Do diet sodas make you fat?

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dckim
dckim Posts: 311 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Has anyone stopped drinking diet sodas and lost weight? I keep hearing diet sodas make you eat more. Btw I drink about 2-3 cans of diet coke a day. :drinker:
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Replies

  • hush7hush
    hush7hush Posts: 2,273 Member
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    For some people the artificial sweetener does make them crave more food. It's all about self control.

    Also people are likely to drop weight if they stop drinking it for a while because of bloat caused by carbonation.
  • Chastityx
    Chastityx Posts: 192 Member
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    they don'tadd calories, but increase your cravings for sweet foods.
  • rudegyal_b
    rudegyal_b Posts: 593 Member
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    apparently they still cause sugar spikes, making you hungry later
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    For me, yes!

    I have diet soda and it was previously paired with chocolate bars, potato chips etc. If I didn't have the diet soda I wouldn't touch that junk either. I stopped drinking the diet soda and dropped 50 lbs in 6 months, put it back on and have been drinking the soda again, working on cutting it back out because it worked in the past for me.
  • SoCalSwimmerDude
    SoCalSwimmerDude Posts: 480 Member
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    I've lost 27 lbs, went from about 18 to 11% body fat, never hit a plataeu (sp?), eat EXTREMELY healthy, and have a diet coke almost every morning on the way to work. I also quit diet coke for 2 weeks about a month ago for kicks to see what effects it would have. All it did is not provide an avenue for my sweet tooth and I would want to eat more w/out it... becuase it was always kind-of a filler for me. I'm not saying its the healthiest, and I'm sure people are going to bring their studies and personal experiences, but for me... it didn't make a difference. If anything, it made things just a little worse.

    Aspartane may be bad... I don't know. My wife would tell you that you'll die of brain cancer if you drink diet coke. The FDA says aspartane is fine... and you'll find a million different opinions. So you'll have to choose for yourself. For me, its fine.
  • dckim
    dckim Posts: 311 Member
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    I guess the word "diet" is a misnomer then. just can't win... :sad:
  • MaddieMii
    MaddieMii Posts: 12 Member
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    Diet soda made me more hungry ultimately - it's full of all kinds of chemicals. I don't do soda anymore for that reason.
  • Soccer_chick916
    Soccer_chick916 Posts: 159 Member
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    I've lost 27 lbs, went from about 18 to 11% body fat, never hit a plataeu (sp?), eat EXTREMELY healthy, and have a diet coke almost every morning on the way to work. I also quit diet coke for 2 weeks about a month ago for kicks to see what effects it would have. All it did is not provide an avenue for my sweet tooth and I would want to eat more w/out it... becuase it was always kind-of a filler for me. I'm not saying its the healthiest, and I'm sure people are going to bring their studies and personal experiences, but for me... it didn't make a difference. If anything, it made things just a little worse.

    Aspartane may be bad... I don't know. My wife would tell you that you'll die of brain cancer if you drink diet coke. The FDA says aspartane is fine... and you'll find a million different opinions. So you'll have to choose for yourself. For me, its fine.


    I agree with you. Besides when you go to a restaurant or buy pre-made food you almost cant know if they used artificial sweeteners or not. Besides I don't see the harm in it as long as you to it in moderation.
  • arw060310
    arw060310 Posts: 256 Member
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    I don't drink soda anymore really, but when I do have the occasional diet soda, I don't get a craving for anything else. It usually just makes me feel bloated and gross about myself. But my mother drinks about 4 diet sodas a day and is in amazing health. It just depends on the person. I guess anything carbonated makes me feel icky..
  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
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    I've lost weight quicker than I normally have and I personally think the reason is because I've switched my diet soda for water. But that's anecdotal.

    There is no science proving that it makes you fatter. You could try it and see how it works for you and if it speeds up your weight loss.
  • kardeamad
    kardeamad Posts: 43
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    I was addicted to coca cola for 24 years. I dropped from normal to diet about 6 years ago.

    I heard about diet drinks causing sugar cravings for some people and tested it for 3 weeks to see if I was affected. After every can I made sure my next drink was a coffee with one sugar. I used to drink between 8-12 cans a day! I lost weight , didn't eat any crap but my cravings seemed to be crap carbs not sugar.

    I have now totally kicked the coke, withdrawing slowly via decaff as I knew from previous attempts that the caffeine withdrawal is hideous.

    I now have one caffeine drink a day which as my new lifestyle is progressing I find I am enjoying less and less each day.
  • Tonilynn70
    Tonilynn70 Posts: 59 Member
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    I am a former diet pepsi addict. I never log them bc they have no calories and no fat... but the other day (I drink one a day during the week for fhe caffiene bc I don't drink coffee, and prob 2-4 a day on the weekend...but I used to drink a 12 pack or more A DAY)...anyway, I noticed the sodium content in it. Its something like 35mg a serving.. so I drink 5-7 20 oz bottles of water a day and 1 soda... and I am retaining the water bc of the sodium.

    I also feel bloated and gassy when I drink it. I don't think an occasional soda will make you GAIN weight, but it may hinder your losing.
  • AimingHighWeighingLow
    AimingHighWeighingLow Posts: 192 Member
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    I am a coke addict (the legal stuff!!) I am going a month without it. Personally when I drink it my stomach swells very noticeably. (In fact alcohol does the same too, so I don't drink it)

    I am doing a mini detox this month in a bid to shed some half my total weight to lose! I want to give my body a kick start, no caffeine at all! Bye bye chocolate, coffee and coke)

    With Diet Coke I noticed that it filled me up, but the problem is, I would go into the kitchen grab a coke and because I was in the fridge I would pull something else out of the fridge at the same time!

    I will never go back to drinking as much diet coke as I did (3-7 cans a day!!!) but I will have one every now and then, as they say everything in moderation!
  • mlecin
    mlecin Posts: 16
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    I'm wondering if diet soda is responsible for the plateau I just hit. I went from losing 1-2 pounds a week since May to not losing any at all for the past 2-3 weeks. Until recently I wasn't drinking anything sweetened with nutrasweet, now I'm having soda every day or two.
  • SavCal71
    SavCal71 Posts: 350 Member
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    I lost 90 pounds and drank a LOT of diet sodas during that time.

    Diet sodas themselves don't make you fat. But they can mask sugar cravings, leaving you to binge on sugar later on. I combatted that by treating myself freuqently enough and in small enough portions that I didn't do sugar binges.

    Are they healthy? Nope. But they're not fattening.
  • jmsladky
    jmsladky Posts: 46
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    I am also a diet coke addict. I have stopped may times but never had a weight loss. They make me wanna eat less. Its weird.
  • Quiltmania
    Quiltmania Posts: 59
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    No, they don't. What makes you fat is moving your fork more than you move your *kitten*.
  • dckim
    dckim Posts: 311 Member
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    So from what I read here, diet soda IS somewhat better than regular soda. :happy:
  • TrishMahon
    TrishMahon Posts: 14
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    I have always hated diet soda. But I am slowly making the change from drinking coca cola to ginger ale when I am at a restaurant. At home, I drink water, sometimes with lemons, sometimes without
  • Scorpioangel
    Scorpioangel Posts: 951 Member
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    I have heard that also for lots of different reasons but I drank diet soda and successfully lost all the weight I wanted with no problems. One of the things I read the most of is that it increases the appetitie, which it didn't do to me.

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