Don't Drink Your Calories

I'm a soda person too (that's actually the thing I miss the most)! I usually like Dr. Pepper, Coke, & Pepsi but they don't fit into my macros if I want to have a snack and some decent meals. I agree, most of the diet drinks are super nasty and not even worth drinking. The only one I've come across that is pretty true to taste is Sprite Zero. I've never been a big Sprite fan but if it comes down to me really needing a soft drink I'd much rather grab a Sprite zero than ruin my good streak by drinking a full calorie drink. Also, I haven't tried it with the Sprite Zero but Sprite with JUST A LITTLE dash of almond extract is super good. I know it sounds totally weird (had some at a baby shower). Doesn't hurt to try though, especially if it helps keep you away from worse drinks.

Minute Maid puts out a great tasting 15 calorie lemonade in the carton. It also comes in fruit punch flavor. Pretty inexpensive.

I'd get a second opinion from a registered dietitian. Doctors aren't that well versed when it comes to diet, although I think they should have been concerned with the fact you'll be losing a lot of muscle mass going that aggressive.

Is there a reason for the rush?

So many questions and the exact ones I had upon reading the OP.

I drink some of my meals, I have a glass of veggie/fruit juice daily to ensure I get enough in for the day. I sometimes have a glass of chocolate skim milk as breakfast. I have no problem staying under 1500 a day, will drinking my juice or milk

I'm a 5"4 woman losing 1-2lb a week on 1900 a day.

Just sayin'. :drinker: <- that's beer.

lots of great suggestions. I learned to love water quickly-it really shed the cals for better food. Also great for eliminating toxins. One thing I learned if you can't handle ant diet drinks (they all kill my tummy in liquid form, not solid) I make sure to use less and as a treat or drink fruit drinks I make (so u know what is in it and get yummy juice/smoothies or veggies shakes) Try squeezing some lime, lemon, water melon, etc into ice cube trays and freeze them then add to ur water. Or take those concentrated drinks-it says add 3 cups of water, try 6, making less cals, until water is best

I know that you didn't ask, but...
I'm 5' 8.5"
171 pounds
eating 2000 or so calories a day
Averaging a deficient of 500 calories(balanced weekly) for 1 pound a week loss.

Highly recommend the sexypants post by Sidesteel(already linked)

Also
"It’s not that hard and its not that complicated. The changes you need to make to lose weight and reduce your bodyfat are much smaller than you fear and they are easier to live with than you could possibly imagine! A common sense approach involving exercise and nutrition is all that is required to get ripped, washboard abs. When most people think about losing weight, what comes to mind is words like “hunger”, “deprivation”, “diet”, and “agony”. No! Losing weight properly will not result in any of these, the key is in the above two words “common sense”. Most of the fad diets out there are unhealthy, dangerous or both and lead to deprivation and hunger which eventually leads to binging and guilt – the typical unhealthy yo-yo weight loss pattern."


http://scoobysworkshop.com/losing-weight-and-building-6-pack-abs/#exercisemore


And here's his handy dandy calculator! http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

To your topic- mio's good, I also like diet dr pepper(my go to mixer for alcohol lol), but mostly I drink water and if I have something else I just fit it in and watch my carb balance for the day(make sure that I'm not sacrificing my protein calories for a glass of koolaid)

I like the Mio drink mixes...or Great Value of you wanna save $! Bonus: some of them have caffeine! (This was a glorious discovery for a dyed-in-the-wool soda drinker!)

Mercy! Why is a grown man only eating 1200 calories?!?! :noway: Bad bad bad....

But Mio is delicious and zero calories. And you should have it with a side of more calories. You're a man not a little girl.

Hey guys - The only way I can seem to keep to my LOW goal of 1,200 calories a day is to completely eliminate any calories from beverages. I can only drink so much water and iced tea, and I'm not a fan of diet cola. Am I missing any great solutions out there that I should know about?

Thanks
Doug

Why is a 41 year old man only eating 1200 calories a day? Keep going if you want to lose all your muscle and make yourself ill and then in all likelihood gain the weight back plus some or have a look at the thread and eat some food retain muscle mass and lose weight. I'm a 45 year old man eating between 2,000 and 2500 calories a day losing weight at a steady reasonable pace.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?hl=guide+to+sexypants&page=1#posts-18361594