Diet Pop..zero calories, but does it hurt weight loss
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Well, it's bad math if they think that just by drinking a diet soda, it's going to magically create more of a deficit. The diet soda won't ADD to your daily calories but it won't burn calories, either.CarvedTones wrote: »This article:
Switching to personal anecdotal information, I do know people who seem to think that drinking a diet soda means they can have an extra slice of pizza or whatever. That's bad math.
However, if they were going to drink a regular soda and decided to drink a diet soda instead, it would free up those calories for something else.3 -
hpurtee1hp wrote: »midlomel1971 wrote: »I drink them, but I want to stop because I think it makes my sweet tooth worse.
Now I'm the exact opposite, when I'm craving something sweet I'll grab a diet coke haha. Of course then I want chips or something salty with it. Haha
I've tried the "drink water to help you feel full" trick and it doesn't work for me (usually). But, drinking a diet soda does satisfy me if I'm between meals and am feeling hungry. It doesn't make me feel full but it does take away that little gnawing hunger pain and I can think of something other than food.5 -
Everything is chemicals. There is worse stuff in the air you're breathing than in a diet soda.
Some people say it makes them hungrier, but there's nothing in diet soda that would explain that, maybe it's psychological. I know if I'm snacky for something sweet a diet soda takes care of it with no calories.
I drink several a week, and if there was more room in my budget I'd drink one every day. I have yet to see anything remotely scientific that shows diet soda CAUSES anything. And the correlation stuff I've seen is pretty easily explained by alternate common sense causes. :drinker:12 -
Everything is chemicals. There is worse stuff in the air you're breathing than in a diet soda.
Some people say it makes them hungrier, but there's nothing in diet soda that would explain that, maybe it's psychological. I know if I'm snacky for something sweet a diet soda takes care of it with no calories.
I drink several a week, and if there was more room in my budget I'd drink one every day. I have yet to see anything remotely scientific that shows diet soda CAUSES anything. And the correlation stuff I've seen is pretty easily explained by alternate common sense causes. :drinker:
thank you!! i dont get the "i stay away from chemicals" thing... what? when you break down anything, ain't it all chemicals! lol9 -
Everything is chemicals. There is worse stuff in the air you're breathing than in a diet soda.
Some people say it makes them hungrier, but there's nothing in diet soda that would explain that, maybe it's psychological. I know if I'm snacky for something sweet a diet soda takes care of it with no calories.
I drink several a week, and if there was more room in my budget I'd drink one every day. I have yet to see anything remotely scientific that shows diet soda CAUSES anything. And the correlation stuff I've seen is pretty easily explained by alternate common sense causes. :drinker:
thank you!! i dont get the "i stay away from chemicals" thing... what? when you break down anything, ain't it all chemicals! lol
It's just the fact that I felt addicted to it that made me concerned. I got severe headaches if I skipped Diet Coke and just felt like I'd be better off without that quantity of chemicals in my body. I DO try to choose more natural products when I can--I think a lot of people do. Of course we can't avoid chemicals altogether, but I prefer to go for fresher foods from simpler ingredients when I can.10 -
Personally as a recovering diet coke addict, I replaced it with water. I've noticed much less bloat and acid reflux, but not a difference in weight loss.6
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I feel that if I drink diet coke I get into a mindset of "I should not be drinking this rubbish" and then start eating lots of snacks next to it, just because. I don't think diet coke is unhealthy as such, but honestly, I don't really like it. One just gets used to it I guess. I do like carbonated drinks after a whole day of hiking. But that doesn't happen too often. I guess the only big downside of carbonated drinks is the damage it does to your teeth (it's an acid after all).1
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hpurtee1hp wrote: »So i know the goal is to stay within a certain number of calories, and diet pop is 0 calories.. however, has anyone had better success with eliminating pop completely? I mean obviously I know that it's best to not drink any pop at all, but with it being 0 calories, does it affect this program much??. What do u all think?
I like Diet Mt. Dew and drink more than one every day. Have lost 34 lbs since May 10th. So, I don't think they have any detrimental effect on weight loss at all, unless there's some sort of indirect effect for a particular person where it might make them crave (and then consume) something that actually does have significant calories.3 -
CarvedTones wrote: »deannalfisher wrote: »CarvedTones wrote: »This article:
http://time.com/3746047/diet-soda-weight-gain/
references two studies published in respected medical publications that found a statistical correlation with drinking diet soda and weight/fat gain but correlation does not establish causation.
