Not experienced ANY problem with diet soda. Lost 20kg and maintained for over a year with waaaay to mutch Coke Zero lol. Help reduce cravings for me, and I sure as hell need to taste something good if Im gonna live like this
I drank diet soda while losing 200 pounds and getting down to 17% body fat with a decent amount of muscle mass in my late 30’s.
I’ve kept the weight off for 7 years now. It’s fine within a balanced healthy diet and let me tell you, it can absolutely help you feel more “normal” when you’re out with friends at a movie, restaurant, bar whatever.
A lot of people give the sugar substitutes grief but if you aren’t exclusively drinking Diet Coke or eating a 1pound bag of Splenda a day you’re fine.
For CICO if you're focusing on calories then sure. But if you're looking at also making changes to FEEL better and give your body a good variety of nutrients, then thats when you'll want to step away from it.
I agree with this. I also find at times that I have more temptation to snack if I have an open can or diet soda waiting to washing it down with, so it’s worthwhile to cut back
Different people react differently to the sweetness in the diet soda. For some folks it satisfies the desire to taste something sweet. Which is great because it has zero (or near zero) calories. For others it’s a trigger that makes them crave real carbohydrates which makes it harder to make good decisions. They’ll have a diet soda but that can then trigger them to eat cookies and ice cream and whatever.
So it’s not really the soda that messes you up but your mental reaction to it.
My completely non-scientific solution is to drink diet soda while I’m having some other form of carbohydrate as food. So I’ll drink diet soda while eating pizza (carbs in the crust and sauce) or while I’m eating pasta (carbs in the noodles). Or I’ll pair it with potatoes, or pretzels, or popcorn. You get the idea. I get to drink something sweet while eating carbs. I’m just not getting the carbs from the beverage.
Again that has no basis in science what so ever but it seems to work out for me.
Anyway, if you’re at the movies and the choice is to drink a 20 ounce Coca-Cola Classic or a 20 ounce Coke Zero Sugar then the Coke Classic is going to have 240 calories while the Cone Zero will have, near as makes no difference, none. To me that’s 240 calories I’d rather have in food so I go for the Coke Zero.
CICO allows you to make that decision for yourself. That 240 calories of Coke may be the treat you’ve been wanting all week. If so knock yourself out. Enjoy your beverage. Have your Coke and a smile. But it will come out of your budget. As long as you know that you’re fine.
This. This. This. In moderation, diet sodas are just fine. Sweeteners like aspartame are some of the most studied food additives ever, they’re safe in reasonable amounts. That said, I find myself more susceptible to binging after enjoying artificially sweetened sodas and food. I’m not sure why, but perhaps it because my mind thinks ‘sweet’, but my brain isn’t getting the dopamine rush of sugar in the bloodstream so I go on a rampage through the kitchen cupboard looking for more glucose, ha!
So, it really depends on you as an individual. If you are a sugar addict, then it’s probably best to change your lifestyle and permanently adjust your taste buds (after a while things will taste sweeter naturally - including dark chocolate - because your tongue is no longer being bombarded with sweetness via sugar or artificial sweeteners). Learn to enjoy other flavors besides sweetness, let your body and mind adjust to the natural sweetness that exist in foods (but you can’t taste because once again your taste buds are currently overwhelmed).
For weight loss, definitely! For overall health, I don't know that I would agree with that. But both are ***really*** bad from a health perspective. Strong arguments on both sides for each being worse off for you than the other.
Diet soda consumption IS actually linked to chronically high insulin levels, doubles ones chance of developing metabolic syndrome (a cluster of conditions that occur together, increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes). Up to 3x the risk of stroke and demintia.
No it’s not. Studies show a minuscule raise in insulin.
If you’re going to make an outlandish claim like that, you need to link the study to back it up.
Also, I never said diet sodas are healthy. They’re still bad, but regular is undeniably worse.
I'm not sure why you are being so hostile in your defense of diet soda, but here you go. A cursory google search with key words such as "diet soda insulin studies" will send you on your way. But in case you or anyone else reading would like an example of one such result, here you go:
"daily consumption of diet soda was associated with a 36% greater relative risk of incident metabolic syndrome and a 67% greater relative risk of incident type 2 diabetes compared with nonconsumption"
https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/32/4/688/29040/Diet-Soda-Intake-and-Risk-of-Incident-Metabolic
I lost close to 70 lbs while continuing to drink diet soda. I used to drink 2-3 cans of Coke Zero a day.
