Diet Dr. Pepper Lover

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puddles76
puddles76 Posts: 36 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
OK so I know you're suppose to drink lots of water (not really my thing but I drink some) but I love my soda (about 5 per day). It's all diet that I drink but I have heard mixed reviews on whether or not the diet sodas obstruct weight loss. I'm open to some opinions on this and would like to know if any soda lovers have seen a difference. Don't think I can live with out it.

Replies

  • sarina87
    sarina87 Posts: 400 Member
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    I use to drink Dr Pepper everyday since i was 5. Last year in november i started my life change to get healthier. I was at 230 pounds for my 5'4 height. I switched slowly to get off of dr. pepper. First i switched to diet for a month, than i went to 5 calorie Koolaid. Now, 50 pounds lighter and feeling a million times more energized, i am happy. I am not saying that i lost all the weight from giving up Dr pepper. But i do believe it was a contribution to it. Today if i drink a Dr pepper, i feel heavier and lazy and then i break out.
  • VJ150
    VJ150 Posts: 453
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    Yes you can live without it!! I use to think the same thing!! :drinker: I have heard that if you are going to drink soda to drink regular instead of diet because of the artificial sweetner in them. I too loved diet dr. pepper, but gave it and all soda up two months ago. Now I drink water with lemon or orange and a lot of tea and love it! :love: I actually feel better, my skin is clearer and my pockets are not as light as they use to be!! :bigsmile:
  • ZacFields
    ZacFields Posts: 62 Member
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    I've heard the negative things about artificial sweetener, but what I've learned on this forum and out in real life, the word "healthy" means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

    For someone trying to lose weight, "healthy" usually means something that aids them in their weight loss progress, or at least doesn't hinder it.

    Someone who is thinking about overall health has a much more complete view on what "healthy" means. I haven't heard much about diet soda restricting your weight loss (other than the little bit of sodium in it), but I have heard various people talking about aspartame being unhealthy for you in many different ways.

    I haven't done enough research to know for sure what the specific health risks are. I have a friend who says it's bad for your skin. Most of the time when someone tells me aspartame is bad for me, they can never pinpoint exactly why, other than "it's just bad for you." I'm interested to see what other responses you get on this topic.
  • lpkitty
    lpkitty Posts: 45
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    I am the exact same way with Diet Pepsi! I'd like to not drink it because of the artificiality of it but I don't like drinking water even if I flavor it. Also my daily calorie allotment is too low to be able to drink a regular soda. I did stop drinking soda for awhile and felt tons better but then I started up again. When you figure out a way to conquer soda let me know :)
  • ChelleBelle1
    ChelleBelle1 Posts: 34 Member
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    I hear you! I am a huge lover of diet coke. There was a time when I could easily drink 5 or 6 in a day. And when I wasnt drinking diet coke, it was coffee. I still love my diet coke, but I limit myself to 2 per day. The sodium content adds up and it does work against your weight loss in large quantities. I have also cut way back on coffee. I don't love water, but slowly but surely, I have gotten used to drinking it every day and I do notice that I don't feel as good on days when I drink less water.

    My recommendation to you would be baby steps. Decide that tomorrow you are only going to drink 4 diet Dr Peppers, and replace the one with water. Then a couple days later, replace another one. That way, you wont feel deprived, but it will help you cut back. Giving up something you love cold turkey all at once is a recipe for disaster.
  • karlowe
    karlowe Posts: 92 Member
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    I was totally addicted to cokes and dr peppers and drink diet dr pepper, coke zero, or sprite zero now. I probably use to drink a 2 liter a day and now I have a glass in the morning to get kicking and one in the evening and the rest of the time water. I think baby steps and anything you do to make a HEALTHIER decision than your before is a plus!!! Best of luck to ya!!!! :smile:
  • apetty21
    apetty21 Posts: 137
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    I love diet sodas. Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Diet A&W rootbeer, Diet Dr Pepper... all of it. However, I only drink *maybe* 2 cans a week. I was having one a day (with my supper) but I'm trying to drink more water. I still have a cup of coffee, black, and/or a cup of tea. I haven't noticed a weight loss difference but I know I needed to reduce my daily caffeine intake.
  • whittrusty
    whittrusty Posts: 533 Member
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    Changing your life is all about compromise. I would NEVER fully give up my favorite indulgence: Diet Coke. BUT I don't let myself have more than one 12 oz. can per day and I'm trying to cut back to about 3-4 per week. It hasn't hindered my weight loss, but I would encourage you to cut back to no more than one per day. Just take baby steps. Cut down to 4, then 3, 2, 1. You can do it. If you cut it down, I think you'll start to really enjoy the pop that you do allow yourself to drink.
  • lutzsher
    lutzsher Posts: 1,153 Member
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    With everything that you consume . . . moderation is the key.

