Very glad to see this thread. This is one area I have trouble with as somewhere along the way I developed a liking for Diet Pepsi or Coke Zero. I do battle with it often and have to will myself not to drink it or put out thoughts about downing a couple of glasses. I think it’s addictive and has a strong effect with me but it doesn’t seem to have the same effect on my husband at all. I find that I have a very difficult time sleeping and I usually have extremely vivid(uncomfortable) dreams after a couple of full glasses of the diet pepsi or coke. I struggle with sleep if I have these after 5 or 6pm. I usually can’t fall asleep until 3 in the morning. For this reason it’s not been hard to rationalize quitting drinking these altogether but every 2 weeks or so I do spoil myself and have a glass. It’s never a good aftermath.
Diet drinks
Besides affecting sleep patterns and the fact that people on keto are more sensitive to caffeine, you’d also be getting cortisol spikes from the caffeine which might be stalling weight loss etc as well. So I think caffeinated, diet drinks are double trouble.
I wonder how this statement differentiates from people like me that are used to high load of caffeine daily over longer period of time. Couple of my friends that rarily do caffeine products on daily basis turn into mices on crack after cup of coffee and cant sleep properly, but for me its like nothing. Yesterday night i drank little over liter of zero coke 30mins before bed and slept like a baby which is typical for me. Perhaps the insulin/cortisol spike is more toned down and expected, because idea of me being too used to an actual proper spike like my friends have isnt my reality.
they dont seem to affect me either, I can drink a 2 litre bottle of Diet Lemonade and it just pass through me without effect like water, useful when you need a sweet hit - or I need a mixer for vodka.
Out of sensible choice though, i wouldn’t do this all the time.
I gave up diet soda when I went keto at the end of August but not all sweeteners. Don’t know why - just did but I don’t miss it. Hasn’t sped up anything. There are so many things that contribute to why someone is or isn’t losing weight - I guess elimination can’t hurt.
By the way, no judgment but holy hell - 12 sugar Cokes a day is 468 carbs and 1680 calories. 117 tsp of sugar per day. I know a thin-looking person who does something like this. I’d bet they’re what is referred to as “skinny fat”.