Diet soda

Binky wrote:
This may have been addressed-

I drink (what seems to be) a lot of diet soda- sometimes as much as
2-3 cans a day. I drink 64-96 ounces of water in a day, I don't start
hitting the soda until after I get home- What kind of impact does
this have on weight loss? The only thing on the nutrition info is
35mg Sodium.

Browsing the messages it sounds like most people drink just iced tea
or water with their wegiht loss regimen, but the soda may be a tough
one for me to give up

BTW- Just found this group, and it's inspriing me to try and get my
nutrition under control.

Thanks in advance


I don't really like diet sodas. I don't like the taste so I'd rather have a
normal cola instead but I don't drink a whole 2 liter everyday...Most of the
time at dinner I drink wine. Then again diet sodas have artificial sweeteners
instead of sugar and there's actually one which is really dangerous some will
say while others say it's just no big deal. I'm talking about aspartame...You
must have heard about it. I don't know if it's really harmful but I guess you
could try to drink fruit juices instead. I do love fruit juices and shakes a
lot. That's why I don't drink so much cola and I do too drink a lot of water.

Thanks for sharing this.

Binky wrote:
On Sat, 15 Jul 2006 14:52:49 -0400, Dally wrote:

You said you need to lose "a lot" of weight. Where do you stand now?
What's your story?

A couple weeks ago I went in to see the doctor about a flu that was
going around, and I weighed in at 407, which is the heaviest I've ever
been. Breaking the 400 lb. mark was heartbreaking to me, but I kind
of laughed it off a little. My doctor scribbled out a quick script
for my sniffles and wanted to talk seriously about my weight problem.
The only problem was that he really only wanted to talk about weight
loss surgery, and gave me a referral to a surgeon.

History-wise, I've always been heavy. I broke 200 lb. while I was
sitll in middle school. I'm unwilling to analyze what happened there,
because I didn't know any better, and I'm not willing to blame my
parents. I went into the military after high school. I had to get
down to 250 for that, and I did it with Nutrisystem. I consider it a
success and the only nutritional education I'd had up to that point.
Throughout my time in the Army I struggled significantly with my
weight, so much so that I was relieved when I eventually left (for
reasons other than my weight) in 1991.

Didn't really bother trying to control my weight after that and I've
been on a slow increase ever since. I never really actively denied
responsibility for gaining so much weight, but it's pretty easy to
keep my head in the sand for a variety of reasons.

I had mixed feelings about the doctor visit- my doctor is a very thin
guy, and generally does not give me easy outs, so secretly I was a
little happy (You mean I don't have to change my habits? Awesome!),
but it was also a place I never wanted to be. My wife wanted to
change doctors. My Mother and Father were supportive, but didn't like
the idea of weight loss surgery. Most of my friends were supportive
of my but didn't express much of an opinion.

I approached the problem logically. First, I'm not taking options off
the table. I gave myself three main options:
1. control my own intake and excercise
2. Some sort of weight loss program like Nutrisystem
3. Surgery

I won't go through my decision making process, but it came down to
picking the first option as the easiest to get started with, selling
it against the other two (if this fails, I have to do one of the
others and I don't want that, so I'm motivated to make it work).
Finding this newsgroup was a big part of helping make that decision,
and I imagine it'll play a role in helping me stick to it. I know my
friends love me, but I doubt they'll tell me what I need to hear in
it's unvarnished form the same way you guys will.

Frankly I've *never* written any of this down, nor have I really
talked about my weight issues with anyone. Now that I think about it,
most of my friends probably believe I've come to terms with being so
big and just accept it.

Gah- this post is already too long. Maybe I should start a blog, this
seems like it would make a great first entry


--
jmk in NC

Dally wrote:


One of the things that helped me a lot when I first got started was the
simple exercise of just writing down everything I ate. Not measuring at
first, keep it simple. Just write down what you ate, when. If you feel
like adding a note, add a note.


A lot of people in this group use FitDay (http://www.fitday.com) for
food logging. In another group that I'm watch, they use SparkPeople
(http://www.sparkpeople.com/).

I still use my PDA. Chris uses a spreadsheet. I've used pen and paper
as well. There are plenty of strategies.

Like Dally (and you'll have seen Chris' posts here), I log food and I
log exercise. I don't try to balance the two.


THIS might be a good place for a blog.
In fact, I have a food and exercise blog. It's deathly boring to read,
but serves as a way for me to do this same exercise. It's really
illuminating. I found out that I eat more when I got to bed late the
night before, and that I tended to snack at specific times.

URL?


