How big a deal is it to have a Coke...

It's the sugar that gets you. Every time my husband has a coke I always take the first sip and love it. LOL. You have to do what works for you but it's probably not something to have everyday. Maybe more just a once and awhile thing. Good luck.

I love love LOVE coke, but I much prefer it in moderation and only occasionally. I make a rule of never buying it to have at home or in my room at college, so when I do have it, it's when I'm out at a restaurant or something. Even then, I'll usually get water because of the extra cost, unless I'm at a fast food restaurant where it comes with the meal. I also drink coke zero a lot when it's available. No, it's not good for you but if you love it, you shouldn't deprive yourself and if you do what I do, then it's a special treat!

I went through a period of time where I gave up sodas completely when I was a teenager, didn't miss them at all, and now I exclusively drink coca cola. If it's not available, I will pass up on soda entirely. I'd say that I live my life 98% soda free!

I still have an occasional Coke. Not everyday, but probably 2 times a week. Just one 12 oz. can or one glass at a restaurant and that's it. No refills. I don't think having more than one serving in a day is a good idea because of this high sugar content, but I also don't do artificial sweeteners so it's either real Coke or nothing for me. If you were training to be a bodybuilder with 5% body fat then you would have to cut them out, but just being a normal person at a healthy weight there's no reason you can't have one occasionally unless you have diabetes or another condition which would suggest you shouldn't. You don't have to be perfect 100% of the time to be at a good healthy weight.

If I'm eating well otherwise and still stay under my calorie number?

I would love to give up soda completely, but in the meantime, is an occasional 20oz Coke going to screw things up, as long as I don't let it push me over my target number?

I would say yeah, it should be fine. I just had my first soda in about a month and a half (I have been drinking koolaid til yesterday, too). I had a Diet Coke though. Typically, all sodas are made from the high fructose corn syrup, which by the name tells your body that it is sugar. Even though it does not list "sugar" in the nutrients, that just means they did not add any to the formula for taste. I would say it is fine. My plan is to pick 3 things that I love, in drinks, desserts, and main entree, and indulge once a month (modestly). Do what works for you, man!

Soda, in all it's forms and sophisticated marketing, is horrible on your body.

I would say hat an occassuonal soda won kill you, or even do any harm. However, I would suggest that 1) why not 8 oz? Why freaking 20 oz of Coke. That a fu*k load dude. And, 2) begin to strive for longer periods without it, with the ventral goal of none.

I don't drink soda, and if I have a sip of one, it makes me gag. It's absolutely he most horrible tasting thing in the world. But, no one will understand that unil you stop drinking it for 3 years, then try drinking one. You'll see what I mean, if you can do tat.

But, like the above guy, I pretty much have an IV drip of red wine straight into my blood stream. So, we all have our thing.

It was a very sad day in our office when management replaced all the 12 oz can vending machines with 20 oz bottle vending machines. That sucked.

Yeah, I despise the whole up-sizing coke thing. It's why my rule of thumb is that I will only have a coke if it's a 12 oz glass bottle of Mexican coke. Real sugar. Tastes amazing. Small portion. And I have to plan for it. I have to buy a bottle at the store or go to a restaurant that serves it.

(And no, as long as you plan for the calories, an occasional serving of soda won't hurt you.)

Oh, there is nothing like a cold fizzy drink on a hot day! I have the occasional coke zero - I get the mixer cans so they are really small. Otherwise I satisfy that craving with club soda and a splash of Roses Lime Juice. It is cold and fizzy and very refreshing!

But to answer your question, it really depends on you. If you, like me, will obsess over something I can't have, then go on a binge then you should have it. If you feel you can shrug it off, then try going without.

There is weight loss and there is losing weight and being healthy. The occasional coke is not going to harm you on a significant level. I am sure if you had some crazy sensitive measuring device you would find out that even every sip is harmful.

But then you could start to argue toxins in our environment and all that stuff are worse and then a big giant debate would start lol.... ok, so not to get too far off track. Cut down the portion size in a sitting for sure. If you are having a 20 oz coke every now and then you are fighting an uphill battle with adapting to portion control and I would suspect it would make everything else more difficult to sustain for the long run.

I understand the sacrifice feels huge after all the other changes but just try to see the bigger picture. I still have pop every now and then but 1-4 a day is now at most 1 can a month and I feel better than I ever have.

All the best

You can drink 20 oz. Cokes and it won't stop you from losing weight, but it will make it MUCH HARDER!

Flooding your system with high-fructose corn syrup jacks up your blood sugar (that's the part you love or you'd be drinking Diet Coke or water), then cause your body to flood insulin. High insulin levels then prevent your body from burning fat even if you are working out and have a calorie deficit! Then, to add insult to injury, your blood sugar will fall and your body will crave more Coke, or other crappy high carb foods! Plus, overweight people are at higher risk for diabetes, so you may be messing with your body there as well.

There's a difference between eating healthy and eating to lose weight. Can you lose weight and drink the occasional Coke? Of course! But you can also commit to replacing that habit with better choices that won't make the already hard process of weight loss even harder. Choose foods and drinks that help keep your blood sugar more stable.

I'm not a huge believer in moderation when it comes to things like this -- it's easier to just get that stuff out of your life for now and move on. If you need a few sips of Coke and you can stop there, great. But I don't have that kind of will power! You don't need to make Coke forbidden or feel deprived that you shouldn't have your favorite treat, but you do need to ask yourself why you want to hang onto a habit that contributed to your being overweight.

I would say hat an occassuonal soda won kill you, or even do any harm. However, I would suggest that 1) why not 8 oz? Why freaking 20 oz of Coke. That a fu*k load dude. And, 2) begin to strive for longer periods without it, with the ventral goal of none.

It was a very sad day in our office when management replaced all the 12 oz can vending machines with 20 oz bottle vending machines. That sucked.

This is how I look at things like this.

It really and truly is "the man" trying to keep you down. It really is. They moved out 8 oz Cokes, and brought in 20 oz Cokes. Why do you think they did that. Hmmmmm. It's "the man" wanting to keep you down.

I just get really pissed off at that point, and decide that I'm not going to feed into "the mans" plan. It's that simple. I could probably write a whole thesis about this topic, and I usually keep it off these boards, but seriously, it's a very planned out way of keeping you fat by providing more. The drink makes you feel sort of full for a while, then makes you want more and more. It's like a drug. Make water your drug. Get pissed at the man for manipulating you.

I believe that anything in moderation should be okay. You do have to live, right? I still enjoy the occasional glass of wine. Just far less than before! Yes, in a perfect world you would eat only organic foods and nothing processed, but you have to take baby steps to get there sometimes. Enjoy the coke. Buy those little cans and bring one to work with you. They are overpriced, but you will limit the calories and still get the taste.

On a different note - maybe you can try making it yourself. Here's a recipe for home made cola syrup. It's all natural ingredients and the only calories are from some brown sugar. They make these soda machine things now where you can just add water and it carbonates it all for you. Then you can enjoy it forever!

http://kristaandjess.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/homemade-cola-syrup/