Soda Drinks

Alex C. · Post by **Alex C.** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 4:01 am

Hi,

Just checking in and saying thanks - this system seems by far the most effective long term system. Its the only diet I've ever seen where I've thought 'I could do that for ever'

However, the issue I wanted to raise is about soda. I don't calorie count but I'm dropping soda (completely) as part of this in favour of water. Now a conservative estimate is that before the new year, I was drinking a minimum of 4 x 2 litre bottles of coke a week. Now I didn't think that was a huge amount, but I've started thinking more long term and here's what I worked out.

a 2l bottle of coke has 840 calories. Over a year at 4 bottles a week, thats 174720 calories a year

in addition, it contributes 44kg of sugar (96 lbs) to my diet. Going by the 3500 calories = 1 lbs of weight, just dropping coke in theory would lose me nearly 50lb a year (although I'm sure not in practice).

Anyone got any experience on giving up soda?

I think I'll probably be doing quite well anyway - I don't eat a lot but I do snack far too much, so cutting that out should help.

apple · Post by **apple** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:55 am

Wow, that's a lot of sugar!

What about drinking instead that fizzy mineral water (with the bubbles), with a bit of lemon juice? Helps me when I want soda. Or drink tea with honey if you need the sugar.

Good luck!

rose · Post by **rose** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:08 pm

Alex,

if you read Reinhart's nosdiet page carefully you can see that soda is considered an S (even "diet" soda). So technically you're supposed to abstain from drinking soda on N days.

It seems it is not uncommon that No-S-Dieting people lose the desire to drink soda even on S days after some time. It certainly is my case. It just tastes way too sweet now. If I want to drink something other than plain tap water, I have sparkling water. I can still drink soda occasionally if everyone else is having it on an S day and I don't want to make a fuss. But I don't really enjoy it.

Same for a lot of sweet snack food. When you lose the habit to have it everyday, you realize it tastes awful and the only thing you used to get from it is a sugar high, then a sugar down which led to eating/drinking more sweet junk food in a never-ending craving.

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:39 pm

I quit soda inadvertently. I gave it up when I was pregnant with my son, because of the caffeine and chemicals. (Used to drink diet Coke.)

Nine months later, when I took my first sip, I nearly spewed it out. What a nasty-tasting concoction of chemicals! I've never liked it since.

(Coffee, on the other hand... I drank it greedily right away, and still do. In moderation.)

In addition to my beloved morning coffee, I drink lots of water, often with lemon; herbal tea (Red Zinger and Lemon Zinger are great hot or iced, and don't need sweetening); and sparkling water as a treat. I don't miss soda at all.

My son is at the age that he wants soda because all the other kids get it. I don't want to make it more special by forbidding it entirely, so we treat it as a "special occasion" item. Sometimes we'll ask him to choose between Sprite or dessert - which is exactly how I want him to think of soda, as "liquid candy."

Murphysraven · Post by **Murphysraven** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 5:40 pm

I am a rabid diet soda drinker. Along with my rededication to noS this year I am attempting to cut out about 90% of my soda intake.

Previously I'd have 6-8+ cans a day

And even more on the weekends. Drinking diet soda I'm not as concerned about the calories. However i'm sure that the chemicals and caffeine are detrimental to my weight loss goals.

My method is that I allow myself a can in the morning (some people drink coffee, i drink soda) and drink water for the rest of the work day. I might allow myself 1 more soda when I get home with dinner, but I am trying to set my cap at about 1-2 a day. This is the same on both S and N days. I almost never drink soda when we go out to eat (too expencive)

Alex C. · Post by **Alex C.** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 8:35 pm

Well, todays the end of the 4th day - I've not violated the rules yet (except possibly once when I tasted 2 mushrooms and a piece of quorn whilst cooking to make sure they were done

). The no snacking is still the hardest (I guess I snacked a lot more than I thought) but I've cut out soda completely with no issues yet, and switched to drinking pure water.

