Diet Soda and/or Crystal Light?

Zero calories drinks are, as far as I'm aware, not going to hamper your weight loss. You can switch to iced tea if you want tho. Personal preference is personal.

technically, no. However, some studies say that sugar substitutes may increase your cravings for sweets. Also, unless you are drinking twice the amount of soda you drink in water, you aren't getting enough water.

Personally, I feel that Crystal Light is healthier than diet soda.

Personally, I feel that Crystal Light is healthier than diet soda.

Do you have a reason for this feeling, or is it just 'a thing'?

Zero calories drinks are, as far as I'm aware, not going to hamper your weight loss. You can switch to iced tea if you want tho. Personal preference is personal.

The only way a zero calorie drink (and water is a zero calorie drink) can hamper weight loss is if you're retaining water or over-consuming beyond your body's ability to process the liquid you're giving it. The latter is very dangerous, even potentially fatal, by the way.

Drink what you want, and count it as your "water." If it has calories, be sure to log those.

Oh, one more thing: http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp

Thanks for your thoughtful advice and comments!

I generally drink 1-2 diet sodas each day, and 1-2 crystal lights each day. Could this be hampering my weight loss? Would it be better for me to switch to iced tea?

I do not know of any reason that it could be hampering your weight loss.
No, I don't think it would be better for you to switch to iced tea, unless you happen to prefer iced tea.

I drink diet sodas, crystal light, mio, iced tea and iced coffee and I'm pretty certain that the only thing hampering me from losing weight is that I don't consistently stay below my calorie goal.

Diet soda, it turns out, may not be the panacea for weight loss that we all thought — and many of us hoped — it was.

In fact, a Purdue University study has found that diet sodas may be linked to a number of health problems from obesity to diabetes to heart disease, just like their more sugary counterparts.

Susie Swithers, a professor of psychological sciences and a behavioral neuroscientist, reviewed a number of recent studies looking at whether drinking diet soft drinks over the long-term increases the likelihood that a person will overeat, gain weight and then develop other health problems.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/10/diet-soda-health-problems/2507219/

Yes, they are chemicals and yes they are hampering/harming your weight loss.

Diet drinks,/Crystal Light, are total CRAP.

Drink water naturally sweetened with fruit, if you must have something other than plain water.

Yes, they are chemicals and yes they are hampering/harming your weight loss.

Diet drinks,/Crystal Light, are total CRAP.

Drink water naturally sweetened with fruit, if you must have something other than plain water.

Oxygen is a chemical. Stop breathing.

Thanks.

Yes, they are chemicals and yes they are hampering/harming your weight loss.

Diet drinks,/Crystal Light, are total CRAP.

Drink water naturally sweetened with fruit, if you must have something other than plain water.

Oxygen is a chemical. Stop breathing.

This is my rudimentary understanding of the electrical and chemical nature of water and why sweetened drinks are not the same as drinking water.

Water = 2 Hydrogen atoms, with only 1 of 2 electrons on its outer orbit making it positively charged + 1 Oxygen atom, missing 2 of of the 8 electrons on its outer orbit making it negatively charged. This is why distilled water (pure/nothing else present) is neutral and will not conduct electricity...until things get put into the distilled water.

Water is such a good solvent because the back and forth nature between O(-) and H(+) is constant. It is so good that a standing glass of water will dissolve C/carbon from the air and leach minerals, including NaCl/salt (which does an excellent job of conducting electricity from the ground. Water also dissolves sugars making sweet water a solution (new and different molecules) and not a suspension (distinct molecules floating around together). Glucose for example is C/carbon 2H/hyrdogen 1O/oxygen and another single H/hydrogen. BYW, municipal water has many compounds dissolved in it, including chloride and often floride to name just two.

The presence of more Hydrogen atoms creates an acid (pH values of less than 7.0). The lack of Hydrogen atoms create a base (pH values greater than 7.0). Glucose like other sugars is acidic; it has more Hydrogen atoms that are looking to bond its single electron.

Many diseases are linked to pH (potential Hydrogen) imbalances. For me, its the autoimmune diseases that concern me and their links to acidity, as part of the functioning of the immune system is to send free radicals/having Hydrogen unstable atoms, which are acidic, to do the work of neutralizing the invader then carry them away. In autoimmune disease free radicals mistakenly attack parts of body creating inflammation.

Please note that our bodies are very good at self preservation, so that if someone where to subsist on sodapop (many in the 3.0 pH range) our bodies would avoid acidosis, by pulling base compounds from elsewhere in our bodies (such as teeth, bone) to maintain proper blood pH.

Also note that some bodily functions in select organs are designed to run in extreme pH, such as the stomach (acidic) and small intestine (alkaline).

Current studies are in deep about the nutrient profile of food and the impact on health, but there has not been much attention given to the pH values of the food and beverages and its impact. Some empirical observations indicate that our food and beverage supply is becoming more acidic, hence this rise of acidity could be key in the rise of many diseases.

I avoid unneccessary acidity. I aim for the net affect of my diet to be pH balanced. This is why I drink water I have put through a gravity filter and dispense from a covered glass pitcher with alkaline stick in it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Properties_of_water
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_(chemistry)
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/inflammation.html