Coffee or no coffee? Diet Coke or no diet coke?

24

Replies

  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,742 Member
    I don't know the "science" on this so I almost didn't respond. I have had steady, good loss over the past year (as seen in my ticker) and I drink one cup of coffee every morning (about 10 oz) with one packet of aspartame sweetener and about 1 oz of unsweetened original almond milk. I drink diet cola about 3 times per week (12 oz can each time)...I love it with certain meals, like my husband's homemade pizza.

    I gave diet soda up completely for about 3 months last year and I experienced some pretty severe constipation for the first time in my life - even though I drink at minimum 10 eight ounce servings of water per day. Of course that wasn't necessarily the cause, but I only made 2 tiny changes in my diet (resuming the diet soda a few times per week being one of those changes) and the problem went away almost immediately. So FWIW I feel like diet soda in moderation is something I'm not going to stop drinking.

    Artificial sweeteners get a lot of bad press but sometimes I think it's due to people I've seen posting on these forums who say they consume about 20 packets per day. I think that's excessive and like with most things, moderation is key. JMHO!
  • Llamapants86
    Llamapants86 Posts: 1,221 Member
    I haven't had any issues with losing weight. As long as I track what I put in my coffee. I could see my weight loss stalling if I didn't count those calories, because I would be eating too much.

    I also have a coke zero most evenings.
  • anothermop
    anothermop Posts: 187 Member
    I do not like coffee; but I like my caffeine cold so 3 Diet Cokes a day is where I'm at. I make myself "earn" them. I have to drink a 24 oz bottle of water and do about 15 pull-ups before I get delicious Diet Coke. I'm going to drink the Diet Cokes anyway, this just makes me drink enough water and my pull-ups are getting better all the time.
  • ccf_trainer
    ccf_trainer Posts: 86 Member
    Does drinking coffee (with 3 tablespoons of sugar-free creamer) affect weight loss? :drinker:
    How about other caffeinated beverages - like diet soda and tea?

    I seem to do better when I give up coffee for a day or two. Is that because I am taking better care of myself generally - getting enough sleep, exercising, drinking more water? Or could it really have something to do with the caffeine itself?

    Thoughts and anecdotes of your experiences are welcome. Advice from nutrition savvy folks, too.

    Drinking coffee has its health benefits, and it also has its share of health problems, such as anxiety, increased blood pressure, and depleted calcium and iron levels (specifically in women). Tea is good if there is no sugar in it. I recommend Agave Nectar because it's naturally sweetened, and healthier than honey. Diet soda is not good for you because it contains so much sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and other stuff you don't need in your body.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    I have about 3-4 cups of strong black coffee a day, and usually 2 cups of black tea with skimmed milk. I find that that amount of caffeine hasn't given me any problems whatsoever with losing/maintaining weight, and doesn't seem to give me any problems with sleep. I do try to keep most of my caffeine intake towards the first half of the day.

    I don't really drink soda much at all - only diet coke from time to time when it has vodka or rum in it.

    I don't add any sugar or sweeteners to my coffee or tea, but I eat sugar and sweeteners in other things, and again, I haven't had any problems with this.
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
    Does drinking coffee (with 3 tablespoons of sugar-free creamer) affect weight loss? :drinker:
    How about other caffeinated beverages - like diet soda and tea?

    I seem to do better when I give up coffee for a day or two. Is that because I am taking better care of myself generally - getting enough sleep, exercising, drinking more water? Or could it really have something to do with the caffeine itself?

    Thoughts and anecdotes of your experiences are welcome. Advice from nutrition savvy folks, too.

    Drinking coffee has its health benefits, and it also has its share of health problems, such as anxiety, increased blood pressure, and depleted calcium and iron levels (specifically in women). Tea is good if there is no sugar in it. I recommend Agave Nectar because it's naturally sweetened, and healthier than honey. Diet soda is not good for you because it contains so much sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and other stuff you don't need in your body.

    Diet soda contains sugar?? Really?? And you wonder why people question your nutritional advice

    I also drink lots of coffee (about 2 pots daily) have very low blood pressure, calcium levels just fine and only anxious if talking to people that annoy me I develop a twitch.. but that's another story.

    Sugar is not bad for you everything in moderation. OP drink your coffee log the sugar and creamer you add to the coffee because those calories can add up.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
    1-2 12 oz cups of coffee at work on weekdays. I log the creamer. 1 can diet dew driving to my workout. 1 cup coffee driving back from my workout. I did switch my home coffee drinking to green tea because I logged the calories and it was like 40 cals a pop and I'd have it several times a day

    Log any calories involved. Enjoy your caffeine. Your friends are wrong, drinking this stuff won't affect your weight loss unless they put you in a calorie surplus. Perhaps they're thinking of all the venti latte lord knows what drinks are out there at 400 cals a pop that *they* drink
  • Strokingdiction
    Strokingdiction Posts: 1,164 Member
    Well, coffee creamer has calories, so depending on how many cups you have with creamer, there's that.

    It's all about calories in vs out for weight loss. I've drank both coffee and diet coke throughout my weight loss and it did not effect the rate by which I lost at all. Moderation with all things.

