggesting nor insulin.

kgprice11

any caffeinated beverage/pop will make you put on weight whether it says diet or not, the pop/soda companies want to make money anyway they can therefore putting diet in front of the name so healthy minded people will drink it or attempt to, that is such crap thought because it is not healthy for you at all

DrMAvDPhD

any caffeinated beverage/pop will make you put on weight whether it says diet or not, the pop/soda companies want to make money anyway they can therefore putting diet in front of the name so healthy minded people will drink it or attempt to, that is such crap thought because it is not healthy for you at all

You realize caffeine is a stimulant and by definition will speed your metabolism, right?

lynnprice

If you are still concerned about your diet coke, just water it down a bit with some good scotch

^^^^^^ :drinker: CHEERS!

Matt_Wild

any caffeinated beverage/pop will make you put on weight whether it says diet or not, the pop/soda companies want to make money anyway they can therefore putting diet in front of the name so healthy minded people will drink it or attempt to, that is such crap thought because it is not healthy for you at all

Care to explain with some actual science behind that?

In fact I'm having blood tests this week - I'll show you how much of an effect they don't have!

jessicajoy87

Over the past few months I have slowly gotten addicted to diet coke. I am having at least 1 can, but sometimes up to 3 a day. Initially it helped to fill that space in the late afternoon when I wanted to eat and eat. I've googled and there are so many reports saying that it actually ends up making you put on weight in the long term.

Initially I pffft'd that, but I'm beginning to think that is true. I am starting to struggle with controlling my cravings (and then over eating) and I'm actually now thinking that it might be the diet coke. I didn't seem to have any problems with this for the year that I lost weight. It's only once I got close to maintenance that I started with the diet coke thing, and every so slowly my weight has crept up (which is not surprising - I'm logging, but I always seem to go over my cals).

Thoughts? Experiences?

My doctor told me that diet pop making you gain and increasing your appetite is just a theory. He said it would be good to cut soda out all together but if you need a soda grab diet. It is not a fact that it makes you gain weight.

lindseym1983

Stop drinking it! Giving up sodas was this best thing I did a couple years ago. The artificial sweeteners in diet drinks make you hungry so you tend to eat more if you consume a lot of diet sodas.

^^^ This. How about carbonated waters? You get the carbonation w/o the sweetener or just splurge every once in awhile and drink a regular coke. Giving up pop was easy for me if I have bottled water cold in the fridge...I will grab it when I am wanting a snack or thirsty.

Matt_Wild

Over the past few months I have slowly gotten addicted to diet coke. I am having at least 1 can, but sometimes up to 3 a day. Initially it helped to fill that space in the late afternoon when I wanted to eat and eat. I've googled and there are so many reports saying that it actually ends up making you put on weight in the long term.

Initially I pffft'd that, but I'm beginning to think that is true. I am starting to struggle with controlling my cravings (and then over eating) and I'm actually now thinking that it might be the diet coke. I didn't seem to have any problems with this for the year that I lost weight. It's only once I got close to maintenance that I started with the diet coke thing, and every so slowly my weight has crept up (which is not surprising - I'm logging, but I always seem to go over my cals).

Thoughts? Experiences?

My doctor told me that diet pop making you gain and increasing your appetite is just a theory. He said it would be good to cut soda out all together but if you need a soda grab diet. It is not a fact that it makes you gain weight.

The laws of the universe says its impossible to gain weight on a zero calorie drink. Furthermore it doesn't increase insulin nor blood glucose.

It can't cause weight gain.

Sarahkate1017

Granted, I am not a scientist, nutritionist, doctor, or personal trainer, but common sense would tell me this (I have no studies to back this up, mind you, this is just my personal opinion): soda is crappy stuff, so I personally do not drink it often, but if you feel the need to consume (on occassion) a carbonated beverage that has zero nutritional value, then have at it. In the long run, it's not going to kill you (probably). But, it's not like soda, in any form, is GOOD for you. You don't need a study to tell you that. I know this doesn't really address the question of whether or not diet soda makes you gain weight....just some "food" for thought, haha.

JDUR19

There seems to be alot of scaremongering about aspartame. It is myth and general bad science.
Real studies show no link between increased appetite and aspartame. In fact many studies show a DECREASED appetite with aspartame.

For the geeky types who read this stuff; citation.... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7938234

Heres another and snip ... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1881987

" Consumption of two soft drinks (560 ml, 320 mg aspartame) significantly reduced subjective hunger from 11:05 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. compared to one soft drink (280 ml, 160 mg aspartame) or 280 ml of mineral water. Thus ingestion of soft drinks containing aspartame did not increase short-term subjective hunger or food intake."

Also no studies show aspartame causes water retention. Anyway, Water retention caused by diet (glycygen in muscles etc) is not in itself a health issue. You need water for your muscles to function and repair themselves. Most people spend their life so dehydrated.

To All those conspiracy sites saying aspartame is poison and killing everyone I say where are all the dead people?

If you do a little research you find the source of the aspertame myth started in 1998 with an email scarelore...

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blasp.htm

and here

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blasp2.htm


Bottom line is diet drinks do not make you fat or hungry or ill and can be a good way to help keep calories down.
Ive lost over 75lbs over the last year drinking monster blues (no-cal) (infrequently) , diet coke (everyday), and using splendor as an occasional sugar replacement.

If you are still concerned about your diet coke, just water it down a bit with some good scotch

Awww, I was hoping the email scarelore would be like "If you don't send this to 10 people in your inbox then Aspartame will turn up in your room tonight at 3am and sweeten you to death!" or "Press F5 on your keyboard and Aspartame will appear on your desktop"

magerum

any caffeinated beverage/pop will make you put on weight whether it says diet or not, the pop/soda companies want to make money anyway they can therefore putting diet in front of the name so healthy minded people will drink it or attempt to, that is such crap thought because it is not healthy for you at all

*facepalm*

leodru

There are tonnes of articles telling you one way or the other - good , bad or somewhere in between. Artificial sweeteners are not recommended for kids. As well here in Canada you will find aspartame is labelled with a warning of "should be used under the advice of a doctor" - what is odd its not every container even of the same brand. Someone mentioned it to me and i only found it on some Sugar Twin packets. Ultimately this stuff was made for diabetics - maybe we should wait until we are diabetic before we use it. Overall i try to eat real food. Water with lemon is good - green tea - black coffee (thats a hard one to work up to) or I do like Davids Tea's which are all less than 5 calories and some of them are really sweet. Trust your gut - if you think this is having an affect then trust yourself and try to go sweetener free. For me i found that i use to drink diet soda in the afternoon and did feel it intensified my hunger - again its how i felt and i dont need a study or a website to prove how i felt.