Secondary Elements to Weight Loss (sugars, sodiums, fats, water, etc...)

1atjensen

I wanted to get some thoughts on what people felt about what I would consider "secondary elements" of nutrition when it comes to weight loss. That title is somewhat misleading as most of the items we will talk about have a direct impact on weight loss but from what I have see is that they are normally the talked about after someone has a good understanding of nutrition in general. I would consider the primary element of weight loss to be "calories in and calories out".

I have got my calories in and out under control and am losing weight. However, I would like to better understand more about how to perfect that process. For example, I don't know too much about sugar but have heard that too much sugar can have a major negative impact on weight loss. I heard that with the spike in insulin it can send messages to the body to store more fat than you normally would. Also, the problem with sugar is that its easy to "stay within your calorie goal" and consuming more grams of sugar that you probably should. I think Sodium would be another element.

So I have two questions:

1. What would you consider some of the "secondary elements" of weight loss once you have calories in and out taken care of (only list items regarding nutrition and not things like exercise etc..)?
2. What are good rules of thumbs regarding those elements (amounts, tips, etc...)

If at all possible please provide sources if possible

Thanks in advance.

kommodevaran

Eat in a way that makes it as easy for you as possible to adhere to your calorie goal.

Chrisparadise579

I think the most important secondary element would be your macronutrient ratios. It is very important to monitor your protein, fat, and carb intake to get better results. After that I would say monitoring your water and fiber intake. Limiting sodium doesnt effect weight loss, just water retention and if too low can increase water retention. Sugar is a carb, plain and simple. If you ingest alot at one time then yes it will cause an insulin boost but all that does is temporarily pause active fat loss(only about 15-30 minutes) If you want to talk more about this feel free to message me.

RaspberryTickleChicken

Chrisparadise579 wrote: »

I think the most important secondary element would be your macronutrient ratios. It is very important to monitor your protein, fat, and carb intake to get better results. After that I would say monitoring your water and fiber intake. Limiting sodium doesnt effect weight loss, just water retention and if too low can increase water retention. Sugar is a carb, plain and simple. If you ingest alot at one time then yes it will cause an insulin boost but all that does is temporarily pause active fat loss(only about 15-30 minutes) If you want to talk more about this feel free to message me.

+1

And do you remember that saying waaaay back when, 'READING is FUNDAMENTAL'? I've found it crucial to READ food labels!

Don't just glance at the label of something with the current popular 'buzz words' for healthy (fat free, natural, gluten free, etc) and assume it's the healthiest option.

For example, did you know that MANY 'fat-free' items have more carbs and sugar than it's regular version? Sure the calories are less but the carbs & sugars in things most people don't expect to have in them can add up rather quickly.

lemurcat12

1atjensen wrote: »

I heard that with the spike in insulin it can send messages to the body to store more fat than you normally would.

You are always storing and using fat, but the key point and why this is misleading is that you aren't going to add fat on a deficit.

The deal with sugar is: (1) WHO and others recommend limiting added sugars because if you aren't counting there's a decent chance, in the modern world, that eating lots of foods with added sugars correlates to eating excess calories, and thus obesity, as well as it being likely that you are eating more non-nutrient dense foods than is ideal. (For this, read WHO's reasoning for its limits.) If you are counting, you know whether this is true or not, so it's not really an issue. MFP's goal is different than these because it's based on sugar generally (not added sugar) and the rationale for limiting added sugars applies even less to stuff like fruit (which are nutrient dense). Also, (2) for some people, generally those with some degree of insulin resistance, eating sugar will result in a spike of insulin that is beyond what you would normally want and which has the effect of making you hungry despite the calories you ate often. So these people (and to a lesser degree many of the rest of us) may find that eating sugary foods (and also carbs or at least carbs without much fiber) results in more difficulty feeling satiated/more hunger.

1. What would you consider some of the "secondary elements" of weight loss once you have calories in and out taken care of (only list items regarding nutrition and not things like exercise etc..)?

Like others have said, those that make it easier to eat a proper amount of food (not go over my calories and ideally not to even have to worry about wanting to). This is based on personal experimentation with my macros.

Also, maintaining muscle--you get different ideas about this, but I like 1 gram per lb of lean body mass while exercising and on a deficit, to be safe. It has the added benefit of correlating with what is a satiating diet for me.

Fueling exercise--for me this usually means I need slightly higher carbs than I was eating at one point, but I usually just go by my body's signals on this.

Fiber--the MFP goal seems reasonable.

Nutrients--can't really use MFP that well, since the information is often complete, so I just try to eat a balanced, varied diet with lots of vegetables and some fruit. Also, a good amount of oily fish like salmon. (I found that taking a multi upset my stomach, so I find that another reason to focus on getting it through foods.)

I don't micro manage it in the way you seem interested in (not saying that's a bad goal), since it would drive me mad.