Diet Sodas- Is It Affecting My Weight Loss?

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Replies

  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    I particularly don't even want to touch aspartame with a 10 foot pole.

    Amount of Phenylalanine (mg), Aspartic Acid (mg), Methanol (mg) contained in various foods.
    (USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory, 2007 http://www.ars.usda.gov/nutrientdata)

    1059 2377 _0 Chicken breast (3 oz.)
    _606 _953 _0 Non-fat milk (12 oz.)
    _334 _632 _0 Boiled egg (1 large)
    __58 _346 107 Tomato juice (12 oz.)
    __90 __72 18 Aspartame sweetened beverage (12 oz.)
    __58 _146 21 Banana (1 medium)
    __24 _180 23 Orange juice (12 oz.)
    ___0 ___0 29 Apple juice (12 oz.)
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    I particularly don't even want to touch aspartame with a 10 foot pole.

    Amount of Phenylalanine (mg), Aspartic Acid (mg), Methanol (mg) contained in various foods.
    (USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory, 2007 http://www.ars.usda.gov/nutrientdata)

    1059 2377 _0 Chicken breast (3 oz.)
    _606 _953 _0 Non-fat milk (12 oz.)
    _334 _632 _0 Boiled egg (1 large)
    __58 _346 107 Tomato juice (12 oz.)
    __90 __72 18 Aspartame sweetened beverage (12 oz.)
    __58 _146 21 Banana (1 medium)
    __24 _180 23 Orange juice (12 oz.)
    ___0 ___0 29 Apple juice (12 oz.)

    ^^ better not eat chicken and bananas if you fear aspartame.
  • EvetteM41
    EvetteM41 Posts: 76 Member
    I haven't read the other responses. But I am like yuo. I can drink at least a 2 liter a day. But I have cut down drastically. I have heard diet pop is worse for you than regular pop because of the artifical sweetener. So I have been drinkin vitamin water and juice etc.. I drink bottled water too. Because my tap water is my house is gross. I actually despise water.
  • jipartusch
    jipartusch Posts: 3 Member
    Great job on the 31 lbs lost! Motivational!
  • ToriRu513
    ToriRu513 Posts: 2 Member
    I do not have an answer but I do know that I have made water my priority. I sit at a desk for 8 hours a day and litteraly fill by water bottle once an hour. When I do want that taste or "fizz" I have been drinking Sparkling Ice Water. All of the flavors offered taste great. I keep a case of that in my office and another case at home. I too love Diet Coke. After my success with losing 32 lbs. and feeling great the days I am hydrated I find myself not even thinking about the Diet Coke. I honestly probably only have a Diet Coke once every two weeks. Regardless of what you choose to do, I would suggest really cutting back at the very least. Sounds like a whole lot of soda!!

    Good luck with your journey!
  • Directly? No. Indirectly? Big time. But I'm going to guess you're starting to suspect you shouldn't be drinking it like you are.

    I'll try to keep this as short as possible, as I myself am a recovering soda addict. For many of us, soda is just like cigarettes, alcohol, or gambling. Can you enjoy it once and awhile? (A can a day? Maybe even just a can a week?) Or do you NEED it? Judging from your post, you're smack on the end of the spectrum of "Need". (That was me!! All of my life, soda soda soda..)

    How is it "indirectly" affecting your weight loss? Here's how:

    1) It's allowing you to keep something you don't need to moderate. The hardest part, for most of us, is learning moderation. Diet soda lets you hang onto a bad habit by being something you don't feel you have to moderate because it's "Calorie free". When you hit weak days, that diet soda crutch can be the thing that causes you to break.

    2) It messes with hunger, big time. The fake sugar message generally makes hunger harder to control, and you feed it with more diet soda or you struggle to manage the cravings. As a person who has given up all soda (and almost all added sugar except fruit), I can tell you that the difference is beyond night and day. It's like daytime on the earth compared to night-time on the moon. When I get hungry, I don't get so ravenous I want to chew my arm off. It's controlled, and even if I can't eat for an hour or two - I'm still ok. No shakies, no headaches, no nothing. Just a stomach that lets me know I should eat when I have a little bit of time.

