I'm Trying to shed 25-30 pounds by June 2nd

Cheer up, same thing happened to me when I was 27. Suddenly my body couldn't keep up with my eating habits. The line for me was 200 lbs - once I crossed that line I knew I had to do something. Did Atkins, permanently changed my diet, lost 20 lbs over 6 months. Never gained it back.

Originally Posted by jslade

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On the topic of simply maintaining a caloric deficit in order to lose weight, how do diet drinks (0 calories) affect weight-loss?

If an ex smoker has only one cigarette, he can start the same cravings he had during his withdrawal period. This can happen even if the person hasn't smoked in years.

The diet drinks can mimic the intake of sugar in your body, starting a craving for more sugar. For some people they are a trigger starting a desire for more sugar, much like non alcolic beer might start a desire to drink for a recovericing alcoholic.

Originally Posted by indesertum

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no effect.

there's a lot of alarmist reports out there from seemingly credible people, but the research that proves artificial sweeteners to be anti-diet is very slim and most studies are poorly made. there's been several research reviews every few years and they all point to artificial sweeteners not having any influence on dietary intake.

^probably a placebo effect. there's good research showing aspertame and the like does not increase hunger or appetite

if you're really paranoid (or somebody manages to convince you that sucralose is evil because of the 3 chlorine molecules) you can try stevia (marketed as Only Sweet, PureVia, Reb-A, Rebiana, SweetLeaf, and Truvia)

I'm very much on the "follow the actual scientific evidence" train for artificial sweeteners, which certainly supports the case that they're safe. Most of the people arguing for their horrible powers are using really bad studies or anecdotal crap.

However: there is a mild insulin response from consuming non-caloric sweeteners, something like 10% of the response from the equivalent amount of sugar. If you're really trying to lose as much weight as possible, you'd want to avoid this.

Doesn't matter for diabetics, since we don't produce insulin anyway, so I use a pretty decent amount of the stuff.

Originally Posted by mm84321

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Beat me to it. Aspartame contains 10% methanol (wood alcohol) that gets broken down in the body to formaldehyde, and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis. There has also been linkage of nerve damage due to excitotoxicity, and brain tumors. I'd say avoid diet sodas, and other artificially flavored foods, whether you're on a diet or not.
If you're worried about the methanol content in artificial sweeteners, you shouldn't eat any fruit or drink fruit juices either, since they have more methanol than the trivial amount produced from metabolizing aspartame. Our bodies handle this stuff pretty well, unless you're eating the stuff by the bowl full, nothing bad is going to happen. There's really no credible evidence to support the case that this stuff is bad for you, at least in doses any human would ever consume. All the meta-analysis says that it's fine. You'll find a bunch of conspiracy theories, but I don't believe any of them hold water.

Originally Posted by Gibonius

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If you're worried about the methanol content in artificial sweeteners, you shouldn't eat any fruit or drink fruit juices either, since they have more methanol than the trivial amount produced from metabolizing aspartame. Our bodies handle this stuff pretty well, unless you're eating the stuff by the bowl full, nothing bad is going to happen.

You need to account just as much for the context of the nutrient, as the content. The methanol present in fruit is accompanied with relatively high amounts of folic acid, niacin, vitamin C, and B complex vitamins which serve to directly detoxify the methanol toxic axis in the metabolic processes and, are therefore also protective. On the other hand Aspartame is non nutritional and affords none of the protective factors afforded by fruit and vegetable juices but rather consumes them in it's inherent metabolism leaving the human organism depleted of them on a milligram for milligram basis. This depletion therefore, is made all the more overwhelming to the health by the immense volumes of Aspartame products that some consume.

There's really no credible evidence to support the case that this stuff is bad for you, at least in doses any human would ever consume. All the meta-analysis says that it's fine. You'll find a bunch of conspiracy theories, but I don't believe any of them hold water.

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I suggest you watch the video in that link I posted and learn a bit about the history of Aspartame. If you'd like some more information, feel free to PM me.

Why are you devoid of body hair?

Losing the weight is easy. Eat as very few simple carbs as you can, don't drink spirits but drink all the dry wine you want, make your diet about 60% veggies and 40% protein, but eat all you want. Thanks me later.

