Diet Coke- how bad is it?

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anordskog
anordskog Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have been tracking my calories and walking for 3 weeks with not much change on the scale. I'm feeling better but I can't kick my diet coke just yet. I'm down to 3 cans a day. How bad could this be affecting my weight loss, if at all?
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  • knt217
    knt217 Posts: 115 Member
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    It has zero calories. It is not your scape goat. Give it time. I didn't lose a single pound for the first few weeks, and then woosh...dropped. Then I held for five days again, and this morning the scale finally moved. It will come if you're really accurately tracking your calories. Give it time.
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
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    No, if it's in your calories, it won't be affecting it. Plenty of people here drink Diet Coke and lose weight. Do you weigh everything you eat? Do you eat back exercise calories? If you're not losing anything it's more likely that you're not logging accurately.
  • maasha81
    maasha81 Posts: 733 Member
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    I doubt it is the diet coke. Are you counting cals deficit accurately? Using a food scale to measure food?
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited April 2015
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    If you are within your calories, it's not affecting your weight loss.

    Some people claim that diet soda causes them to crave more sweet stuff and have trouble sticking to their calorie goal, whereas people who don't calorie count often don't lose if they switch to diet soda since they replace the calories.

    I drank diet soda off and on while losing weight and it made no difference whether I was or wasn't.
  • anordskog
    anordskog Posts: 3 Member
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    I do get confused with my calorie counts. They differ by 100-300 from my fitbit and MFP. With fitbit giving me the lesser. They are both set up with the same.

    Any ideas? Should I turn my calorie dashboard off on my fitbit?
  • Lexicpt
    Lexicpt Posts: 209 Member
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    I'm constantly drinking diet soda and I have never had it hinder my weight loss. Just make sure you're drinking equal amounts of water to balance it out.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
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    Lexicpt wrote: »
    I'm constantly drinking diet soda and I have never had it hinder my weight loss. Just make sure you're drinking equal amounts of water to balance it out.
    Balance it out?

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    Can you provide your stats, height, weight, age, and workout routine? Also, do you use a food scale? And can you open your diary?

    Generally, the issues are consistency and accuracy of logging causing lack of weight loss.


    BTW, I do 2 diet dews a day.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    anordskog wrote: »
    I have been tracking my calories and walking for 3 weeks with not much change on the scale. I'm feeling better but I can't kick my diet coke just yet. I'm down to 3 cans a day. How bad could this be affecting my weight loss, if at all?

    None at all. It has no calories, therefore it cannot contribute to weight gain.
  • UltimateTrashBae
    UltimateTrashBae Posts: 175 Member
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    I cut it out of my diet because I was caffeine dependent. But not because it hindered my weight loss.
  • hhnkhl
    hhnkhl Posts: 231 Member
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    You are most likely eating more...
  • Lexicpt
    Lexicpt Posts: 209 Member
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    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    Balance it out?

    I should have clarified better. Make sure Diet Coke isn't the only form of liquid you consume all day.

  • hsmith0930
    hsmith0930 Posts: 160 Member
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    This is anecdotal, not science based, but if I only drink diet soda during the day I get a little bloated and my weight will go up a bit. If I drink more water (even with stuff like Mio in it) in addition to the soda I don't get the same thing. Weird, because the caffeine SHOULD be a diuretic, but that's just what happens to me. So maybe try to get some more water in and see if it helps any?
  • higgins8283801
    higgins8283801 Posts: 844 Member
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    Diet soda has a lot of sodium in it. I would keep track of your sodium intake. You may be retaining water.

    Also if you're not weighing your portions, you may be overestimating your burns from walking and underestimating your caloric intake.
  • higgins8283801
    higgins8283801 Posts: 844 Member
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    hsmith0930 wrote: »
    This is anecdotal, not science based, but if I only drink diet soda during the day I get a little bloated and my weight will go up a bit. If I drink more water (even with stuff like Mio in it) in addition to the soda I don't get the same thing. Weird, because the caffeine SHOULD be a diuretic, but that's just what happens to me. So maybe try to get some more water in and see if it helps any?

    Sodium. In a coke zero there are 70mg. Sodium always does that to me, too.

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    macedinthedick wrote: »
    I cut it out of my diet because I was caffeine dependent. But not because it hindered my weight loss.

    Yeah, I did that with coffee for a while. (And coffee definitely helps, not hurts, with weight loss for me.) ;-)
  • steffydill
    steffydill Posts: 12 Member
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    Just read articles on aspartame in diet drinks and how damaging it is, there is also data to show diet drinks actually cause weight gain but even aside from that if you just see how damaging aspartame is you will kick your habit ASAP xxx
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
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    steffydill wrote: »
    Just read articles on aspartame in diet drinks and how damaging it is, there is also data to show diet drinks actually cause weight gain but even aside from that if you just see how damaging aspartame is you will kick your habit ASAP xxx
    The aspartame in my Dr Pepper 10 is greatness.

    I prefer studies to articles. Do you have any studies that support what you're saying about how damaging aspartame is?
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
    edited April 2015
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    Well, Diet Coke is nasty, so...

    Really, as long as the artificial sweeteners don't cause any health problems for you or trigger a binge, then consume them, as everything, in moderation. I have a diet soda every evening.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I drink diet coke everyday...no issues here with weight loss or sodium causing water retention....

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