I drank non-diet soda semi-regularly before deciding that I had put on too much weight, so I started a very austere diet. The only reason I've been able to stick to the diet as long as I have is the sweetness of Pepsi Zero Sugar Mango. So that soda, in particular, has helped me lose 23 pounds and counting. Without it, I think I would have series trouble staying on a diet so strict.
So yeah, I have a weight issue, and I'm diet soda drinker, but for me, at least, you had the cause and effect reversed.
Fair enough. I guess the root cause is the need to have sweetness in your diet, though? Which, yeah, might be mostly unchangeable now that you're already in that state (presumably from a long diet of soda).
incidentally as a person who did not grow up drinking soda, it's sickeningly sweet to me. It bothers me a lot, also, that it is actually much sweeter than it tastes due to the carbonation -- if you drink a flat soda you get a better impression of what you're "really" drinking, which is basically just watered-down syrup.
Yeah, I've gone years at a time with no soda, although in my teens I drank so much I'll likely never be able to kick it completely. When I go years without, it does seem super-super-sweet. But also very familiar, and tastes "normal" by the time I finish a single can.
So yeah, I have a weight issue, and I'm diet soda drinker, but for me, at least, you had the cause and effect reversed.