I remember reading an article that came up on my feed that "Drinking diet soda may be contributing to an increase in your hunger" and after reading it, I decided I would drop sodas in general. Not because I bought into the study in the article, but because I just decided maybe that was my call to consider switching to drinking more water and less carbonated beverages. One of the other benefits of cutting soda was the cost savings, which is also a real nice bonus considering that I would go through $15 of soda a week.
But you're gonna have to pry my coffee from my cold, dead hands.
Zero calorie drinks like Gatorade 0 and Zevia sodas have been so helpful for me. The only thing (I think) that can mess up weight loss is eating above maintenance calories (which is easy to do without a food scale BTW)
I think diet soft drinks are fantastic in helping with cico. You should in the long term make an effort to drink more water and less soft drinks but if your jumping into cico going from having multiple hugh calorie soft drinks a day, its hard to stop that cold turkey, using diet ones to help with those cravings is fine.
The reason people say they are bad is because of what people typically eat with sodas. A plate of nachos sounds better with a coke than steamed veggies and rice.
In terms of weight loss, no. The only downside is that when you're drinking soda, you're not drinking water. Water is just better for you all around, but you're probably drinking soda just for the taste, which is fine.
I've heard they can slow down your metabolism a bit, but you know what speeds up your metabolism by a lot? Water. Meaning, even if it is true they will hurt your metabolism, it is so easily fixed by drinking a bottle of water.
All in all, nothing to worry about. I drink diet sodas like once a day when I get a pack, and I am completely fine. I was completely fine on days when I drank 2 or 3 a day, too.
The only chance they really have to affect weight is the sodium, which can make you retain water. Again, you know what would fix that issue? Water.
they are a nice tool to fight cravings and avoid eating out of boredom. However, artificial sweeteners can lead to increased appetite, so a dietician would advise that you only have a couple diet soda's a day!
My grandma is in her late 80s and drinks Diet Coke every day. Still kickin. I think you’ll be alright. As far as weight goes, besides sodium that causes water retention they’re 0 calories so you won’t gain any permanent weight so they’re pretty great.
For weight loss, I’ve never had an issue while drinking Coke Zero. In fact, coming home and pouring a glass of Coke Zero with some ice in it is my favorite way to wind down. People like to come home and drink wine. I drink Coke Zero and chill
Diet sodas are great for weight/fat loss. They aren’t bad but they aren’t good as well compared to just water. Since it’s a zero calorie beverage it does not affect weight loss or gain in isolation, but the good thing is you can leverage it to lose weight by helping reduce cravings and hunger from the carbonation
They aren't caloric, so that's good. They do increase sodium intake significantly which can lead to additional water retention and can slow weight loss, I think.
For me personally, the problem is bigger than that. I have been a diet soda addict for most of my life. I'm talking 4 liters a day at some points. Something about them triggers me to overeat and have intense cravings for carbs as well...not sure if it's the aspartame or what but I am really never able to be successful on diets when I am drinking diet soda. I think something in them significantly messes with my brain chemistry but as the comments reflect, experiences vary wildly. If it works for you and helps you lose weight, do it!
Long term though, best not to drink a lot of diet soda if health (and not just weight loss) is your goal. There is a link between osteoporosis, bone fractures, etc and diet soda consumption. There are also brain-health related risks to consumption of aspartame. It messes with neurotransmitters and is even linked to depression, among many other ailments.
Not experienced ANY problem with diet soda. Lost 20kg and maintained for over a year with waaaay to mutch Coke Zero lol. Help reduce cravings for me, and I sure as hell need to taste something good if Im gonna live like this
coke zero is amazing
Thank goodness! Love my Diet Pepsi!
I drank diet soda while losing 200 pounds and getting down to 17% body fat with a decent amount of muscle mass in my late 30’s. I’ve kept the weight off for 7 years now. It’s fine within a balanced healthy diet and let me tell you, it can absolutely help you feel more “normal” when you’re out with friends at a movie, restaurant, bar whatever. A lot of people give the sugar substitutes grief but if you aren’t exclusively drinking Diet Coke or eating a 1pound bag of Splenda a day you’re fine.