    3) You may not want to believe it. Believe me, I didn't. But it's awful for you, and drinking it in that amount is screwing with your system to the likes of which we don't fully understand. Kidney problems, metabolic problems, teeth enamel, stomach issues - there are lots of things it very well may cause.

    4) It's expensive. I don't know what your means are, it may not be an issue for you - but the money spent on that could easily go to much healthier food or treats.

    Finally - if you've never given it up, you may not believe how it feels to not be dependent on it. The first few days - to a week will be hard, I won't lie. Hell, the first month is hard convincing your body to not crave something sweet - or crave the bubbly feeling. But when I'm off of soda (and caffeine), I can't even tell you how clear my head is. I sleep better, I wake up feeling better, and I rarely have crashes in the middle of the day. I don't have that "dry mouth ick" feeling that comes from getting most of my fluids from soda. Just that one change alone makes me feel like a brand new person. Best of luck to you. I know firsthand how hard it is to have a vice, an addiction like that. I hope you ultimately decide to try giving it up.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Directly? No. Indirectly? Big time. But I'm going to guess you're starting to suspect you shouldn't be drinking it like you are.

    I'll try to keep this as short as possible, as I myself am a recovering soda addict. For many of us, soda is just like cigarettes, alcohol, or gambling. Can you enjoy it once and awhile? (A can a day? Maybe even just a can a week?) Or do you NEED it? Judging from your post, you're smack on the end of the spectrum of "Need". (That was me!! All of my life, soda soda soda..)

    How is it "indirectly" affecting your weight loss? Here's how:

    1) It's allowing you to keep something you don't need to moderate. The hardest part, for most of us, is learning moderation. Diet soda lets you hang onto a bad habit by being something you don't feel you have to moderate because it's "Calorie free". When you hit weak days, that diet soda crutch can be the thing that causes you to break.

    2) It messes with hunger, big time. The fake sugar message generally makes hunger harder to control, and you feed it with more diet soda or you struggle to manage the cravings. As a person who has given up all soda (and almost all added sugar except fruit), I can tell you that the difference is beyond night and day. It's like daytime on the earth compared to night-time on the moon. When I get hungry, I don't get so ravenous I want to chew my arm off. It's controlled, and even if I can't eat for an hour or two - I'm still ok. No shakies, no headaches, no nothing. Just a stomach that lets me know I should eat when I have a little bit of time.

    3) You may not want to believe it. Believe me, I didn't. But it's awful for you, and drinking it in that amount is screwing with your system to the likes of which we don't fully understand. Kidney problems, metabolic problems, teeth enamel, stomach issues - there are lots of things it very well may cause.

    4) It's expensive. I don't know what your means are, it may not be an issue for you - but the money spent on that could easily go to much healthier food or treats.

    Finally - if you've never given it up, you may not believe how it feels to not be dependent on it. The first few days - to a week will be hard, I won't lie. Hell, the first month is hard convincing your body to not crave something sweet - or crave the bubbly feeling. But when I'm off of soda (and caffeine), I can't even tell you how clear my head is. I sleep better, I wake up feeling better, and I rarely have crashes in the middle of the day. I don't have that "dry mouth ick" feeling that comes from getting most of my fluids from soda. Just that one change alone makes me feel like a brand new person. Best of luck to you. I know firsthand how hard it is to have a vice, an addiction like that. I hope you ultimately decide to try giving it up.

    Could you cite some studies that show it causes kidney and metabolic problems. Also, it messes with hunger for some people - for others, it satisfies a craving with no calories.
  • I used to drink 2-3 cans of Diet Coke a day. I absolutely love it. But I quit, and only have ONE once a week (on my cheat meal day) ... and I've definitely noticed a difference. It might be purely psychological, but I feel better when I'm not drinking it and I find I lose weight a bit easier without it.