--
jmk in NC

Binky wrote:
The gap
between knowing what to do and actually doing it has been the
difficult part. I'll probably be asking some questions about tweaking
my eating plan (a term a prefer to "diet") in the next few days.

No kidding! It's all about choices and sometimes people chose to ignore
that ;-) BTW, you're pretty much on track with the lingo here -- most
people (Ig excluded) uses WOE (way of eating) instead of diet (which
for many implies short term and may not take into account the fact that
things evolve as we go along).


--
jmk in NC

WhinythePooch wrote:

I don't really like diet sodas. I don't like the taste so I'd rather have a
normal cola instead but I don't drink a whole 2 liter everyday...

Uh, Whiny? I'm glad you don't drink the whole 2 liters every day, but
that leaves me wondering if you manage to drink the whole 2 liters
before it goes flat. If so, you're having too much liquid candy. Coke
has no role other than as entertainment. In fact, pretty much anything
with high fructose corn syrup in it falls into that category. Perhaps
you're a string bean kid who can handle the simple sugars because you're
about to go play Ultimate Frisbee for three hours. I dunno. But most
people posting in alt.support.diet ought not to drink Liquid Candy.

Most of the time at dinner I drink wine.

I like a glass of wine with dinner. I can barely manage the calories at
this point, but it is one of my goals to get a glass of wine most days
of the week. So far I only manage about one a week.

Then again diet sodas have artificial sweeteners
instead of sugar and there's actually one which is really dangerous some will
say while others say it's just no big deal. I'm talking about aspartame...You
must have heard about it. I don't know if it's really harmful but I guess you
could try to drink fruit juices instead.

NO! Seriously, NO. Do not drink fruit juices except in very small
portions for specific nutritional needs. Have you any idea how calorie
dense fruit juices are? And most of them are fake, pretty much pure
sugar. Anything with "fruit drink" on it is primarily uncarbonated
soda. Anything wtih "white grape concentrate" or, my favorite, "cane
juice concentrated" is just sugar sugar sugar sugar.

Do you need sugar? If you're talking about fueling your second hour of
triathlon training, perhaps. Otherwise, I sincerely doubt it.

Far better to eat an orange or a fruit salad or an apple or some grapes
or blueberries or strawberries. Get some fiber and some whole nutrients
with your calories.

I do love fruit juices and shakes a lot.

My condolences. You must chug back a heck of a lot of calories. I hope
you aren't fat, and if you are, I hope you don't mind it!

That's why I don't drink so much cola and I do too drink a lot of water.

Define "lot." My husband is driving me crazy this summer. It's been
really hot and we've been really active and he has intermittant kidney
problems and has to stay well hydrated. He CLAIMS he is drinking a lot
of water because he usually has a cup in front of him. Sometimes he'll
sip a whole 16 ounces in a morning. I cannot get that man to chug down
a water bottle in a sitting. He has no idea that he's barely hydrating,
he thinks a sip every now and then is enough.

I drink a 10 ounce glass of water when I first get up in the morning,
then about 8 ounces every time I get up to pee. I don't know how much I
get during the day, but drinking 8 ounces at a chug makes the numbers
rise pretty fast.

Dally

On Sat, 15 Jul 2006 14:52:49 -0400, Dally wrote:
*Binky wrote:

*Regarding diet soda, it's not great, but not an immediate threat.
*You've got enough changes to do, there's no harm in saving this one
*to tackle another day.


New to this group. Is there any research or previous postings on the carbonated fruit-water that goes by different brands in different stores? The labels have zero on about every section but are there any other health issues. I have been mixing 3 of tea to 1 of carbonated fruit water to sip while watching tv. It has the punch of soft drink without the calories or caffeine.

TravelGuy

"TravelGuy" wrote in message
news:200671811856.268860@MRTABLET08...
On Sat, 15 Jul 2006 14:52:49 -0400, Dally wrote:
Binky wrote:

Regarding diet soda, it's not great, but not an immediate threat.
You've got enough changes to do, there's no harm in saving this one
to tackle another day.


New to this group. Is there any research or previous postings on the
carbonated fruit-water that goes by different brands in different stores?
The labels have zero on about every section but are there any other health
issues. I have been mixing 3 of tea to 1 of carbonated fruit water to sip
while watching tv. It has the punch of soft drink without the calories or
caffeine.

TravelGuy

I usually drink the flavored waters but haven't tried too many of the
carbonated versions. If they're zero calories there shouldn't be too much
in them to cause any health issues.

