I don't know about weight loss, but I question the safety of aspartame. It took me months upon months to figure out it was the cause of some very extreme migraines I was having a few years back. Got so bad at one point that I'd spend a week in bed at a time, unable to do anything; I couldn't even read or watch TV. And I didn't realize how much it was affecting my every day life outside of the migraines; for close to two years I felt constant fogginess, confusion, and unusually high anxieties, which I initially attributed to allergies and stress when I moved across the country. I was also having a lot of crazy issues with my bladder, and not just the "overactive" problems.
It all disappeared after I stopped drinking diet soda and eating certain diet foods sweetened with aspartame, most notably instant powdered drinks, popsicles, jello, and instant pudding. I eventually realized those issues started when I moved because I thought it was also a good time to switch to diet products to cut down on my calories. I
always check labels for aspartame these days, and items go back on the shelf if it contains any. It's even added to non-diet items and foods targeted toward children!
It's hard to find soda sweetened with sucralose and even harder to find any sweetened with stevia (which is a natural non-nutritive sweetener), so I pretty much avoid soda altogether anymore unless it's a special occasion. I'll buy a small case of Diet Hansen's as a treat when we're having a holiday family dinner, for example. And sometimes I make my own using a Sodastream with plain cranberry juice. I'm actually a little wary of sucralose but I haven't personally noticed a reaction so I figure I'm ok with having the Hanson's a few times a year and the very occasional no-sugar-added product (which is also a special occasion thing). I've also tried Zevia (which is sweetened with stevia) but it's pretty expensive and not available where I typically shop.
I feel happy to have kicked not only the soda habit, but that I don't drink juice outside of small amounts of grapefruit and cranberry, both unsweetened. I should mention that I do drink small amounts of regular, full-sugar 7-up when I'm sick with the flu or something and have a nauseated stomach, but it's not enough to throw off my diet or increase my cravings. Regardless, I haven't been a
regular drinker of
any soda in about three years, even when I'm not consciously dieting. I drink a lot of water and tea at home and tend to order water with lemon whenever I eat out.