Switching to personal anecdotal information, I do know people who seem to think that drinking a diet soda means they can have an extra slice of pizza or whatever. That's bad math.
I think if you are drinking diet soda while tracking calories and making sure you are in a deficit, it will cause no problem.
the one article cited (JAMA Pediatrics) is available in full-text format...the one glaring measure that they didn't include was mother calorie consumption in general...they looked at food quality, but not food quantity...i would probably put more interest in results if they controlled for that - they also identified that mothers who were obese and used Artifical sugars were more likely to have obese kids...
i think your pizza anecdote is a valuable one...people think if they have a diet soda, they are being good - so they off set it with something extra like fries or pizza which have calories - thus increasing their intake and gaining weight...
Another way to put it is even if it is true that people who drink diet soda are more likely to be overweight, it's not sneaking diet sodas that causes that...
Another question is: are people who are overweight more likely to choose diet soda, rather than diet soda causing the weight? Chicken or egg?8 -
CarvedTones wrote: »Another way to put it is even if it is true that people who drink diet soda are more likely to be overweight, it's not sneaking diet sodas that causes that...
As an illustration: The more people abuse alcohol, the more cigarettes they smoke, and vice versa. That's correlation. Causation means demonstrating drinking alcohol causes people to smoke cigarettes, or smoking cigarettes causes people to abuse alcohol.
See:
https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa39.htm6 -
0 calorie is a teensy bit of a lie. What it actually means is very, very low calorie, generally under 20 calories at the most. If you drink or eat lots and lots of 0 calorie items, it can add up so you still have to take care.
That said, I drink a can or two of diet root beer on pretty much a daily basis and have no problems. I find it's better than only drinking water because I will eat something sweet with more calories than the diet root beer to satisfy my sweet tooth.3 -
born_of_fire74 wrote: »0 calorie is a teensy bit of a lie. What it actually means is very, very low calorie, generally under 20 calories at the most. If you drink or eat lots and lots of 0 calorie items, it can add up so you still have to take care.
That said, I drink a can or two of diet root beer on pretty much a daily basis and have no problems. I find it's better than only drinking water because I will eat something sweet with more calories than the diet root beer to satisfy my sweet tooth.
In the US, any food item that has less than 5 calories per serving can be labeled as a zero-calorie item. If the serving size has more than 5 calories, the actual value must be listed.6 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »CarvedTones wrote: »deannalfisher wrote: »CarvedTones wrote: »This article:
http://time.com/3746047/diet-soda-weight-gain/
references two studies published in respected medical publications that found a statistical correlation with drinking diet soda and weight/fat gain but correlation does not establish causation.
Switching to personal anecdotal information, I do know people who seem to think that drinking a diet soda means they can have an extra slice of pizza or whatever. That's bad math.
I think if you are drinking diet soda while tracking calories and making sure you are in a deficit, it will cause no problem.
the one article cited (JAMA Pediatrics) is available in full-text format...the one glaring measure that they didn't include was mother calorie consumption in general...they looked at food quality, but not food quantity...i would probably put more interest in results if they controlled for that - they also identified that mothers who were obese and used Artifical sugars were more likely to have obese kids...
i think your pizza anecdote is a valuable one...people think if they have a diet soda, they are being good - so they off set it with something extra like fries or pizza which have calories - thus increasing their intake and gaining weight...
Another way to put it is even if it is true that people who drink diet soda are more likely to be overweight, it's not sneaking diet sodas that causes that...
Another question is: are people who are overweight more likely to choose diet soda, rather than diet soda causing the weight? Chicken or egg?
Exactly. And therein lies the flaw of mistaking correlation for causation. Overweight people often engage in exercise programs too - so using the same logic, one could claim that exercise makes people overweight.
As to the original question - I drink 1-2 diet sodas per day most days. It has done nothing to hinder my weight loss. Weight loss comes from consuming less calories than you expend, and a zero (or nearly zero) calorie drink is irrelevant unless you happen to be drinking hundreds of cans/bottles per day.
