OMG I swear, its the only thing I crave!
DIET COKE!!! How bad is this for me???

That's a decision that you have to make for yourself. There are some people who think the artificial sweeteners are bad for you. There are some people who think that it causes them to crave other sweet things. Then there are some people who make an occasional Diet Coke a part of their routine.

I personally drink Diet Coke a few times a week - I had one this morning, in fact.

You have to decide for yourself if you're ok with the chemical sweeteners or not.

I cheerfully drink some diet cola every day. I dont have a lot but I do have some. I always drink my full allocation of water first - then I get to have some diet cola if I want it.

I always drink diet cola if out at a social event where other people are drinking alcohol. I very rarely have any alcohol - maybe 4 drink units a year....

I accept that it is not good for me - and that I would be better off without it - but feel that I am only human and might as well have something that I enjoy in moderation.

I think diet coke is okay once in awhile, just my opinion. Personally, when I first started my weight loss program I cut soda all together and it made a big difference. There have been times where I've drank a few over the course of a few days and I feel like I can see it in myself. May be in my head haha but I would suggest cutting all soda if you are hardcore trying to lose weight.

My two favorite drinks when I'm out with a group and don't want to consume alcohol, but want to avoid questions are either Diet Coke with a lime (looks like a cuba libre) or a club soda with a lime (looks like any clear liquor with soda). I find that drinking a Diet Coke with lime when I'm in a social/bar situation like that helps me avoid not just the alcohol calories, but the bar food/snacks as well.

Yeah, Diet Coke definitely has it's place in my diet.

intriguing to know that I am not considered "hardcore"...

Omega, don't you know you're not "Hardcore" unless you become a primal vegan and workout for 6 hours a day. I mean seriously now. Where are your priorities?

Personally, I tend to avoid all artificial sweeteners. Too much of the research worries me about their potential side effects.

But I'm not a nazi about it. The tap water in my town is so vile as to be undrinkable (by me at least), so if we go to a local restaurant I will sometimes have a diet cola. But if I am in a town with even moderately drinkable tap water I will just have water.

And two weeks ago I was driving home from Penticton (6 hour drive) and it was late in the evening and I was exhausted. I used to drink cola to help stay alert, but I don't do that any more so I was without my normal stimulant. I grabbed a pepsi max (no sugar, extra caffeine), and while it tasted as vile as any diet cola, I have to say it sure worked. I was babbling non-stop to my wife for the last 2 hours of the trip. I guess I'm not used to caffeine any more.

But on the whole I would say I don't drink the stuff, not as routine. I've had diet cola 3 times in the last 5 months.

Alright, chill out... No need to take it to the extreme! I'm not a vegan, nor do I work out 6 hours a day. I've lost over 130lbs myself and my personal experience was that I cut out all soda among obviously many other things. This is what worked for me, and I believe the originator of the thread was looking for some advice and that was mine because it worked for me.

I drink so much of the stuff I should be their research subject on the effects of artificial sweeteners. So far, no complaints. I mostly drink it for the caffeine.

LOL - we might drink a bit of diet cola - but I suspect that what we do combined with consistency plus what we have accomplished means that we are both more "hardcore" than a lot of folk that turn up here.

My advice was what worked for me. I didnt need to cut it out completely and lost a lot of weight. This is a life long change - so I think that it makes sense to have low calorie things that you like in moderation.

I did cut it out absolutely for a short while (primarily when my water allocation calculated out to a much higher level than it does now - it covered pretty much my entire day's drinking). I have to say that I didnt lose weight any swifter than I had before cutting it out and I didnt feel any healthier. I was more than happy to introduce it back in.

Why go through life feeling deprived if you do not have to?

I think that the real bottom line is that we all accept that we would be healthier to not be putting the chemicals into our bodies - but we all have some at times - but probably less than we used to. We would all have it a long way ahead of full strength cola.

In my opinion all the people in this thread are pretty "hardcore" folk too.

We might look like we have been squabbling but really we were mainly joking...

If you really want it - have some in moderation and work hard with the rest of your program. The rest of your nutrition and the exercise are the real fundamentals. Consider it to be the "icing on the cake".

For me in my body, I did see a difference especially in my face with diet cola unfortunately. I agree, everything in moderation. We are all going to have cheat times now and again. If you're eatting a big mac, fries and dr. pepper every day.. now that's a different story!

Speaking from only my own experience, artificial sweeteners are bad when you really overdo them. For me I can't help but overdo them because things for me always escalate. I drink one coke a day, and the next I would one two, and the next, three. When that happens, I've found that I eat more, crave more processed, unhealthy snacks, weight goes up and I feel like crap. When I stop diet drinks completely, my diet's good again. I suspect they're kind of evil.