Fat shaming guy update!

[scattergun]

Congrats - Keep it going!
I need to take off about 25-30 myself - shooting for 200-ish. I did it once but fell back into bad
eating habits.
What is everyone's take on diet soda. I drink 2-3 coke Zeros or Diet Mt Dew per day. Mostly for the caffeine pick me up. In theory you would think its not an issue. The label reads 0 calories, 0 carbs, but I've heard it can still end up adding pounds? How's that work?

It seems that the sweetness without the calories changes the way that the body responds to real carbs by hoarding them just in case, and increases cravings for high-calorie foods.

Artificial sweeteners may also cause higher blood-sugar spikes when real sugar is consumed, which is rough on the body can increase diabetes risk.

I would personally just avoid sugar and sweeteners entirely; your palate adapts pretty quickly and you become more sensitive to naturally-occurring sweetness in foods and drinks. High-quality coffee can be plenty sweet on its own, for example.