Settle an argument for me... does Diet Coke make you fat?

[Getafuckinggripman]

I know it might bloat temporarily, I know it's bad for your gut and teeth. But when you step on those scales... do you think Diet Coke makes you gain weight / dress sizes? My understanding is a big fat no. In fact I'm sure I heard once that supermodels drank it in buckets?

I don't think artificial sweeteners are very good for your gut flora which in the long term can lead to weight gain.

I only drink it with Jack Daniels or vodka and a sharing bag of crisps (which i dont share!) so yes diet coke makes me fat. But just on its own as an occasional drink. no, i dont think so.

Not directly, as it doesn’t contain calories. However, studies have shown that consumption of artificially sweetened drinks can lead to overconsumption of other foods, sort of your body’s way of making up for the sweet calories it’s been tricked out of. So I think higher consumption is usually associated with weight gain.

Just don't drink that rubbish. It's absolutely awful for you.

Interesting to read how aspartame increases appetite, I didn't know that. You only put on weight if you consume an excess of calories, so drinking diet drinks themselves won't do that. That said, I used to work in an office with an obese woman who kept several bottles of diet coke under her desk and probably got through one of these each day. I normally wouldn't judge someone else's dietary habits, but she was a cow, so I will! Artificial sweeteners are what triggered my IBS so now I avoid them - something to do with them being non-digestible and causing an overspill of bacteria from the large intestine into the small intestine. Horrible stuff.

It doesn't directly make you gain weight because is has zero calories, but it seems to really fuck with my satiety hormones and cause me to be hungrier/ have cravings for foods which do cause weight gain and become hypoglycaemic (which is due to the insulin response I believe). It also is so sweet it changes your palette if you drink it a lot and makes you favour sweeter tastes over naturally sweet foods like sweet potato or carrot or fruit.

There are also studies that suggest aspartame doesn't just increase appetite, it can affect your gut microbiome, causing low level inflammation, and fat metabolism.

www.newscientist.com/article/2114043-why-diet-drinks-with-aspartame-may-actually-help-make-you-fatter/
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180423085440.htm

Has anyone ever noticed that overweight people drink Diet Coke and slim people drink full sugar? I switched to diet drinks after the birth of my son and I’m the biggest I’ve ever been but before I had him I always drank full sugar pop and was always so slim lol