So, I had one of my coworkers start talking to me about this article he read in Mens Fitness (he's a personal trainer on the side) that was talking about the impact of one single can of a "regular" (non-diet) Coke type of product per day - this could be any soft drink, read-to-drink coffee product or other similar drink.

If you drink one can of "regular" Coke per day in addition to your regular eating habits, this is equivalent to 16lbs of weight PER YEAR in added calories with a "normal" metabolism, no doubt.

I started surfing around on the web to try and find the article, but came up with this instead, which is an interesting little tidbit from someone who was addicted to coke:

http://blog.nordquist.org/?p=834

I'll try to dig up the article...I know I've mentioned Coke abuse in the past - a close friend of mine who was weighing in around 240 (he is 5'8) cut all of the bread and soft drinks out of his diet and lost 30lbs in 6 months. He got down to 190 by the end of a year.

Average can of "regular" soft drink has ~120-160 calories. You are supposed to take in aproximately 20 calories per pound of body fat you want to keep - so, ideally, if you were taking in exactly 2,000 calories of body fat, this would be ideal to maintain exactly 100lbs of weight on your body; with exercise and a diet like this, you should theoretically be able to obtain 100lbs in a short period of time (~1 if you aren't overweight, I'd guess).

A lot of us eat unhealthy - I know I'm one of them - I'm a food addict, a "foodie", I love "gourmet" meals, and I love to eat - but when I cut soft drinks out of my diet, I lost 20lbs also (over ~1yr). The hard part was stopping all the beer drinking with all the keg parties I'd go to :D I still drink beer, but I'm still a little lower in weight.

All of this comes to mind because I got my results back today from my blood workups (had a physical this year). Everything was looking good, was average on most things, above average on some things (like the "good cholesterol" was high, which is good), but my sugar was borderline that of what a diabetic would have - normal range for blood sugar is 0-99, I was at 100. Diabetes runs down my mom's side of the family, so this is somewhat expected - I ate a bunch of sweets the night before also, and went straight to bed, so this could have caused that also :)

Anyway...take it or leave it. I'm not trying to preach. It's hard to cut soft drinks out of your diet. I did it and lost weight. This is by no means a substitute for exercise, but if you are overweight and you drink a lot of soft drinks, or you just want to cut some pounds off and you drink a lot of soda, cutting that out (or going Diet soda) is ... one way to shed weight.

Here is the article from Harvard:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14247852/wid/11915773?GT1=8404

An interesting read on how Coke hits your system:

http://onemansblog.com/2006/12/19/mmmm-coke-i-drink-my-body-weight-in-sugar-annually/

I just found these ... So, I guess there is a central source where people are getting this info, and the source appears "respectable"

Heh, I drink on average 5 cans of Sam's Club Cola a day. And I'm 6'3" and 175 lbs. Mind you, I have the metabolism of a bumble bee due to being ADHD (heavy on the hyperactive part of that).

i firmly believe most of my long term health issues/sight loss, diabetes,and kidney failure are a direct result of the large volume of coca cola i consumed over an extended period of years

I drink the Diet, Caffiene Free, Gold Sam's choice stuff, hey it's cheap :hm:

I quit drinking Coke regularly a couple of years ago.I still have one or two a week but I used to drink 3-5 a day.I am also a food adict.I love all kinds of food and enjoy ethnic cusine once a week.Indian,Mexican and thai are probably my favorites.I have found that I crave food more since I quit Coke but I have lost some wieght.I am trying to lose more by portion control.Instead of 4 helpings I've cut back to 3 sometimes even 2.

Yeah I have heard about how bad it was did not know it was that bad though. Gives a different look on things.

