No more soda = How much weight lost???

MissKimi22
MissKimi22 Posts: 8
in Getting Started
Okaaay so I love my soda. I really need to lose weight tho so im starting to drink diet soda and water.
About how much weight do you think can be lost by just doing that?
I mean I want to eat better and exercise too but... How much do you think just not drinking soda can help me!?!?
Thanks!! :)
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Replies

  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    You lose weight by eating fewer calories than you burn. It's all about how much you eat & drink—not which things you avoid.

    Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    A healthy loss is .5–2 lb. per week. With 60 lb. to lose, set your goal to 1 lb. per week and log everything you eat accurately & honestly. Get a food scale, and weigh all your food.
  • clareyoung80
    clareyoung80 Posts: 177 Member
    Who knows. How much soda did you used to drink? How much diet soda do you drink now? What's the rest of your diet like?!

    When I first started losing weight, I cut out soda completely - I used to drink it like water - and I lost a lot of weight. But, then I also cut out most processed foods, most junk foods, all sweets etc... So how much the soda affected me, I can't tell.

    I'd say it did help me reduce my sugar cravings, thus leading me to eat less sugar snacks, thus reducing my calories, thus helping me lose weight.

    I think the only answer for you is you'll possibly/probably/might lose some/a little/a bit of weight.
  • gypsy_spirit
    gypsy_spirit Posts: 2,107 Member
    Losing weight is about maintaining a calorie deficit. Anything you do to achieve that will result in weight loss. Read the sexy pants link above.
  • Crawflowr
    Crawflowr Posts: 106 Member
    If you just do the straight maths:

    if you drink 2 litres of coke a day that is equivalent to around 840 calories a day
    multiply by 7 = 5880 calories a week
    which is over 1.5 lb equivalent in weight gain.

    I'm sure stopping this would help in a calorie controlled diet.
  • sloth3toes
    sloth3toes Posts: 2,212 Member
    About how much weight do you think can be lost by just doing that?

    50 lbs.
  • husseycd
    husseycd Posts: 814 Member
    When I cut Dr. Pepper 10 years or so ago, I dropped 12 lbs.
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
    How long is a piece of string?

    Cutting out fizzy drinks does not equal weight loss. Calorie deficit = weight loss.
  • Luciu5
    Luciu5 Posts: 15
    About a year ago, I quit drinking soda for a month. I didn't have any weightloss and went back to drinking them again. At the time, I didn't understand how reducing my calories by nearly 1000 per day had no affect. Looking back, I now know quitting sodas wasn't enough to put me in a deficit. I simply had achieved maintenance. So it depends on what the rest of your diet looks like. You might lose a lb or two a week, or stop gaining and see no change, or just start gaining slower than before. Accurately count calories for a day or two without soda then you will know what to expect.
  • DaniellaB1995
    DaniellaB1995 Posts: 64 Member
    I cut out sodas, and it wasn't just that that caused some weight loss but it definitely was a big factor. I used to drink about 3/4 glasses of coke/fanta/lemonade/whatever a day, which adds up to a LOT of calories, but doesn't really fill you up much - i mean I never drank it because I was hungry just thirsty! So id be eating food AND drinking soda, but cutting out the soda gave me so many more calories allowed a day.
  • darkrose20
    darkrose20 Posts: 1,139 Member
    It *can* help in weight loss, as you're cutting out 120-ish calories for every full sugar soda you eliminate and do NOT replace with a drink containing calories. One word of warning, though. I stopped drinking any soda at all when I started losing weight. I got on a diet soda kick (changing nothing else at all) and watched as I put ON 5 lbs, and they wouldn't come off for a good month. I was stalled and not only that but heavier. I eliminated the diet soda and watched those 5 lbs melt off in no time. The ONLY thing I changed was diet soda intake. Normally, I only drink water and Crystal Light Tea and brewed herbal/green teas at home. I admit I will cheat and have hot cocoa or sweet tea from time to time at home (and of course the occasional alcoholic drink). When I'm at work, I drink water with the occasional cup of coffee, the occasional diet juice like drink or diet green tea with flavoring. Of course, I'm not perfect, so I will have a diet soda here and there, but it's a very infrequent treat now--like once a month, if that.

    Water tastes like nothing or minerals, and I don't like the taste much...like a lot of people. I add lemon or lime to my water, so I will actually want to drink it. Hopefully, my insight helps...and, of course, best of luck to you!
  • craftywitch_63
    craftywitch_63 Posts: 829 Member
    Okaaay so I love my soda. I really need to lose weight tho so im starting to drink diet soda and water.
    About how much weight do you think can be lost by just doing that?
    I mean I want to eat better and exercise too but... How much do you think just not drinking soda can help me!?!?
    Thanks!! :)

    I drink 1-2 diet sodas a day and I've been losing pretty steadily. Everyone plateaus, and I think sometimes diet sodas are blamed for the plateaus.

