I Drank Only Water and Wine for 60 Days Like the French – No Soda, No Juice, Lost 15 Pounds

Americans have a beverage problem, and I was the poster child for it.

On any given day, I might drink a morning orange juice, a midday Diet Coke, an afternoon iced coffee with flavored syrup, and maybe a glass of lemonade with dinner. I never thought about it. These were just drinks—refreshments between meals, companions to food, ways to get through the afternoon slump.

Then I moved to Spain and noticed something strange. At restaurants, at homes, at cafés, my neighbors drank exactly two things: water and wine. That was it. No soda on tables. No juice with meals. No flavored beverages of any kind.

I decided to try it for 60 days. Just water and wine. Nothing else.

I lost 15 pounds without changing what I ate.

What the French actually drink

Walk into a French home at dinner and you will find a bottle of mineral water and possibly a bottle of wine on the table. That is the entire beverage selection.

This is not asceticism or health consciousness. It is simply how French people have always eaten. Drinking soda, juice, or sweetened beverages with meals is considered bizarre—something tourists do.

The pattern holds across the Mediterranean:

• Water is the primary beverage throughout the day
• Coffee is consumed in small quantities, usually black or with minimal additions
• Wine accompanies meals, typically one or two glasses
• Mineral water (sparkling or still) is preferred over tap water at meals
• Juice is occasionally served at breakfast, never with other meals

Brands like Evian, Perrier, and Badoit are household staples. The French spend more on mineral water per capita than almost any other country. But they do not spend much on soft drinks. Over 50% of French alcohol consumption is wine—consumed with food, not as a standalone beverage.

The cultural norm is so strong that it is considered rude to drink soda at a French dinner party. You drink what is served: water and wine.

What I was actually drinking before

I tracked my beverages for a week before starting the experiment. The results were embarrassing.

Monday:

• 8 oz orange juice with breakfast (110 calories)
• 20 oz Diet Coke at lunch (0 calories but artificial sweeteners)
• 16 oz vanilla latte mid-afternoon (250 calories)
• 12 oz lemonade with dinner (150 calories)

Total: 510 liquid calories plus a diet soda

This was a light day. Some days included energy drinks, smoothies, or a second coffee. I was consuming 400-700 calories daily from beverages without thinking about it.

According to NHANES data, the average American adult consumes 385 calories per day from beverages—about 18% of total caloric intake. Regular soft drinks alone contribute 134 of those calories. Add in fruit juices, sweetened coffees, and sports drinks, and the numbers climb higher.

For many Americans, beverages contribute the same number of calories as an entire meal.

The invisible calorie problem

The research on liquid calories is striking. Unlike solid food, beverages do not trigger the same satiety signals.

When you eat 500 calories of food, your body registers it. Hunger hormones adjust. You naturally compensate by eating less later. But when you drink 500 calories, your body largely ignores them.

A Purdue University researcher summarized it: liquid calories do not suppress hunger or elicit compensatory dietary responses the way solid food does. You drink the calories, but your hunger remains unchanged, so you eat the same amount of food anyway.

A Harvard study following nearly 50,000 women over eight years found that women who increased their sugar-sweetened beverage intake from one per week to one or more per day added 358 calories to their daily diet. They did not eat less food to compensate. The beverage calories were simply added on top.

The reverse was also true: women who reduced their intake cut 319 calories per day and gained less weight.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that reducing liquid calories had a stronger association with weight loss than reducing solid calories. Cutting just one serving of sugary drinks daily led to losing one additional pound over six months compared to those who did not.

Why juice is not the health food you think

Orange juice has a health halo. It comes from fruit. It contains vitamin C. It feels virtuous.

But an 8-ounce glass of orange juice contains approximately 110 calories and 21 grams of sugar—nearly identical to the same amount of Coca-Cola, which has 97 calories and 26 grams of sugar.

The difference: when you eat an orange, you consume fiber, which slows digestion and creates satiety. When you drink orange juice, you get the sugar without the fiber, and your body responds accordingly.

This is why nutritionists increasingly distinguish between whole fruit and fruit juice. The fruit is healthy. The juice is essentially sugar water with vitamins.