I'm a fat ass and don't drink soda...what's my excuse? :lol:

Couldn't be the 8-10 beers (minimum) I drink every night :barn: :puke:

I spent most of my highschool years hovering between 230-240. I'm short, maybe 5'8", but I didn't have a huge gut or anything, I just had a lot of weight everywhere....a really thick kid. When i bought a house and started living on my own a little over 2 years ago, my brother twisted my arm to start coming to the gym with him. I made some decent progress the first couple weeks, and then I decided to cut out all the unnecessary crap I ate/drank, as well as increasing my vegetable intake and it made quite the difference. I am talking mainly chocolate bars, colas, kool-aid, basically stuff that could be considered "empty calories" (basically something that is high in calories and offers nothing in the way of nutrition). In the first year, the lowest my weight hit was 177 pounds. I was running a split workout that was usually 3 days cardio, 2 days weightlifting, and 2 days off per week. After getting into the high 170's/low 180's I decided to switch over to a mainly weightlifting routine and did a four day rotation that was: cardio, lift, lift, day off. With the lifting I put on some muscle and ended up around 190 this fall. Being that I am now in the oilfield, I find it a lot harder to get regular excercise at the end of the day, and a lot of meals aren't as healthy as they could be (lots of sandwiches and granola bars), but I have still managed to stay around 195 through winter without going to the gym at all. That is about 10 pounds over where I want to be, and I am going to make sure I get back down to 185 during spring break-up.

This reminds me of what someone (on here I think ?) once said, if I knew I was gonna live this long I would've taken better care of myself. This fits me to a T.

I can't even remember the last time I had any kind of soft drink. ALL of them are bad for your health...and the sugar free are the worst.

This reminds me of what someone (on here I think ?) once said, if I knew I was gonna live this long I would've taken better care of myself. This fits me to a T.

I should remember that saying every time I go to move around a SM465. :lol:


How are diet sodas bad for you? Isn't it essentially carbonated water with flavor? I drink a lot of soda (diet mostly) so I'm watching this thread pretty close.

I've gained 10 pounds since I gave up beer. I substituted it for pop..

This is an interesting thread. If I show my wife this, my son won't see another soda product come in this house. What do I mix with my Jim Beam now?

for me beer flavored water is the only way to go..OR is that water flavored beer???

What do I mix with my Jim Beam now?

Skim milk. :lol:

think thats bad look at the calories on a can of rootbeer next time its almost double that of coke, I went 3 months once with no pop of any kind diet or not and lost 11LBS

I started out at 235 last year. After Christmas 2005 I started with a differnt diet and some exersize. I cut soda all together. I drink nothing but water and sometimes i will have a small glass of juice.. I have no craving for any soda's at all.. I bought a new bike a month ago seeing the last one I bought was 20 years ago and I still have it... Since last Christmas I have managed to take off 45 lbs. I am sitting at 190 and sometimes go for a bike ride that is 30 miles. Alot of it is uphill.. I ya... I am having fun with the bike also.. Full suspension and off road is fun now... :four:

I gotta get my act together. here I sit reading this while my belly is full of hot chocolate and vanilla ice cream just before bed. maybe, just maybe my pants are NOT shrinking like I thought. on the good side I have maybe 1 can of soda per week. on the bad side I have 12 cups of coffee per day (but I make it weak) and smoke just a hair over 1 pack a day.
when youre 6'0" and have a natural slim build a beer gut doesnt look good. time for a change I think

I'm a fat ass and don't drink soda...what's my excuse? :lol:

Couldn't be the 8-10 beers (minimum) I drink every night :barn: :puke:

Bwaahaahaaaaaa! I know the feelin' TJ! 'Cept I can only handle 3 - 4 beers a couple times a week these days. Might as well enjoy somethin' in life, LOL!

How are diet sodas bad for you? Isn't it essentially carbonated water with flavor? I drink a lot of soda (diet mostly) so I'm watching this thread pretty close.



Almost every artificial sweetener known to man is known to cause cancer....

