Should I Go Sugar Free?

pudgymama

I have been a MFP member for a long time, but I am just now getting up the motivation to start a serious weightloss journey. I have my exercise plan in place, and now I am trying to focus on lifetime healthy eating changes. I am just plain embarrassed by how much sugar I take in on an average day and I felt that this would be a first goal of mine in my healthy eating journey. This includes not only candy and sweets, but also lots of fruits and other sugars hidden in everyday foods. Can anyone tell me if they have cut 100% of sugar from their diet before to sort of "detox"? What were your results? Did you stop craving sugar after a while? Was it sustainable? Or is it not such a good idea to be so severe? Should I leave natural sugars in my diet or cut fruits altogether? What amount of sugar should I limit myself to per day if I can't give it up completely?

diannethegeek

You might be interested in this discussion currently raging on the boards: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10038631/anyone-else-going-sugar-free-in-2015

pudgymama

Thank you. I hadn't seen that one.

MakePeasNotWar

There is no reason to eliminate sugar, or even drastically reduce it, unless you have a metabolic condition and have been told by your doctor to do so.

If you are concerned about your sugar intake, try replacing some of your high-sugar foods with few nutrients (sweets, cakes, cookies) with vegetables and fruit so you are getting more nutrients per calorie. I don't recommend "banning" anything, because I think it can encourage a pass/fail mentality about your eating, rather than a focus on progress and healthy change.

I eat a lot of fruit, but rarely eat sweets, and I have lost my taste for very sugary things like candy and cake. I still love chocolate, but now I prefer dark, because the milk chocolates aren't chocolatey enough.

markopat

Read The Belly Fat Cure by Jorge Cruise - Everything in it made sense to me. I weighed 285 - heaviest I had ever been in May 2014. Read the book in June after my Doctor suggested it. I have been eating less than 15 grams of sugar a day since then. I also eat 6 servings of carbs or less a day - So it is not like Atkins. The biggest part of this way of eating that helped me lose weight is cutting out the sugars. By drastically cutting your sugar intake, your body greatly reduces the production of insulin. For 30 years, I was eating between 75-200 grams of sugar a day...Your body produces great amounts of insulin...insulin tells your body to produce fats to feed your cells. When your cells have all they need - your body "stores the extra fats" to burn later. By reducing insulin production, your body now tells itself...Now we need that stored fat to burn, and it goes and gets it, instead of producing more. I am eating less than 1650 calories a day and am almost never hungry. It does take a couple weeks for your body to adjust to the lower sugar intake - you almost go through withdrawals to an extent, but it is SO worth it. Hope this helps.

spickard34

I had to go sugar and grain free and fruit free for a bladder condition that I had. I was hard at first then easier because I helped heal me. Then I had a bit of sugar and totally binged hard and gained a bit of weight back that I lost. I don't like elimation diets but I needed to for health reasons. Now I eat limited fruit, I get sugar from veggies and yogurt mostly my intake in natural. No more coffee creamer and stuff like that. So yes you will lose weight but I would not cut natural sugar out like veggies. Maybe limit fruit don't over it. Good Luck

lemurcat12

pudgymama wrote: »

I have my exercise plan in place, and now I am trying to focus on lifetime healthy eating changes. I am just plain embarrassed by how much sugar I take in on an average day and I felt that this would be a first goal of mine in my healthy eating journey. This includes not only candy and sweets, but also lots of fruits and other sugars hidden in everyday foods. Can anyone tell me if they have cut 100% of sugar from their diet before to sort of "detox"? What were your results? Did you stop craving sugar after a while? Was it sustainable? Or is it not such a good idea to be so severe? Should I leave natural sugars in my diet or cut fruits altogether? What amount of sugar should I limit myself to per day if I can't give it up completely?

No, there's no need to "detox." Your body converts food to glucose anyway, and sugar isn't toxic (and besides your body detoxes naturally).

