An Average Joe’s Point of View on Fitness, Nutrition, Exercise and Supplements

Diet soda is probably making you gain weight, although it takes a study for people to wake up and realize that artificial sugar replacements and slapping the word “diet” on a soda and other products doesn’t make it a healthy choice or alternative.

About 59 percent of my readers are paying close attention right now. That is the percentage of Americans who consume diet soft drinks.

This morning I was having breakfast and a cup of coffee and had Good Morning America on, where I saw an interesting segment on Can Diet Soda Make You Fat? They teased it for about an hour, so I made sure to watch it. The segment highlighted emerging studies that show people who drink diet soda, which use artificial sweetener, didn’t lose weight and actually gained weight.

Wait. Diet soda has no calories, why is this possible? There are several theories behind it, but studies show diet sodas sabotage a weight loss plan. This segment and research I have gathered over time reveal the theory behind diet soft drinks causing weight gain.

The first theory is the drink has no calories, unlike regular soda, people consciously eat more because they think they are “saving” calories. To put it another way, I’ll have a Big Mac, fries, an apple pie, and a diet soda.

The next theory is a bit more complex, dealing with your body mechanisms and how artificial sweetener found in sodas, other soft drinks, and foods interact with those mechanisms. Lately I’ve heard several ideas that your body “learns” and connects the taste of a food or drink with the calories associated - this sounds likely, just how your sense of smell can affect appetite and cravings. So when we taste and eat food or taste and drink a beverage, the body prepares for the calories. Diet soda and artificial sweetener confuses the body since the expected calories are absent. This tease now causes you to become hungry and crave food since the body still wants and expects those calories, which then makes you eat more. The studies on Good Morning America say that it only takes one 12oz can of diet soda a day to affect your metabolism. ONE diet drink a day could increase your chances of gaining weight. I don’t know any soda drinkers that only consume one can of their favorite soda a day, do you?

Worse, diet soft drinks are “the second most popular low-calorie, sugar-free products in the nation” - Calorie Control Council. Yes, there is one.

I am inclined to agree with the second theory that the body learns and relates the the flavor of beverages and foods with the associated calories, based on personal experience alone. A friend told me ten years ago that he linked feeling lethargic and mediocre workouts to drinking soda. Another “quit” soda and most other manufactured beverages all together and not only felt more balanced throughout the day, he also lost several pounds within the first month - and he is not overweight.

The calorie management debate seems endless and this blog is no stranger to this fact. No more than a week or so ago I responded to emails about two previous posts Diet versus Meal Plan with a blanket Diet versus Meal Plan Response to restate my case.

I see a theme developing from all the health and diet studies over the last several years: It’s not just the quantity of the calories you take in, but the quality of calories. Sure diet soda has no calories, but if drinking diet soft drinks makes you crave food and ultimately snack on the wrong kinds of foods, then is it really helping you?

My brother decided to join the gym I go to. I really liked the idea because now I have a more consistent workout partner. Having someone to workout with is a great idea. It makes everything seem a whole lot less tedious because you have someone there to talk to.

I don’t know the last time he’s been in a gym, and I don’t think he knows either. He’s not that out of shape, it’s just been a while since he’s had a regular workout routine. Well, last night was his first chance to go since he joined on Sunday morning. We get there and do our 10 minutes of cardio warmup and decide to hit the weights. It was chest and back routines on the agenda. He starts piling on the weights and I asked him why? He tells me that was what he was used to. I reminded him that he hasn’t been in a gym for awhile and it was wiser to start with a more manageable amount of weight and work his body into a routine, then slowly add the resistance. He decided to be macho and keep the weight on…and could only do a few reps.

When starting a new fitness routine or adding a new exercise, it is important to start with a manageable weight. This way you don’t risk serious injury. It is also important to get the correct motion down first. It is easier to learn the motion of the exercise when you have a manageable amount of weight and not straining to keep the bar up. Don’t be macho! Don’t go into the gym and try to impress anyone.

GNC Gold Card Members, today is the last day in February to use your GNC Gold Card.

For those who are unfamiliar with GNC’s Gold Card, it is their discount membership program that gives members a 20% discount off their purchases during the first 7 days of the month. The membership costs $15 dollars a year, but for most people, the card pays for itself in the first purchase or two. Click here to purchase a Gold Card Membership.

I’ve used my Gold Card this month, have you? If you havent, Gold Card Members click here to save your 20% before the Gold Card Days are over.

If you expect to make gains and be successful in your workout, you need to make sure that you have a strong nutritional foundation. A good multivitamin is one of the essentials. No matter if your workout is designed to lose weight or put on muscle a multivitamin is key. The reason is that the body requires several of the micronutrients provided by the multivitamin for certain processes.

When you workout, the muscle breaks down and then heals during your recovery time. Each time the muscle breaks down and recovers it gets stronger. As your workout continues, it takes more effort, or weight, to break the muscle down. This is how you make gains in your workout and build muscle, whether that be lean muscle or gain bulk. During the process of breaking the muscle down, chemical byproducts are released that are called free radicals. The free radicals interfere with the recovery process and can prevent gains in your workout. Vitamins with antioxidant properties, such as vitamins C & E, help eliminate free radicals. They help boost your immune system.

To lose weight, your metabolism needs to be operating at peak efficiency. B vitamins are essential for energy and your body’s metabolism.

The multivitamin that I use and recommend is GNC’s Ultra Mega Gold. It is high in all essential vitamins, including B vitamins and vitamins C & E. They also have several other speciality vitamins available. You can information on GNC’s Multivitamins here.

After one of my last posts about 5 to 6 small meals a day, I got several emails asking, can’t I just cut calories?  Here is what I’ve come to understand why just cutting calories doesn’t work.  If you normally take in 2500 to 3500 calories daily and cut it to 1000 to 1250, that will work at first, but won’t last.  It will actually come back to hurt you.  By doing that, you are triggering the body’s starvation mode.  It is part of the body’s mechanism to adapt to its surroundings.  It sees food as now scarce, and slows down the metabolism to store as much as it can.  Since you are depriving yourself, you also eventually begin to crave the favorite foods you are missing.  Finally, when everything crashes, you are back to eating 3500 calories daily, but with a much slower metabolism than before and have set yourself up to gain more weight than you lost.  By going with around 300 - 400 calories 5 to 6 times a day, your body does not see a lack of food, but an abundance of food, therefore does not feel the need to store.  Your metabolism keeps burning.  Don’t forget, exercise is still important, even if it is going for a walk.  Till next time, The Average Joe.