I have been addicted to diet soda for years. For a while it is all I would drink. I have finally kicked the habit and I now drink water flavored with Mio sweet tea I find it very refreshing. My question is this: I have been told over and over, "Stop drinking soda and you will lose more weight!" So I did and I rarely drink soda. I think it has been over a week since I even had 1/2 a can. I'm wondering when I am going to see this weight loss people keep telling me i'll see when I ditch the soda and drank more water.

Thanks for your input :-)

I think it takes time because dropping diet soda stimulates weight loss in 2 ways.

1. Your sodium intake is lower and therefore you lose Water weight

2. Diet soda causes cravings which make you want to overeat.

So you may have already lost the water weight, but the reduction in eating could take longer, like regular weight loss. But removing it from your diet is a good idea overall.

I similarly LOVE diet coke. I can't get enough it and I had serious withdrawal headaches when I went on my pre-op. But I'm glad I dropped it too!

It's been kicked around before, but another reason is the soda has carbonation and tends to stretch the pouch a bit. And the other reasons already discussed. My surgeon told me on the first day to Not drink sodas. So, I haven't since July 2012.

I quit pop soda because I had kidney stone last 2011 and also tea but I can drink mostly Water bottle and sprite often..

I love drink diet soda lots till I got kidney stone I'm decide to quit for good reasons but I'm must drink lots water sometimes sprite also..

My mom is nurse she know everything

LOL, I'm a nurse too and I know better too, but that doesn't stop me. My pouch is ok I had it checked for slippage last year. My esophagus is slightly dilated, but other wise I'm good. I rarely drink the soda anymore and it doesn't rase as good as it use to. I love my Mio tea and water. It has the good sweetener in it, so I am trying to be good.

i loved soda and i felt like i needed an iv hooked to me...but the day i started my pre op i never had another one..my dr said no to carbonation and i choose to follow his instructions. that being said, some drink soda and some dont, i think for me, no soda/carbonation, works.

Cold turkey is the only way to go! Congtatulations

There are a lot of reasons not to drink soda (diet or otherwise), as pointed out by othere here.

The pouch stretching thing is debunked more often than confirmed from sources that I read. I'm no authority, but I've gone as far as talking with 3 or 4 bariatric surgeons, my dietician, and the nutritionist at the hospital when I had my band replaced. I was concerned about another slip, so I asked them about carbonation. All of them stated that no amount of carbonation would cause permanent stretching or a slip.

Take it for what it's worth.

Cold turkey day of surgery. Another reason is the cost. So expensive when you eat out!

Also quit cold turkey before surgery and I don't miss it now at all.

Like Honk said, it really reduces the price on your meals out.

My surgeon said no carbonation, so no carbonation it is.

Cold Turkey 22 months and counting. Don't miss it at all. !!!

I also stopped drinking diet pop 2 the day before my surgery. I used to drink 2 liters a day. I didn't realize how much sodium was in diet pop. My first week I dropped 17 lbs. Doctor said it was because I cut out the diet pop !

I tried it twice since being banded... got the worse pain EVER... couldn't burp... thought I was going to die... really hurt... never again... also tired a cold beer two summers ago when it was really hot... not really a beer drinker but it was so hot and the mug was frosted... again... pain... and I couldn't burp... won't do that again either.

Now I know why doctor says no carbonated beverages.

Tom, Toronto

Banded July 6 06

Wt. Loss: 156 lbs

I haven't had a carbonated beverage since being banded and won't again. It's simply not worth the risks of slips and complications.

When I had Lap Band surgery last year, the woman sharing my room in the hospital was in to have hers replaced. She had been drinking soda regularly and not only did the carbonation cause a slip, but her stomach actually prolapsed up through her band. She then gained 40 pounds too because all she could eat was slider foods for months.

When I asked my surgeon, he said the reason carbonation is bad for the band has nothing to do with a stretched pouch or even esophagus. It's a liquid so it passes through the band immediately. It doesn't have time to stretch anything above the band. However, carbonation expands in your stomach, and when it expands it pushes up on the band from below. This is what causes the slip.

It's simply not worth the risks to have carbonation after getting the band.