Hi everyone. Just something to pass along. . . I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this. I gave up drinking diet soda. My caffeine consumption was getting a little out of hand. Now, I limit myself to a cup of coffee in the morning and cut out diet soda all together. Before, I would drink a ton.

Anyway, two weeks off of it and I'm down 5 pounds. I've been counting points and have not been perfect, but much better than before. Cutting out the soda, I realize that I don't have as many cravings as before. I recently read an article that suggested that diet soda tricks your body into thinking that it is getting something sugary, and when it does not, it creates cravings. Anybody else fall into this category?

Yes, I have found that since I stopped eating regular sugar jan.1st. i am not nearly as hungry as I use to be. I don't drink that many sf sodas.

I am a Diet Pepsi junkie, and have tried to cut back but its really affected my mood. So for the sake of my hubby and kids I have cut back instead.

I don't drink a whole lot of it, maybe 2-3 glasses a day. I find I need to keep it in my system. I've often wondered the effects of it. I've heard about the effects of aspartame, and how regular soda contains a heap of sugar, but what about the effects of diet soda?

But for now,I can't go cold turkey, well I guess I could but I think my family would disown me. Maybe there should be a support thread for cutting caffiene. I've also lost a bit of weight, 2 pounds last week, and I havent weighed myself this week.

I know how hard it is to cut caffeine out. I used to drink diet soda throughout the day. I loved that it was 0 points. It was tough and took a long time to cut it out. I was experiencing withdrawal like symptoms if I didn't have it. I figured that couldn't be good and scaled it back. Now I don't touch it. I've noticed a huge difference in that I don't snack as much and I feel less hungry than I did before.

I've been trying to cut out the diet soda too. My choice for about the past 6 months has been Diet Mt. Dew (I use to drink diet sunkist a lot too, but I got tired of it). I normally have 2-3 glasses a day. I didn't have any at all yesterday, and by the evening I was experiencing a terrible headache that just wouldn't go away. I hate taking pills of any kind, but around midnight I couldn't take it anymore and took a couple of Tylenol and had a half of glass of diet dew (I thought maybe if I could just get some caffeine in my system the headache would go away). It took an hour or two, but it did finally go away. I think instead of going cold turkey, I'll just cut back until I can cut it out completely.

It took me several weeks to decrease my consumption. The headaches were the worst. I seem to be OK now with only a cup of coffee in the morning. I was always a "volume" eater in that I needed to eat a lot to feel full. I still use all my points, but I don't find myself nearly as hungry as I was before. The only thing that I've done differently is to cut the diet soda out.

This is such a great website, Aimee. Thanks for sharing your story. Before I discovered this website, I was getting ready to just accept the fact that I would be overweight. Your story has given me the inspiration to try again.

Thanks Mo! :)

Wow, I drink a lot of diet soda. I had a good 100 ounces just yesterday. I am a heavy drinker, haha. But seriously, it always fills me up and satisfies my sweet tooth, or so I thought. I guess I should try to cut back.

What do you guys drink instead of the soda? I can't drink water all the time, gross.

Thanks.

Crystal light is really good...they have a lot of different flavors...Peach tea is my fav. I drink a lot of lemon water too.

When I get tired of regular water, I use the Crystal light on the go packets. You can add one packet to a bottle of water. They have flavors like lemonade, fruit punch, etc.

Sorry to highjack the thread but thanks for the ideas.

I drink lots of water (I love water), the 25 calorie hot chocolate and lately I've gotten back to the grapefruit Crystal Lite. I don't have it everyday but it taste so good since I can't have REAL grapefruit juice....

I like the walmart brand of Crystal light. The grape flavor is my favorite. :)

I gave up diet coke a couple of years ago. I had one recently and couldn't get over how jittery I was after just one bottle! I like Diet Rite sodas. They are caffeine free, sodium free, sugar free (splenda) and come in cola and different fruit flavors. I also like using them in cooking like the cola roast. (one can diet cola, one packet onion soup mix and one lean roast in the crockpot all day - just in case someone didn't know which recipe I was talking about.) I also like adding the little tubes of tea/crystal lite to the water bottles. I can't tell the difference between store brand and name brand.

