Can Diet Soda Help You Lose Weight?

The title of this post asks if diet soda will help you lose weight. The answer to this question depends on what you are drinking diet soda instead of. If you used to drink regular soda and you are replacing that with diet, you may see some weight loss benefits. However, I believe it would be healthiest to drink plain old water instead for weight loss.

I personally used to drink regular soda like a fiend, I loved Mountain Dew and would drink up to 4 cans a day, which is TONS of empty calories just pushing me towards my limit and causing me to gain weight. Regular sodas have over 100 calories per can which is a big problem when you are drinking 4 cans a day, as this is 400 calories that do nothing for you. They don’t make you feel full, don’t provide any nutrients for your body, and don’t particularly make you feel good at the end of the day.

More than a year ago when I began losing weight I stopped drinking regular soda completely and now only drink Diet Coke. I drink diet coke because it is the best tasting diet drink I have tried, and I didn’t really like the Diet Mountain Dew taste. My soda habit is now down to 1 or at most 2 cans a day and most of the time I opt for water.

I realized huge weight loss gains from my switch, mostly from the fact that I was suddenly consuming 400 less calories per day. Eating 400 calories less per day results in a weight loss or hopefully fat loss of about 3 pounds per month. Just from switching drinks!

If you are still drinking regular soda, or any juice drink that is mostly sugar, try switching to a diet version, or if you don’t like diet drinks see if you can just drink water instead. See how you feel after a month, and check the scale, you may have lost some extra weight. If you are already on a weight loss plan, cutting out the empty calories of these drinks could help you lose weight faster.

Quick Ways To Lose Weight

What are some quick ways to lose weight? Well there are plenty, but only one or two are healthy ways to lose weight in the long run. What I would like to try to get across in this post is that you will find an unlimited amount of diets and pills and programs that promise you unrealistic amounts of weight loss and deliver nothing or only short term results that will disappear as soon as you get off the fad diet and go back to your normal eating habits.

In general any exercise program is beneficial for losing weight as long as you are doing something that either gets your heart rate up to an ideal target zone or works your muscles. Of course there are a hundred different bizarre looking devices that claim to do it better and faster, but the real truth it almost nothing beats good cardio workouts and weight training with free weights for weight loss. Free weights are dumb-bells if you aren't familiar with the term. However, if you can commit to using some device you see on tv and use it several times a week that’s all that really matters. Most likely though you will have better success with regular workout machines like a treadmill or elliptical, they are probably ideal for cardio workouts.

Ok so that covers exercise but what about quick ways to lose weight with diet? In general I would avoid any pills, stick with healthy food like vegetables, fruit, and protein such as chicken or turkey. You can try something like the atkins diet where you mainly eat meat, but for long term health I believe it is safer to eat a more balanced diet. However, restricting white carbohydrates like bread and rice is a good idea for weight loss and can make you lose weight faster.

I started this post about quick ways to lose weight but I it kind of morphed into a general weight loss tips guide. I guess that’s because I really don’t believe any quick weight loss plan is healthy unless it is smart and balanced and focused on long term results. Even if you want to lose weight quickly you should always be thinking about your general well being and your long term weight loss goals.