As far as the "chemicals" aspect of it, here's a great post written by a molecular biologist here on MFP: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1308408/why-aspartame-isnt-scary/p15 -
born_of_fire74 wrote: »0 calorie is a teensy bit of a lie. What it actually means is very, very low calorie, generally under 20 calories at the most. If you drink or eat lots and lots of 0 calorie items, it can add up so you still have to take care.
That said, I drink a can or two of diet root beer on pretty much a daily basis and have no problems. I find it's better than only drinking water because I will eat something sweet with more calories than the diet root beer to satisfy my sweet tooth.
In the US, any food item that has less than 5 calories per serving can be labeled as a zero-calorie item. If the serving size has more than 5 calories, the actual value must be listed.
Ah thank you. My search fu is weak and I didn't have much luck finding any specific guidelines, only general discussion of 0 calorie foods. My point is that this could explain that one friend people talk about who quit drinking a case of diet coke a day and lost weight as a result.
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Running_and_Coffee wrote: »Everything is chemicals. There is worse stuff in the air you're breathing than in a diet soda.
Some people say it makes them hungrier, but there's nothing in diet soda that would explain that, maybe it's psychological. I know if I'm snacky for something sweet a diet soda takes care of it with no calories.
I drink several a week, and if there was more room in my budget I'd drink one every day. I have yet to see anything remotely scientific that shows diet soda CAUSES anything. And the correlation stuff I've seen is pretty easily explained by alternate common sense causes. :drinker:
thank you!! i dont get the "i stay away from chemicals" thing... what? when you break down anything, ain't it all chemicals! lol
It's just the fact that I felt addicted to it that made me concerned. I got severe headaches if I skipped Diet Coke and just felt like I'd be better off without that quantity of chemicals in my body. I DO try to choose more natural products when I can--I think a lot of people do. Of course we can't avoid chemicals altogether, but I prefer to go for fresher foods from simpler ingredients when I can.
Caffeine withdrawal.11 -
I've lost weight while drinking diet soda and I've lost weight during long periods where I refrain from diet soda. I never noticed any difference to my weight loss, health, or general feeling between the two. What I have found is that for me personally a diet soda as part of my afternoon snack reduces my munchies and staves off my usual 3pm headache/listlessness combo. For me that's worth it. But we're all adults here so make whatever choices you want.4
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BruceHedtke wrote: »
Well, it's bad math if they think that just by drinking a diet soda, it's going to magically create more of a deficit. The diet soda won't ADD to your daily calories but it won't burn calories, either.CarvedTones wrote: »This article:
Switching to personal anecdotal information, I do know people who seem to think that drinking a diet soda means they can have an extra slice of pizza or whatever. That's bad math.
However, if they were going to drink a regular soda and decided to drink a diet soda instead, it would free up those calories for something else.
Yes, but a soft drink with sugar is probably in the 150 calorie range, so replacing it with a sugar free alternative doesn't free up enough calories to eat an extra slice of pizza that's 300-500+ calories (depending on size and toppings). That's the bad math I am talking about.3 -
I use diet lemonade more than coke for long drinks in the sunny weather. Neither has had a negative effect on my weightloss - when I do have an alcoholic drink I am not adding lots of calories with my mixer; that's a good thing to me.1
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I lose less weight if I consume a lot of Splenda, but aspartame doesn't seem to affect my weight loss. I was a diet soda addict, so I have made the choice to cut back to 1-2 cans a week, but I did this because I wanted to drink more water.9
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ObviousPanda wrote: »I don’t drink it. I feel there are too many chemicals in Coke Zero and similar drinks. It’s a personal preference. My husband drinks it and hasn’t had any issues.looney9708 wrote: »I have no scientific data or know why. But two examples of it hurting weight loss:
On the 30/10 weight loss diet program they were adamant that it stalls fat loss and it was not approved. Any chemical type drink including crystal light. La croix was okhpurtee1hp wrote: »ObviousPanda wrote: »I don’t drink it. I feel there are too many chemicals in Coke Zero and similar drinks. It’s a personal preference. My husband drinks it and hasn’t had any issues.
Yea, I agree there's a lot of chemicals I'd like to get away from!
H2O is a chemical. Everything physical is made up of chemicals.6
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