My surgeon's advice has been no carbonated bevs because the carbonation creates gas which can potentially stretch the pouch (above the band for lap-banders). This, even gentle stretching, requires more food to feel satisfied and defeats the purpose of creating a smaller pouch in the first place.

It's sort of the idea of "eating to feel full" instead of measuring portions and "eating to feel satisfied". Some WLS'ers want to feel full (lap-banders call this concept chasing restriction so the band makes them stop overeating) where others are happy to eat a measured portion and feel satiated until their next meal. Long term, if you eat to feel full, by the time that signal reaches your brain, there is still food in your esophogus that has not reached your pouch. That food, however small it is, has to squeeze in there too. We never quite know when to stop because there is a time lag between when we swallow and when food actually reaches our stomach/pouch. It's always best to measure portions.

The other issue with diet sodas, even flat, is that they contain artificial sweeteners. These sweeteners are many times sweeter than sugar or corn syrup. There's a study that was done at Purdue that suggests artificial sweeteners are actually counter-productive to weight loss. If you think about the diet food industry, Americans seem to keep getting more obese even though we keep eating more of that "diet", "low fat", "sugar free" food.

There's a great book out called "Food Rules" that talks about eliminatng chemicals from your diet and getting back to eating real food. I think it's a great read. The author really encourages people to eliminate processed foods from their diets, shop mainly on the outer edges of the grocery store: produce, meats & dairy and to buy organic fruits/vegetables and free range/grass fed meats when you can. That's the simple summary.

It has been almost 3 years since I've had a soda and, honestly, I don't miss it. If you look on the back of a can, they are almost pure chemicals. It makes me feel good to know that these small changes lead to big ones. Think about a ship leaving Spain heading for America. One tiny change to its course and it will end up in a completely different place because it has to travel across the entire ocean. The same is true with our WLS journeys. The changes we make to our old lifestyles from sedentary to active, from eating high-fat/high-calorie foods to lower-fat and healthier balanced meals take our lives in a completely new direction. We are the captains of our lives. We can steer them in any direction we want and there is no timetable that says we have to get to goal by next week or next month. What is important is that we make the lifestyle changes necessary to reach our destination!

Good luck on your journey!