OP post your current diet and workout regimen

Originally Posted by mm84321

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You need to account just as much for the context of the nutrient, as the content. The methanol present in fruit is accompanied with relatively high amounts of folic acid, niacin, vitamin C, and B complex vitamins which serve to directly detoxify the methanol toxic axis in the metabolic processes and, are therefore also protective. On the other hand Aspartame is non nutritional and affords none of the protective factors afforded by fruit and vegetable juices but rather consumes them in it's inherent metabolism leaving the human organism depleted of them on a milligram for milligram basis. This depletion therefore, is made all the more overwhelming to the health by the immense volumes of Aspartame products that some consume.
Nobody consumes an "immense volume" of aspartame. Even someone with a rather severe diet soda habit is getting a gram or so a day, of which only a small fraction is converted into methanol. Unless you are in severely bad health already, your body already has all the materials it needs to handle that much methanol without any danger whatsoever. This may "deplete" some of those materials, but as long of the rest of your diet is ok you have nothing to worry about. There's no rational biochemical reason that you would need to consume any nutrients at the same time to process the methanol. The aspartame is not benefiting you, certainly, but neither is it doing any harm.

I suggest you watch the video in that link I posted and learn a bit about the history of Aspartame. If you'd like some more information, feel free to PM me.

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I'd rather stick to sources I know are legitimate. I've read a substantial amount of peer-reviewed published research on aspartame, I'm not going to give a lot of weight to a video online.

I also rather doubt you're going to be able to educate me much on the subject. Without pulling an appeal to authority fallacy here, I'll just say that I have a PhD in chemistry and teach a class on biochemistry.

i have to agree. regardless of how harmful methanol might be, aspertame is put in diet sodas in such miniscule amounts there's no way it can produce that much methanol.

i've brushed up on many meta-reviews on pubmed and they all conclude that aspertame is non toxic and does not increase hunger like many internet articles suggest.


^at op no need to call yourself a ***** or anything like that. just follow the advice given in this thread and within a few months you should be looking like you used to

Originally Posted by indesertum

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i have to agree. regardless of how harmful methanol might be, aspertame is put in diet sodas in such miniscule amounts there's no way it can produce that much methanol.

i've brushed up on many meta-reviews on pubmed and they all conclude that aspertame is non toxic and does not increase hunger like many internet articles suggest.

I would say that the slight insulin response could increase hunger, but it would be very difficult to measure.

Originally Posted by Gibonius

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I'd rather stick to sources I know are legitimate. I've read a substantial amount of peer-reviewed published research on aspartame, I'm not going to give a lot of weight to a video online.

The video isn't meant to dismiss or discredit the studies done in peer-reviewed journals. It simply offers a history of the invention, and the FDA's approval of aspartame, with some personal accounts of usage and observed long term side effects. I'm aware that a movie online is not the basis for empirical data and scientific evidence, but it does a nice job at revealing a good bit of history.

I also rather doubt you're going to be able to educate me much on the subject. Without pulling an appeal to authority fallacy here, I'll just say that I have a PhD in chemistry and teach a class on biochemistry.

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Very well. I doubt I can teach you anything you don't know about the subject, and I respect your authority so I don't wish to get into a debate over this. I will maintain my original stance on the matter and leave it at that.

Originally Posted by Gibonius

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I would say that the slight insulin response could increase hunger, but it would be very difficult to measure.
This study determined that aspartame produced no insulin response, which is contrary to what I had always believed. I had always assumed that the sensation of sweetness would produce a cephalic phased insulin response. http://www.ajcn.org/content/82/5/1011.abstract

Originally Posted by mm84321

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The video isn't meant to dismiss or discredit the studies done in peer-reviewed journals. It simply offers a history of the invention, and the FDA's approval of aspartame, with some personal accounts of usage and observed long term side effects. I'm aware that a movie online is not the basis for empirical data and scientific evidence, but it does a nice job at revealing a good bit of history.
I don't feel like going through the video, but I'm pretty sure I've watched it before. The history of aspartame in the US is a bit odd, but I think the long term scientific evidence is pretty clear.

Also anecdotal evidence is basically useless for making wider conclusions, as well you should know. Certainly if anyone feels they're having a negative response from anything, including aspartame, they should cease use.

Originally Posted by mm84321

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This study determined that aspartame produced no insulin response, which is contrary to what I had always believed. I had always assumed that the sensation of sweetness would produce a cephalic phased insulin response.

http://www.ajcn.org/content/82/5/1011.abstract

Interesting, I've read other studies that indicate that there is an insulin response. Rather irrelevant for my personal physiology, since I don't produce insulin anyway. Perhaps the question is not settled after all.

Originally Posted by Gibonius

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Interesting, I've read other studies that indicate that there is an insulin response. Rather irrelevant for my personal physiology, since I don't produce insulin anyway. Perhaps the question is not settled after all.

Can you qualify this statement?

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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Why are you devoid of body hair?


I actually really have a pretty hairy chest... That picture was taken after working out. Only thing I can think is some kind of combination between the sweat soaked hair and lighting made it look non-existent...