I'm not for sure, but doesn't Mountain Dew have twice the caffeine as regular soda?

I am also trying to cut back on the soda intake. I cut out all caffiene drinks a few years back (doctor's orders) so I only drink decaf coffee, decaf tea, and diet caffiene free coke. But after joining WW I decided to also cut back on drinking soda (I was going through 4 or 5 cans a day here at work alone). I don't know if it is helping with weight loss, but I am sure it is much better for my health (and my teeth!) Once you get past the initial caffiene withdrawel (headaches, yikes!), then its all good. I don't really miss it at all.

I drink alot of diet caffeine free soda. I drink a 32 oz in the moring and 24oz at night plus maybe a can midday it depends on how I feel. I do get all my water in do you think that cuting back on the caffeine free soad would work like the diet soad and help me lose weight. I have done ww for 5 yrs almost to goal weight

All this hype about diet soda is ridiculous.
They're now saying that you gain more weight with it than regular.
It's all how you look at. If you're going to allow yourself ice cream becuase you didn't have full sugar soda, than you will actually take in more than the can of regular Coke.
There's nothing wrong with diet drinks, you just have to do it right.

I appreciate Polly's comment and we can agree to disagree. I don't find it ridiculous at all. It's a matter of perspective and what works for you as an individual. For example, if I were to look at pictures of bikinis, as someone has suggested, I would be incredibly discouraged that I am as heavy as I am instead of finding them as a tool for motivation - it all depends on the person.

I cannot speak for others or in generalities, but what I can say from my own experience is that I used to drink a ton of diet soda because it was zero points. Having eliminated that from my diet, I can honestly say that I do not have the kinds of cravings for something sweet nearly as often as I used to. It is an unintended benefit of giving it up. Also, the caffeine intake was not a good thing. This has been my only major change in the last month and I lost 7 pounds. Obviously, I'm eating less, but it's easier not having those cravings as frequently. I guess it is what works best for you and getting to know yourself and your diet habits is the first step to successful weight loss.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

I am new to all of this but I had only had diet soda since I was a kid and have recently given up all diet soda - except for special occassions. I have a cup of coffee in the morning and water thru the day but only with meals. I don't see any difference in weight loss - I did this before joining ww. I joined 2 weeks ago (I know I'm a newbie) but have not had diet soda in about 4 months and have not noticed any difference in weight at all. I don't really see a relation for myself in the cutting of diet soda to weight loss. If you have replaced the diet soda with water then the water is probably what is creating the weight loss not the lack of diet soda. That is what "they" say to begin with - water is the key. Any suggestions on how to add more water stops into my day?.

**PS note to aimee - Be proud of what you have accomplished - it is something I have not been able to do - life has its setbacks for all of us - and you know you are not alone. Stay with us.

That is true - the more water you drink, the better. I try to have at least one glass before each meal and I have a large cup that I fill up in the morning and drink throughout the day at work. What does everyone else do?

wow Mo, your reply to Polly hurt a little.
I disagree w/ her to, but we're all here to help each other out, not to get upset.

I'm terribly sorry if it came across as harsh. It was not intended to be.

well i wasnt tryin to give up diet soda but it just is sorda happening....i started drinking flavored water to help with the weight loss and for 2 weeks thats all i dranked besides a lil milk here and there....but i find now that when i open a can of diet dr pepper..i take maybe to sips out of it...and the rest goes to waste...if u are tryin to cut back or even stop try drinkin water or flavored water..it helped me and i wasnt even tryin...good luck

i don't think mo's comments were harsh at all,she was very diplomatic and didn't call anyone ridiculous

I have been overweight most of my life. I used to drink 1-2 cans of diet soda every day. Many years ago I went to Jenny Craig. The overall experience was horrible but they made you limit diet sodas to 2 a week. I realized that when I didn't drink the sodas I was not nearly as hungry. I think the artificial sweetners stimulate your appetite! So I got one good thing out of the Jenny thing. Now back on Weight Watchers and doing great.