I have been stalled for about 5 days but yesterday I drank just plain water instead of the 2 cans of diet coke daily that I had started drinking over the past week as it was hot. Today I am seeing a loss again, could the diet coke have effected me that way and if so, why?
I TRY and drink about 2.5lt of plain water a day, the coke was extra, everything else has been well within low carb guidelines.
I have been in ketosis the whole time!

Any comments welcome.

Personally, I would not call 5 days without weight loss a stall. Your body doesn't really lose weight or gain weight from what you ate the day before. You may gain or lose water weight from the day or 2 before.

Real fat loss/gain takes several days or a week to really take place. Although some people do stall from artificial sweeteners, as I do. I doubt that the lack diet coke was the cause. I do however believe (and this is just my opinion) that any kind of soda is not very healthy for a number of reasons.

Best of luck on your journey.

Artificial sweeteners are said to retain water. Maybe u r sensitive to them,

I believe DC has a fair helping of sodium in it....

just a thought, Julie

That could explain it, I must try and break the habit!
Just been plain water today.

personally i reached my goal {57lbs} in 7 months and could have never done it without my coke zero,diet coke and diet pepsi..many cans per day

Are you sensitive to sugar alchols or sodium?
BTW, congrates to you johndeb420.

There are no sugar alcohols in soda...
it probably was just an ordinary fluctuation.

I don't have my book handy, so I can't provide the exact quote - but in "Living the Low Carb Life", Jonny Bowden mentions there's a slight chance that the citric acid in diet colas can stall some people.

That said - there's plenty of people around here who drink lots and lots of Diet Coke, and no problem!

As for me, I gave it up. But, since I made a bunch of changes - I can't say for sure whether or not giving up Diet Coke made any kind of difference or not. Sorry.. And I don't think it was caffeine, because I still drink plenty of coffee.

If there's anything to this "Diet Coke stalls" idea - I'd say it's the citric acid, the carbonation or possibly the artificial sweetener. I've heard rumours that sometimes artificial sweeteners (Splenda or not) can possibly trigger more cravings for sweet stuff, potentially messing up one's adherence to plan and/or that artificial sweetener can affect one's blood sugar slightly, though obviously not to the degree that real sugar would. I don't have anything to substantiate these ideas, just things I've heard/read over the years.

Nowadays - I'll occasionally have some Pellegrino (mineral) water, but for the most part - no carbonated drinks at all. Water, iced tea - that sort of thing. But, for those times when I want that 'ahhhh' factor - Pellegrino with a wedge of lime fits that bill nicely.

Diet Coke may not be a problem at all - I'd suggest that you experiment. Go a few days without it, try having some - rinse and repeat, to see if there's anything to this.

I have been following the Akins diet for four weeks with a loss of 3.4 pounds in one month. I am 57. I do drink diet coke, diet teas with no carbs listed on the label. I did try to do the fitday site, but the site was not easy for me to figure out. I belong to the akins site, but I have trouble with double checking every item for carbs. Eggs have 0.6 carbs. I do measure and weigh the salads and veggies. I do have one Adkins bar or Shake with a total of 5 carbs tops. I measure all dressings. So without taking apart the labels on foods I am getting 20 net carbs. This may sound silly to everyone, but I do not want to take apart every food eated and double check every label and count every carb in the ingredience list. Do I have to count every diet coke as 2 carbs because of the sweetner? Can I do low carb "the easy way" or in order to make this work? I have been staying on the approved food lists.

Back when I still drank Diet Coke, I didn't count it as anything, so I wouldn't worry too much about this angle.

In terms of doing low-carb the 'easy way' - if you stick to mostly non-processed foods you won't have to count. It's the bars and processed foods that we have to be careful of, and always read the label.

Know what makes low-carb 'easy' for me? Not buying much stuff with ingredients listings.

If I were still on Atkins induction - I'd be measuring out my salads, my cooked vegetables, my salad dressings, and any/all dairy portions - making sure I was sticking to the limits as specified in the Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution book (or whichever version you're following - there's a group of people here who like to follow 'old-style' Atkins using the 1972 version of the book). If you keep to the overall 'rules' in whichever book you're following - you'll find this gets easier and easier.

I wouldn't recommend eating Atkins bars on a regular basis - keep these limited, or preferably - eliminate them altogether. Then, you won't have to 'count' as much. Better to go 'over' on the veggies than to go over on the bars.

Hope this helps - and good luck!

So glad I found this question mine was close to it! I can't seem to give up diet coke I love it nor do I drink it everyday I was wondering why aspartame causes stalls can you enjoy it in limited amounts unharmed? Just curious.

Apparently the pancreas thinks that aspartame is sugar. Hence aspartame induces insulin release which makes losing fat more difficult since it allows any excess calories (from fat or any source) to be stored.

If you like a nice fizzy drink when the weather is hot you could try plain fizzy water, stevia and extracts.

I buy mine on line and make flavoured fizzy drinks minus the citric acid and aspartame.