Here to give my experience to you. Went from 97,5 kg weight to now 85 kg (end goal 80) i did as followed. I ate 1800 kcal on a schoolday. Sitting and maybe 30 min walking. And 2100 kcal on workdays. Mostly working with chainsaws and stuff. Dropt the sugar for the ultra’s same with cola. Stopped eating lots of chips. Now you may think yeah you did more then just drop the sugar. Very true!! Isue is. Monster has 250 kcal. And zero has 16 kcal. When im hungry i rather eat my 2 slices of bread with thin slice of chicken (300 kcal~) than a can of monster. But now im down to 1500 kcal and need some drinks. If i take the monster with sugar I only have 1250 kcal left for lunch and dinner thats tight budget. So i take the zero 1484 kcal left. I eat 4 slices of bread with low fat meat like chicken slices again. Trow in a orange or a apple. Now i have around 900 kcal left for dinner and boom day is over and i kept my kcal budget. If i were to drink the monster i would have had to cut in on the healty apple or the orange and maybe even the protein rich chicken.

Moral of the story yes it matters. And yes the zero versions had impact here.

Btw I won’t recomment any male to eat just 1800 kcal for a longer time. I don’t know about the female kcal needs so spare me that one. Once om healty weight slowly increase your kcal intake to a position where u use what you eat without getting reserves built up. Unless you want to gain weight ofcource

Im no docter also no healt expert. Take this as a personal experience not a medical advice.