Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answers. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose one per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hi Fitz! You always say that drinking calories causes weight gain, so I'm willing to try kicking my habit. I'm completely addicted to Coke. There are all sorts of programs to help people stop smoking, but none for cutting back on soda. Help! Brian

A. Thanks for the terrific question, Brian. I'm so glad you've been paying attention! Yes ... caloric beverages such as soda, juice, milk and alcohol are definitely responsible for much of the extra fat folks are carrying around. As an example of this, I once did a series of lectures for a large fire department in my area. I referenced the huge fountain drinks I always saw the firefighters driving around with and showed them how much sugar was in each cup. As their jaws dropped, I challenged each of them to, at minimum, switch to diet soda and, at best, switch to water.

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Celebrities slimming down for a film is nothing new, but one would hope they'd do it in the healthiest way possible -- after all, yo-yoing weight is unhealthy enough as it is. Hunky Irish actor Colin Farrell recently slimmed down dramatically for his role in the upcoming film Triage. How did he do it? Here's what he ate each day according to FitCeleb:

• Two cans of tuna
• Black coffee
• Diet Coke
  

That's it. That's about a net caloric intake of 300 calories a day. No wonder he lost 44 pounds. Though Farrell previously said his weight loss was healthy, he's changed his tune -- he now admits that his weight loss was not 'healthy' or 'advisable.' No kidding, huh? He has since gained it back: "I just ate like a pig,'" the actor says.

This is probably the least healthy way to slim down, don't you think?

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With the holidays already in full swing, it's easy to let your healthy habits fall to the wayside. Between on-the-go meals, savory feasts, and skipped gym trips, you may find yourself stepping on the scale and saying ho-ho-holy cow I've gained weight.

One way to help avoid this happening is to be cognizant of the calories you drink. Specifically, those sourced from drinks containing alcohol. A single vodka martini packs 165 calories, a designer beer has 170 calories, a gin martini contains 200 calories, and a Red Bull and Vodka kicks you with 210 calories.

Worse yet, drinking alcohol lowers inhibitions. So, not only will you suddenly have the courage to jump up on the bar and start dancing, but you will also be more apt to reach for a late-night slice or five of pizza. Bad decisions beget bad decisions.

To avoid this calorie disaster, try either abstaining from alcohol entirely, or (when that doesn't work) reach for less calorie-laden drinks, such as a Bacardi and Diet Coke (100 calories) or a glass of red wine, which is lower in calories and also provides you with healthy antioxidants.

I have a friend that replaces meals with diet soda. Afterall, a Diet Coke is 0 calories and all the carbonation makes her feel more bloated than if she ate a 5-course meal. I definitely don't agree with her weight-loss philosophy, but I can see how it would work. A diet soda can help make me feel full when I'm not -- for an hour or so anyway -- but I don't drink it because truth be told, I don't like soda.

Based on that, I would assume that drinking diet soda would help you eat less, but that's not the case, according to a recent study. Diet drinks actually tend to lead to people over-eating. Why is this? One reason could be justification -- ie. I'm having a diet soda, so I can supersize the fries and have dessert too. Also, studies show that rats who are put on low-cal diets tend to overeat whenever they have the chance, compared to rats who are given a normal diet.

What do you think?

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I was browsing through my regular blogs the other night and came across this story: apparently Coca-cola and L'Oreal are teaming up to bring you a beauty product in beverage form. Currently called Lumae, this nutraceutical is a tea-based drink that will supposedly help your skin. Riiiighttt...... Oh wait, they're serious?

This is just the newest in a bunch of 'healthy' drinks that coke has, including a new Diet Coke infused with vitamins, and another one that aids in weight loss called Enviga. I'm quite skeptical about any of these having the desired effect they were intended too, and the Beauty Brains are equally as put off -- check out what they have to say about the notion of 'drinking your way to better skin'.

I think coke is coke and no matter what they put in it, it will be bad for you. What do you think about all this?

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Are diet drinks as good as the real thing? While I don't drinklg soft drinks any longer, I can't stand the taste of "fake sweeteners" in products like Diet Coke and such.

In fact, most diet drinks I've tasted are unpalatable. In that vein, possible alternatives are being bandied about to give the "mouthfeel" a better run for its money in the diet soft drink market.

According to reports, "scientists would like to find an ingredient that gives body to diet soft drinks without adding calories or other unpleasant side effects." Sounds like a best-case scenario. Let's hope it's not yet another synthetic chemical.

