Will I lose weight by removing drinks which have lots of calories and sugar in them?

Jamie23049
Jamie23049 Posts: 16 Member
edited November 19 in Health and Weight Loss
I have a weakness and I would say addiction to soda. Ever since I was a child I was given it by my parents where it developed from a can once a day to a litre and now I drink around 2 litres of the stuff almost every day. Every 2 litre bottle I drink has between 800-900 calories alone so do you think this is the main reason behind me being overweight. I am essentially drinking maybe 2 and half days worth of additional calories each week just from soda. I don't even want to imagine how much additional sugar I am drinking too. I literally only ever drink soda so my body must be so dehydrated as I haven't had just a glass of water in years. I am 186 pounds now so do you think I will lose much weight by removing soda and replacing it with water. Will my body feel any different as I am constantly bloated and end up feeling sick and disgusting after finishing a 2 litre bottle. I researched that I must be consuming around 2300 calories each day to be the weight I currently am and I sometimes imagine if soda was never invented I would be most likely only having 1500 calories a day. Has anyone else experienced any weight loss from soda or any other positive things?

Replies

  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    Only if it puts you in a calorie deficit.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    I Remember being in my 20's...and being a fan of Pepsi at that point.

    I stopped drinking it and dropped 10lbs in a month...So if you are drinking the soda and it's putting you over maintenance than yes that is why you are over weight and yes if you stop drinking it and don't substitute another high calorie item you will lose weight...

    What about diet pop? I drink diet coke all the time...have had no issues with losing weight.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    IF you've been stable at the weight you're at for a while(6 months or so)

    IF you don't replace the soda with something else caloric.

    Then you'll likely start losing weight.

    You should probably start drinking more water... you likely will need to find an alternate source of caffeine... you will likely want to use crystal lite or mio to flavor your water for a while... you may want to try flavored seltzer to give you that bubbly sensation.
  • vivelajackie
    vivelajackie Posts: 321 Member
    If you're in a deficit, you will lose weight. I prefer to eat my calories rather than drink them, which is what you're doing with nearly 1k of calories in your drink alone.

    Growing up, I was a diet soda addict (to this day I cannot drink normal Coke. It's sticky almost with how sweet it is). I'd go through a case in 2 days. I'd finish one and go straight in for another. Now... I'm not really one that believes that artificial sweeteners are the devil--thats how I sweeten my coffee every morning and I don't have crazy cravings and I am losing weight just fine. However, sweeteners like sweet and low ARE more sweet than normal cane sugar. I'll have coffee at my friend's who dump spoonfuls of sugar and I could hardly taste it. Only with coffee, oddly enough.

    When I drank soda I would hardly consume water. My friend worried for me actually. I cut it out pretty much cold turkey (and with coffee consumption the caffeine withdrawal didn't last too long). I drink coffee and a lot of water now. I have since added soda back with a whole 4 cans. A week. It's a transition but you can do it. Good luck.
  • ronjsteele1
    ronjsteele1 Posts: 1,064 Member
    When I wanted to start drinking more water I had to flavor it at first in order to stand it. I started using 1/2 grape juice/ 1/2 water until I could drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Then I cut the grape juice back to 1/4 juice to 3/4 water, etc. The juice will add calories to your day (make sure to account for them!) but overall, it will be less then soda. By the end of a few weeks I was drinking straight water and I enjoyed it! Now it's all I drink and I drink TONS of it.

    There is also something call Crystal Light Pure that is a water flavoring with 15 calories per half packet. That would work in place of juice to. They have a Crystal Light energy that has some caffeine in it if you need to replace some caffeine from the soda pop. These didn't exist when I was getting rid of soda so I would prefer them now over juice just because of the calories.

    If you want to remove the soda, those are some ways to try doing so. If removing the soda calories puts you below your maintenance calories then you will lose. I would still recommend tracking your calories though to make sure you are truly in a deficit. So often people think they are in a deficit when they really aren't. Weigh, measure, and log.....everything. You'd be amazed at what you learn just from doing that.
  • allaboutthecake
    allaboutthecake Posts: 1,535 Member
    If you decide to cut out all your soda, you should expect to have a withdrawal of it. The sugar, any caffeine, headache maybe, the desire to reach for the bottle itself, can be just some of it. I wish you luck. (Your teeth will thank you, too.)

  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    First of all soda will not dehydrate you.

    But I would guess yes, you would likely drop several pounds by switching from sugary soda to something else. If cold turkey is too hard cut back slowly. Also, if it's cola or another caffeinated soda you want to give up, cutting back slowly might be wise as you may be addicted to the caffeine.

    I used to have a pretty bad Pepsi habit years and years ago. I finally gave it up and now I don't even like soda of any kind.
  • elizabethmcopeland
    elizabethmcopeland Posts: 167 Member
    It doesn't really sound like you're asking a question: it sounds like you know the answer!