I'm also finding I'm savouring my food a lot more. I had a cheese and onion sandwich at lunch, and for the first time it didn't taste bland or sweet, I could actually taste the flavours coming out. Wholemeal breads not too bad either.

How does No-S work with Calendar days? IE I'm going out tonight as I do every friday and almost always end up getting a chicken burger + chips from the takeaway on the way home. It'll be very hard not to since I'll be drunk at that point and the willpower will have disappeared. Technically, I guess it wouldn't be a failure as it'll be past midnight, but it definitely feels like cheating. I may swap my No-S days to Friday and Saturday.

Once again, thanks for this incredible system

davestarbuck · Post by **davestarbuck** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:46 pm

I gave up sugared sodas in 2005. I lost 30 lbs by just not drinking soda (290lbs to 260 lbs) and kept it off. I drink water,coffee (black), beer,tea(unsweet as we say in the south),wine, rum and whiskey in that order. Mostly water and coffee, sometimes a nip of rum or whiskey finds it's way into the coffee though

.

-dave

silver · Post by **silver** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 7:14 pm

the only time i ever drunk soda every day was when i was in the u.s. 4 months in summer 2003. and that was the only time when i put on weight in summer. you see, me and my mother loose 3-4 kilos every summer and gain it back every winter. spontaneously, without any diet. in summer of 2003 i put on 5 kilos in 4 months. i don't normally drink sweetened water, maybe once in 2-3 months. my favorite is tap water. but when i was in america, everybody drank coke. tap water tasted funny, and mineral water was much worse than here although it might be a question of habit. coke was the only drink we ever bought, well, plus beer

. i think i just went with the flow. (it was 4 of us and we shopped together). so instead of losing 4 kilos i gained 5. it had never happened before. nor did it happen after. and soda was the only change in my diet so it must have been the reason. actually, all of us put on weight, so there you have it.

roseha · Post by **roseha** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 4:53 am

I stopped drinking Coke and all that many years ago, and I never did like diet drinks. However I do love Selzer (or I guess it's called tonic water or something outside the US?). It gives me the fizz without the calories.

Interesting though that in the old days it seemed everyone drank Coke and most people weren't overweight. I mean back in the 60s. Perhaps the "supersizing" changed all that. I grew up in the 60s and we had no McDonald's or Burger King, just a Howard Johnson's with fried chicken that my sister and I would (rarely) go to, and the Good Humor Ice Cream truck which would come by my street once a *week* (I remember a visiting neighbor boy and I would have to flag him down).

Things really have changed

Jaxhil · Post by **Jaxhil** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:06 pm

This is an interesting thread! I need to stop drinking it too. I have cut down considerably in the past few months, yet it is still a temptation for me. My DH drinks a lot of it so it is always there, reminding me of its existence, lol. He has said he would quit though, and so it is up to me to quit buying it on grocery day I guess!

It's hard, but I have been doing much better lately. I used to probably drink a liter a day, and I am definitely at a MUCH lower consumption now. It's closer to 6 oz now-and really that needs to GO-I mean this is No-S after all!! But I am finding the less I drink the less I like it. It just tastes like syrup to me by the weekend if I manage to go 5 days straight without even sipping.

I should do an experiment, starting now, and not drink soda the rest of the year, except *sometimes* (meaning not necessarily every s-day) on S-days. I know if I say give it up entirely I'll want it all the more

so that would be less than productive for me!

I am really curious to see what a difference in my weight that one change would make..... it can't hurt, anyway!

I just did the math-at 5 tsp of sugar a day (roughly 1/2 can of soda) thats almost TWENTY pounds of sugar a year!! wow

bonnieUK · Post by **bonnieUK** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:03 pm

I think it's been mentioned already but how about mixing a naturally sweet fruit juice (such as pineapple or grape) with sparkling water? I guess you're still going to get sugar from that found naturally in the fruit, but after a while you could increase the proportion of water to juice (and create more fizz as a bonus). Just a thought