    That being said, I love water, so while it was hard to give up, I at least have something I enjoy. Not sure what I'd do if I didn't.
  • MumOfADuo
    MumOfADuo Posts: 294 Member
    Well I stopped cold turkey with drinking diet or non-diet and felt the weight fall off. Went back to drinking it and now I'm at a stand still. Tomorrow we start a biggest loser challenge at work so attempting to stop the diets for the 6 weeks. So we'll see.

    I stopped my once a day diet coke for 7 months and noticed NO difference, no weight change or anything...went back to drinking them. Losing weight now....BUT I will say that the artifical crap in them is HORRIBLE for me and I know this.....
  • gpizzy
    gpizzy Posts: 171
    I didn't read all of the posts so this might already be in there - there was recently a study that I read about how the aspartame in diet sodas can cause all sorts of problems that are similar to those of MS. Definitely something to keep in mind.

    There are lots of studies out there to the effect of diet soda being terrible for you.
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
    Remember; diet soda is probably 99% water.
    There's no difference to eating a teeny little cube of flavouring and some sparkling water to drinking the same flavouring mixed in.
    1) It's allowing you to keep something you don't need to moderate.

    2) It messes with hunger, big time.

    3) You may not want to believe it.

    4) It's expensive.

    Finally - if you've never given it up, you may not believe how it feels to not be dependent on it.
    1) I am a caffeine addict as with a lot of the world. I don't 'need' to have any specific food I like, but it's nice, ya'know!

    2) Not for me. For me it slightly decreases my hunger.

    3) I also don't want to believe in Allah, or the baby snugglepuff as my prophet. There's a lot of things that I don't believe in - generally because there's no evidence that they are real.

    4) I bought a load of short-dated coke zero that came out at 14p each (maybe 20c?). Current price is around 23p a can. Could get it cheaper in bottles, but I like cans.

    Last bit - I did. The only 'issue' was getting over the caffeine addiction. I've done it before. Apart from that, no other issues.
    There are lots of studies out there to the effect of diet soda being terrible for you.
    Care to present some decent ones?
    Genuinely interested because I HAVE looked.
    I've found ones saying that people who are fat/may even getting fatter drink diet soda; for instance. But they haven't addressed the possibility that maybe said fat people don't want to get EVEN fatter, so are making some small effort.
  • flanary888
    flanary888 Posts: 158 Member
    I feel like it helps me! I use it as my go to when I need something sweet but don't want to indulge in sugary foods. The sweetness and carbonation seem to hit my craving and fill me up, and for 0 calories. I do drink lots of flavored water and Crystal Light during the day, so it is my nighttime treat, but I won't be giving it up.
  • Alderaic
    Alderaic Posts: 294 Member
    artificial sweetener (and stevia as well) are making your blood sugar spike,
    so even though your body is not ingesting it, it still makes your body move the food you ingest with it to the fat rather than muscles and that's why it's bad.

    If you read tim ferriss he has a lot of info in his 4 hour body book about this, but more generally look at diabetes related websites they have a ton of information on this.

    so to resume
    regular soda = spike bloog sugar + carbs in the drink
    diet soda = spike blood sugar.

    on an empty stomach you can get away with it, but one hour before eating to two hours after, your increasing the chances to feed your fat cells rather than your muscle cells.

    What do you mean 'feed your muscle cells'?

    well your food goes to feed your body right.
    when you workout and eat proteins, it's gonna go to your muscles to repair etc...
    blood sugar (and other factors) determine which type of cells get to eat, if your blood sugar is high, it's a signal to feed the fat cells, if it is low it feeds the muscles in priority.

