Confused. Soda and Weight Loss

Soda doesn't cause weight loss or weight gain. Calories do.

I agree.

I don't understand this thought process....sodas have tons of calories in them...?

The thought process is that soda in itself does cause weight gain. It is the total amount you eat/drink that does. You can have a soda and as long as you are under your maintenance, you will not gain weight. If you are over, it is not necessarily the soda that caused it but a combination of all the foods you ate and drinks you drank that will.

OP - you should open up your diary for more helpful input

I drink (drank) a ton of soda. We are talking 3-4 dr peppers a day. Sometimes more. Not to mention the one or two green monsters i would drink a day (i know they are bad for you). I always hear "oh when i came off sodas i dropped 20 pounds just like that). I haven't had one single regular soda or monster in 2.5 weeks and i have NOT seen the dramatic weight loss i expected. I know it's only been two weeks but going from so much a day to nothing for two weeks i should see SOMETHING..wouldn't you think?? I have only drank diet and water. No sweet tea, no chocolate milk, nothing like that. Only diet and water.

Anyone have any inspiring words? I'm getting bummed out about it and am really starting to think I should just go ahead and drink a regular Dr. Pepper. I wouldn't do that...bc i've gotten used to diet now so it would just be a dumb health decision, but you get the point.

Words of encouragement please??? I just don't understand why nothing is fallling off

2.5 weeks is not very long. Also the only reason the soda matters were that they were CALORIES. Calories are all that matter. The only way this will work is if the calories from the soda are a calorie deficit FOR YOU. Since everyone's RMR/BMR is different (mainly driven by height/gender) it really depends on the person and the amount of calories that puts that person in a calorie deficit.

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

To find the exact calories needed for YOU to be in a healthy sustainable calorie deficit is the right answer. Wait, if you need to adjust by 100 do it, wait, adjust, wait, adjust, wait. The tortoise wins this race.

All that matters is calories. A healthy balanced diet within a calorie budget for a deficit that is right for YOU is all that matters for weight loss. Don't make it complicated.


Also people play mental accounting games with calories just like with finances. Make steps to make sure you are making accurate measurements. Packaged foods can have MORE than they say but not less (they get in trouble if less so they would rather error with MORE).

If you typically intake sodium at a certain rate your body adjusts, but if you make a sudden change then you will see a spike.

Exercise is for making your lean body mass pretty (especially lifting weights) for when the fat is gone. Losing fat with no muscle is ugly and cardio alone will not make you pretty. You cannot out exercise too many calories.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.

that's just it you are still drinking the sodas. Diet soda or regular soda it doesn't matter, it's soda.... If you replace EVERYTHING you drink with water you will lose the weight...

how can u explain it a lil ???

Diet soda is not causing the problem.

I drink (drank) a ton of soda. We are talking 3-4 dr peppers a day. Sometimes more. Not to mention the one or two green monsters i would drink a day (i know they are bad for you). I always hear "oh when i came off sodas i dropped 20 pounds just like that). I haven't had one single regular soda or monster in 2.5 weeks and i have NOT seen the dramatic weight loss i expected. I know it's only been two weeks but going from so much a day to nothing for two weeks i should see SOMETHING..wouldn't you think?? I have only drank diet and water. No sweet tea, no chocolate milk, nothing like that. Only diet and water.

Anyone have any inspiring words? I'm getting bummed out about it and am really starting to think I should just go ahead and drink a regular Dr. Pepper. I wouldn't do that...bc i've gotten used to diet now so it would just be a dumb health decision, but you get the point.

Words of encouragement please??? I just don't understand why nothing is fallling off

I'm the same way. Drank soda religiously until someone told me, "you'll lose sooo much weight if you drop soda." So, I did. For a whole summer. Didn't even drink diet soda....and not one pound was lost because of it. After that I said screw it.....I like my soda, and it clearly doesn't make a difference either way.

HOWEVER, with that being said, I have switched mainly to diet soda just so I don't have to add the calories.....it's fine by me.

Sadly, I didn't see a difference when I switched from drinks with calories to only zero calorie drinks either.

OP - you should open up your diary for more helpful input

I don't really ever use it. I kept up with it a few times when i was doing the dukan but that was it. Maybe i should start using it.

How are you tracking your food intake?

OP - you should open up your diary for more helpful input

I don't really ever use it. I kept up with it a few times when i was doing the dukan but that was it. Maybe i should start using it.

How are you tracking your food intake?

