Questions about diet soda

[Barou]

Hello everyone, I am a newbie that started my Atkin's diet on 4/10/06. My first week started off great but tailed off at the end. I kept very disciplined and didn't cheat but I lost 2 lbs over the week. Not bad but not great. At one time I lost 8 lbs but then put on 6. Is that normal for a low-carb diet to lose a lot and gain some back?

Anyway, I am drinking about 4 cans a day of caffeine free diet pepsi per day, is this hurting me? I still get my 64 ounces of water a day but I like to drink soda with my meals. If caf. free diet pepsi is not a good beverage alternative, are there any other diet sodas that are better?

[bkloots]

Dr. Atkins strongly discourages the use of artificial sweeteners. Many people report that substances like aspartame, and excessive use of Splenda, cause stalling problems. Four cans of pop per day is a lot.

The only way for you to know for sure about YOU is to experiment with YOU. So...bite the bullet, and cut out the Pepsi--and all other artificially sweetened beverages--for a few days. See what happens. That's the best information you could get.

Weight fluctuations are common. A 3-5 lb. range over a few days is not unusual. It's the trend, not the day-to-day, that you should be noticing.

Best wishes.

[MeBLady]

Hello everyone, I am a newbie that started my Atkin's diet on 4/10/06. My first week started off great but tailed off at the end. I kept very disciplined and didn't cheat but I lost 2 lbs over the week. Not bad but not great. At one time I lost 8 lbs but then put on 6. Is that normal for a low-carb diet to lose a lot and gain some back?

Anyway, I am drinking about 4 cans a day of caffeine free diet pepsi per day, is this hurting me? I still get my 64 ounces of water a day but I like to drink soda with my meals. If caf. free diet pepsi is not a good beverage alternative, are there any other diet sodas that are better?

Fluctuations in weight is common, but it sounds like you could be retaining a little water.

Four cans of diet pop can hurt your weight loss....if you can, limit it to one and up your water intake (64 oz. a day is good, but you really want to drink water at this point until you feel like you are floating).

Diet pop that has Splenda rather than Aspartame is best, but more for health reasons rather than weight.

Two pounds in one week is a good loss! However, being that you are a guy (guys tend to lose a little faster) and your start weight, it is *possible to see a good 20 lb. drop your first month. The usual is a 10% of total loss needed the first month, dropping to 5% thereafter.

[Coleoptera]

In a perfect world, no artificial food additive would ever have been invented. I personally despise artificial sweeteners, especially aspartame. Here's why: I spent about two months dieting and exercising with passion and devotion, drinking Coca Cola Zero thinking i was helping myself out. I learned about the sweetener used in it, dropped it, and fat just melted off.
What I learned: After aspartame works its drug-functioning magic on your brain, it almost immediately breaks down to Phenylalanine, Aspartic acid (an excitotoxin when isolate, can cause nerve/brain damage) and *heres the kicker* methanol, you know "take a sip and you'll go blind, sonny!" That converts to formaldehyde and stores or becomes formic acid (an ant sting poison) which attacks nerves! When diet soda goes bad, DKP happens and that is proven to cause brain tumors! Aspartame has accounted for more than 75% of complaints filed to FDA and has tallied 92 different side effects, among them: birth defects, brain damage, addiction, depression, WEIGHT GAIN, and death! The amount of aspartame in a diet soda can also cause metabolic dysfunction and serotonin suppression (spiking your carb cravings) throwing a bigger monkey wrench into your diet than a regular soda!
BTW, depending on the extract grade and method of extraction, Stevia can actually level blood sugar, and some extracts taste a bit like honey if you get too much. I use stevia all the time!

[soywoman]

For balance, anyone interested in the possible health problems of aspartame could read this page carefully:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

[Barou]

Thanks for the responses, very informative.

Any suggestions of a good, lc friendly beverage to go along with my daily amount of water?

[MeBLady]

Thanks for the responses, very informative.

Any suggestions of a good, lc friendly beverage to go along with my daily amount of water?


Water is really the best thing you can drink.....green tea is a good alternative and has health benefits.

Personally, I drink diet soda only when I indulge in alcohol, and regular Lipton iced tea (no sweetner) when I eat out. I drink hot green tea when I want something different.

You can make "smoothies" at home with some protein powder, berries, ice, water, and a little heavy whipping cream....tastes like a shake and good as a filler or an occasional meal replacement. I do these when I start missing milkshakes.

I was a coca cola addict when I first started LCing -- very surprised to learn how easy it was to do without it. You just have to get used to it. Once you are weened off the sweets, a small trace of sugar will taste really, really sweet.

[Lobstergal]

Hello everyone, I am a newbie that started my Atkin's diet on 4/10/06. My first week started off great but tailed off at the end. I kept very disciplined and didn't cheat but I lost 2 lbs over the week. Not bad but not great. At one time I lost 8 lbs but then put on 6. Is that normal for a low-carb diet to lose a lot and gain some back?

Anyway, I am drinking about 4 cans a day of caffeine free diet pepsi per day, is this hurting me? I still get my 64 ounces of water a day but I like to drink soda with my meals. If caf. free diet pepsi is not a good beverage alternative, are there any other diet sodas that are better?

One thing no one mentioned is that diet pepsi contains a lot of sodium. This can also hinder your weight loss. I'm very sodium sensitive so I had to give up diet pepsi or any other diet soda. The ONLY time I ever drink it now is if I cannot find any decent bottled water. I absolutely DETEST Dasani and Aquafina and refuse to drink them if that is all the particular store I am in carries.

You might be sodium sensitive as well.

BTW I noticed you are a male and I don't know if this is relevant but I once had a boyfriend who drank over 2 litres of diet pepsi a day (the caffeinated version) and he lost over 100 pounds in 8 months while lowcarbing.
Your mileage may vary.

[Jenn123]

Fluctuations in weight is common, but it sounds like you could be retaining a little water.

Two pounds in one week is a good loss! However, being that you are a guy (guys tend to lose a little faster) and your start weight, it is *possible to see a good 20 lb. drop your first month. The usual is a 10% of total loss needed the first month, dropping to 5% thereafter.

This is confusing, and doesn't SEEM accurate. I'm probably calculating completely wrong, or maybe it only applies to large amounts of weight loss?

So, for someone who has, say, 50lbs. to lose they can expect to lose only 5lbs. (10%) that first month, dropping to 2.5lbs. (5%) each month thereafter? That must be wrong...?

Jenn