Infact, one of the first questions that many personal trainers ask theirnew clients is, "How many sodas do you drink in a day?" After all, thehigh fructose corn syrup found in the vast majority of soft drinks inthis country is proven to be loaded with calories that send insulinlevels (with a subsequent fat-storing physiological response) into thestratosphere.



Pretty simple, right? Make the switch, and you're off to the fat loss races. Unfortunately, that doesn't appear to be the case.

In2005, Texas researchers declared that the risk of obesity increases by41% for each can of diet soft drink that you consume. An increase of41% for EACH can is definitely not a good scenario.

Logically,we agree that it simply doesn't make sense. Diet colas contain nocalories, so how can fewer calories (compared to regular colas) lead toweight gain?

The answer to that question turns outto be fairly complex. Everyone has heard the joke, "I'll take asuper-mega-cheese-bacon-mayo burger with an ultra-giant french fry,please...and a diet coke. I'm on a diet!" It turns out that,intentional or not, the joke is reality for most.

There are actually two major reasons that diet sodas may actually lead to fat gain.

Thefirst is psychological and behavioral. When people switch to dietcokes, they often start to cheat a little (or a lot) on their foodintake. Someone that switches to diet colas from 4-6 regular sodas eachday may logically think that they are now entitled to cheat a fewtimes. After all...they are now doing "better". However, it's easy torack up a few hundred extra calories having "just one more".

Thesecond reason is that your body is smarter than we think. When weingest diet drinks, all those chemical ingredients have been shown byresearchers to create an insulin response that potentially leads to fatstorage, and our brain responds by stimulating our appetite. Suddenly,we are now more hungry, and it becomes more difficult to watch ourportion sizes.

Overall, it's a pretty badsituation. The combination of a stimulated appetite, larger number ofpsychological and behavioral "cheats", and an insulin response willhave you sectioning off yet another area of your closet for clothingthat no longer fits.

Finally, all research aside,the real world experience of many personal trainers and fitnessprofessionals show that the majority of their clients lose fat fasterwhen the diet sodas are kept at bay.

The solutionis clear (pun intended): many successful dieters have experiencedsubstantial weight loss after making the switch from diet colas toplain water. Without the chemically-induced insulin response, waterwill help to satiate our appetite, especially when dieting. Inaddition, repeated research has shown that an increase in water intakecorrelates very well with a subsequent decrease in fat deposits.

And wasn't reduced body fat the original goal, anyway?

Make your fat loss journey simpler. Kick the soda habit and grab water for quicker weight loss.