Soda & Weight Gain

From time to time, well really, everyday, I peruse CNN's website many times and sometimes find intriguing if non-substantive articles. Often, they'll be what I deem "junk weight gain/loss science" articles on there like "2 Beer-a-day Diet," "All Meat Diet," etc. But today I found a very interesting article which suggested that highly concentrated liquid sweets (most notably sodas) are the most clear link to weight gain of any food product.

I must say, a natural skeptic, I completely believe this article as I've lived it. For the better part of my life, I consumed between 2 and 5 sodas per day (most of the time 2 or 3). Earlier this year, reaching my all-time weight high, and getting concerned, I strated hitting the gym at least twice a week for an hour to hour-and-a-half. I also made minor adjustments to my meal intake but no major ones.

I lost about 3 lbs. in 3 months and given that I was a good 20-30 lbs. north of my should-be weight I stopped going to the gym - because it was too much work for not much result.

I then accidentally picked up DIET, instead of REGULAR, Cherry 7-up - which has always been a favorite of mine. I thought it was the only diet soda I'd ever had that closely resembled the original. I stuck with it and also switched over to diet colas and all diet for any soda drinks. I also stopped drinking ANYTHING with calories save three things: alcohol, coffee and coffee-related drinks. No lemonade, no juicies, no milkshakes or malts , no sugary teas or teas at all, nada.

That's pretty much all I did. I lost 15 lbs. in 6 months just doing that. I've had less than 10 REGULAR sodas in that time and probably cut my my weekly caloric intake from dropping liquid calories by about 1500 to 2000 calories a week.

Now, I don't list this for KUDOS, I just do it to see if any of you have had similar experiences with soda? This is the one thing that seems to warrant the biggest effect on wieght gain/loss for me. More than any non-liquid food diet, exercise, weight-loss pills, etc.

This is the CNN article:

Soda & Weight gain

Bster

I saw the article, and found it interesting. But not interesting enough to give up my 3+ can a day Coke & Pepsi habit. I dont drink coffee, or tea, so the caffeine has to come from some source.

The weight issue luckily isnt a problem for me( I still weigh within 10 lbs. of what I weighed when i graduated high school back in 1988), I am more concerned about the risk of diabetes.

Perhaps some day I will find a way like you did to cut it out of my "diet".

Thanks for a very level-headed post -- Occasionally we'll get an evil-food-evangelist posting here.

I still occasionally crave The Real Thing (Coca Cola, preferably sugar not corn syrup, but difficult to find outside of Jewish neighborhoods in spring -- see the Mexican Coke thread in the Drink board here). Otherwise, if I indulge in sugared drinks, it's likely to be Gold Peak Iced Tea -- truly wonderful stuff, strong tea flavor (dare I say "solid?") and tooth-meltingly sweet.

Diet Cherry 7-Up was one of my staples for liquid refreshment, but I eventually got tired of it (have you noticed that of all the soft drinks, it's the one most likely to explode when you open a 2-liter bottle?). I've moved onto diet Mountain Dew, but I was also trying to keep my caffeine level down, so now I vary between Diet Squirt and Fresca, both with a bitter grapefruit note that masks the artificial sweeteners' own bitter notes.

Can't say I've lost weight on this regimen, but I haven't gained either.

I know at least a couple of people who have lost at least modest amounts of weight simply by cutting out soda. Not scientific, but I definitely believe there's something to it.

Also, on last night's Biggest Loser they said that a can of soda contains like 7 teaspoons of sugar. That just can't be good.

Just poking my head in to add a counterpoint on diet sodas.

Kristen

Right. Most diet stuff is related to behavior and not specific foods - but sometimes a specific food can give you a clue as to how to modify your behavior.

Case in point: I cut all dairy out of my diet for a year (my son was absolutely intolerant of any dairy, even though he was recieving it secondhand.) After 9 months of nursing, despite a 75 lb. weight gain while pregnant, I was skinnier than I'd ever been in my life - you could see the bones in my wrists. (of course, I gained it all back with knobs on after a year)

Now, some of that weight loss is clearly attributable to outside factors, but some of it is that when I go overboard with eating, it almost always involves dairy in some way: brownies or cookies with milk, cream sauces on pasta, crackers and whole slabs of cheese, gravy made with butter. It's not just the dairy, but the gobs of empty calories I ate with it, because with milk, I'd eat a whole pan of brownies - without, just one or maybe two.

That being said, a 12oz can of Coke Classic has 140 calories, about as much as a slice of pound cake.