On 17 Jul 2006 23:53:17 -0700, "The Historian"
wrote:

I slowly saw my weight creep up, from about 280 in college to 300, then
310, 317, etc... and eventually I reached 385. I knew what to do; in my
case my self esteem was so low that I simply accepted that I didn't
deserve to be thin. I don't feel that way now. :-)

Funny thing about milestones, the way the context they move into
depending on which side of them you're on. I remember thinking "I may
be big, but at least I'm not 350 lbs". Now, I *WISH* I was 350 lbs
again.

The secret of logging your intake isn't so much to track it as to force
you to think about it in the first place. I still remember my first
attempts; during them I discovered my "light" eating was about 4000
calories a day. That soon changed. :-)

The first day I logged ( it was last week) was 2600 calories, and I
thought it was a pretty bad day (since it included a run through the
mcdonalds scarf-n-barf). I didn't even think about logging it until
after I got home. I was surprised it was as low as it was, but I also
knew I was capable of worse overeating.

2000 calories is too low for someone at 407. I do 2500 myself - or at
least I try to. I often run a couple of hundred over. And I'm still
losing weight on it.

Now here I've got a couple questions- I know not to go to low, since
I'll be ravenous and be more likely to binge, but is there more reason
beyond that to up my intake? Admittedly I've had a tough time staying
under 2000 calories, so I'll probably take your advice, I'm just
curious is all.

Make sandwiches or wraps at home and keep them in the car. They will
taste better and be better for you. Baring that, pick up some energy
bars and use them instead. I prefer the sandwich instead, since it's
more filling. Include a banana or apple with it.

I have to combat laziness on that- the drive through is simply too
easy and I'm simply too lazy
About half my week I spend on the road around the county, and there's
a mcdonald's *right* by the freeway on ramp, so I can blow through
the drive-thru, grab lunch, and be on the freeway to my next client
site in no time flat. Strangely enough, I've now noticed the subway
sitting right next to it. The plan is to cash in some convenience for
better eating, since they seem to have some good options.

What sort of exercise do you take? When I started, I barely managed 7
minutes on a recumbent bike, and had trouble walking a city block. Last
night, I did 40 minutes of upper body lifting, 20 minutes on the bike,
and 20 minutes on the eliptical trainer. If you just try to change
yourself through diet, you are setting yourself up for failure, in my
humble opinion. Like many, I've been there, and have 'done' that.

Nothing deliberate, mostly work related, busy office-like activity.
Crawling around under desks, hauling computer gear in/out of the car.
Some days I'm nothing more than a desk turd. My job may be changing
soon that will make me more of a desk turd, so I'm going to have to
figure out an excercise plan.

Welcome to the group, Binky. While you are here, search for posts by
Matty, a super-sized individual who became less of a man and more of a
man at the same time. He went from 500 pounds to about 250!

I've been lurking. I find that absolutely inspirational, and reading
his sig is one of the big reasons I've decided to do this.

On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 10:03:51 -0400, Dally wrote:

NO! Seriously, NO. Do not drink fruit juices except in very small
portions for specific nutritional needs. Have you any idea how calorie
dense fruit juices are? And most of them are fake, pretty much pure
sugar. Anything with "fruit drink" on it is primarily uncarbonated
soda. Anything wtih "white grape concentrate" or, my favorite, "cane
juice concentrated" is just sugar sugar sugar sugar.

I've been hearing such awful things about HFCS I starting trying to
expunge it from my food wherever possible and it's turning out to be
bloody difficult- not that I had much in the first place (stopped
drinking non-diet soda a while ago). The only juice I drink anymore
is a 10oz bottle of tropicana OJ in the morning with breakfast- it
says 100% juice, and there doesn't seem to be added sugars in the
ingredients- can I trust this?

You can buy diet ,caffeine free sodas which may be a lot cheaper and less
trouble.
"Beverly" wrote in message
. ..

"TravelGuy" wrote in message
news:200671811856.268860@MRTABLET08...
On Sat, 15 Jul 2006 14:52:49 -0400, Dally wrote:
Binky wrote:

Regarding diet soda, it's not great, but not an immediate threat.
You've got enough changes to do, there's no harm in saving this one
to tackle another day.


New to this group. Is there any research or previous postings on the
carbonated fruit-water that goes by different brands in different stores?
The labels have zero on about every section but are there any other health
issues. I have been mixing 3 of tea to 1 of carbonated fruit water to sip
while watching tv. It has the punch of soft drink without the calories or
caffeine.

TravelGuy

I usually drink the flavored waters but haven't tried too many of the
carbonated versions. If they're zero calories there shouldn't be too much
in them to cause any health issues.