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Are you a fan of diet soda? Many folks I know switched to diet versions of their favorite soft drinks years ago to get away from the sugar and calories of normal soft drinks. While diet sodas can be looked at as healthier than normal soft drinks, I still avoid them like the plague. Why? Chemicals and other non-nutritional items.

Have you looked at the sodium content of some diet soft drinks? How about aspartame content (a fake but dangerous sweetener)?

Always do what you feel is right, but in the case of diet soft drinks, the additives, fake colors, chemicals and other things sound like bad news to me. Do they to you?

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In a follow-up to this post from a few days ago, I was thinking about possible alternatives to regular soft drinks since there is so much refined sugar in those beverages and new research shows that they are also now linked to diabetes. This came as little surprise, since huge intakes of refined sugar is almost always correlated with the incidence of diabetes in many cases I have read.

But what is an alternative? It's hard to think of diet soft drinks as alternatives once you've researched what aspartame, NutraSweet, saccharin and other fake sweeteners can really do. that pretty much knocks out all diet soft drinks for me as well. Search Google or another search engine and read up on these sweeteners from trusted sources (note: you're in for a shock).

Flavored teas and healthy fruit drinks are my solution (although non that contain the cheap high-fructose corn syrup), so what is your non-soft drink method of beverage drinking?

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With the nation's waistline expanding, sugary soft drinks have taken a direct hit in the blame game, and Coke is working diligently to take the target of their backs. With the introduction of their new Coke Zero, vitamin infused Diet Coke, and the controversial Enviga, the company is trying to edge their way into the booming health food business. But because the label "soft drink" is notorious in the public eye, Coke's wants to call its new drinks "sparkling beverages" and have them included into the same market as sparkling waters and teas.

Trying to shift a little attention away from themselves, Coke also wants to get people talking more about activity and less about their choice of snack food. Coke's CEO recently told reporters, "Video games are a major part of the problem." (Does anyone want to tell him about this?) Claiming that even a full calorie soft drink...um, I mean sparkling beverage...can be an appropriate choice if someone exercises regularly, Coke wants people to start feeling good about their products again.

I'm not a soft drink consumer, so I don't really know what to make of all this. On one hand, he's right. A soft drink -- full calorie or not -- once in a while won't hurt you. But trying to tell consumers that soft drinks are any kind of "health food" instead of a snack food -- especially when essentially the product hasn't changed -- smacks of smoke and mirrors to me. What do you think?

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Think breakfast beverages, and coffee or orange juice probably comes to mind -- but what about soda? According to a consumer research firm based out of New York City, soda consumption for breakfast has almost doubled over the last 15 years. Given, they only took into account sodas taken with a meal (i.e. Starbucks didn't factor in) -- but people are ordering pop with their eggs and pancakes 15.1 percent of the time today, vs. 7.9 percent back in 1990.

Although most sodas contain some level of caffeine, the average is only about half what's in a similar-sized cup of coffee. So if it's not for an extra energy boost, what's the draw? Die-hard morning soda drinkers seem to get a kick out of the cold, tingly, refreshing factor of drinking down a Coke, vs. the warming action of coffee, first thing in the morning.

To each his own, just beware the calorie attack.

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This just in: Diet soda can make you fat. Huh? Isn't it calorie-free? Yes, it is, but according to this, studies show that people often compensate for the lack of calories in their soda by consuming more in their food. Another theory is that artificial sweeteners in diet soda cause an increase in hunger-inducing hormones.

As for me, I've never liked soda, diet or regular, and I'm glad I don't because there just seems to be no end to the bad publicity it gets. How about trying a different kind of calorie-free drink that's not artificially sweetened and has proven health benefits? This magic substance is water and if you switched to it from anything else, I'm sure you'll notice some healthy changes to both your body and your mood.

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I never imagined that there would come a day when Diet Coke would be good for you. But that day might come after all, according to this. Coca Cola reps have neither confirmed nor denied the claim, and it's not clear what type of vitamins would go in to the new and improved coke. I've never been a fan of coke, or any pop for that matter, and this move wouldn't change that because if you ask me, nothing is healthier or more refreshing than a glass of water and a serving of fresh fruit. And I'm not sure how to interpret this move -- is it a step in the right direction, or a ploy to make people think they are making a healthy choice by consuming a chemical-infused soft drink that might not be any healthier for them in the long run? What do you think?

Anyway, the fortified Diet Coke should hit shelves in 2007.

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