I also see no reason to cut fruit--very few people eat too much fruit, which I would define as so much that you have trouble hitting a reasonable calorie target or habitually overeat or fail to get in adequate nutrients that fruit does not provide (i.e., eating fruit in lieu of protein or veggies).

I also, personally, see no reason to cut out all added sugars instead of just cutting down if you think you are eating too much. Quite often making it all or nothing ends up being non-sustainable. Of course, this will depend on what you are trying to accomplish and why you think this will help. Cutting out sugar seems to be a trendy thing now, however, and I think it's about as useful as the old idea that a super-lowfat diet was a good idea, or in other words, not useful at all.

What I did when I decided to get my diet in order was to figure out where I was eating too much and, especially, what a healthy diet in my mind consisted of. Then I concentrated on planning how I would achieve that healthy diet--in other words, focusing on what I would eat. What I found is that that left a certain amount of space for treats that I liked (sometimes sugary things like ice cream or chocolate, sometimes less nutrient dense or more calorically dense savory things, like the occasional French fries or naan or, very rarely, Chicago style pizza), but only a limited amount, so it basically took care of the issue of overeating these things or having them make up a huge part of my diet.

That's not to say that cutting out treats for a while might not be helpful for you, if you find that you struggle with moderation or have been using them as a crutch of some sort (I tended to snack on certain foods at particular times/for emotional reasons and found it helpful to cut them out for a couple of weeks to get over that), but I really think it's a better approach to focus on the positive aspects of what a healthy diet is rather than making it about cutting out a particular demonized food or group of foods.

goddessofawesome

Fruit isn't bad for you. Yes, it contains sugar but it also contains nutrients and fiber that your body needs.

I personally try to limit my intake on added sugars as well as sweets. Yes, I will occasionally indulge in a deliciously sweet dessert but it's not as often as I used to. I also read labels to see what sort of sugar is in whatever it is I am buying and where exactly on the ingredient list it is. The farther down the list it is the less there is in the product. I honestly don't miss sugar -- and I used to have a wicked sweet tooth as in putting sugar on my sugared cereal! -- and now I can't really stomach things that are too sweet.

esjones12

herrspoons wrote: »

Can you do it for the rest of your life? If the answer is no then don't.

+1 that is my philosophy with weight loss.

Also, good luck eliminating all sugar from your diet. It is really not necessary unless you have a medical condition. There are lots of healthy foods that contain naturally occurring sugar that won't effect your weight loss.

Personally I go through a few bouts a year where I "detox" off processed sugars. I love sweets and refuse to give them up forever (refer to the above quote).....but they can feel addicting and once you start eating you just keep piling it into your mouth. So I'll go a few weeks or months without eating processed sweets. I take the time to make raw/vegan sweets - which STILL contain a ton of [natural] sugar and calories. But they satisfy my cravings without me eating a whole pan. And within a few days my cravings for processed sweets drops off dramatically.

Sabine_Stroehm

Imho there's no harm whatsoever in trying to reduce, or moderate if you prefer, the amount of sugar you're ingesting. Started with the added sugars in candy and pastries etc. I personally don't think one should eliminate all fruit.
It's not a bad approach for lowering calories to create a deficit.

ndj1979

pudgymama wrote: »

I have been a MFP member for a long time, but I am just now getting up the motivation to start a serious weightloss journey. I have my exercise plan in place, and now I am trying to focus on lifetime healthy eating changes. I am just plain embarrassed by how much sugar I take in on an average day and I felt that this would be a first goal of mine in my healthy eating journey. This includes not only candy and sweets, but also lots of fruits and other sugars hidden in everyday foods. Can anyone tell me if they have cut 100% of sugar from their diet before to sort of "detox"? What were your results? Did you stop craving sugar after a while? Was it sustainable? Or is it not such a good idea to be so severe? Should I leave natural sugars in my diet or cut fruits altogether? What amount of sugar should I limit myself to per day if I can't give it up completely?

unless you have a medical condition this is totally unnecessary.

You can eat sugar, be in a deficit, and lose weight; on the flip side you can eliminate sugar, eat in a surplus, and you will gain weight.

