Does coffee make you lose weight?

[Newfygirl]

Or is this just a coincidence? I started drinking coffee after Christmas and I lost about 4 lbs. Is there a connection? At the same time I started drinking coffee, I stopped my 3 cans of diet coke a day habit. Is it the coffee thats making me lose weight or is it the quitting the diet coke thats making me lose weight?

[DorothyB]

I've heard others say that they lost when they quit drinking diet soft drinks. In fact, a friend at church was telling me that yesterday afternoon. Not sure if it is water retention or something in the chemicals or what. I think MA posted something along the lines of - some (or all?) of the artificial sweeteners don't trigger the release of whatever says we aren't hungry any more.

[Chrisnstar]

diet pops are such a trap. They don't make you lose weight. in face studies have shown that most people who drink diet pop actually gain weight!

I've never been a big pop drinker, but had to quit drinking any at all. It was causing me horrible acid reflux. I thought I was having heart attacks. It was so bad I almost went to the ER. Then figured out, it happened about an hour after drinking a can of pop.

One health issue easy to take care of!

[ride4fun]

A hot beverage fills you up a little bit. And I believe when you drink or eat something sweet your body usually releases some insulin to be ready to deal with the glucose its expecting. With a diet soda there's no glucose and extra insulin can make you feel hungry. In fact my weight management program is built on the principle that even with 'real' foods some bodies release too much insulin when one eats simple carbs and this starts a cycle of insulin causing a sweet or carb craving, eating that stuff, body overdoes the insulin again, and round and round -- So the plan recommends having simple carbs/sweets only 1 time a day, during a meal. Once one gets over the craving stage the first week then you feel incredibly satisfied eating like this. --but not all bodies do this over insulin thing --they had a quiz to see if you matched, if not the plan was not likely to work for you.

[Mary Ann]

Coffee has a lot of caffeine, and caffeine is a diuretic. Coffee can also displace other things that are more caloric.

Dorothy, the thing you're thinking of is how high fructose corn syrup, the pervasive sweetening ingredient, does not activate the brain chemical that tells us we're getting full. Foods with high concentrations of HFCS (soda pop, barbeque sauces, many salad dressings, etc--Read labels!) are really a problem. It's no wonder that portion sizes have escalated. It's also no wonder that manufacturers like it; it's far cheaper than sugar, is more readily available, and causes the consumption of your product to go up with nothing more than this change. It's a manufacturer's dream, but a dieter's nightmare.

I try VERY hard to avoid this one.

As for diet sodas, I'll have one in a pinch, and I do like soda. But the ingredient that gives soda carbonation also leaches calcium out of our bones. And the chemical cocktail that comprises diet sodas is frightening in and of itself. To me, these aren't food, and they're not beverages. Just because we can ingest them doesn't make them food.

For me, there really isn't much place for them, although I'll have one rarely. But I'll say this: If having diet sodas makes a difference for you and keeps you sane on a diet, have 'em! We're all different. What works for me might not work for you.

[Newfygirl]

Do carbonated waters have that same ingredient that leaches calcium?

[Mary Ann]

Good question: I don't know. I sure like a Perrier with lime once in awhile.

[DorothyB]

maryann said:

Dorothy, the thing you're thinking of is how high fructose corn syrup, the pervasive sweetening ingredient, does not activate the brain chemical that tells us we're getting full. Foods with high concentrations of HFCS (soda pop, barbeque sauces, many salad dressings, etc--Read labels!) are really a problem. It's no wonder that portion sizes have escalated. It's also no wonder that manufacturers like it; it's far cheaper than sugar, is more readily available, and causes the consumption of your product to go up with nothing more than this change. It's a manufacturer's dream, but a dieter's nightmare.

Thanks for the reminder - a few more times and I MIGHT get it!

[Sheryl]

I would look like Kate Moss if it really helped since I drink at least one cup a day... sometimes two.

I drink one diet soda most days (maybe 4-5 total in a week). I consider it a bad habit as I think diet soda screws you up and makes you crave food. It also makes me thirsty for some reason.

[cherokee]

sheryl said:

I would look like Kate Moss if it really helped since I drink at least one cup a day... sometimes two.

.

Eeeh Gads!!! Please don't give me THAT visual!

[Trailpal]

sheryl said:

I drink one diet soda most days (maybe 4-5 total in a week). I consider it a bad habit as I think diet soda screws you up and makes you crave food. It also makes me thirsty for some reason.

Most sodas are high in sodium, that's probably why you feel thirsty after you drink it. (soda = sodium, get it? I was so surprised when I finally made the connection!)

I like water with a squeeze of lime or lemon - I used to fill my saddle bottles 2/3 with water and freeze. When I was going on those hot California trails, I'd grab a bottle, drop a slice of lemon/lime in, and top with water. Quenched my thirst and tasted better than straight water, didn't make me urpy in the saddle and was really inexpensive.

[Marci]

I'm so happy I got off the diet coke habit. For a long long time I craved them but even that is gone a year later. I shudder to think what I have done to myself with my 6 pack or more habit a day for over 20 years. Its no wonder that it took 10 weeks for my bone to heal last year. I wonder if that could be why I have arthritis so early? I wish I could say I lost weight afterwards but its not true, I didn't.
Hey and I quit drinking any beer too, used to drink only beer when we went out and it made me swell up in the face and tummy, but I replaced all with iced tea, unsweetened, and well wine once in a while bought once a week, White Zin is my fav. Its a little more expensive than beer but heck, I'm worth it.
I have gotten to the point that I can drink a diet soda, but only as a treat-and maybe only once a month. And I like to use stevia to sweeten stuff. Its not a bunch of chemicals and with as little as you need to use to sweeten stuff its not that expensive.