    I'm making it way simpler than it really is and probably not using the right words but you get the picture
  • Alderaic
    Alderaic Posts: 294 Member
    sorry just correcting what I said, in does not increase your blood sugar, but your receptivity to insulin (sorry for the mistake)

    Anyway it's been proven many times that drinking water is the best way to lose wait, and diet sodas are slowing down weight loss.

    here is some info on the subjet:
    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/08/09/artificial-sweeteners-worse-than-sugar.aspx

    of course other articles will likely say otherwise.
    Sucralose has also been found guilty of affecting your insulin. I remember reading something on mark's daily apple but cannot find it.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    artificial sweetener (and stevia as well) are making your blood sugar spike,
    so even though your body is not ingesting it, it still makes your body move the food you ingest with it to the fat rather than muscles and that's why it's bad.

    If you read tim ferriss he has a lot of info in his 4 hour body book about this, but more generally look at diabetes related websites they have a ton of information on this.

    so to resume
    regular soda = spike bloog sugar + carbs in the drink
    diet soda = spike blood sugar.

    on an empty stomach you can get away with it, but one hour before eating to two hours after, your increasing the chances to feed your fat cells rather than your muscle cells.

    What do you mean 'feed your muscle cells'?

    well your food goes to feed your body right.
    when you workout and eat proteins, it's gonna go to your muscles to repair etc...
    blood sugar (and other factors) determine which type of cells get to eat, if your blood sugar is high, it's a signal to feed the fat cells, if it is low it feeds the muscles in priority.

    I'm making it way simpler than it really is and probably not using the right words but you get the picture


    You are talking about nutrient partitioning? Are you saying that diet soda will cause protein to be stored as fat in a caloric deficit?
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    sorry just correcting what I said, in does not increase your blood sugar, but your receptivity to insulin (sorry for the mistake)

    Anyway it's been proven many times that drinking water is the best way to lose wait, and diet sodas are slowing down weight loss.

    here is some info on the subjet:
    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/08/09/artificial-sweeteners-worse-than-sugar.aspx

    of course other articles will likely say otherwise.
    Sucralose has also been found guilty of affecting your insulin. I remember reading something on mark's daily apple but cannot find it.

    Pro tip: do not use Mercola as a source.
  • kms1320
    kms1320 Posts: 599 Member
    "The Situation" only drinks water. His abs made him famous. So I only drink water.
  • Kadesha72
    Kadesha72 Posts: 109 Member
    "The Situation" only drinks water. His abs made him famous. So I only drink water.
    hahahaaa...

    Personally, for ME, (and as a recovering Dr. Pepper addict), I limit myself to 2 a day MAX (diet ones)... only "full power" ONE on the weekend... why?
    1. I don't like adding that sodium to my day, I struggle with that anyway.
    2. I remember an experiment we did in 4th grade that involved a nail in a jar of Pepsi and the speed at which that reaction happened freaks me out, so I use it as a visual deterant (also... Coke eats battery acid off your car battery cables, do I really want that IN me???)
    3. Once I got accustomed to drinking water, I find I feel 100% better, my skin is rockin awesome, my pee is clear and I don't ever really even CRAVE that soda.... I only say I "get" the ones I do so I don't psych myself out to crave it because I can't have it... sometimes I do not drink them at all....

    Also, unfounded or not, there's just so many different things out there bad about aspertame and carbonation.... I'd just rather stick with something I know is ok....
  • akern1987
    akern1987 Posts: 288 Member
    I'm no expert, but I'm looking at a can of diet soda right now, and it doesnt have much of anything in it besides sodium. 35mg in 1 can, and from the sound of it, you drink much more than 1 can.
    We all know that sodium means salt and salt equals water retention, so that is very possibly true.

    I love soda too...it's kind of my weakness, and I do drink it, but I always drink at least two cups of water for every cup of soda I have.
    I know it sucks, but you really get used to it, and I've found, that even though I still crave soda, nothing quenches my thirst quite like water!

    (I dont know about the tea, sorry).

