A question on diet sodas. Why are they discouraged? Is the aspartame a weight stopper? or does it trigger cravings? I have been drinking diet sodas from day 1 but I keep reading the posts that say lay off.

Slim

You'll get mixed opinions on this, but it looks like you've lost plenty of weight so I say keep doing what you're doing! Atkins says the aspartame stalls a lot of people, it triggers cravings in some, and others say the carbonation can lead to water retention. I stick to one Diet Rite a day and an Italian soda at night as a treat, but no more than that. If I drink too much diet soda it's hard to get all my water in for the day.

Sodas have 3 stallers, usually:

Aspartame
Citric Acid
Caffeine

Besides, both aspartame and caffeine can produce an insulin response, making you not only store fat, but also crave sugar like crazy.

When I did my fist induction, I cut it out cold-turkey to see if any of the things would stall me. Then I reintroduced caffeine, testing my blood sugar and the results on the scale and saw no problem. Then I tried just aspartame, then aspartame and citric acid (sugar-free jello), and when all the ingredients had been cleared, I went back to my diet coke.

Personally, I drink tons of the stuff. I drink about 2 gallons water, and about 2 liters (10 cups) of diet coke everyday, and it has never stalled me. If it has been working for you like it has for me, I see no reason to cut them.

Does Diet Pepsi have nutra sweet? I am just curious if I will be able to have Diet Pepsi again in my life. But right now I am having the Diet Rite Raspberry soda with a squirt of heavy cream and really loving it! That is my evening treat if I have done well all day long.

I have not stopped drinking diet coke or pepsi. I also did not give up coffee. It has not seemed to make a difference in my weight loss or kept me out of ketosis.

For me, the diet drinks trigger enough of an insulin reaction that they make me want to eat all night. It's just easier to give up the drinks and substitute flavored bubbly water than it is to fight the cravings.

I have a cup of coffee in the morning and that doesn't appear to bother me at all.

I'll be honest. I drink a half pot of coffee a day along with a ton of diet pepsi. Now this is not healthy and at some point in time I will work on that but not while I am losing the weight. I am a hard core sugar/carb addict and they do not produce any cravings in me at all. In fact I don't think I would be where I am today without the coffee. If I miss my coffee in the morning I get starved. As long as I drink a couple of cups of coffee it totally works as an appetite suppressant. I use coffee in this manner when I get hungry and it stops the cravings. I don't know why but for me it works the opposite.

I have coffee every morning. I have switched to one soda a day, made with splendra (with cream if Ive worked out hard that day) That was the hardest part of the diet for me, I was drinking tons of diet soda. For me, if im having horrible cravings, I grab a diet soda, so I guess there are worse things. But now that my cravings are going away I dont need to do that anymore.....I still miss the jello alot though

I would say the biggest reason to avoid aspertame/nutrasweet is that it is a chemical. It is thought to possibly cause cancer, and it definately causes digestive problems. If you have read the Atkins book, or the Atkins age defying diet, he mentions that NutraSweet was originally developed as a PESTICIDE, until someone accidentally discovered it was sweet. Gross.
I try to avoid it, I use Stevia and Splenda instead. I only wish that diet sodas and gum were made with splenda rather than nutrasweet.

I drink about 8-16 oz a day of Diet Rite(made with splenda) and I'm losing weight fine.

Someone up there mentioned Diet Rite Raspberry with cream! I do think this will be a lifesaver for me because it's allowed on Induction (I'm on Day Four and having an incredibly intense desire for something sweet, which I didn't think would happen to me!!)

Off to the Kroger!!! (Don't worry, I'll check the carb count on the cream and only use 2-3 T a day like the good dr says )

My boyfriend and I have been searching high and low for the raspberry flavor! I'm going to ask the grocer if he me can get it. Crossing my fingers.

I am so Irked! Went to two grocery stores, and one had only White Grape and the other only had Cola and White Grape (Diet Rite). I got the white grape, and it's probably going to be good, but I was in the mood for Raspberry as well! Only two other grocery stores in town, hope one of them has more flavors.

Actually I like the White Grape more than the Raspberry.

I have one or two cups of coffee in the am otherwise I will not be able to function and maybe two cans of diet vanilla coke every week. I seem to be doing ok.