I was wondering have any of you given up soda to loose weight? I drink alot of diet soda, but I heard that I would loose alot of weight by giving up. Its really hard for me becasue im addicted to caffiene!
The American Cancer Society has confirmed through study that users of artificial sweeteners gain more weight than those who don't use the products, further undermining the supposed "purpose" for the existence of aspartame in food. The major selling point of aspartame is as a diet aid, and it has been demonstrated that the use of this product actually causes people to consume more food. Normally, when a significant quantity of carbohydrate are consumed, serotonin levels rise in the brain. This is manifested as a relaxed feeling after a meal. When aspartame is ingested with carbohydrates, such as having a sandwich with a diet drink, aspartame causes the brain to cease production of serotonin, meaning that the feeling of having had enough never materializes. You then eat more foods, many containing aspartame, and the cycle continues.
Yes - Give it up. Drink water instead. The artificial sweetner in diet soft drinks is horrible! I am not sure how it works, but a personal trainer told me once that your body doesn't know how to break down the sweetner. She said it was actually better to drink regular soda because at least your body knows what to do with the sugar!!! (Of course she said stay away from soda period,,,,,,)
I pretty much gave it up except for maybe one or two a week. My down fall now is drinking green tea and putting 1 packet of Splenda in it. I figured Splenda had to be better than Equal.
Drink water - Lots of it and I have heard that really cold or ice water actually helps with weight loss. Your body reacts to the cold water differently than drinking regular room temperature water.
Congratulations! The other thing that keeps people from loosing weight on diet sodas is the sodium. All that sodium causes water retention, which is known as water weight.
You could add a touch of fruit juice to the water to give it a little more flavor for you. Seltzer water is another option, since it doesn't have much sodium and no sweeteners.
Your liver is very important in controlling your weight. Your liver has to detoxify the caffeine alone. It's a long process to explain, your kidneys can't help. To make a long story short, caffeine puts a lot of stress on your liver. Caffeine also affects cortisol secretion, a stress hormone. Cortisol's job is to release glucose and fatty acids for muscles to have energy during stress. Once the time of stress is over cortisol levels remain high to stimulate your appetite so you can replace the fuel it has burned. So in a round about way caffeine increases your appetite. All of this and not to mention caffeine strips the body of calcium, magnesium, and sodium. Very bad for your bones.
Up until a couple months ago when I developed Panic Disorder I would only drink it ocassionally with rum or whiskey.
Now alcohol aside which I do admit I love, the only thing I drink besides water is milk and that's with cereal.
Obviously with Panic Disorder I can't have caffeine or that Artificial Sweetner (see the Panic section of this site, in a thread I created it has a huge list of the bad things involved with Aspartame and panic attacks are part of that list).
But I don't miss soda at all. I always felt bloated and sick really when I drank it. I'm glad I don't drink it anymore. I always drink water now. I generally drink about 2 liters of water a day.
Giving up soda alone could do wonders of your weight loss. It did for me. The carbonation in it is terrible for your kidneys as well as all the other stuff already mentioned.
I recently gave up soda (except for rare occassions). I actually did it because I just didn't think it was healthy for my teeth, and I realized how much I was drinking. The first few days were hard, but after that I just started craving juice and water instead.
i used to be a soda junkie until my late teens/early twenties. but once i gave it up i felt so much better! i always felt sluggish and bloated and it leaves a really gross film on the teeth. i lost weight, and all the water i started to drink instead did wonders for my skin and everything else. now, the thought of drinking it grosses me out. it's pure chemicals and when i even taste a sip of it now, it tastes terrible. plus, when you think about what it's made up of, it's kind of weird to be putting entirely unnatural things into your body. good luck, i hope you kick the habit!
I gave up pop when I found out I was pregnant last September. My baby is due next month and I don't miss it. I did have headaches for the first few weeks from the caffeine withdrawal. People don't realize how much caffeine they take in from pop and coffee and chocolate. Diet soda is no good either. Aspartame (along with most other artificial sweetenters) are actually really bad for you and you can't even have them while pregnant cause they're considered harmful.
I didn't give it up too lose wieght. I just rid some articles about how bad it was for you, then I just stopped drinking it. Now it tastes yucky when I have a drink of it.