I probably get 75-100 grams a day of sugar and my health markers/blood work always come back as good to excellent.

eat in a deficit, work out if you want, get a food scale and weigh/log/measure everything you eat, and enjoy the foods you like in moderation = long term success...

PRMinx

Man, I was hoping there would be a sugar free thread soon....it's been a while.

Mr_Knight

Cutting sugar doesn't mean you will lose weight. It is entirely possible - and actually quite common - for people whose diets are essentially carb-free to gain large amounts of weight.

To get to a deficit, you'll most likely have to reduce sugar intake, but it is unlikely you'll need to eliminate it entirely.

pudgymama

For those of you giving sound advice, I thank you. I was only thinking of going sugar free for a while to try and break what I feel is close to an addiction. I apologize that I didn't scope out other posts first to avoid sounding like a broken record. To the others, thank you for reminding me why I never interact on this site.

itzabellaa

I go through periods where it feels like all I ever want is sugar... like the holidays, hah. Nothing like eating chocolate and candy for a few weeks straight; it does start to feel like an addiction. I know it's (hopefully) temporary though, and I will go back to wanting more natural things and fruit again. I think that seems more like what you're hoping to do, so I get that. What's really helped me is making fruit smoothies, eating fruit for dessert, etc. - substitutions that may help satisfy me.

Sabine_Stroehm

pudgymama wrote: »

For those of you giving sound advice, I thank you. I was only thinking of going sugar free for a while to try and break what I feel is close to an addiction. I apologize that I didn't scope out other posts first to avoid sounding like a broken record. To the others, thank you for reminding me why I never interact on this site.

It certainly can feel like a bad damned habit. Good luck!

FatFreeFrolicking

Unless you have a metabolic disorder, insulin resistance, or diabetes, you don't need to go sugar free. However, if you cannot control yourself with sugar and end up eating it in excess, then maybe I would consider eliminating trigger foods for a while and reintroduce them when you have a better grasp of portion control, etc! Best of luck to you!

Serah87

I find when eliminating sugar or anything for that matter, your more likely to binge on it. I have lost 121 pounds eating everything in moderation and been maintaining for about 4 months now. In life there will be birthday cakes, ice cream, cookies, etc. and parties, weddings, vacations, that's part of life. Learn moderation so when you are confronted with these things you don't eat the whole cake or whatever. My 2 cents.

Syd3Strong

Do not eliminate fruit sugar! You'll be missing a lot of fiber, and vitamins! I would recommend using natural sweeteners such as stevia! Good luck on your weight loss journey!

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yarwell

MrM27 wrote: »

As a grown man you should not be limiting yourself to eating under 1650 calories. That is completely unnecessary.

Would that still apply if your BMR was slightly less than that and you wanted to lose 1 lb/week ?

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yarwell

Just seeking clarification, as to why you feel so strongly that a grown man shouldn't go under 1650 calories. MFP gives a sedentary man looking to lose 1 lb/week quite a bit less than that.

Lilymay2

pudgymama wrote: »

For those of you giving sound advice, I thank you. I was only thinking of going sugar free for a while to try and break what I feel is close to an addiction. I apologize that I didn't scope out other posts first to avoid sounding like a broken record. To the others, thank you for reminding me why I never interact on this site.

I hope you do well in your venture, I had to eliminate high sugar (high glycemic) foods from my diet for health reasons. My naturopath told me it takes 9 months to get the cravings under control. For a short time I took Chromium Picolinate to help with sugar cravings, but I have it under control now. I do have the very occasional sweets, but I get a bad brain freeze headache from it so not too often. Just take it slow, don't cold turkey and you will be fine.

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yarwell

Multiple. BMR = 1672 for example, 189 lbs 5'-8" 54yrs

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yarwell

It's a generalised example. A sedentary male, the TDEE is assumed to be 1.2 times the BMR ?

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yarwell

ah, it was specific advice to markopat rather than a generalisation. I didn't see his current weight. Still don't see the logic though.

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