Drinking Water vs. Diet Soda

I keep reading in this forum (sorry I forgot who said it) that you should drink water regularly for healthy diet/weight loss.

Anyway, I did some google research and it says your metabolism increase when you drink water--basically, to heat the water to body temperature.

So I started drinking water regularly and quit drinking diet Coke altogether.

My question to those who keep encouraging to drink water instead of diet sodas, does it really make a difference between diet soda and water?

I understand that.  But my question is whether drinking water is better for losing weight (not necessarily better for your body/health overall) than drinking diet soda?

of course drinking water would be better than diet soda for losing weight.

I stay away from diet sodas because of the aspertame/fake sugars, its weird stuff and theres lots of warnings against the stuff but hasnt been any proven tests. Its better to drink reg soda than diet if your going to drink it at all. Aspertame has the same qualities of some poison, I cant remember the name of it

i drink water during physical activity, but I gotta have me some diet coke with meals - simply can NOT drink water with meals.

Id say give it a try for a couple weeks and write down how much you drank each day and how you felt.

For me; i have to have my daily diet coke after lunch and then the rest of the day is water water water.  I drink about a gallon spread out through the day.  I think it has helped me lose wieght indirectly because its calorie restriction that makes you lose weight not water.  When I dont drink enough water, im hunger all the time, i get headaches do to being dehydrated, and It helps keep my weight loss consistent due to the effect that more water equals less water retentions as long as you arent loading up on salt and booze everyday.  I dont trust the chemicals in Diet pop, but i also believe everything in moderation is a good thing.

Just my thoughts,

Greg

I don't have actual data to back this up, but if your question is whether diet soda is better or worse than water solely in terms of losing weight, I'm going to say I think it likely is, simply because of the caffeine, which can suppress hunger.

However, in an absolute sense, I think water is preferable to almost anything.  If I really wanted the caffeine, I'd make coffee which has no calories, no sweeteners, and plenty of caffeine.

I don't claim to know the facts pertaining to this discussion, and offer no advice on this subject myself.  However, I can report some surprising information that I heard from sports experts who advise some of our US Olympic athletes and NFL football players.  The advice was for events with longish time frames and was given in a meeting held by one of official olympic sports authorities for the benefit of aspiring olympic trainees and US national coaches.

First is hydration, of course, and one must drink before feeling thirsty.  Soft drinks, both sugary and diet, were not held in high regard.  The recommendation was to mix half water and half some product like Gatorade, but make sure no fructose is involved.  Second was Caffeine.  I listened to about an hour's worth of research about how caffeine improved concentration, awareness, and helped reduce early fatigue and loss of mental sharpness, and it was the about the only legal drug that Olympic athletes could take and still pass drug tests for performance enhancing substances.  I was astonished to hear this news, but they even went so far as talking about taking caffeine pills an hour before your event if you did not drink coffee and did not know your exact dosing.  I forgot the dose level recommended (or will not share it,) but it was for events with a rather longish time frame of something like 4 to 6 hours which would be akin to a golf round. The half life of caffeine is a little longer than some things.  The specific sport I will not reveal but it involves immense concentration, quick actions, endurance, and mental awareness with lots of decision making.

Frankly I was not surprised by the recommendation to dilute the sports drinks, but the caffeine advice caught me by surprise.  I had no idea.  Finally, one of the two advisors who was talking to the Olympic coaches about all this was an advisor to one of the NFL football teams.  Personally, I don't drink coffee and cannot imagine taking caffeine pills so please don't take anything in this note as advice or accurate information because it is only a circumstancial note in an internet forum.  Consult your doctor and your own experts or do your own research.  I am just reporting something I heard at a meeting.

I have a water bottle on my desk at work. I fill it up in the morning and each time I go for a pee break I put it in the kitchen and then fill it back up on the way back to my office. It's an amazing difference to feel properly hydrated all day every day.

When I play golf I fill up the same water bottle to take with me and add 1.5 Nuun tabs to it to add some zing for the round.

"Rodents fed saccharin compared with those fed glucose showed diminished calorie compensation ability, increased calorie intake, and increased body weight. [...] They found that most animals, including those with prior cocaine exposure, selected the lever that dispensed saccharin over the lever that dispensed cocaine"

What it’s worth, I couldn’t say. Sounds good though. (Or bad depending on one’s perspective.)

Source: Artificially Sweetened Beverages: Cause for Concern [PDF]

Diet soda is a chemical project, some chemicals are more easily processed than others.  I used to drink 6 cans of Diet Coke or Coke Zero a day.  I attended a few seminars on the toxins that diet soda contains and the time it takes for the body to excrete the toxins. I haven't had a diet beverage in over 2 years since attending those seminars and drink water with all my meals.  I do drink coffee for the caffeine which as others have indicated when taken in moderation can improve sports performance.  I can't say cutting out diet coke caused an immediate or amazing change to my body, but I did notice I was less bloated, and lost about 10lbs over a month without altering my diet or exercise levels.

This is a joke right?

WATER!

That is good to know.  At least there is an anecdotal evidence that water helps in reducing weight relative to diet soda.

I thought because diet soda has zero calories, it shouldn't matter whether you drink water or diet soda.  I have been drinking at least 4 cans of diet soda a day.  I stopped about a week ago after having read that you should drink water instead of diet soda.  Except for the fact that diet soda contains artificial chemicals, I just couldn't believe water is better for WEIGHT LOSS than diet soda.

Thanks for that link.  Very interesting.

Some studies have shown that diet soda, specifically artificial sweeteners can inhibit weight loss. My rule of thumb, just don't drink anything but water. I do that 90% of the time, other times i go for ice-teas, or lemonades. But i make sure that the ingredient list is a short one.

Drink water definitely. Diet soda is not good for you. I have heard before that normal soda is better for you than diet soda because of the aspartyme/fake sugar.

Obviously water is better for you simply from a hydration standpoint but theres not solid scientific evidence to suggest any harmful effects from diet soda.

Yes... water is a stable for weight loss. Diet soda is a diuretic and will cause your weight loss to slow down... Flush the body with nature .. H20 all the way.

Good luck

Frank

Fmk123ster