Diet Sodas- Is It Affecting My Weight Loss?

I choose to live dangerously and drink diet soda. Look at my ticker. Certainly hasn't affected my weight loss.

I replaced all soda cravings with Seltzer. I found Schwepps Lemon Lime to be a perfect replacement for Sprite, and at 0 calories and no sweeteners or sugar, it's much better for you! 2 ingredients: Carbonated Water and Natural Flavors.

Also, cutting out soda right from the start helped me to lose 10 pounds in about a month.

Great idea! I love Diet Coke and used to drink about 1 a day. I've been looking for alternatives and didn't think about this. Thanks!

I don't know about ti affecting your weight loss, but diet sodas still have a lot of acid in them (from being carbonated) so from a dentist's point of view - they will still cause holes in their teeth! I get so many people in my surgery who promise me til they're blue in the face that they don't eat sweetsor drink coke and can't understand why their teeth are so bad - then we find that they drink low sugar soda - it'll still rot your teeth! So be careful!

Bad teeth will come from bad hygiene. Plain and simple.


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

I know a few dentists who disagree

Well if you're teeth are crooked, hygiene won't help, but overall, bad dental hygiene leads to bad teeth. There are exceptions to any situation, but I'm speaking of general population.


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

I drink Coke Zero or Diet Coke once a day. I allow myself one can a day during lunch for the caffeine fix (and just the love of soda). I may drink a tiny bit more of it on the weekends. I have been able to lose 10 lbs in a month and reduce my body fat by 5% in that time. So I dont think Diet Soda has a positive or negative affect on weight loss.

That being said, I also drink a lot of water. There is no substitute for what water can do for your body. If you are working out (as I am) you are losing a lot of hydration and if you do not drink water to replace it, your body will retain the water you do have and make you bloat,etc. Also drinking water helps with nail and hair growth, healthy skin and various other health benefits.

So while I don't think you need to COMPLETELY stop drinking your soda, you should probably reduce your intake and get some water in there.

I don't know about ti affecting your weight loss, but diet sodas still have a lot of acid in them (from being carbonated) so from a dentist's point of view - they will still cause holes in their teeth! I get so many people in my surgery who promise me til they're blue in the face that they don't eat sweetsor drink coke and can't understand why their teeth are so bad - then we find that they drink low sugar soda - it'll still rot your teeth! So be careful!

Bad teeth will come from bad hygiene. Plain and simple.


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

I know a few dentists who disagree

Ditto. Have seen this over and over again with friends' kids who drink lots of soda. I'm sorry but if you're having multiple baby teeth pulled due to decay, there's a huge problem there and it comes in a 12-ounce can.

Correlation. Unless you've watched the diets of these kids daily (they may be snacking on sugar laden cereals, fruit roll ups, etc.) then this is anecdotal.


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

I asked my doctors about diet Coke, which I drink a lot. They had no problem as long as I could tolerate the caffine. One did say that some people tend to have a hightened craving for sweets.

I haven't read all the replies, but will throw in my $.02. I drink diet soda myself. Not a whole lot (24 oz/day) but I've heard that diet soda aids in creating sugar cravings. Furthermore, it tricks your brain into thinking it got sugar and insulin levels change as if you've taken in sugar. In this case, I'd worry about drinking too much diet soda as it may have a negative affect on your health. I'm on my cell phone or else I'd find the article I read on the subject and link to it. Maybe later if no one beats me to it.

Wrong. I've read several articles from doctors who specialize in diabetes, including one from the National Diabetic Institute, and they all say the artificial sweetener does NOT increase insulin or glucose levels because it isn't sugar. It doesn't "trick" your brain into anything. That's not how biology works. My own doctor confirmed this, as I was concerned (I have insulin resistance).

Anecdote here, but my diabetic diet soda drinking friend would agree with the above.

I drink 1-2 coffees in the morning. Water all day after that and usually when the 2pm sleepy feeling hits, a diet coke sometimes one more with dinner... I always have to have a drink at all times and I get at least 60 oz of water a day on top of my coffee and diet coke.

I'm still alive.

well ive always been told the aspertame in diet sodas cause major health issues

totally agree!

On what basis?

Hi,

Here is an article I was given by my instructor when I joined a bootcamp group last October...


So many people think that if a drink has 'zero' calories or is 'fat free' or 'sugar free' that it must be healthy or harmless and will help with weight loss; but unfortunately that couldn't be further from the truth...

Everyone knows that fizzy drinks like Coke / Fanta / Sprite etc are loaded with sugar and have a whole ton of calories in just one can; so if you were to start a 'diet' or a 'healthier lifestyle' you wouldn't be drinking them would you...? BUT... what about the 'diet' versions of all these fizzy drinks, would they be ok to have on a 'diet'...? They hardly have any calories in... they're 'fat free' ... the packet says 'low calories / fat / sugar' so they must be healthy right?

Nope! I'm afraid not!

Diet drinks, regardless of how many calories are in them will wreak havoc on your fat loss efforts and will ultimately cause you to gain weight.

Yes that's right; diet drinks will make you put on weight & will make you fatter!

Doesn't sound right does it, a diet drink making you fatter, but it's true and here are a couple of the main reasons why this happens...

Firstly, the sweet taste from diet drinks creates an insulin spike, which blocks your ability to burn fat. Because when it comes to losing fat, it is more about the types of foods you eat and the hormones they release in your body rather than how many calories or grams of fat eat.

Sugar or sweeteners found in diet drinks causes the body to release the hormone insulin into the bloodstream to help remove the excess sugar / sweetener and insulin is a fat storing hormone so guess where it moves it to... your fat cells - especially the ones around your waist. Never good!

But worse still, once insulin is released it inhibits your fat burning hormone!

This fat burning hormone is responsible for releasing fat into the bloodstream to be utilized as fuel. If inhibited, your body is unable to burn fat and will then begin utilizing amino acids (from muscle) and carbohydrates as fuel for energy

This will leave you feeling tired & grumpy toward the end of the day. Not to mention, you will become abnormally hungry.

Secondly, artificial sweeteners in fizzy drinks disrupt the feeling of being full. "Mouth feel" plays a crucial role in the body's ability to count calories / work out how much we've eaten, so when we consume artificial sweeteners we disrupt the body's ability to count calories based on sweetness. Not able to use mouth feel to count calories / work out how full you are, by drinking diet drinks packed with sweeteners you will overeat without conscious awareness. In other words, you don't think you're eating like a pig, but in reality you are!

So forget "there's no calories in it so it's fine to have" because you're wrong, it's doing no end of damage to your weight loss efforts not to mention what these artificial chemicals are doing to your insides...! Have you ever Googled 'aspartame' the name of the sweetener in most of these drinks...? But be warned... it might put you off having them...!!!

Other foods commonly packed with aspartame that will have the same affect:

Low fat yoghurt, sugar free squash, Fruit Shoots - yes that's right that 'healthy drink' you give to your kids is not so healthy after all despite what the label says!


So the lesson here is: Don't believe everything the food label tells you... just because it is 'low fat' doen't mean it is 'good for you' read between the lines and think to yourself... is a low fat digestive biscuit really going to get me the body I'm after...?!?!