Personally went from an all time high of 250, down to 170lbs! (Started August 2005)

None of it was due to sodas but it was a change of diet. Portion control was a big one. These days I make sure to get more water in <--that alone made me feel a ton better.(wasn't drinking enough) My drink of choice through the day is green tea, and before bed is rooibos tea. I don't eat fast food at all (stopped years ago when I finally admitted to myself what was actually in this crap disguised as "food") I get lots of exercise at work, and chasing the little one around (soon to be little ONES - hehe)

When I decided to make a change, I did it the first day around dinner time. I made sure to grab enough to eat, and a big glass of water to help digest it. (First steps! - never usually grabbed water...took up room for food damnit!) I thought to myself....I wonder what would happen? So I did the same thing the next day..through the whole day...and here I am now. I'm really happy now, and will probably live longer to see my kids grow up! The road I was on man, I don't think I would have made it.

here's to you folks thinking of making a change. Take it one day at a time.

:thumbs:

What if you drink an average of 6 cans of dew, after 2 one liter bottles?

What if you drink an average of 6 cans of dew, after 2 one liter bottles?


If this is in addition to a full diet of 3000-4000 calories you should be currently taking in per day and you're not doing exercise/work to burn it off (i.e. you're eating what you should and sitting on your ass all day), you're talking about enough calories to make 160lbs per year, 80lbs in 6 months or 15lbs per month.

Interesting thread. I'll throw this in, not so much weight related, but after having migraines for 43 years, and being on a diet to help cut out foods that contribute to them, I've found that the things that seem to do our bodies the most harm are the things we have a distinct craving for. Even my doctor told me this. For example, before I got a handle on things, I would eat snack foods like Doritos, etc. things that contained MSG. I didn't even know what that was. After I was referred to this doc, he educated me on a few things, and I started having the worst cravings for all things that contained MSG. Other foods were the same way. Had to cut Waaaaaaayyy back on soft drinks and coffee, things with caffeine. For once I started looking at ingredients in the food we eat. Pretty scarry.....

Many years ago I used to drink tons of coke. Then I switched to dr pepper, and drank 3 or 4 super big gulps a day. I finally saw the errors of my ways and switched to mt dew...no more colas for me :lol:

I gave up all "regular " cokes a while back. Switched to Dt Mt Dew and Dt wild cherry pepsi...only two Ican stand to drink. Now I'm down to only one of those a day and its made a big difference

Carbonation makes you tired on top of it all.I`ve stayed away from pop most of my life.

I used to drink 4 or 5 liters of diet coke per day but now it's strictly water for me--about 6 or 7 liters daily.

Since turning 50 I don't seem to have the drive I used to have to get to the gym. I used to be hard core, 6 days a week, and after body building I went to power lifting, now I am in shape, round is a shape lol. I need some motivation. Coke and any sugar soft drink is hard on the body, I drink only diet and have maybe 1 a day, and coffee on weekends. I just have a stationary job, sit at a desk. Did I say I need some motivation??

Interesting thread. I'll throw this in, not so much weight related, but after having migraines for 43 years, and being on a diet to help cut out foods that contribute to them, I've found that the things that seem to do our bodies the most harm are the things we have a distinct craving for. Even my doctor told me this. For example, before I got a handle on things, I would eat snack foods like Doritos, etc. things that contained MSG. I didn't even know what that was. After I was referred to this doc, he educated me on a few things, and I started having the worst cravings for all things that contained MSG. Other foods were the same way. Had to cut Waaaaaaayyy back on soft drinks and coffee, things with caffeine. For once I started looking at ingredients in the food we eat. Pretty scarry.....

Up here in good ol' Canada the government has made it mandatory for all food to have nutritional values clearly labeled on the side. Man that's a wake up call when you see how much fats/saturated fats/trans-fats/sugars etc is in some of the stuff you've been eating all along. That definitely helped with my above mentioned diet change. Some of the crap would make your toes curl and your heart stop! I would have never thought it possible with some of the stuff.

You are correct on those cravings! Any time I consume MSG I get a stomach ache so I try to avoid it like the plague.

I used to drink 4 or 5 liters of diet coke per day but now it's strictly water for me--about 6 or 7 liters daily.

