The problem is that I don't really drink anything else other than water. I don't like coffee (unless it's coffee-flavored chocolate milk, often called "mochas") or tea, never drank any kind of alcohol, can't drink much milk due to my lactose intolerance, despise most vegetable juices, and don't drink fruit juices that often because their sugar content and calorie counts are about the same (and sometimes worse) than soda while they are significantly more expensive. That leaves water.
It's not like I even drank a soda a day. I usually reserved drinking them for times when people are over, special occasions, and food that I associate with soda (hamburgers, etc.). Still, I know that I drank it more than I should. Even when I took measures to cut back, I quickly found myself reverting to a more frequent schedule of soda drinking.
That changed when I came to Alaska. The soda prices are high enough and our funds low enough that I decided to stop cold turkey. I only had three lapses in this. The first was at our staff get-together at the beginning of the year. Another was from Costco and its amazingly inexpensive fountain drinks. The last was when a friend brought over two liters as part of a dinner that we shared. "The last" ...
Considering now the health risks, I've now had my last pop. The thing is that I love pop. Gone now will be my joy of a good root beer, creme soda, Vernors, Throwback Mountain Dew, Vanilla Coke, Squirt, Ruby Red Squirt, Dr. Pepper, Orange Crush, Faygo Rock N Rye, and the many variations that I have enjoyed over the years (especially including my "mixed drink" of Mountain Dew on the bottom, ice, and Pepsi on top). Now I get water.
I wish I had paid more attention to that last one.