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.

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.

I got off sodas and energy drinks by first transitioning to carbonated water as my default drink for a few years. Eventually I have moved to just water without carbonation.

After 1 month normal sodas will taste sickeningly sweet. Then it’s easy to stay on carbonated water. That first month is hard, mostly breaking old habits.

The best thing you can do is buy carbonated waters.

It sucks but after a few months of not drinking soda you won’t crave it anymore.

What you need is willpower. No way around it. Your options are:

Drink soda sweetened with sugar

Drink soda sweetened with artificial sweeteners

Drink unsweetened soda

I would just stay on the seltzer until you’re used to it. I can’t even drink sugary soda anymore, maybe as a treat once in a while, but never a whole can or bottle at once. You’ll get there too.

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.

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.

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.

You said you tried powdered drink mixes, have you tried the liquid? I cannot stand the powdered variety, either. I feel like you have more control over the flavor and the mix with the liquid varieties.

They’ve really helped me kick my soda habit.

ETA: Just some recommendations, avoid the Crystal Light brand, they taste like artificial sweetener. I personally go for generic store brands(Laura Lynn, Great Value), but Mio is a solid choice with a wide range of flavors. Just avoid their Iced Tea unless you really like canned tea. That’s exactly what it tastes like.

Just drink water with lemon

You can start adding water to your soda. Then after a while plain soda will be too sweet. I’ve been doing that with juice for over 10 years now. Can’t have comercial juice anymore, and just started doing it with lemonade too