    Hope this helps,
    good luck!
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
    If you take the 'RDA' of salt as your maximum target; if you drunk 22 cans of coke, you'd still have only had a third of your 'allowance'. That's ignoring that for most people salt isn't a big issue.
    Wow.
    Fresh from today, also:
    Care to present some decent (studies)?
    Genuinely interested because I HAVE looked.
    I've found ones saying that people who are fat/may even getting fatter drink diet soda; for instance. But they haven't addressed the possibility that maybe said fat people don't want to get EVEN fatter, so are making some small effort.
    Pay particular attention the last two sentences.
    Anyway it's been proven many times that drinking water is the best way to lose wait, and diet sodas are slowing down weight loss.
    Has it?
    All the recent stuff I've seen about water suggests it doesn't really matter where you get it - in food, in drinks or in a glass on it's own.
  • Mock_Turtle
    Mock_Turtle Posts: 354 Member
    Having similar amounts of sodium intake every day isn't going to make you retain increasing amounts of water. It also isn't going to stop you from losing fat while in a calorie deficit. All it does is (if you increase your intake) temporarily masks how much fat you're losing because the number on the scale is not simply "how much fat you have" but also several other factors that can change, including how much water you are retaining. It also does the inverse when your intake goes down and makes the number on the scale go down temporarily.

    Unless your goal is to manipulate a number on a scale with no regard for how much fat you have, cutting back on sodium is as effective as taking off your clothes.

    thread should be over with that logical response, great stuff.
  • LadyBeryl
    LadyBeryl Posts: 344 Member
    If you love the fizzy in sodas, get a Sodastream and make your own soda as healthy as you want it. I drink at least 64 ounces of water his way without the sodium, sugar, aspartame, etc. Play around with flavorings until you make something that works for you.
  • andrea464
    andrea464 Posts: 238 Member
    For those asking for literature:
    CONCLUSIONS:

    Consumption of ≥ 2 servings per day of artificially sweetened soda is associated with a 2-fold increased odds for kidney function decline in women.
    Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2011 Jan;6(1):160-6. doi: 10.2215/CJN.03260410. Epub 2010 Sep 30
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20884773

    Although these observational data cannot establish causality, consumption of diet soda at least daily was associated with significantly greater risks of select incident metabolic syndrome components and type 2 diabetes.
    Diet Soda Intake and Risk of Incident Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)*

    Jennifer A. Nettleton, PHD1,
    Pamela L. Lutsey, PHD2,
    Youfa Wang, MD, PHD3,
    João A. Lima, PHD4,
    Erin D. Michos, MD4 and
    David R. Jacobs, Jr., PHD2,5
    http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/32/4/688.short


    There is decent literature out there if you look in correct areas- try PubMed or Google Scholar instead of wiki.
  • Lyonsgurl
    Lyonsgurl Posts: 22 Member
    I have been able to cut out pop all together...just coffee water ans sometimes crystal light but it was not easy
  • deadmittens
    deadmittens Posts: 536 Member
    Man I thought I drank a lot of pop. I drink 1-2 21oz bottles a day... some diet pop is fine, but 2-4 liters is way too much.
  • FitStephieMomma
    FitStephieMomma Posts: 11 Member
    I just watched a documentary on how it does cause you to gain weight. The aspartame is awful for you, and if you think about it, its really just a bunch of chemicals and carbonation. It's actually a dangerous combination of aspartame and caffeine. I'm trying to ditch it all together myself..
  • This might have been said already but you really should do some research on this topic outside of this forum. Their is tons of information about aspartame, how it is addictive, makes you crave more and also how it converts to formaldehyde after it has been in the body.
  • Google this "aspartame converts to formaldehyde"
  • kimosabe1
    kimosabe1 Posts: 2,467 Member
    I have drank diet soda for 32 years and that is how long I have had diabetes and I drink 1-3 sodas a day and i'm not fat! PS, I drink 8 glasses of water a day...
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