Sorry that you are struggling, Andrea, but glad that you avoided the SF candies. Amazing isn't it that something that is SF can cause weight gain? If you get the chance there is a forum topic about Aspartame Syndrome, you might want to check it out. It is very interesting. Evie posted some very eye opening information on the forum, full of reasons to give up the Aspartame. It is under the diet talk forum, and is called Equal-Aspartame. It is possible that this may affect you also. Another good reason to give up that diet soda is the new study that ties drinking ONE diet soda a day to a 67% increased risk of stroke and heart attack. I know you are trying so hard, and perhaps this info will help you stay strong.
This is the info Evie posted (I am sure she will not mind my sharing with you, since it is so hard to post a link in the comments section): Aspartame is scary. I wanted to share my personal experience in hopes I could help someone else. Years ago, desiring to lose some weight, I began to consume various sugar-free products, especially sodas, which were sweetened with aspartame. Over time, I began to experience adverse side effects. Allow me, if you please, to fast-forward to a later time, when I was stuck in a hotel room on the evening after a teaching conference. Channel surfing, I came up on an infomercial explaining the evils of aspartame, detailing side-effects and offering to mail some free information. While watching, I honestly and truly felt as if they were describing ME. They described head-aches and blurry vision, inability to remember or recall short-term memory tasks and a plethora of other adverse symptoms of what is called Aspartame Syndrome. I instantly remembered my students just asking me that very week while in class if I was okay. Standing near my brightly lit overhead projector, I began to feel as if a hazy film blurred my vision; rubbing my eyes and temples my students became concerned. I blinked hard several times in effort to clear the fog until I felt I could proceed. This problem continued to happen, as did numerous headaches. The worst problem I experienced was with my memory; I have always had a keen memory, able to remember very minute details - and there I was, forgetting significant things such as an afternoon parent-teacher conference or a meeting with the teachers whom I mentored after school. All I could ask was what is happening to me? This is so absolutely unlike me. I will be forever grateful for viewing that random program on the dangers of aspartame. Aspartame syndrome can even lead to brain tumors, I learned...and cancer. Immediately I gave it up "cold turkey" - no more sodas sweetened with asparatame and I cut out all foods which uses asparatme as a sweetner. In no time at all, every single symptom left me. I've never had any of those same adverse reactions reoccur. The key thing to remember is this: if consumed on a regular basis, or in abundance, asparatame syndrome can most certainly become a real threat. If rarely consumed, one will not likely experience the adverse problems.
A dear friend of mine was complaining about her inability to focus, to remember details, often forget vital things - whether in conversations we had or plans we had made. As a bank president, she began to feel wary due to the small details that she was allowing to slip by her due to her increased forgetfullness. She also gained a lot of weight, especially in her midsection, and complained of aching and lethargy. For three years I'd been asking her to give up her aspartame-laden soft drinks. She finally listened. She has been aspartame free for over one month and every symptom she had is gone. The aching she felt in her joints, especially hands, is entirely gone. She is back to her old self and she attributes it to giving up aspartame.
If someone reading this post is hooked on diet sodas, may I recommend Diet Rite products which are the few products not sweetened with the poison? If your grocier does not carry it, simply request they order for you. We've suggested this to friends and their grociers happily comply and are even surprised at the frequency with which they sell out. There are a variet of flavors, too.
This helped us to wean ourselves off of diet sodas, altogether. Today I only drink water, tea or coffee...and I don't even care for carbonated beverages anymore. I no longer have any cravings for the stuff at all. Just so you know, we were soda-holics a long time ago. My husband could down a 2 liter of Coke daily by himself with no problem. Now all we have a taste for, really, is WATER.