:metal: good for you man!! :metal:

I quit "coke" for several months last year. I dropped to 163 lbs from 180 with light exercise. I got "hooked" on it again and got up to 175 again :banghead: I quit all coke products and only drink sweet tea when I go out to eat (maybe twice a week, about two weeks ago. I've already dropped from 175 (which I was at for about 2 months) to 167, in TWO WEEKS. I've changed nothing else in my life. Amazing, isn't it? I still exercise and was having trouble dropping below 175, quit coke, the weight almost dropped by itself.

Also, my blood pressure has dropped back into the normal range after only two weeks. Coincidence, I think not ;)

If you want a good economical healthy sweetner, use Stevia. It's a herb that's grown is South America and available at health food stores. It's illegal to label Stevia as a sweetner to protect the greedy rotten chemical sweetner manufacturers who are in bed with the FDA. All they care about is their bottom line.....NOT YOUR HEALTH!

Many years ago I used to drink tons of coke. Then I switched to dr pepper, and drank 3 or 4 super big gulps a day. I finally saw the errors of my ways and switched to mt dew...no more colas for me :lol:

:D I can't tell if you're joking or not. It's the same thing :lol:

If you average out the number of soft drinks I've consumed in the last 40 years, it would probably be about 2/year. My weight, 155 lbs, is the same at 61 as when I was a teenager and I eat whatever I want although I don't eat many junk foods.

If Coke grosses you out..... Check out the site below. It lists the calories in fast food.

http://www.chowbaby.com/fastfood/fast_food_nutrition.asp

Common sense tells you that soda/pop/Coke etc doesn't do much to keep you fit :lol:

Soda makes beer look like a health drink.

Beer has less calories than soda (light beer, at least). Beer also has the added benefit of being made from grains (not really "empty" calories), a good effect for the heart (thins your blood, improves circulation in moderation), and if you drink stout beers like Guiness or Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout, they are high in protein as well.

Is it really possible that beer is worse than Coke from a health perspective? I can't think of any single benefit of drinking soft drinks, but I can think of the short list I just gave for beer (certain kinds of beer, typically not Domestic beer)

If beer is bad from a health perspective, why aren't there a hellciously large number of fat men running around in Germany and Belgium? :D

I was always the big guy through h.s. Even in the service I was always pushing the border. At 5'8 240 lbs. I started the atkins diet with a lot of cardio. About 7 months later I was at 165 lbs. About a year later I am at about 175. I think the hardest part was coming up in carb intake. I still have my cheat days too, plus beer. But it was the smartest decision I have made!!!

Skim milk. :lol:

Skim milk and Jim Beam,that would curdle your stomach!
The only time I drink soda is when it's a mixed drink. The rest of the time I drink ice tea. Beer is the only carbonation I can handle.

Coke contains Phosphoric acid,the same stuff we used on the ships to treat rusted areas before paint.For this reason alone I seldom drink it.Plus my whole life I have avoided artificial stuff in my foods. Just because some company pays out the big bucks to get some nerd "scientists" to say drinking a bunch of chemicals is totally fine,doesn't mean it's true.For more info on the latest research on possible dangers of too much soft drink consumption read this;http://www.organicconsumers.org/school/cocacola021605.cfm

If beer is bad from a health perspective, why aren't there a hellciously large number of fat men running around in Germany and Belgium? :D
Thney are so thin because they don't have a liver taking up room anymore.. :lol: I think beer is just fine in moderation..

I dont drink soft drinks for the most part, because of the crazy amounts of sugar.

I do like a splash of Coke in my Crown and soda water and the very occasional diet soda.:cool:

I can drink/eat pretty much what I want and can't gain weight. My wife cuts soda and drops 5-10 pounds quickly. It's strange how diff foods do diff things to diff people. I don't buy into any one particluar study/guidlines that are published. One has to listen to one's body, you might be able to eat straight lard your whole life and never have high col. It might kill me in 2 years, same for smoking and pretty much everything we do. I consume more salt than evrybody I know combined, but if I have too much I can tell...same for sodas.

:D I can't tell if you're joking or not. It's the same thing :lol:


Just found this thread again...um yes...it was a joke :)