So I had a diet coke yesterday.

One of the things I've been enjoying about this WOE is that it has allowed me to feel hunger and make calm, rational choices about how I should and want to satisfy that hunger. Then I eat, am sated, take a note of what I ate and move on with my life - feeling nourished.

A few hours after I drank that diet coke, I felt a completely mental or "mouth" hunger. That is, I didn't feel hunger pangs, but a need to eat and eat that had no relation to actually nourishing my body. Moreover, I had no desire to drink water. I didn't break my carbohydrate limits (or if I did - it wasn't by much), but in a short space of time I consumed an incredible amount of calories and fat. I ate big chunks of cheese, lots of cream, slices of ham, spoonfuls of mayo. It was awful and i continued to have the compulsion to gorge myself even after my stomach had started to hurt.

I considered purging - which is something I have done before and which I should really, really keep away from.

The only thing about my diet that was different yesterday was that I had a diet coke, which I believe caused a chemical or hormonal inbalance in my body that set off that destructive, depressing binge. Perhaps it was the caffeine, or the aspertame or the other chemicals, but it was something.

I'm not drinking it again.

Good thing you recognized that Mo! I'm starting to notice a similar trend. The diet cokes--that I get only 1- 2x per week-- are starting to make me sick to my stomach and I usually only drink half. I give the other half to the little beggars around here or drink it the next day. I'm also pretty sure that they re-ignite the cravings. Evil!

I used to drink -- no exaggeration -- gallons a day on average. I kept drinking them through induction, but shortly afterwards noticed mild cravings after drinking them, so I cut them out entirely. The cravings went away. The last couple of weeks I've been drinking them again (nowhere near as much as I used to drink, maybe a 20 oz bottle every few days), with no cravings, and in fact, if I have one as a sort of snack, I lose my appetite for the meal I'm supposed to eat.

In my case, I think it was psychological. Because I subconsciously associated drinking diet drinks with the prodigious overeating of my old lifestyle, I think when I drank them it brought back the cravings of that period. Once I sort of "broke" that association, it was OK for me to drink them again without stirring up cravings. Of course, it's best not to drink the stuff at all, as the only potential benefit of drinking them is a slight revving of the metabolism from caffeine, while on the downside, who knows what nasty things all those chemicals do to your body.

yeah that aspartame is bad stuff, it can definitely cause cravings

I noticed a similar feeling with the fruit20 drinks. I loved them at first. Then I started to notice that my cravings were uncontrollable. I mean, really bad. I would even get headaches if I didnt give in and eat something way off the diet, like a big stack of pancakes! I am just sticking with regular water now.

It's not necessarily caused by aspertame, per se, but some people's bodies react to artificially-sweetened things as if they are real sugar. The intense sweetness sets up an insulin reaction, and sends the insulin out to grab whatever it can... causing a drop in blood sugar level and cravings.

Since you made an immediate association between the cravings and the soda, you're wise to avoid it. IMO, it doesn't matter if it's physical or psychological.... if it causes you to go nuts, you're better off without it.

I used to work at Chili's and you wouldn't believe the people that would come in and order the fried chicken crispers, the onion blossom, and fries and then a DIET coke. I asked a few of them and they said that they are trying to cut down on calories a little at a time. Never understood it. I guess it IS better than a regular coke, but maybe drop the onion blossom instead next time.

I THINK IF I BALANCE THE DIET PEPSI (MY FAVORITE) WITH WATER I CAN HANDLE DRINKING THE SODAS. I ONLY ALLOW MYSELF A CERTAIN AMT OF DT PEPSI DAILY. SOME DAYS NONE. THAT IS TO KEEP MY WATER RATION IN CHECK. OTHERWISE I CRAVE DT PEPSI TO QUENCH MY THIRST INSTEAD OF WATER. AND I KNOW DRINKING DT. PEPSI CAN BE ADDICTIVE SO I HAVE TO WATCH IT. LIKE THE TIME I WAS RUMAGING THE HOUSE AND GARAGE LOOKING FOR AN EXTRA 6-PACK OF DT PEPSI THAT I THOUGHT I MIGHT HAVE OVERLOOKED AND STORED. I WAS LIKE A CRACK ADDICT. I LAUGHED AND WENT INSIDE THE HOUSE AND POURED WATER INTO MY WATER BOTTER AND SUCKED ON WATER ONLY THE REST OF THE WEEKEND.

I too am going to try to stop drinking diet pop.
Iam not losing wt. and maybe that is it.
I watch calaries measure meats ect. and exerice.
So the only thing I can think of is to try to stop the pop and drink Plain ice tea and water.
Going to start today.
Im thinking at least for me to add leamon or orange slices to water and maybe that will help.
I found A tea I really like. white pear tea. No carbs or cals.
Going to add green tea as well.
Need to get this weigh moving again. If i could lose 2 lbs aweek i would be happy. Heck 5lbs a month would be wondrrful.
I just dont know hwta else to try.

Janetkind

Do NOT get discouraged. You are so close to goal. That must be why it's so hard. Definitely try cutting out the coke. there are loads of yucky chemicals in it.

I used to be one of those people but my choice for diet coke was simply taste. I have never been a big soda drinker to begin with. In fact, I was a water drinker when water drinking wasnt cool lol. To me regular coke (or any soda) was just way to syrupy...syrupie?? you get the idea lol.

Course it could be psychological too. When my sister and I were younger (late 60's early 70's) it was common to give a child coca cola syrup to calm an upset stomach. So maybe thats why I didnt like the taste of it, it reminded me of being sick.

I drink loads of diet coke, and I love it... but then I did quit smoking about 5 months ago and I think I am using the coke as a substitute...

When I was heavier, I had problems digesting sugars. The MASSIVE amounts of sugar in a cola are WAY harder on my body than the sugars in the breadings of onion rings and fries.

So when I was eating unhealthfully, I would still order diet soda because I just couldn't take the corn syrup in the cola, whereas I could digest the carbos in the other meal items.

That may be why some people order diet colas with high carb meals.

I must be really bad. I drink diet coke, and smoke cigarettes.

I always wondered that myself. I worked at McDonald's and people would order double quater pounders with chesse, super size fries and a diet coke.

Now I know why...