Not going to lie, I do love my Caffeine Free Diet Coke. Besides the possibility that diet sodas cause cancer; I've also heard that diet sodas can also make you gain weight. Even though there's no calories; the caffeine and sodium in it makes your body retain water--hense the weight. Is this true?

How does that work with caffeine free diet sodas? I also heard that you can count a caffeine free soda as a hydrating beverage since it doesn't have the dehydrating caffeine in it.

Even though any kind of diet sodas has all the chemicals in it; are caffeine free sodas less likely to cause water retention? I don't drink an excess amount--maybe a can every other day. I drink lots of water so it's not like I'm relying on this soda for hydration and I certainly don't drink it mmediately after workouts.

if you are a woman,ANY kind of soda will cause water retention,esp. on the legs,and will slow down the metabolism,so i would try to drink less,2-3 a week, and eventually give it up.

IMO, Gaining weight from hydration (water retention) and gaining weight from fat/muscle tissue gain are two different things. For example: Some females having a water retention problem pre and post menstrual.

Assuming one is calorie deficient (and leaving out biological metabolic adaptions to the length of calorie deficiencies equal), the body simply can not create something out of nothing (post the miraculous biological adaptions that take place in the newbie period).

Can one gain "water weight" while in a calorie deficit? Absolutely. Especially some woman pre and post menstrual as noted above. But there are other factors.

Store "unwanted" fat (key word) in calorie deficit........ No. (Seem contradictory? Nope. )

For example: One diets with a 600 calorie deficiency. However within this 600 calorie deficiency this person cuts carbohydrates to 60 grams per day. This person runs this sort of diet 3 weeks--while training.

After the 3 weeks, this hypothetical dieter, flips the carbohydrates and increases them to near normal (say around 200 grams or so, for example), but maintains the 600 calorie deficiency.

Water will return and swell some of the muscle and fat tissue, and be misinterpreted as fat gain (again assuming the person maintains the deficit specified). And, while this may not be the recommended hydration drink (the diet soda), the body will in fact extract the water from it, and use it....contrary to opinion. It will simply figure it out.

Weight goes up, but fat tissue did not go up. The difference here is that this person was hypo in carbohydrates (which reduces water retention), and then flipped the switch and went hyper in carbohydrates (which increases water retention from a depleted level). Muscle is primarily water, and the muscle will tend to swell up post a carbohydrateUP period--thus affecting one's weight. Can water weight effect calipers and fat percent? Yes. This is why understanding water retention can sometimes be important. Though it may effect the caliper reading and fat percent, it doesn't actually indicate a fat increase (keeping things equal as stated above).

Getting fixed on the scale will drive you to the nutty farm.

With this said, the other contents of your diet (away) from the carbonated beverage is the primary pointer to water retention and not this one drink (i.e how many carbohydrates you are consuming, and other beverages you are consuming, hormonal imbalances, etc, etc).

Caffeine can have many side effects for some people. Water retention is not one of them. Caffeine is a diuretic and can make one pee more often. In other words, you can lose water drinking caffeinated beverages. In contrast, Carbohydrates causes hydration--or can--dependent on gram levels.

What effect sodium plays in water retention, can depend on the nucleus of your diet perimeters; but sodium by "itself" can not induce water retention...without....the other perimeters of diet effecting it... one way or the other.

One thing I have learned though, is that a woman's body can play some serious hormonal games, especially around the menstrual cycle. Do you tend to gain water during this time, despite the contents of your diet?

What are the other aspects of your diet like?



Off to work, I have a very long day ahead of me. Been a busy little beaver the last few days. Work (14 hours). Train. Sleep. LOL..........Life is great. LOL.


Keep Rocken.......


Best wishes

Chillen

In my opinion the only thing healthy in any soda, diet or otherwise, is the water. The rest is pure garbage. Stick with water, period.

Whilke I do agree pop in general is garbage one every other day is not going to make or break you.However if you can wean yourself off it I strongly suggest it.Do some research on pop and it's effect on body PH levels.

ABOMINATION

Diet soda without the caffeine is like.. I dunno. Ice cream without the cream. That's a ****in' snow cone is what that is.

Aside from that, what the c meister said, mostly. Drink lots of water and get enough salts (hint: sodium is not the only mineral your body requires) and a little diuretic is nothing to worry about. How much you weigh has little to do with how fat you are on a day-to-day or even a weekly basis so instead of losing water weight lose the actually harmful scale mentality and choose some better metrics (like body fat assessment via skinfold or DEXA or the ancient but effective "how you feel about what you see in the mirror").

That whole thing about artificial sweeteners making you eat more is based, like most ridiculous diet industry myths, on retarded pop psychology interpretations of "scientific" studies. That said, artificial sweeteners are to be avoided wherever possible for the simple reason of being unnecessary. Some here and there however isn't going to hurt and may in fact help: as Berardi's so fond of saying, the body doesn't know the difference between 90% healthy eating and 100% healthy eating as regards optimal nutrition. And as I like to add, 100% healthy eating would be maladaptive in the evolutionary sense in that it would deprive your body of incentive to adapt to "modern" (refined) foods if you weren't ever exposed to them.

I got myself off a daily dose of diet pepsi for the most part, but I did have to replace it with coffee or tea (which I would consider a better option, especially the tea).

Also, one thing that works great for me is having a bottle of water with me at all times (go tap water, it's generally healthiest and better on the environment!) and I greatly reduced my cravings for other drinks because my body was constantly hydrated. I just take occasional sips throughout the day.

Since you said that you already drink a lot of water, you're probably in pretty good shape. I cheat from time to time as well. Nobody's perfect, right?