    Switching to diet soda will save you 120-140 calories/soda. All I can say is, unless you have phenylkenonuria, you should be okay. Try it for a few weeks, if you lose weight, awesome, if you don't, try cutting out the diet soda and see what happens.
  • jlynnm70
    jlynnm70 Posts: 460 Member
    honestly I can say about the first 7 # were just from giving up soda. SInce then (14 total) I don't count it as soda alone.
  • lauraspberry
    lauraspberry Posts: 655 Member
    I quit soda long before I started working out, all I know is, if I didnt stop, i would have been obese when I started on MFP. Soda was my water before, I loved it so much but then when I gained 15lbs I realized that it's the first thing that I should take off my diet.
  • IronPlayground
    IronPlayground Posts: 1,594 Member
    There is actually no way to know this answer without seeing how soda was used in the context of your entire diet. Like someone has already said, stop drinking the soda and keep tracking the rest of your intake for a week and then calculate the difference.

    However, I highly doubt it was the soda, by itself, that's causing weight gain or no weight loss. You'd really need to take a look at your entire diet and make sure you are logging everything accurately.
  • 1daylate1dollarshort
    1daylate1dollarshort Posts: 45
    My SO was about 300 pounds a few years ago. He drank 6-10 (or more because he works at a restaurant with fountain pop) pops a day.

    He replaced one meal (admittedly pretty close to 700 calories there) with a salad, replaced his regular Mountain Dew with diet (0 calorie) and he lost 30 pounds in like, 2-3 months. It was really fast. I think other than that he just did portion control and lost the other 70lbs like that.

    But cutting out pop helped too. I mean, 150 x 6= 900 so that's a pretty big deficit to create. Also the few hundred or so he took away with the salad. He said he got used to diet after a couple of weeks or so.

    It depends on gender/weight/amount of pop/what you replace it with, etc. But I think cutting it out of limiting it is a good start. I never drank it myself, so I can't speak from personal experience. But I found his experience to be amazing.
  • Joanne_Moniz
    Joanne_Moniz Posts: 347 Member
    Okaaay so I love my soda. I really need to lose weight tho so im starting to drink diet soda and water.
    About how much weight do you think can be lost by just doing that?
    I mean I want to eat better and exercise too but... How much do you think just not drinking soda can help me!?!?
    Thanks!! :)



    You will find out for yourself... You will lose ALOT of weight and even more when you reduce your sugar all around! It should be at 10 percent of your calories. World Health said maybe 5 percent!! Sugar is a leading cause of obesity because of the fructose that is in it and how it is metabolized. Today, weight loss is less about quantity of calories and more about quality!!!

    Good luck!
    Joanne Moniz
    The Skinny on Obesity Group
  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
    The amount of weight loss will depend on other factors in addition to giving up sodas. Giving up sodas will do nothing for you if you are eating over your calorie limit. A calorie deficient is the main key to losing weight. If the soda isn't interfering with your calorie deficient then drink it once in a while. Otherwise, you know the drill!
  • Joanne_Moniz
    Joanne_Moniz Posts: 347 Member
    Okaaay so I love my soda. I really need to lose weight tho so im starting to drink diet soda and water.
    About how much weight do you think can be lost by just doing that?
    I mean I want to eat better and exercise too but... How much do you think just not drinking soda can help me!?!?
    Thanks!! :)


    ps... don't switch to diet sodas... that may cause you to gain weight... happy to send you the statistics if you want
  • IronPlayground
    IronPlayground Posts: 1,594 Member
    Okaaay so I love my soda. I really need to lose weight tho so im starting to drink diet soda and water.
    About how much weight do you think can be lost by just doing that?
    I mean I want to eat better and exercise too but... How much do you think just not drinking soda can help me!?!?
    Thanks!! :)


    ps... don't switch to diet sodas... that may cause you to gain weight... happy to send you the statistics if you want

    Yes, please post statistics on how drinking diet soda will put someone into a calorie surplus, by itself, without taking other intake into account.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    Okaaay so I love my soda. I really need to lose weight tho so im starting to drink diet soda and water.
    About how much weight do you think can be lost by just doing that?
    I mean I want to eat better and exercise too but... How much do you think just not drinking soda can help me!?!?
    Thanks!! :)


    ps... don't switch to diet sodas... that may cause you to gain weight... happy to send you the statistics if you want

    BS
  • mschicagocubs
    mschicagocubs Posts: 774 Member
    Okaaay so I love my soda. I really need to lose weight tho so im starting to drink diet soda and water.
    About how much weight do you think can be lost by just doing that?
    I mean I want to eat better and exercise too but... How much do you think just not drinking soda can help me!?!?
    Thanks!! :)


    ps... don't switch to diet sodas... that may cause you to gain weight... happy to send you the statistics if you want

    BS

    Not necessarily BS. Diet Soda increases water retention so if you drink a lot and not enough water, you could be constantly holding on to more water than normal.