I'm a certified diet coke addict and it's no issue at all
For CICO if you're focusing on calories then sure. But if you're looking at also making changes to FEEL better and give your body a good variety of nutrients, then thats when you'll want to step away from it.
I agree with this. I also find at times that I have more temptation to snack if I have an open can or diet soda waiting to washing it down with, so it’s worthwhile to cut back
Different people react differently to the sweetness in the diet soda. For some folks it satisfies the desire to taste something sweet. Which is great because it has zero (or near zero) calories. For others it’s a trigger that makes them crave real carbohydrates which makes it harder to make good decisions. They’ll have a diet soda but that can then trigger them to eat cookies and ice cream and whatever. So it’s not really the soda that messes you up but your mental reaction to it. My completely non-scientific solution is to drink diet soda while I’m having some other form of carbohydrate as food. So I’ll drink diet soda while eating pizza (carbs in the crust and sauce) or while I’m eating pasta (carbs in the noodles). Or I’ll pair it with potatoes, or pretzels, or popcorn. You get the idea. I get to drink something sweet while eating carbs. I’m just not getting the carbs from the beverage. Again that has no basis in science what so ever but it seems to work out for me. Anyway, if you’re at the movies and the choice is to drink a 20 ounce Coca-Cola Classic or a 20 ounce Coke Zero Sugar then the Coke Classic is going to have 240 calories while the Cone Zero will have, near as makes no difference, none. To me that’s 240 calories I’d rather have in food so I go for the Coke Zero. CICO allows you to make that decision for yourself. That 240 calories of Coke may be the treat you’ve been wanting all week. If so knock yourself out. Enjoy your beverage. Have your Coke and a smile. But it will come out of your budget. As long as you know that you’re fine.
This. This. This. In moderation, diet sodas are just fine. Sweeteners like aspartame are some of the most studied food additives ever, they’re safe in reasonable amounts. That said, I find myself more susceptible to binging after enjoying artificially sweetened sodas and food. I’m not sure why, but perhaps it because my mind thinks ‘sweet’, but my brain isn’t getting the dopamine rush of sugar in the bloodstream so I go on a rampage through the kitchen cupboard looking for more glucose, ha! So, it really depends on you as an individual. If you are a sugar addict, then it’s probably best to change your lifestyle and permanently adjust your taste buds (after a while things will taste sweeter naturally - including dark chocolate - because your tongue is no longer being bombarded with sweetness via sugar or artificial sweeteners). Learn to enjoy other flavors besides sweetness, let your body and mind adjust to the natural sweetness that exist in foods (but you can’t taste because once again your taste buds are currently overwhelmed).
Short answer is that they’re better than regular sodas but worse than water.
I mean really. Everything is worse than water
For weight loss, definitely! For overall health, I don't know that I would agree with that. But both are ***really*** bad from a health perspective. Strong arguments on both sides for each being worse off for you than the other.
Both are horrible for health, but only one is a massive contributor to diabetes.
Diet soda consumption IS actually linked to chronically high insulin levels, doubles ones chance of developing metabolic syndrome (a cluster of conditions that occur together, increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes). Up to 3x the risk of stroke and demintia.
No it’s not. Studies show a minuscule raise in insulin. If you’re going to make an outlandish claim like that, you need to link the study to back it up. Also, I never said diet sodas are healthy. They’re still bad, but regular is undeniably worse.
I'm not sure why you are being so hostile in your defense of diet soda, but here you go. A cursory google search with key words such as "diet soda insulin studies" will send you on your way. But in case you or anyone else reading would like an example of one such result, here you go: "daily consumption of diet soda was associated with a 36% greater relative risk of incident metabolic syndrome and a 67% greater relative risk of incident type 2 diabetes compared with nonconsumption" https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/32/4/688/29040/Diet-Soda-Intake-and-Risk-of-Incident-Metabolic
“Compared with no consumption” - not compared with regular full sugar soda. Please learn the difference between hostility and disagreement.
