Diet Soda: Friend OR Foe??

I lost over 125 lbs at which time i was drinking diet soda. I am sure you will hear lots of feedback regarding the health benefits (or lack there of) of drinking it, but it did not hinder my weight loss at all!!

carbonated beverages (diet, reg and even perrier/seltzer) have been known to slow weight loss.

so, foe. definitely foe.
drop the diet soda and replace it with water.
when u need a sweet fix pour some crystal light in your water.

carbonated beverages (diet, reg and even perrier/seltzer) have been known to slow weight loss.

so, foe. definitely foe.
drop the diet soda and replace it with water.
when u need a sweet fix pour some crystal light in your water.

Yep what she said!! LOL

I would say ditch it if you tend to retain a lot of water. I have been a lot less bloated (lovely word, isn't it) since I started drinking only water.

I personally think diet soda is discusting, the aspertame taste is horrid.

With that said, I have never had a soda addiction like a lot of people, but I have heard that your body treats the fake sugar just like regular sugar. so it plays with your insulin levels, and causing you to be more tired. tired leads to making poor food choices and choices as to whether or not your going to work out etc.

I have also heard that soda in any form diet or regular, and a leading cause to belly fat in particular.

Believe what you will, but NOONE has EVER come out and said that water has bad side effects, noone has ever come out and said that all natural fruit juice is BAD for you (except the sugar)

Noone has said the fresh fruits and veggies and lean proteins, healthy things like that are BAD for you. So when I see something that is soooo controversial as diet pop, it leads me to believe that there is SOMETHING that is bad for you, and that in about 10 years we really will find out there there are some horrible side effects to it.

So better safe then sorry I say, Stick to water.

I used to be hooked on soda bad! A couple years ago I would have at least 3 Mountain Dew's a day most days. Last year I started only drinking Pepsi Max, Coke Zero, etc. which is no calories, but no significant difference in weight.

Since starting MFP on 4/19, I have not had a single soda of any kind. What I did to replace it was start buying MiO water enhancer. I can't drink plain water, especially the city water here that is like drinking pool water (chlorine) so I love this stuff. It's like Crystal Light, etc. but liquid and 0 calories, 0 sugar, 0 everything pretty much. The other great thing is that you can squirt as much or as little as you want in there, so it can either taste like KoolAid or just barely have enough flavor to notice. Great stuff!

I'm down 8 pounds so far with another 10 or so left to goal. Most of it is watching calories and giving up giant heaping bowls of ice cream....but the water probably helps too I suppose.

One a day shouldn't make a huge difference. I generally have that just for the caffeine... But if you are drinking 3-4 a day or more it could be that you are getting a lot of sodium and retaining water. So, as I tell my friend that drinks 3-4 red bulls a day, you may need to "Lay off the smack" and just cut down. :laugh:

carbonated beverages (diet, reg and even perrier/seltzer) have been known to slow weight loss.

Where have you heard this? Almost everything you hear about carbonation being bad for you is untrue, it's just carbon dioxide in the water.

Doesn't mean there's nothing wrong with diet sodas, but it you need a fizzy fix there's nothing wrong with seltzer.

Carbonated beverages are not the devil!
I think the caffeine content and the fact that diet pop is loaded with chemicals are more significant factors to me.

But, any carbonated beverage increases bloating because the carbon dioxide trapped in the bubbles creates gas, which can create discomfort, slows down stomach emptying....etc

So Ive hit a plateau... wondering now could it be the Diet Pepsi Ive switched too? Done some researching online and cant come up with a definative answer. So please tell me if you have or havent experienced weight loss issues drinking diet sodas.

Last year, on WW, I lost 20 pounds while drinking diet soda. Then I stalled. So, I cut out the soda. It didn't make any difference. After 3 weeks with no soda, I went back to it and started losing weight again.

If you are thinking that diet soda somehow changes your metabolism to stop you from losing weight. That is false. It's the other things that you may or may not need to be worried about. Sodium. Caffeine. Chemicals. Increased appetite, if that's an issue for you. If you are replacing water intake with a caffeinated soda, that's probably not a good thing either.

I drink Diet Coke DAILY, and I dotn see that it has hurt my weight loss progress. I even went off it for about 2 weeks and results still the same. So for me I don't see why it should hurt your weight loss.

FOE!! that is all...

I drink a diet soda a day as well. It doesn't seem to be affecting my weight loss. And having my happy Diet Dr. Pepper at lunch every day actually keeps me a bit happier and cuts back on my sweet tooth. That said I also drink between 8 and 12 glasses of pure water a day too.

If your soda is important to you (for whatever reason) then keep drinking it. Or cut it out for a couple of weeks and see if it changes for you.