    Caloric deficit aside, your body will thank you for drinking water. Even if you just build up the habit of chugging 8oz a few times a day. You don't *have* to go cold turkey; someone mentioned weaning by using juice. You could also just pour out an increasing portion of a 2liter when you first open it every day so you're not tempted to drink the whole thing. Focus on the good things you're doing for yourself and work in the things you enjoy too.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    I Remember being in my 20's...and being a fan of Pepsi at that point.

    I stopped drinking it and dropped 10lbs in a month...So if you are drinking the soda and it's putting you over maintenance than yes that is why you are over weight and yes if you stop drinking it and don't substitute another high calorie item you will lose weight...

    What about diet pop? I drink diet coke all the time...have had no issues with losing weight.

    This was me too. I stopped the Dr. Pepper and lost ten. That was the beginning of the turning point for me, food wise. It took me another year or so to really turn things around, but that was the spark!
  • DuckReconMajor
    DuckReconMajor Posts: 434 Member
    As for me, I quit soda about 7 years ago. At the same time I stopped getting Large of everything at fast food places and started getting Medium. I went from 250lb to 200lb pretty quickly.

    After a while I went back to eating everything in sight but I had lost the taste for soda. I only gained 10lb back. Even at my worst since then I've only gotten back up to 230, and I can say with a fair amount of confidence that unless something terrible happens I will never be 250lb again.

    I feel like if I'd never given up soda I'd have hit the 300lb mark.
  • RachelElser
    RachelElser Posts: 1,049 Member
    wooo that is a lot of soda! Yes, if you cut out the soda and don't replace it with something else I would think that will start you off losing weight. I also love soda- I have one at lunch and one at dinner BUT it's Coke Zero so no calories.
    Get ready for a really unpleasant caffeine headache though! I used to drink much much more soda, like 5 cans a day and I went cold turkey to get it under control. When I did that I had the worst headache from caffeine withdrawal. I just slept it off though, so try to stop drinking on a Friday so you can sleep all day Saturday if needed.
  • suhashmi
    suhashmi Posts: 22 Member
    YES YES YES
  • Poisonedpawn78
    Poisonedpawn78 Posts: 1,145 Member
    Soda/Pop has been one of the many things that has gotten me into the situation I am in. Soda/Pop is very calorie heavy and non filling. I would drink tons of it and then still have normal meals, binge meals on top of it all.

    2 months ago i stopped all Soda/Pop over night. IT SUCKED *kittens*. Make no mistake about it. Thats because it is HIGHLY addictive ( for me). I was determined and fought through the cravings and the headaches and all of it. i refused to give in. After about 2 weeks i didn't even notice but the cravings weren't even there anymore. I didn't even notice until a month later when i saw a pop and thought about how i didn't even want it. When in the past It would have triggered all sorts of cravings.

    You can totally cut it out if you want to and if you have the willpower and desire to kick that habit. The good thing that will come out of it is, It is likely a huge source(not all) of your caloric overage making the remaining changes you need to make that much easier.

    You can do it!
  • ShrinkingViolet1982
    ShrinkingViolet1982 Posts: 919 Member
    Please make the change ASAP. My mom drank tons and tons of Pepsi through her adult life and now has liver problems because of it. That amount of sugar is not good for you, and the damage may or may not be reversible depending on what it does to you.
  • edlanglais5
    edlanglais5 Posts: 172 Member
    Yes, gradually cut down on the sodas. They are empty calories. Replace those calories with foods that will meet your hunger and protein/fat needs.
  • motorcyclediva
    motorcyclediva Posts: 4 Member
    La Croix is a great substitute, and calorie/caffeine free!
  • ugofatcat
    ugofatcat Posts: 385 Member
    Yes, as long as you don't replace it with anything else. Your teeth will probably thank you too.
  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
    edlanglais5 wrote: »
    Yes, gradually cut down on the sodas. They are empty calories. Replace those calories with foods that will meet your hunger and protein/fat needs.

    if he replaces those calories with foods that are the same calories that will not help him lose weight.
  • edlanglais5
    edlanglais5 Posts: 172 Member
    My apologies, not what I really meant. My intention was to say that removing empty calories frees up "space" in the calorie allotment for foods that will actually satisfy hunger, making it easier to achieve deficit. I drink water only, with an exception of 8oz of grape juice in the evenings. If I drank sodas regularly, you would be incredibly difficult to achieve deficit. Hopefully, that makes more sense.
  • BlueSkyShoal
    BlueSkyShoal Posts: 325 Member
    edited June 2017
    You'll absolutely drop weight by dropping the soda (as long as you don't suddenly start eating 900 calories worth of something else.) The human body has trouble recognizing "drink calories" as food (in the sense of, it has trouble deriving a sense of fullness or satiety from drinks), so I think it will be much easier to still feel "full" than it would if you were cutting 900 calories of solid food out of your diet.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    It will likely help a lot, but it won't guarantee that you lose weight unless it puts you in a calorie deficit. Track your food and drink intake, make sure you're in a deficit.
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