Can diet soda count as water???

Ignore the stupidity, of course it counts, it's virtually 100% water. Saying it doesn't count is like saying the alcohol in beer doesn't count as because it's got water in it. Water is water, the body is smart enough to work out the rest from there.

Diet soda mimics sugar... drink it and you crave more. It may also increase cravings for other things bad for you. Water doesn't do this.

Don't forget too that to remove the sugar, they are sticking more salt and other chemicals in there. I've understood these chemicals especially bad for women's bone health. These drinks are not good for us we all know.

I struggle too - especially on 90 degree days after I just finished mowing the lawn - there is nothing I want more than an ice cold diet Pepsi. But still my goal is to keep the ban going and enjoy pure ice water instead.

In addition to causing bone loss, the artificial sweeteners in it causes the retention of belly fat. All soda is horribly unhealthy. Period. From personal experience, it is very difficult to cut it out altogether. However, it is possible. Start small by cutting one a day. Anytime you crave one drink an entire glass of water instead. Keep this up until you have cut back to maybe one a week. This is far better than a 3/day habit.

Diet pop does not make you retain belly fat. I really don't get where people get all this "information" from. Excess calories cause you to keep belly fat and nothing else outside of a medical issue.

Really? What makes people think to even ask a question like this?

Judging by the vast majority of responses claiming things entirely contrary to all the scientific evidence I have seen, it's well worth asking.
But, perhaps not here where ill-reserached advice seems to be given.

What is the difference between eating a small bit of artificially sweetened cola flavour sweet and drinking 325ml of water and drinking a glass of diet soda?
Nothing.
If you had had said sweet, would you automatically 'cancel' the next glass of water you drank?

Some people find artificial sweetner increases their desire for carbs.
Others find that peanuts kill them.
This may be the case, if so, in either case it's worth avoiding the substances that cause you problems.
I wouldn't expect those that have issues with peanuts to tell everyone to not eat them.

Please stop drinking diet soda!
.....
Methanol (aka wood alcohol/poison) (10 percent of aspartame)
Methanol breaks down into formic acid and formaldehyde in the body. Formaldehyde is a deadly neurotoxin.x

sovokit:
Respectfully, I suggest you do much better research.
From Snopes:

Second, the claim that aspartame ingestion results in the production of methanol, formaldehyde and formate: These claims are factual. In the gastrointestinal tract aspartame is hydrolyzed to one of its component materials, methanol, as well as the two amino acids, phenylalanine and aspartic acid. This methanol is taken up by the cells of the body and metabolized first to formaldehyde and then to formate. The key information that is missing in the description by Ms. Markle is that the levels of ingestion are very modest. In fact, there are other foodstuffs that we ingest that supply as much and sometimes even more methanol; e.g., citrus fruits and juices, and tomatoes or tomato juice. There are even higher quantities of methanol ingested when ethanol is consumed. Thus, in the final analysis this methanol is the same as from other sources and in the quantities consumed from aspartame, it is readily and naturally metabolized via the one-carbon biochemical cycle to entirely innocuous and natural body components.

In the past I to have mentioned caffiene being a diuretic to other people.
I have since looked in to and again the studies show this is not true:
From a nytimes article

One report, by a scientist at the University of Connecticut who reviewed 10 previous studies, appeared in June 2002 in The International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism.

Investigations comparing caffeine with water or placebo seldom found a statistical difference in urine volume, the author wrote. “In the 10 studies reviewed, consumption of a caffeinated beverage resulted in 0 to 84 percent retention of the initial volume ingested, whereas consumption of water resulted in 0 to 81 percent retention.”

Another study, in the same journal in 2005, involved scientists following 59 active adults over 11 days while controlling their caffeine intake. They were given caffeine in capsule form on some days and on other days were given a placebo. Researchers found no significant differences in levels of excreted electrolytes or urine volume.

As to what counts as water?

Well; just about everything!

The recommendation was driven by vested interests rather than health, suggests author Speros Tsindos of the department of dietetics and human nutrition at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia.

((Chef Rodney Bowers, left, pours a glass of water as Russell Smith, organizer of a campaign to encourage the drinking of tap water instead of bottled water at restaurants, looks on. Other beverages also help us meet the body's fluid needs, say nutrition specialists.Chef Rodney Bowers, left, pours a glass of water as Russell Smith, organizer of a campaign to encourage the drinking of tap water instead of bottled water at restaurants, looks on. Other beverages also help us meet the body's fluid needs, say nutrition specialists. (Aaron Harris/Canadian Press) ))

"Humans need to maintain fluid balance and need to drink water when required, but should also consider fluid in unprocessed fruits and vegetables and juices. There is further evidence that water and a well-balanced diet does far more than water alone," Tsindos wrote.

"Water is important for health; however, the recommendation of eight glasses of pure water per day appears an overestimation of requirements."

Even a baked potato is 75 per cent water, said nutrition Prof. Susan Barr of the University of British Columbia, who sat on a Canadian-U.S. committee that looked at fluid intake.

"There's nothing magical about water from a glass of water as opposed to water from a food or any other beverage," Barr said.

If anyone has any GOOD SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE to disprove anything I've written, I'd love to see it.

I have taken the time to research this to some degree because I have a self interest in making sure my body works well.
I'd suggest you do the same - making sure it's good research supported by scientific studies, rather than some 'nutritionist' spouting water a bottled water rep told them over an expenses-paid lunch.

Please stop drinking diet soda!

What Is Aspartame Made Of?
Aspartic Acid (40 percent of Aspartame)
Aspartate and acts as neurotransmitter in the brain by facilitating the transmission of information from neuron to neuron. Too much aspartate in the brain kills certain neurons by allowing the influx of too much calcium into the cells. This influx triggers excessive amounts of free radicals, which kill the cells. The neural cell damage that can be caused by excessive aspartate is why it is referred to as an "excitotoxin." It "excites" or stimulates the neural cells to death.

Phenylalanine (50 percent of aspartame)
Phenylalanine is an amino acid normally found in the brain. Persons with the genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU) cannot metabolize phenylalanine. This leads to dangerously high levels of phenylalanine in the brain (sometimes lethal).
One account of a case of extremely high phenylalanine levels caused by aspartame was recently published the "Wednesday Journal" in an article titled "An Aspartame Nightmare." John Cook began drinking six to eight diet drinks every day. His symptoms started out as memory loss and frequent headaches. He began to crave more aspartame-sweetened drinks. His condition deteriorated so much that he experienced wide mood swings and violent rages. Even though he did not suffer from PKU, a blood test revealed a phenylalanine level of 80 mg/dl. He also showed abnormal brain function and brain damage. After he kicked his aspartame habit, his symptoms improved dramatically.

Methanol (aka wood alcohol/poison) (10 percent of aspartame)
Methanol breaks down into formic acid and formaldehyde in the body. Formaldehyde is a deadly neurotoxin. An EPA assessment of methanol states that methanol "is considered a cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed. In the body, methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde and formic acid; both of these metabolites are toxic." They recommend a limit of consumption of 7.8 mg/day. A one-liter (approx. 1 quart) aspartame-sweetened beverage contains about 56 mg of methanol. Heavy users of aspartame-containing products consume as much as 250 mg of methanol daily or 32 times the EPA limit.

Uhm NO. And it causes cancer. Just saying.......