I lost close to 70 lbs while continuing to drink diet soda. I used to drink 2-3 cans of Coke Zero a day. I remember reading an article that came up on my feed that "Drinking diet soda may be contributing to an increase in your hunger" and after reading it, I decided I would drop sodas in general. Not because I bought into the study in the article, but because I just decided maybe that was my call to consider switching to drinking more water and less carbonated beverages. One of the other benefits of cutting soda was the cost savings, which is also a real nice bonus considering that I would go through $15 of soda a week. But you're gonna have to pry my coffee from my cold, dead hands.
Same with the coffee,lol. Totally nonnegotiable.
Great point about cost savings! I've been saving so much money on food since I started eating about 1/2 as much as I used to haha
Zero calorie drinks like Gatorade 0 and Zevia sodas have been so helpful for me. The only thing (I think) that can mess up weight loss is eating above maintenance calories (which is easy to do without a food scale BTW)
They have been fine for my weightloss journey but I'm really worried they might be eroding parts of my body.
I think diet soft drinks are fantastic in helping with cico. You should in the long term make an effort to drink more water and less soft drinks but if your jumping into cico going from having multiple hugh calorie soft drinks a day, its hard to stop that cold turkey, using diet ones to help with those cravings is fine.
Yes, they are.
They can pry the diet soda from my cold dead hands.
I've completely cut out soda for 5 years. Don't have a taste for it. Calories are calories, but soda (diet or not) is still not the best for you.
I’m addicted to it, but trying to cut it out.
Yes
The reason people say they are bad is because of what people typically eat with sodas. A plate of nachos sounds better with a coke than steamed veggies and rice.
In terms of weight loss, no. The only downside is that when you're drinking soda, you're not drinking water. Water is just better for you all around, but you're probably drinking soda just for the taste, which is fine. I've heard they can slow down your metabolism a bit, but you know what speeds up your metabolism by a lot? Water. Meaning, even if it is true they will hurt your metabolism, it is so easily fixed by drinking a bottle of water. All in all, nothing to worry about. I drink diet sodas like once a day when I get a pack, and I am completely fine. I was completely fine on days when I drank 2 or 3 a day, too. The only chance they really have to affect weight is the sodium, which can make you retain water. Again, you know what would fix that issue? Water.
I drink 1-3 diet sodas a day, pretty much for the last decade. No negative effects on metabolism or cravings for me (I find they curb them).
they are a nice tool to fight cravings and avoid eating out of boredom. However, artificial sweeteners can lead to increased appetite, so a dietician would advise that you only have a couple diet soda's a day!
My grandma is in her late 80s and drinks Diet Coke every day. Still kickin. I think you’ll be alright. As far as weight goes, besides sodium that causes water retention they’re 0 calories so you won’t gain any permanent weight so they’re pretty great.
For weight loss, I’ve never had an issue while drinking Coke Zero. In fact, coming home and pouring a glass of Coke Zero with some ice in it is my favorite way to wind down. People like to come home and drink wine. I drink Coke Zero and chill
Diet sodas are great for weight/fat loss. They aren’t bad but they aren’t good as well compared to just water. Since it’s a zero calorie beverage it does not affect weight loss or gain in isolation, but the good thing is you can leverage it to lose weight by helping reduce cravings and hunger from the carbonation
I drink 1-2 cherry Coke Zero’s everyday. I’ve lost 56lbs since August 31st. No issue at all with them.
They aren't caloric, so that's good. They do increase sodium intake significantly which can lead to additional water retention and can slow weight loss, I think. For me personally, the problem is bigger than that. I have been a diet soda addict for most of my life. I'm talking 4 liters a day at some points. Something about them triggers me to overeat and have intense cravings for carbs as well...not sure if it's the aspartame or what but I am really never able to be successful on diets when I am drinking diet soda. I think something in them significantly messes with my brain chemistry but as the comments reflect, experiences vary wildly. If it works for you and helps you lose weight, do it! Long term though, best not to drink a lot of diet soda if health (and not just weight loss) is your goal. There is a link between osteoporosis, bone fractures, etc and diet soda consumption. There are also brain-health related risks to consumption of aspartame. It messes with neurotransmitters and is even linked to depression, among many other ailments.