BG Fitness Fanatics II: We Work Out

[Hushigoshi]

Just drink sugar free energy drinks / Coke Zero / etc. I have no issues with caffeine when working out or losing weight.

While you can find studies that show that 0 calorie drinks lead to weight gain; you can also find studies that show the complete opposite. If you're having really bad withdrawals, sure do this. But the reason why we try to suggest to cut out all sodas and energy drinks is not only the extra empty calories you don't need but also all the fucking chemicals you're putting into your body.

[Kuya]

Which chemicals?

[Mina]

Get / fill a brita pitcher and just keep it out at home. I drink way more glasses when I just need to pick it up and refill rather than go all the way over to the kitchen. This may be a general laziness problem on my end though

I think I should do that. Not just because of laziness but it would probably help me consume more water since I don't keep a good track of how much I need to drink. Just set a dumb goal to consume the entire container before the day is over or whatever. But definitely because of laziness because while I'm at work I don't want to get up to fill a water bottle if I can just power through the work and go home once I'm done.

I'll make a note to pick one up. Thanks!

[Buffy]

Which chemicals?

I dunno, but the coke/toilet bowl one is a pretty graphic example:



This video is better, but I can't embed it: http://www.trueactivist.com/look-wha...xpecting-that/

[Mina]

I always found that sort of argument questionable for other reasons. There is a ton of different food products we can use to clean things (usually acidic in nature) that are actually quite healthy, some very natural.

I used ketchup, onions, grapefruit, lemons and other things to clean up things around the house (My grandma taught me) and I personally think several of them work way better than soda. On the flipside, I've had kimchi stain my skin until it peeled off or fell off and it contains a lot of healthy bacteria.


Not saying that soda is good for you, because it isn't, but I never liked that particular argument.

[Kuya]

I dunno, but the coke/toilet bowl one is a pretty graphic example:



This video is better, but I can't embed it: http://www.trueactivist.com/look-wha...xpecting-that/

That's probably because of the carbonic acid, which the human body naturally produces anyway.

Whenever one is discussing chemicals and their alleged toxicity, it is important to remember that the dose makes the poison and everything in life is made of chemicals.

[Wulfgang]

While you can find studies that show that 0 calorie drinks lead to weight gain; you can also find studies that show the complete opposite. If you're having really bad withdrawals, sure do this. But the reason why we try to suggest to cut out all sodas and energy drinks is not only the extra empty calories you don't need but also all the fucking chemicals you're putting into your body.

While I agree, a diet should be individualized; the biggest part of starting a diet is finding something you can maintain over the long term. You need to find a happy balance between McDonald's / soda / etc. nom-ing fatass and vegan / water-onry / etc. crazy person. Energy drinks aren't great, but neither is alcohol. If you told me to 100% stop drinking alcohol, I'd tell you to take a hike; it's just untenable to me.

To lose weight, you need to make some changes, but you don't have to go crazy. I lost 55 pounds in 2012 in about six months drinking two diet energy drinks a day and probably 15-20 beers a week.

Also, the studies on 0 calorie drinks leading to weight gain are generally centered on one of two concepts: 1) faulty psychological compensation (e.g. Since I had a Diet Coke instead of a regular Coke, I deserve this 700 calorie Five Guys burger), and 2) artificial sweeteners promote increased appetite. That said, there's no consensus amongst physicians that diet drinks actually do cause weight gain.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/d...in-not-so-fast

Regardless, I can tell you definitively that if you swap regular soda for diet soda and make no other changes to your diet / activity, you will lose weight (or gain weight more slowly, depends on the diet).

[FNH]

In my path to quiting soda(on 2 months+) I used the mio squirt things to give it a bit of flavor and slowly weaned down to just plain water. The caffeine withdrawal was bad for a day or two, but now drinking 2 glasses of water in the morning and I feel just as energized as when I drank a monster. If I ever felt the need for the caffeine again, it would be in a "stay alert/nodoze" pill form.

[thetruepandagod]

For me cutting soda's was effortless really, all i used to drink while playing ffxi was sprite which is caffeine free. Caffeine is one of the worst most socially accepted chemicals around i would never recommend anyone use it for anything. Once i started lifting and got into preworkouts I thought it was amazing. Then after a few years of doing preworkouts i tried various hard stims like coke etc and realized that they were either on par or shittier versions of what i was taking nightly for the gym. Stay away from caffeine people, it's addictive and it fucks with your adrenal system more than most stimulants.

Also i might have posted this before but since we have been talking about gaining/losing weight and calories the past few pages it's relevant and probably one of the best macro/calorie guides ive seen.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=156380183

edit: Also i just ordered all the things i need to make my own soylent so i will be starting that in a week or so. Will prolly post updates if i don't die of malnutrition.