I had been drinking “healthy” juice with breakfast for years, telling myself it was different from soda. The calorie count said otherwise.

What happened in the first week

The initial adjustment was harder than expected.

Days 1-3: Constant low-level craving for something sweet to drink. Water felt boring. I missed the ritual of grabbing a soda from the fridge.

Days 4-5: The cravings began fading. I started noticing how often I had reached for a beverage out of habit rather than thirst.

Days 6-7: Water started tasting good. I bought sparkling mineral water to add variety. The wine with dinner felt like a treat rather than a default.

The psychological shift was significant. I realized how much of my drinking was recreational rather than functional. I was not thirsty when I grabbed that afternoon Diet Coke. I was bored, or taking a break, or just following a habit.

The wine question

Here is where the experiment gets interesting.

Wine has calories—about 120-125 per 5-ounce glass. I was drinking one to two glasses with dinner most evenings. That is 120-250 calories per day from wine.

According to the math, this should have slowed my weight loss. But the research on moderate wine consumption and weight is surprisingly nuanced.

A University of Denmark study found that people who drank wine daily had slimmer waistlines than non-drinkers. A Harvard study tracking 20,000 people over 13 years found that moderate wine drinkers were 70% less likely to become obese than non-drinkers.

A clinical trial at the University of Ulm put obese subjects on identical 1,500-calorie diets—one group with 10% of calories from white wine, the other with 10% from grape juice. The wine group lost slightly more weight (4.73 kg vs 3.75 kg), though the difference was not statistically significant.

A study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that adding two glasses of red wine daily to subjects’ diets for six weeks produced no significant changes in body weight, body fat percentage, or resting metabolic rate.

What explains this? Several theories:

• Alcohol calories may be metabolized differently. The body converts ethanol to acetate, which is used for energy but not efficiently stored as fat.
• Wine is consumed with meals. When paired with food, alcohol may increase thermogenesis (calorie burning during digestion).
• Wine drinkers may have different overall habits. They tend to eat more slowly, consume smaller portions, and follow Mediterranean-style dietary patterns.
• Resveratrol and other wine compounds may have metabolic effects, though this is debated.

The key seems to be moderate consumption with meals—not drinking wine as a standalone beverage or consuming large quantities.

The numbers at day 60

I weighed myself at the start and end, plus weekly throughout.

Starting weight: 187 pounds Day 30: 178 pounds Day 60: 172 pounds

Total loss: 15 pounds

I did not change what I ate. Same breakfast, lunch, and dinner patterns. Same restaurants. Same home cooking. The only change was eliminating all beverages except water and wine.

My rough calorie calculation:

• Before: 400-600 liquid calories daily from juice, soda, sweetened coffee, etc.
• After: 120-250 calories daily from wine
• Net reduction: 150-480 calories per day

Over 60 days, that reduction adds up to 9,000-28,800 fewer calories—equivalent to 2.5-8 pounds of pure caloric deficit. The rest likely came from reduced insulin spikes, better hydration, and possibly some metabolic effects from eliminating processed sugars.

What I noticed beyond weight

The scale was not the only change.

Skin: Clearer within two weeks. I had not realized how much the sugar and artificial ingredients in my beverages were affecting my complexion.

Energy: More stable throughout the day. Without the sugar spikes and crashes from sweetened drinks, my afternoon slump disappeared.

Sleep: Better. No more caffeine from afternoon sodas interfering with sleep onset.

Taste: Food started tasting better. Without the constant sweetness coating my palate, I could taste subtleties in meals I had been missing.

Hydration: Counterintuitively better. I was drinking more water because it was my only daytime option.

The cultural difference underneath

This experiment revealed something deeper than beverage choices. Americans have turned drinking into entertainment.

We have flavor options, size options, customization options. A Starbucks menu offers thousands of possible drink combinations. Gas stations devote entire walls to beverage refrigerators. We expect variety, sweetness, and stimulation from our drinks.

French culture treats beverages as functional. Water hydrates. Coffee wakes you up. Wine accompanies food. That is the entire purpose. Nobody expects a beverage to be a snack, a reward, or a source of pleasure independent from meals.