OP you need to start tracking everything, EVERYTHING, in your diary....then you can come back and say "why am I not losing"? Just giving up soda isn't going to get it done...you could still be over in other areas, and things like sodium play a part as well. What is your exercise like? Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out....create a deficit and you will lose....the Success Stories prove this to be true. If you're not tracking food and exercise, there is no way to see where you need to make improvements..

I'm sure that is frustrating! Are you drinking just as much diet soda as you did regular soda? If so, you could be retaining water due to the high amounts of sodium in diet soda. Hope this helps! Feel free to add me :-)

yea i think diet pop is just like drinking the real thing so its not gonna work thats me , i was off pop all of it and lost after i had my sec, son ,so i know it works , but i ended up back up on pop and now i have my belly again and now trying to lose it again ive lost 2 pounds so im working on it .. it just takes time

A womans cycle can have a lot to do with how and when we lose weight. Stay your course and stay away from the sugar. You will lose weight as long as you are not eating more calories.

Congrats, by the way.

Add on edit:
By the way, you don't see many skinny people drinking diet soda do you? They are usually fat. I believe diet soda contributes to a large stomach.

So true!!! Most are fat!

The reason you see fat people with diet soda was put very well by Gabriel Iglasias. "Why do you drink diet soda?" "So I can eat regular cake."

There's a lot more to it than the diet soda, I assure you. For example, I switched from coffee with fairly heavy creamer to Coke Zero, and my weight has been on a rapid downward spiral since. If you make that switch without adding calories from other sources, the weight will fall, especially for the people who were getting upward of 800 calories per day from regular soda.

Have you tracked your calories? Did they decrease? Also, weight loss is not linear and can be impacted by water weight fluctuations, especially for women.

Yes, and they have. I started the dukan but wasn't seeing great results so i stopped. But since i stopped i have still been much more cautious of my sugar, fat and carb intake. My calories daily have dramatically decreased. I think my impatience is probably what's hurting me.

That is another puzzling thing though...i ate carbs like CRAZY. Several servings of bread daily, bread with pasta, etc. That has dramatically decreased as well.

Contrary to what everyone here keeps saying about the calories, the calories..............its not all about the calories.

There is so much more that goes into being able to lose weight such as sleep patterns, hormone levels (Leptin, grehlin, insulin, cortisol, female / male hormones, thyroid hormones, etc), stress, etc..........a LOT of things.

If you are being impatient, that can have a stressful effect on the body. If you are over exercising that can have an effect. Not enough sleep? Yep, can effect you being able to lose weight.

It is so much more than some simple calories in, calories out equation and you don't have to have medical conditions for the above mentioned things to have an effect on the body.

A womans cycle can have a lot to do with how and when we lose weight. Stay your course and stay away from the sugar. You will lose weight as long as you are not eating more calories.

Congrats, by the way.

Add on edit:
By the way, you don't see many skinny people drinking diet soda do you? They are usually fat. I believe diet soda contributes to a large stomach.

So true!!! Most are fat!

Have you conducted, or have references to, a survey?

There is a LOT of misinformation here and it is really unfortunate for the OP. SODA diet or regular will cause you to gain weight. Even the zero calorie. Fact. There are plenty of studies to back this up. The caffeine in regular and diet soda promotes cortisol production which causes you to gain weight, especially in the belly area or prevents weight loss. Google that yourself and find tons of links backing it up. Also, stress produces cortisol, again causing weight gain or preventing weight loss.

Next, is the sodium in regular and diet soda is high which also contributes to weight gain or lack of weight loss.

Finally, there is a lot of other crap in sodas that will contribute to weight gain or lack of weight loss.

If you want to lose weight, drop ALL sodas, juice, processed foods and sugar..........drink only water. No juice. No milk. No faux drinks in a bottle. Water and water only. Also cut out breads, pastas and anything made with white flour. But most important is to drink only water. Your body will thank you for it, I promise!

I have been a soda addict for 20+ years. I gained a lot of weight from it. I decided to do lots of research and found that soda was bad news on so many levels. I quit cold turkey one day and never looked back. I am losing weight due to it.

If one truly wants to lose weight, they would eliminate ALL crap from the diet which includes diet soda/zero calorie soda. What is the point of even trying if you go at it half-assed and keeping some crap around? Go all or go home is what I say! Good luck OP..you can do it!!

My favorite part was when you posted the studies showing that zero calorie beverages cause weight gain.