Diet soda

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  • Andi67
    Andi67 Posts: 41 Member
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    I am not a big fan of water. I try to drink some daily even the flavored water and just can't seem to drink enough. Can someone still lose weight by drinking mainly diet soda?

    Well it's certainly a better choice than regular soda, BUT lot's of Sodium in Soft Drinks...I was not a big fan of water but I love it now..
    You can find some yummy diet soda without sodium. My doctor told me it counts as long as there was no caffeine and no sodium.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
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    I am not a big fan of water. I try to drink some daily even the flavored water and just can't seem to drink enough. Can someone still lose weight by drinking mainly diet soda?

    Well it's certainly a better choice than regular soda, BUT lot's of Sodium in Soft Drinks...I was not a big fan of water but I love it now..
    My doctor told me it counts as long as there was no caffeine and no sodium.

    Your doctor needs to get up to date with his caffeine research then. It's been proven that the diuretic effect of the caffeine is far, far outweighed by the actual water in the drink. Better yet, if you are a regular caffeine consumer your body gets more adept at extracting the water, to the point where it becomes pretty much the same as regular water, which in itself is a diuretic don't forget.

    All these people who say diet coke causes you to eat more....well, don't eat more! Have some control! Diet soda itself will not cause weight gain...next to 0 cals means 0 gain. If you then choose to eat more food, it's down to YOU, not the soda!
  • Shelby814
    Shelby814 Posts: 273 Member
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    Ok, so here's the skinny according to Shelli (a former Diet Mountain Dew addict & nurse practitioner). You will probably lose weight while drinking diet soda as long as your diet & exercise are on point. However, research has shown that those who do drink diet soda lose slower than those who don't. In addition, it is just not good for you, caffeinated or not. Bad for your teeth, your bones & your bladder. Shop around & try different flavored waters. They are definitely NOT all created equal. Crystal Light may help as well. All in moderation. :)
  • summalovaable
    summalovaable Posts: 287 Member
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    I'm not going to list off a study or any scientific research here, just tell you a personal experience.

    I went from drinking a ridiculous amount of water (on average, i would say more than 15 cups) to drinking ridiculous amounts of diet pop. When I started school up this fall, I had somehow switched my water habit to diet drinks. Going from one extreme to the other, my body felt absolutely horrid (mind you, i also was not getting enough sleep, eating or exercising properly). I still drink way more diet pop than I should, but I have NOT gained weight because of it. I know I don't personally feel as strong or healthy as I used to ( which is why i now make a point of filling my water bottle before and after every class), but if weight loss is your primary focus, you should not have any issues. If over all health is your primary concern, I wouldn't recommend more than a few cans a day :).. I'm still trying to kick the diet pop habit, but right now if it stops me from eating a bag of candy, or choosing the wrong things in the cafeteria I'll take it !
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,571 Member
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    I drink at least 2 Diet Pepsi's a day, but then I also down at least 96 oz of water too.
  • taeliesyn
    taeliesyn Posts: 1,116 Member
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    I drink Diet sodas as my choice now, when I drink soda.
    I don't do straight water, it just doesn't work for me.
    What I did was pick a low sugar/calorie cordial and start drinking that, worked up to somewhere around 1.5gallons/6L a day.
    Once I settled into that routine, I started making the cordial weaker and weaker, to the point where a bottle of concentrate that should give me 10L of normal strength cordial is now giving me 40-50L of cordial. It's not far off the point now where it's almost worthless adding the cordial, but I'll keep working it down till I can stand actual water.
    The one bonus of the cordial trick is that you don't tend to get affected by the different flavour of water at different places.
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
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    I am not a big fan of water. I try to drink some daily even the flavored water and just can't seem to drink enough. Can someone still lose weight by drinking mainly diet soda?
    Yes. When you look behind the kimono of "drink 8 cups of water a day", you will find that it's great advice to help curb your appetite. That's it - put water in your body so you'll feel full and eat less.

    There are other reasons why people drink that much water but, generally speaking, there's no need for humans to drink 8 cups a day.

    This is a link to a document written by an MD, who happens to have written a book on the human kidney,

    http://ajpregu.physiology.org/content/283/5/R993.full

    You'll see that the doctor and his research assistant were not able to find any reason to drink so much water. And there are 100 footnotes in this article that he cites to justify his conclusions.

    Personally, I rarely drink plain water. I never had a need to fill myself up to stop from eating and now I can't be bothered to drink it 'cause it's tasteless and has zero nutritional value.
  • PrincessBDub
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    I drink flavored water every day & plenty of it! Strawberry & Key Lime are my favorites. And they seem just fine for me. :)
  • Pancakelovessyrup
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    I've been doing just fine with diet soda, but I try to limit myself & counteract each 8 oz of soda with 8 oz of water.

    same here
  • wannababyH
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    If you're drinking HFCS soda, and switch over to sweetener soda; yes, you can see a reduction in weight.

    My husband made the switch a while before we started eating better and working out, and lost about 20lbs. We're sure it was the soda because that was the only change.
  • lipglossjunky73
    lipglossjunky73 Posts: 497 Member
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    The problem with diet soda is that will dehydrate you!!! I get so thirsty when I indulge in a can of Diet Coke (which I consider a treat more than a daily drink)...
  • Redheadbkb
    Redheadbkb Posts: 22 Member
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    Here's what every trainer I've ever had has told me:

    Soda, diet or regular, essentially eats away at your muscles. It also contains a lot of sodium, and actually makes you thirsty, rather than satiated.

    I've stopped drinking it. If you really don't like water, try drinking another zero-calorie flavored drink that's not carbonated (e.g., Vitamin Water or Sobe Lifewater).
  • Schwiggs
    Schwiggs Posts: 222 Member
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    Here's what every trainer I've ever had has told me:

    Soda, diet or regular, essentially eats away at your muscles. It also contains a lot of sodium, and actually makes you thirsty, rather than satiated.

    I've stopped drinking it. If you really don't like water, try drinking another zero-calorie flavored drink that's not carbonated (e.g., Vitamin Water or Sobe Lifewater).

    Your trainers are morons. There's nothing that suggests carbonated beverages "eat muscle." Also, personal trainers aren't qualified dieticians. Stop falling for the alarmist bull****.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
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    The problem with diet soda is that will dehydrate you!!!

    Can we see some proof of this please?
  • maidentl
    maidentl Posts: 3,203 Member
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    The other myths, I can somewhat understand. But the sodium . . . IS RIGHT ON THE BOTTLE! How can you believe that it is "incredibly high" in sodium when you have a label to look at?!
  • Suziq2you
    Suziq2you Posts: 396 Member
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    Here we go again. Let's dispel a lot of the mis-information and outright lies included in earlier responses to your topic.
    1. You CANNOT gain fat simply by drinking diet soda. As someone else said, 0 calories means zero fat gain. The only way you can gain weight directly from drinking soda is if your body is retaining the water, but that's more of a function of your OVERALL sodium intake.
    2. Let's talk about the sodium. 40mg as in a can of Coke Zero is not a lot of sodium by any stretch. Diet Pepsi has only 35mg, not much sodium.
    3. The Ph of soda (it is slightly acidic) has absolutely nothing to do with hydration. Soda is 99% water (as Coca-Cola Inc is kind enough to remind us) and it will indeed hydrate your body.

    So as long as you log your soda (for the sodium's sake) and you're within your calorie goals otherwise, you will not gain weight or impede your weight loss by drinking diet soda.

    ^^This^^