    But as far as actual fat from calories in vs calories out ... no.
  • Apple31415
    Apple31415 Posts: 98 Member
    Cut out soda for new year's resolution this year. (actually pledged to drink nothing but water which includes the flavor drops) The biggest immediate benefit was that i no longer felt on a blodd-sugar level yo-yo. That's why one soda always leads to more later in the day. I put my focus on drinking water NOT not drinking soda. That mindset worked for me - have lost about 18 lbs since Jan.1 and i'm sure getting soda out of the equation is partly responsible.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    Okaaay so I love my soda. I really need to lose weight tho so im starting to drink diet soda and water.
    About how much weight do you think can be lost by just doing that?
    I mean I want to eat better and exercise too but... How much do you think just not drinking soda can help me!?!?
    Thanks!! :)


    ps... don't switch to diet sodas... that may cause you to gain weight... happy to send you the statistics if you want

    BS

    Not necessarily BS. Diet Soda increases water retention so if you drink a lot and not enough water, you could be constantly holding on to more water than normal.

    But as far as actual fat from calories in vs calories out ... no.

    Yea, that's not what she was inferring.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    Years ago I remember thinking if I just gave up soda, I'd probably drop all kinds of weight. So I quit cold turkey, and expected amazing results. I may have lost a few pounds, I don't really know, but I wasn't out buying smaller sized clothes because of it.

    It wasn't until I started tracking ALL my calories, all the foods I ate that I finally started seeing weight loss. Eating the right number of calories for my stats (age, height, weight, activity level) has been key - not too many, but not too few either.

    And I've gone back to soda - not the multiple Dr. Peppers I used to drink every day (I can't usually even finish a whole soda now - too sweet!), but the occasional Hansen's root beer or whatever I feel like having. Or regular beer. Or wine. Or a margarita. Ice cream. Cake. :drinker: If it fits in my goals, I eat it and enjoy it.
  • Madame_Goldbricker
    Madame_Goldbricker Posts: 1,625 Member
    I have a serious diet coke habit when I'm at work. However I don't even bother to log the 4-6cals from it. If I have a non diet soda I will log that though. I don't think its probably all that good for me in the general scheme of things, but it hasn't made a jot of difference to me losing weight.
  • BENNYDOOR
    BENNYDOOR Posts: 23
    Soda is full of so many chemicals that your body is not only storing fat from the fake sugar (high fructose corn syrup) but its storing mass amounts of toxins as well. Cola is so acidic that you can clean your toilet and get great results with it :)
  • AirborneEd
    AirborneEd Posts: 69
    Soda is basically a huge fat pill, cutting it out of your diet will help progress greatly.
  • BENNYDOOR
    BENNYDOOR Posts: 23
    Research studies have shown that people who drink diet soda have a 70% bigger waistline then those that drink regular cola. Its because artificial sweeteners trick your brain into believing you just consumed calories, then 20 minutes later, you brain realizes it was tricked, therefore you will start to crave more sugar and more carbs. Not only that but artificial sweeteners cause an array of health problems such as depression & anxiety.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    Soda is full of so many chemicals that your body is not only storing fat from the fake sugar (high fructose corn syrup) but its storing mass amounts of toxins as well. Cola is so acidic that you can clean your toilet and get great results with it :)
    Also no. And your stomach acid could clean a toilet nicely as well. However, I don't feel like puking or dumping a coke in my toilet every time I clean it. Instead I bought a cleaner from the store. It works great!
  • superkt
    superkt Posts: 12
    i've done the "no soda" rule twice in my life. the first time, i just replaced with water (this was back in high school around age 16). i dropped about 15 lbs in a matter of ~3 months doing absolutely nothing else. i didn't realize i drank about two 20oz bottles a day. i slowly added it back in my diet and cut it out again around age 20. this time, i cleaned up my diet a lot -- i loved fast food/fried stuff before that. i ended up losing around 30 lbs in about 7 months and kept it off for a few years until i got pregnant. i've since been drinking soda again and REALLY want it out of my diet. it's sooo hard when it's so delicious :(

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