[AidenCarby]

In my path to quiting soda(on 2 months+) I used the mio squirt things to give it a bit of flavor and slowly weaned down to just plain water. The caffeine withdrawal was bad for a day or two, but now drinking 2 glasses of water in the morning and I feel just as energized as when I drank a monster. If I ever felt the need for the caffeine again, it would be in a "stay alert/nodoze" pill form.

Tea also contains caffeine, give it a try.

[FNH]

Tea also contains caffeine, give it a try.

I don't plan on going backward from 2 months of no caffeine and only water. I've never been real high on the taste of unsweetened tea and that would lead to temptation.

[AidenCarby]

HONEY

[BerenTebogo]

Late to the party and Kuya handled it but lol, chemicals.

[Kuya]

No worries, i got your back. Science has been reestablished. Order in the realm.

[Restrat]

There's a lot of interesting research out now about some of the artificial sweeteners and how they impact the gut microbiome and can contribute to various health problems that way. I went off soda by switching to soda-water. Most places have it in the fountain drink section anyway, and for me the fizz is giving me enough of something different beyond just water to keep me interested.

CVS has big bottles of seltzer for 88 cents, I usually get those instead of any other type of soda now

[Moss]

edit: Also i just ordered all the things i need to make my own soylent so i will be starting that in a week or so. Will prolly post updates if i don't die of malnutrition.

lmk how it goes

[Wulfgang]

For me cutting soda's was effortless really, all i used to drink while playing ffxi was sprite which is caffeine free. Caffeine is one of the worst most socially accepted chemicals around i would never recommend anyone use it for anything. Once i started lifting and got into preworkouts I thought it was amazing. Then after a few years of doing preworkouts i tried various hard stims like coke etc and realized that they were either on par or shittier versions of what i was taking nightly for the gym. Stay away from caffeine people, it's addictive and it fucks with your adrenal system more than most stimulants.

Also i might have posted this before but since we have been talking about gaining/losing weight and calories the past few pages it's relevant and probably one of the best macro/calorie guides ive seen.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=156380183

edit: Also i just ordered all the things i need to make my own soylent so i will be starting that in a week or so. Will prolly post updates if i don't die of malnutrition.

The link is pretty solid; thanks. Using the Katch-McArdle formula, I have a BMR of 2,003 calories and a TEE of 3,005 calories (did the 1.5x activity multiplier, but it's a bit of a guess). So for weight loss I would need to be in the 2,400-2,700 calorie area. That just doesn't work based on my experience though; I typically need to be in the 1,800-2,100 range to cut weight. So either my activity multiplier is too high (by the poster's descriptions 1.5 should be almost conservative though) or the BMR/TEE concepts do not address individual differences in metabolism (mine is pretty slow these days).

[BerenTebogo]

I was wondering what activity factor would work for me. I lift heavy 5-6 times a week but as a grad student, I spend the other 22 hours per day pretty much at a desk or computer (pretty much sedentary).

[FNH]

Im really loving this myfitnesspal app. I previously used a pocket notepad to track calories, but seeing carb/fat/protein percentages, sugars, cholesterol, etc. is pretty great. Plus being able to plan my meals for next day is amazing.

[Hushigoshi]

Which chemicals?

Late to reply, but you're "right". Personally I was not trying to say this as a way to "remove toxins from your body" because I don't believe in that shit. I tell clients to not drink it because on average theydon't know what they're drinking. It's basic fear mongering on my part. But the other reason why I suggest clients to stop drinking soda, even diet/zero calorie options is the long term cost.

I lost 55 pounds in 2012 in about six months drinking two diet energy drinks a day and probably 15-20 beers a week.

Take this for example. Now, I don't know where you live, nor do I really care, but where I live the average price of a 8oz can of red bull is about $2.40. 16oz energy drinks like Rockstar and Monster are closer to $2.99. Sometimes they'll go on sale for 2/$4 or so. Even at Costco, a 24 pack will run you close to $36 here. If you're drinking 2 energy drinks a day, and let's say 5days/week. You're spending probably around $75 a month on that, $900/year. A 24 case of shitty beer is around $20 here as well, so that's another $80 a month, $960 a year. So by not drinking those at all, you're saving around (low balling) $1600 a year. In Wulfgangs highly exaggerated math scenario (on my part), $800 in 6 months. That's money you can use to buy better quality food, supplementation, FFXIV/WoW/FFXI sub whatever. Also, think about how much more weight he could have lost had he not drank those 15-20 beers a week. If you're making so much money at $1,600 a year means nothing to you, then disregard what I said.

Edit: zero calories is still zero calories of course. Switching to diet will still aid in weight loss, and/or maintenance.