Others have mentioned it but I want to double down! I was addicted to soda from 13-25 and I have lost a lot of teeth because of it. Sodastream helped me kick it. It’s much cheaper to maintain and using less acidic waters since you can just use your tap water (or whatever water you want) and has zero sugar. I buy liquid water flavors from Aldi that use stevia for sweetening. 100% the bubbles and they can taste a lot more than the la croix stuff. Put in as much or little flavor as you want. Combine dark cherry and vanilla for a pretty good cola taste too. Zero calories, no gunk on teeth, cost about $22 USD to maintain carbonation of the sodastream and I drink like 2-5 liters of the stuff a day. Good luck! Sugar is one of the hardest addictions out there and big cola makes sure the alternatives are expensive or taste bad. You can do this! The effects of that acidic soda and water on your body overtime does nothing but DAMAGE. love yourself!

I am a solid Diet Pepsi drinker. All day every day. I did manage a stint for a few months with the Circkle (sp?) water bottles. There are a ton on flavors online and if you buy enough it’s MUCH cheaper than what you pay in Walmart. Today I’m sick in bed and my body has been craving water. Maybe this is a second chance.

Probably not helpful, but for me I made a few changes to cut back on Cokes.

I keep the house stocked with overpriced waters and teas, and they’re in the front of the fridge so I see them first. I found I particularly like Snapple’s sugar free line. This took a lot of experimenting - be ready to spend a few months buying until you find ones you like. Don’t be shy about tossing the shitty ones either - there’s an amazing ‘variety’ of tastes here.

I also learned to make a few drinks I actually like. Right now I’m on a shaken iced tea - much like how a bartender shakes a mixed drink. Mostly just iced tea, but with a healthy splash of lemon juice, 4-6 frozen strawberries instead of ice, and sugar/sugar substitute to taste (about 1 teaspoon), then shake. Gives it a fruity-sweet flavor. And you get to eat strawberry slushies afterwards.

I do still keep Cokes in the house, but it’s the fancy glass bottle ones. They’re small and expensive, so I drink them in moderation. But simply having them in the house and knowing I can have one if the cravings really hit, somehow makes the cravings less frequent.

I felt the same way years ago. I started drinking coke zero and have no switched back. Normal Coke is waaay too sweet for me now and I much prefer coke zero. I have been drinking it close to 8 years now, and I love it way more.

One thing that helped me was that i read that real sugar binds to sweet receptors, diet substitutes bind to both sweet and bitter at the same time, and that is why it can feel uncomfortable at first. For some reason that helped me understand it and now it’s all I want to drink.

I also love Fresca

I was going to give a bunch of advice but then you answered your own question at the end.

If you want to change, you just going to have to change - that’s all there is to it.

My advice therefore is that you’re going to experience two or three days of discomfort, be prepared to deal with that.

I just drink tea nowadays. Brewed tea at home, not bottled tea with ten tons of sugar per tenth of a serving. It took me about ten months to move from exclusively sugary carbonated drinks to tea, but now I don’t even enjoy the former anymore.

I have a real addiction to soda and I desperately need to cut back at least on the sugar.

Add 1/20th to 1/4 parts water to whatever serving size of soda you drink. Easy peasy does it best.

Zero sugar Gatorade. I’m trying to quit too, addictions suck. I won’t let my kid even have soda, maybe once a month he gets a coke.

Soda used to be fermented fruit juice, you could make your own.

Fresca is my go to

I’m working on replacing my soda intake with powdered drink mixes myself, I don’t need the carbonation, just something flavorful. What did you try in as far as drink mixes? I’m a big fan of Crystal Light’s iced tea.

If you really, truly need the carbonation, I’d suggest getting a water carbonator (not sodastream, they’re Israeli, not sure who their competitors are but they must exist) and experimenting adding your own flavorings to taste.

Just drink water with lemon

i got used to LaCroix and prefer it to sugary sodas now after my taste buds went back to normal.

any sugary soda tastes grotesque to me now.

i think liking sodas is a symptom of desensitization to an absurd amount of sugar.

sugar damages your liver just like alcohol (former expert in drinking both here), so it’s worth desensitizing your taste buds to the normal soda amount of sugar.

Stop drinking soda. They are all bad for you except once in a while.

I love sparkling water… Try to work with that.

Consider that sugar is addictive, so there is that, winning that dependence is tough.

Eh, tbf the best luck I’ve had with any addiction is cold turkey, and not touching it again for months, weeks, years. And warning anyone I care about I may be bitchy for a bit, please have mercy but keep me in check.