Anon5665:
I have an idea, which I will test tomorrow morning, and perhaps over several days, but I wanted to check with you guys first for your input.
Drinking a lot of soda is easy, and when starting out a gain, one goal is to expand the stomach so that it feels empty (or at least less full).
So, starting the day with a soda bloat seems like a great idea...right? Any advice, anecdotes from past experiences, etc., are greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
ILuvChubbyChix:
I wouldn't do it if I were you. Munchies' answer is good, but gonna add some more things.
One is that for some reason, soda seems to stay in the body for longer than water does, for some reason. And when that happens, you'll probably end up eating less.
Most soda in America also uses high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which is horrendous if consumed in high quantities, and if you do what you want to, it'll be too much. There's the fast effect on very high blood sugar, but there seems to be something almost unique about it too. It's much worse than regular sugar, and it doesn't even have as many calories.
I've found that if I have too much soda or HFCS, I get sleepy and drowsy, and just need to lay down for awhile. Might be the blood sugar thing, but I've never had this effect, at least nowhere as intense with anything else.
Other than soda, the most common sources of HFCS will be either condiments like ketchup and barbeque sauce, certain sweet spreads like strawberry jam, and certain pancake/waffle syrups. However, it's very easy to identify varieties of the aforementioned without HFCS. It would probably be best if you minimize HFCS to almost nothing at home.
You can have small quantities of HFCS, so no point in freaking out if you're with friends at a restaurant or something, and the ketchup there has HFCS in it. You can even have the occasional soda, but you don't want to bloat with soda.
All very good points.
You are correct about soda staying in the body for longer than water does. This is a scientifically provable fact.
everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition/does-soda-count-as-fluid/This article goes into more detail, but the quick and dirty is that your body has to process the soda.
Water is water. It is in the simplest state for your body to process, so it just absorbs it in your intestines. Meanwhile, soda is chock full of things like sugar/HFCS and caffeine. So it takes a little bit longer to process.
Adding onto matter further, caffeine is a diuretic. So consuming too much of it can ironically dehydrate you.