I don't drink alcohol. I hate it. So when I go to a bar to meet up with friends, there isn't a whole lot that I can order aside from orange juice and pop (bars don't carry green tea). I can't always get away with drinking water cause sometimes there is a 1 or 2 drink mimimum and I'm kinda forced into buying something. So something has to give....I either contribute to damaging my brain and liver, or help myself to put on weight and destroy my teeth. Such beautiful choices we have lol.
I'm down to one soda drink a week, sprite, no diet, no caffiene, one a week I can live with that! I don't need to lose weight, in fact I'm under weight but I need to live a heathier lifestyle, it's slow and a bit agonizing to give up some of the junk but I'm doing it.
Congratulations! The other thing that keeps people from loosing weight on diet sodas is the sodium. All that sodium causes water retention, which is known as water weight.
You could add a touch of fruit juice to the water to give it a little more flavor for you. Seltzer water is another option, since it doesn't have much sodium and no sweeteners.
As I am reading your post I'm also looking at my Diet Pepsi and it has 25mg of sodium. If I drink six a day thats only 150mg. I dont think that is going to cause much water retention. Now a can of soup Yeah! that might cause some retention. I want to quit drinking Soda because of the aspertame and me and my husband spend $8.00 about every 1 1/2 days on soda. That would be a great vacation. My problem is I need to wing myself off because I get severe headaches when I stop cold turkey. LMG
I want to quit drinking Soda because of the aspertame and me and my husband spend $8.00 about every 1 1/2 days on soda.
My one friend is like that, only she drinks 5-6 liters of Mountain Dew a day. She says she can't survive without her Mountain Dew. When she tries to stop drinking so much, she gets huge headaches and she is very irritable because of the caffiene withdrawl. I have never seen anyone addicted to soda before I met her. I can't believe how addicting caffiene can be.
Last edited by BethyGirlie; 06-03-2005 at 05:57 PM.
I haven't had a soda in three years now. I used to drink a lot of it, but I quit cold turkey one day. After about a month, it was no big deal. I never had a problem with the cutoff of caffeine, but it took effort to keep from getting a soda out of habit. I sleep a lot better at night, lost some weight, and I used to get these awful headaches that went away after I quit. Go for it, you'll only be helping yourself.
When I was in high school, I gave up soda and all carbonated beverages and coffee for 1 year 3 months 3 weeks and 2 days. I did it mainly because I have acid reflux (diagnosed when I was 8 or 9 yo) and because I could use to lose weight. The first 3 days were the hardest because of the headaches...I had been drinking an average of 2-3 cans of pop/day and 2-3 cups of coffee/capaccino per week for prolly 5 years. I didn't lose weight, but it really helped me to maintain my weight (I didn't do any other lifestyle modifications) and it cleared up my face after a month (I didn't have acne, but moderate episodes of pimples, especially around my period). I also had a dramatic decline in the number of canker sores I experienced, period pain was a lot milder, less problems with cysts on my ovary (I only have one) and in my breasts.
After graduation I had a job working 3rd shift and I was so tired from not being used to the change and I started drinking soda again and haven't been able to give it up even though I haven't worked 3rd shift for 6 months now. And just 2-3 weeks after starting back up all that stuff I mentioned up above came back to it's previous severity and I have been gaining weight.
Give up the pop...you will not regret it...but, you will have to get used to hearing your friends say, "You want a soda?...oh yeah...nevermind...Do you want some water?" My friends, even a year into it, still forgot!
It took me over a year to completely get off caffeine...had horrid headaches and nausea. So, I took it one day at a time and trie dto cut down one soda/cup of coffee at a time. Harder than quiting smoking! But am so glad I did. And I can't do the fake sweetners...am highly sensitive to them. And the caffeine free Coke was dreadful tasting! So, no caffeine, no diet...now I just drink water, wine and an occasional hard liquor drink. I do drink hot tea but it is herb or caffeine free. I do keep ginger ale around for the rare upset tummy...anyway, bottom line...ditch the caffeine and the aspartame...it's all bad for you.
It might be difficult to do at first because you're so dependant on the caffine. But after awhile you won't even miss the stuff. On the few occasions where I've had soda, it hasn't even tasted that great anymore. It's too sweet and way too filling.
(Of course she said stay away from soda period,,,,,,)
The other thing that keeps people from loosing weight on diet sodas is the sodium. All that sodium causes water retention, which is known as water weight.
So something has to give....I either contribute to damaging my brain and liver, or help myself to put on weight and destroy my teeth. Such beautiful choices we have lol.
