I’ve heard people claim that diet drinks, particularly diet sodas, work against people who are trying to lose weight. They usually say that the ingredients in these drinks somehow trigger your body to crave food and you end up eating more than you would otherwise. Of couse other people swear by them and drink as much as a six pack of diet soda a day as part of their “diet” regime.
While it’s probably healthier to drink plain water than sodas (diet or otherwise), are there any rigorous studies that show that drinking diet soda impedes someone’s ability to lose weight? I’m not talking about having a diet soda once or twice a week, but drinking them habitually every day.
There have been multiple studies that link artificial sweeteners to weight gain or have shown they hamper your ability to lose weight.
If you google ‘diet soda and weight gain’ you’ll get a number of hits
From what I’ve gathered the artificial sweeteners cause people to crave sugars. If you are sticking to an actual diet I don’t think drinking diet soda would hurt the diet but it may cause you to be hungry and thus want to break the diet.
Some of these studies fly in the face of personal experience. Numerous people claim to have lost significant amounts of weight while drinking diet soda.
People are just looking for an excuse to not really diet properly. Blame the pop. That’s not to say it doesn’t cause cravings or that it does. I personally think it does but willpower can overcome that.
Show me the study where a large group of people have the same excercise routine and schedule, same caloric intake and half drink only water, the other half only diet soda.
I don’t think there are any studies showing you can’t lose weight while drinking diet soda. The argument is diet soda does not make losing weight easier as some might think.
agreed. though i would say it’s looking for an excuse not to exercise, rather than diet.
all of these “studies” and all of these groups determined to tax and punish food producers who use HFCS are just trying to excuse the rank laziness of, and deflect the blame from, most fatasses.
the only people that think this probably haven’t gone for a walk past their front lawn (or apartment door) in a decade.
You won’t find such a study. You will find studies showing the drinkers of the diet soda will have a stronger desire to eat more then those drinking water.
Studies also show a huge percentage of dieters fail, lacking the willpower. So if your the type of person that can stick rigorously to your diet and routine you can drink diet soda without issue. If your like most people and find following a diet can be difficult it may be helpful to swap out the soda for water as it could be just one more thing stacking the deck against you mentally.
Good luck. but you really need to exercise in order to lose weight. hopefully you’re doing that too.
I guess i perceive dieting as a reduction in the rate of weight gain - exercise is where you start creating the caloric deficits to actually reduce weight.
i’m no nutiritionist or anything, though.
I’ve drank diet soda for about 10 years now (and I drink 4-6 a day, minimal) and don’t feel particularly hungry at any given time.
I notice there is a lot of talk about “finding” a study, but no actual cites.
Nah, losing weight is 90% diet. Exercise is good in most cases, but willpower is necessary because it will make you hungry. Most people work out for 30-40 mins, or upwards to an hour. This will burn you off a whole 300-700 calories. That is one Honeybun, or 3-6 regular sodas (12 oz)
you’re not going to lose weight by dieting alone. it’s not 90% diet.
if you eat exactly the same thing that you eat right now (so not increasing your diet) and exercise, you lose weight. learning to stave off the hunger is not “dieting” as I would apply the term, as your original caloric intake was never modified - you’re just not allowing yourself to do the exact opposite of a diet (increase your caloric intake)
Why not? It is fully possible. I’ve known people that did it and it is just as simple as with exercise.
You want to lose 1lb a week, you eat 500 calories less than you burn a day. It is that simple. Exercise only HELPS it along. Also, if you are gaining weight, it doesn’t matter how much exercise you do, if you don’t offset the extra calories that are causing you to gain weight, you will not lose weight. That is hard to do with normal amounts of exercise. Especially in this calorie dense food culture we have. Like I said, running for 1 hour only would burn about 700 calories. That is nothing compared to switching to a rice, fish and sweet potato diet (for example) with good portion control.
Just so you know, I’m not saying don’t do exercise. I love weightlifting (olympic style) and I work out regularly. I’m just saying from what I know (not guess), is that exercise is a small, very small, part of weightloss. And weightloss is DEFINITELY possible without exercise.
Yes, you will, as long as you eat fewer calories than your body uses. If your basal metabolic rate is 1800 calories a day, that’s the amount of energy you need just to exist, without lifting a finger. Eat less than 1800, you will lose weight.
Exercise helps, by burning additional calories, and if you do strength training, increased muscle mass will increase your BMR. And good cardiovascular condition is always nice. But losing weight requires change in diet primarily.
Not if you’re already eating too much. If your exercise burns 300 calories, and you have a surplus of 600, then you’ll just gain weight slower.
There’s a difference between “dieting” and “your diet”
like I said, if you stuff your face after working out, then “your diet” is impeding weight loss.
if you maintained your pre-exercise diet (whatever that consists of) and then exercised, you’d lose weight very effectively, without any dietary modifications (ok, ok, so long as your excess calories ingested per day are less than what you’re expending exercising)
however, reducing your diet to a level that replicates the caloric expenditure through exercise (let’s say 2800 calories a week, 4x @ 700 cals per exercise) equates to a reduction in 400 calories a day. people are extremely bad at estimating caloric contents of foods, people get cravings to eat specific foods, people interact in a society where food/calories is the primary social driver (going out, having a drink, etc. etc.) . so what’s easier and more effective? figuring out how to trim 400 calories a day, while never, ever exceeding your caloric intake once a day from your diet or hitting a gym 4 times a week for a specific amount of time.
but yea, comparing rural Nigerians who are miles away from a ho ho and who perform physical exertion as their mode of transportation to urban Americans is real good “science”
but here’s your take-away from this article: “More research seems to be needed, however, as the new finding conflicts with other studies”
No, you won’t. If your current diet is what got you to gain weight, and you are eating more than you burn at the gym, you will not lose weight.
You are wrong, plain and simple. Your claim that you aren’t a “nutritionist” (you mean dietitian I’m sure) is correct.
I guess a random guy on the internet that outright claims he isn’t an expert beats two citations I pulled from the internet that has quotes from M.Ds. If you want more, do a google search for “is diet more important than exercise.” There are quite a few.
There’s plenty of benefit to exercise besides weight loss. So if you’re choosing between reducing your calories and increasing your exercise, why not do the one that’s also good for you?
Another problem is that reducing your calories is artificial and hard to maintain in the long term. Incorporating exercise into your day, on the other hand, is pretty easy and not a big deal once you’re in the habit of it.
I try to stay away from colas, diet or otherwise. They’re just a habit. Drink water instead.
I’m not saying there is no benefit to exercise. I’m only saying if weightloss is your goal, diet is more important. I’m all for exercise, I personally do it every day of the week. That doesn’t mean I ignore facts.
I need to drink more tea. I have an addiction to caffeine and have to have it or I get headaches. Diet soda is so tasty though
different jurisdictions use different terminology, be it dietitian or nutritionist. so you can take your misplaced anal-retentiveness elsewhere, thanks.
but don’t let the fact that one of your cites identified other conflicting studies (presumably also “scientific”) stop you from claiming that you are completely right.