    There have been studies that show that the more diet pop you drink the more you will "crave" sugary substances. When my husband was diagnosed as pre-diabetic I consulted a nutritionist and dietician . . . both of them told me to limit and then try to completely eliminate aspartame from our diets.
    They both told me that when you consume sweets it makes you continue to "crave" them, and aspartame substances were the worst for this. Even healthy people should not consume any more than 3 servings per day.

    We completely gave up diet pop after these comments. I used to be a "sugar-a-holic" and actually had to completely give it up for about 2 months before my cravings stopped. Eating sugar, or sugar substitutes, makes you continue to crave sugar. It was hard to work through the cravings and not "give in" but it can be done.

    Unfortunately even 5 diet sodas is too many each day.

    **Remember** it takes a minimum of 21 days to form a habit, so to make any change you need to work through it for a minimum of 3 weeks. Any less and you have not really given it an honest chance.
  • ZacFields
    ZacFields Posts: 62 Member
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    http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1931116,00.html

    I did a little research on this topic because I had been wondering for a while. There was a lady who came to my work to draw blood and test everyone's biometrics (a free perk my company offered this year). That was when it was discovered that I've got high cholesterol. I spent a couple minutes talking to her about things I could do to improve my overall health and one of the things she suggested was to avoid aspartame... in other words I shouldn't drink diet sodas. Like I said in a previous post, she was very vague about WHY I should be avoiding it, and just kept saying "it's just detrimental to your overall health." I was skeptical at first, especially because she also gave me a laundry list of things to avoid and things to add to my diet that I really had never heard of. She was pushing herbs and oils and all this stuff. Things that I've later found out through research are all very controversial.

    But anyway, this article from Time Magazine says there have been no conclusive evidence to suggest that aspartame is bad for you in any way unless your body has trouble metabolizing the ingredients. The FDA has declared it safe over and over again (and they have banned artificial sweeteners before), and the studies that attempt to link aspartame to obesity are generally overlooking the fact that many people who would choose to drink diet soda over regular soda are overweight or obese already. People who have no need to lose weight are more likely to drink regular soda.

    I'm sure there are still people out there who believe the rumors that aspartame is bad for you, and I'm sure there are resources on the internet (maybe even reputable ones) that claim it's bad. But as I've said before, you can name off almost any ingredient from almost any food and SOMEBODY is going to say it's bad for you, even if 95% of the rest of the world says it's not. Just make sure you're able to separate rumor from fact. I'll keep drinking my Diet Dr Pepper... I'm losing weight just fine and I drink one or two cans a day.
  • ZacFields
    ZacFields Posts: 62 Member
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    With everything that you consume . . . moderation is the key.

    There have been studies that show that the more diet pop you drink the more you will "crave" sugary substances. When my husband was diagnosed as pre-diabetic I consulted a nutritionist and dietician . . . both of them told me to limit and then try to completely eliminate aspartame from our diets.
    They both told me that when you consume sweets it makes you continue to "crave" them, and aspartame substances were the worst for this. Even healthy people should not consume any more than 3 servings per day.

    We completely gave up diet pop after these comments. I used to be a "sugar-a-holic" and actually had to completely give it up for about 2 months before my cravings stopped. Eating sugar, or sugar substitutes, makes you continue to crave sugar. It was hard to work through the cravings and not "give in" but it can be done.

    Unfortunately even 5 diet sodas is too many each day.

    **Remember** it takes a minimum of 21 days to form a habit, so to make any change you need to work through it for a minimum of 3 weeks. Any less and you have not really given it an honest chance.

    That's a very valid reason for avoiding diet pops that I hadn't thought of. Thank you for that!

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