    This and it should have /ended thread
  • LoupGarouTFTs
    LoupGarouTFTs Posts: 916 Member
    I drink up to two cups of coffee/day, each with one packet of saccharine and two tbsp of original Coffeemate creamer. I typically have zero to three diet sodas/day and as much water (some flavored) as I can tolerate. During the summer I drink a lot of sugar-free iced tea (Community Coffee brand or homemade). I've never found caffeine to be much of an issue with weight gain.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    Does drinking coffee (with 3 tablespoons of sugar-free creamer) affect weight loss? :drinker:
    How about other caffeinated beverages - like diet soda and tea?

    I seem to do better when I give up coffee for a day or two. Is that because I am taking better care of myself generally - getting enough sleep, exercising, drinking more water? Or could it really have something to do with the caffeine itself?

    Thoughts and anecdotes of your experiences are welcome. Advice from nutrition savvy folks, too.

    Drinking coffee has its health benefits, and it also has its share of health problems, such as anxiety, increased blood pressure, and depleted calcium and iron levels (specifically in women). Tea is good if there is no sugar in it. I recommend Agave Nectar because it's naturally sweetened, and healthier than honey. Diet soda is not good for you because it contains so much sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and other stuff you don't need in your body.
    What utter nonsense. Where to start with this. Oh it's just not worth it just ignore this it's as I said utter nonsense and not worth the energy of correcting
  • Seabee74
    Seabee74 Posts: 314
    What ???? Do you understand a calorie deficit..
    I love my coffee and drink it daily with lots of flavored delicious creams... ps... I'm losing weight !!!
  • ninja8tofu
    ninja8tofu Posts: 76 Member
    I drink coffee every day. Creamers included, sugar included. Lattes, yeah, pretty often...I fit them into my calories. I've lost nearly 80lbs since last February. I don't drink Coke/Diet Coke, so I can't comment on that.
  • 24inchesplease
    24inchesplease Posts: 7
    ANY diet soda is extremely bad for your health. It contains aspartame, which is a chemical that humans are not supposed to be ingesting.

    You can just google "why aspartame is bad for you" and you get aaaall the info you need.
  • Apocalypz
    Apocalypz Posts: 155 Member
    But no, diet soda and coffee will have zero effect on whether you lose or gain weight as long as you account for the calories you may be taking in and fit them into your goals.
    So true! I used to drink 4 litres of full fat fizzy drink each day; however, I was exercising enough for it to bring my kcal average for the day down to respectable levels. Full fat or diet coke, coffee with or w/o creamer doesn't matter if you make up with an average kcal count at the end of the day.

    On a separate note, when I was ingesting the 4 litres, it turned into a health concern due to too much caffeine. My body started to harden the fatty tissue and gave me bumps under the skin -- all observed and diagnosed by my GP -- so I cut back. Once I cut back, all of that disappeared and I've not had an issue since. Yes, you have to pay attention to what you're putting in your body, but your choice of coffee or fizzy drinks will not make you gain/lose weight as long as your overall kcal is in order.
  • Apocalypz
    Apocalypz Posts: 155 Member
    You can just google "why aspartame is bad for you" and you get aaaall the info you need.
    Oh good gracious! You can google "why ZZZ is bad for you" where ZZZ = ANYTHING and you'll find something on the internet. What a silly, silly statement that is. Apples can be bad for you; Meat can be bad for you; Sex can be bad for you; Flying can be bad for you; Giraffes can be bad for you (that last was a joke).
  • BurntCoffee
    BurntCoffee Posts: 234 Member
    Diet Soda tends to trigger my sweet tooth so I went cold turkey 2 weeks ago. I feel so much better now. I did give up on creamer on a daily basis and instead I'm using spelnda with skim milk. I stick to one cup. It's working for me so far. I'm not for or against anything as long as it fits my plan but I'd rather have something else instead of creamer most days. It's just a personal preference.


    Good luck!
  • nixxthirteen
    nixxthirteen Posts: 280 Member
    I am a coffee FIEND. Though I'm happy with just a single cup in the morning with 1/4 cup skim milk and one packet of sweetener.

    Lately I've become fond of sugar free Monster, and drink one a day for a pick-me-up at work.

    Combined, they're only 31 calories so I don't feel so bad about my dependency :P.
  • amblight
    amblight Posts: 350 Member
    I'm a major caffine addict - I drink at least 1½L of caffinated drinks a day - mostly coffee (black) but I sometimes diet coke too. Hasn't hindered my weight loss at all, and can't imagine it would. I think if I didn't get it, I would be so slugish that I would move a lot less, plus I would satisfy my caffine craving with something else, so that would slow my loss.

    I lose about 2lbs a week, so it hasn't slowed me!
  • KingofWisdom
    KingofWisdom Posts: 229 Member
    When it comes to soda, my thought process is that if if I'm going to drink it, I want the good stuff. I'd rather enjoy a can of the regular stuff every so often than multiple cans of the diet version with the soapy taste because of the funky sweetener.
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    Soda's diet or full fat I can take them or leave them now.

    Coffee, with this there Is no compromise - I will take it every time.

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