This functional approach means French people consume far fewer beverage calories without feeling deprived. They are not exercising willpower. They are simply following a cultural norm that never included recreational drinking of sweetened beverages.

How to actually do this

If you want to try the water-and-wine approach, here is what worked for me:

Week one: Eliminate the obvious

Cut soda immediately—both regular and diet. Diet sodas have zero calories but may still trigger sweet cravings and disrupt satiety signals. Remove juice from your routine. Stop sweetening coffee beyond minimal amounts.

Week two: Find your water

Experiment with different waters. Tap water, filtered water, sparkling water, mineral water. I discovered I genuinely prefer sparkling water with meals—it feels more substantial than still water.

Week three: Address the habits

Notice when you reach for a beverage. Are you thirsty, or are you bored, tired, stressed, or just following a routine? Keep water accessible so the healthy choice is the easy choice.

Week four: Introduce wine mindfully

If you drink alcohol, limit it to one or two glasses of wine with dinner. Not before dinner, not after dinner, not alone. Wine accompanies food in this approach—it is not a standalone beverage.

Throughout: Accept the boredom

The hardest part is accepting that beverages will be boring. You will not have flavor variety. You will not have the sugar hit. Water will just be water. This is the point. Beverages stop being a source of entertainment and become purely functional.

The exceptions I made

I was not absolutely rigid. Here is what I allowed:

• Black coffee in the morning (no calories, functional caffeine)
• Tea without sweetener (negligible calories, variety from water)
• The occasional celebratory drink at social events

What I did not allow:

• Juice of any kind
• Soda of any kind, including diet
• Sweetened coffee drinks
• Sports drinks or energy drinks
• Flavored waters with calories
• Smoothies (liquid calories are liquid calories)

Who should not do this

This approach is not for everyone:

If you do not drink alcohol, obviously skip the wine. Water alone works fine. Some people do better with herbal teas for variety.

If you have a history of alcohol problems, do not use this as an excuse to drink. The benefits come from eliminating sugary beverages, not from adding wine.

If you have diabetes or blood sugar issues, consult a doctor before making significant dietary changes.

If you are pregnant or nursing, alcohol is not appropriate, and you may have specific hydration needs.

If you exercise intensely, you may genuinely need electrolyte replacement that water alone cannot provide.

The maintenance question

I have now maintained this approach for over a year. It no longer feels like a restriction—it feels normal.

The weight stayed off. The 15 pounds I lost during the initial 60 days has not returned. I fluctuate by 2-3 pounds seasonally, but I am consistently lighter than when I was drinking juice and soda.

More importantly, I no longer think about beverages. They used to be a constant series of decisions: what do I want to drink? Should I get a large or medium? Regular or diet? Now there is nothing to decide. Water during the day, wine with dinner. Done.

The French approach is not a diet. It is just a different relationship with beverages—one where they serve a purpose rather than provide entertainment. That shift, more than any calorie counting, is what made the difference.

Quick reference

What to drink:

• Water (tap, filtered, sparkling, mineral)
• Black coffee or espresso
• Unsweetened tea
• Wine with meals (1-2 glasses maximum)

What to eliminate:

• Soda (regular and diet)
• Fruit juice
• Sweetened coffee drinks
• Sports and energy drinks
• Flavored waters with calories
• Smoothies and shakes

Average American liquid calories: 385 per day (18% of total intake)

Key research findings:

• Liquid calories do not trigger satiety like solid food
• Reducing one sugary drink daily = 1 extra pound lost over 6 months
• Moderate wine consumption not associated with weight gain
• Women who increased sugary drinks added 358 calories daily without eating less

Practical tips:

• Keep water accessible at all times
• Buy sparkling water for meal variety
• Notice when you reach for drinks out of habit vs. thirst
• Accept that beverages will be boring
• Treat wine as food accompaniment, not standalone drink

Timeline to expect:

• Days 1-3: Cravings for sweet drinks
• Days 4-7: Cravings fading, water becoming satisfying
• Week 2: Energy stabilization, better sleep
• Week 3-4: Noticeable weight loss beginning
• Day 60: Significant results, new habits established