Losing weight involves looking closely at your diet, making some changes, and in some cases cutting out some foods and drinks completely.
Today, I will explain if sodas such as Pepsi make you gain weight.
Overall, Pepsi does not make you gain weight.
Regular Pepsi and the Pepsi flavors that are not diet versions contain 120 calories per can. 120 calories are around 6% of women’s recommended daily calorie intake and 4.8% for men.
How much or little a soda contributes to weight gain or weight loss depends on whether you do no exercise, a little bit of practice, or exercise quite a lot.
For example, if you exercise a lot your body will use up more calories you consume, and a soda such as Pepsi will have less of an effect than if you don’t exercise that often.
Below, I will cover if it’s possible to lose weight and drink sodas such as Pepsi, if Pepsi is more fattening than Coke, and which sodas are the best for weight loss.
Can You Drink Pepsi and Lose Weight?
Losing weight occurs when you burn off more calories than you consume.
When that happens, the stored fat in your body is used as energy.
Sugary drinks, such as Pepsi, sweetened with natural sugar or corn syrup, contain a fair amount of calories, so here is if it’s possible to drink Pepsi and lose weight.
You can drink Pepsi and still lose weight.
However, diet versions of Pepsi flavors are a better option because they contain zero calories.
Weight loss occurs when your body is in a calorie deficit.
Depending on the rest of your diet, it can put you in a calorie surplus and cause weight gain.
The general recommendation for calorie intake is as follows:
- 2,000 calories a day for women
- 2,500 calories a day for men
If a person does not exercise, typically, they will not put on weight and may even lose weight, depending on if they are overweight already.
The recommended amount of calories is what a person will burn if they just live their life usually.
For example, they wake up, eat breakfast, go to work, have lunch, come home, have dinner, read a book or watch something on a TV or computer, or go out with friends.
This is referred to as a sedentary lifestyle.
Whereas, if they do some sort of activity outside of this, such as going to the gym, a social or competitive sport, or a hobby that gets them sweating and huffing and puffing, they will burn additional calories.
For example, it’s well known that for men or women to put on muscle and go from skinny to muscular, they need to increase their calorie intake and lift weights.
Also, they differentiate between bulking, where you try to put on weight, and cutting, where you reduce your calorie intake to burn off additional fat to make your muscles more defined.
Below are how many calories a person needs to remain at a healthy weight based on their age, sex, and how active they are (simplified from source: FDA):
Daily calorie intake to maintain a healthy weight (males)
| Age | Sedentary | Moderate | Active |
| 15 to 20 | 2,500 | 2,700 | 3,100 |
| 20 to 30 | 2,500 | 2,700 | 3,000 |
| 30 to 40 | 2,400 | 2,600 | 2,900 |
| 40 to 50 | 2,400 | 2,500 | 2,800 |
| 50 to 60 | 2,100 | 2,400 | 2,700 |
From the table, you can see that there isn’t a lot of difference based on age.
But depending on how active you are, there is about a 10% to 25% difference in how many calories are required to maintain your weight.
The same is true for females, as shown in the table below.
Daily calorie intake to maintain a healthy weight (females)
| Age | Sedentary | Moderate | Active |
| 15 to 20 | 2,000 | 2,100 | 2,400 |
| 20 to 30 | 1,900 | 2,100 | 2,300 |
| 30 to 40 | 1,800 | 2,000 | 2,200 |
| 40 to 50 | 1,700 | 1,900 | 2,200 |
| 50 to 60 | 1,600 | 1,800 | 2,200 |
1 can of regular Pepsi contains 120 calories. Which is rough:
- 8% of the recommended daily calorie intake for men
- 6% of the recommended daily calorie intake for women
So, with a little planning, sodas can still be enjoyed when trying to lose weight.
Also, diet Pepsi and Pepsi flavors sweetened with artificial sweeteners contain zero calories.
Therefore, you can technically drink as much of them as you want, and they won’t contribute to your total daily calorie intake.
However, it would be best if you consumed a balanced diet.
And you should aim to consume a can or cup of Pepsi flavors sweetened with artificial sweetener daily. Otherwise, it can lead to a surplus of nutrients in your body.
Knowing whether you will be in a calorie deficit based on your diet or in a calorie surplus requires totaling all the calories you consume in a day.
Here’s a video from a nutritionist where he explains how to work this out:
What Sodas Can Make You Gain Weight?
Not all sodas are the same.
Some contain more calories than others, which means they aren’t as good for losing weight.
Here’s a rundown of those sodas that can make you gain weight.
Overall, any sodas that are not a diet or sugar-free versions.
A person puts on weight when they are in a calorie surplus.
Diet and sugar-free sodas contain zero calories. So, they don’t contribute to the number of calories a person consumes.
But regular sodas have a moderate amount of calories.
Therefore, they may cause you to be in a calorie surplus and put on weight.
But, in general, provided you don’t consume other foods that are very high in calories, such as donuts, and candy bars, drinking sodas as part of a balanced diet won’t lead to weight gain.
But, to know for sure, you would need to create a spreadsheet where you write down your normal diet and how many total calories you eat per day.
That way, you can add a soda and see if that causes you to go over the recommended daily intake of calories, or not.
If it does, then it’s best to drink zero or diet versions of your favorite sodas instead.
Is Pepsi More Fattening the Coke?
Pepsi and Coca-Cola are two of the most popular beverages in the world and are the world’s most popular cola sodas.
Often, people prefer one or the other, so here is whether Pepsi or Coke is better for losing weight.
Pepsi is not more fattening than Coke. Pepsi and Coca-cola contain the same amount of calories.
When a person’s body is in a calorie surplus, it leads to weight gain. So, neither Pepsi nor Coke are as fattening as the other.
Both Pepsi and Coke make a diet version of their most popular sodas.
These versions are sweetened using chemically made sweeteners that contain zero calories and zero sugar.
If you are trying to lose weight but love sodas, then diet or zero sodas are a good option when you need to reduce your total calorie intake.
As you may know, a relatively new sweetener called Stevia is made from the leaves of the Stevia plant.
It contains zero calories. If you can find sodas sweetened with Stevia instead of sugar, these can be a better option if you want something more natural.
Which Sodas Are Good for Weight Loss?
There are now countless sodas on the market. Many are different brands of popular flavors like cola and orange soda, but others are entirely unique.
Below is a summary of which sodas cause obesity and which are suitable for weight loss.
In general, any diet or zero version of a soda is good for weight loss.
Diet and zero versions of sodas contain zero calories.
Weight loss occurs when a person’s body is in a calorie deficit.
So, diet or zero versions are best because they don’t contribute to the total calories you will consume.
Soda water and sodas that are sweetened with a little bit of fruit juice, such as lemon or lime, are also suitable for weight loss because they contain a much lower amount of calories than regular sodas.
Soda water contains no sweeteners at all.
I’m the owner and blogger here at SodaPopCraft.Com. I’m a soft drinks enthusiast, bringing you all I know and research from the world of Beverages, Soda Pop, Soft Drinks, and many more.
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