Should I Go Sugar Free?
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In my experience, reducing added sugar and simple carbs in my diet was a great recipe for me to stick to my chosen level of intake better. I tapered back on both, rather than cut them out immediately, and think this helped a lot, in that I never really craved anything I reduced or eliminated then.
I also feel gradual change to be very effective in general, as while I have a weakness for sweeping and broad change, there tend to be less flashpoints for potential failure with more gradual changes. I will say though that the above excludes the case where there are some things that need to change straight away, as if there are some major fires, it tends to be best to extinguish those asap first, and then tackle the smaller ones.
An example here would be if you were eating substantially more than your maintenance calories every day, and it was critical to at least cut back to maintenance levels first before anything else. In such a case, a big immediate change is called for immediately, and I find it best to make such changes so you can at least get onto an even keel before properly tackling your larger goals.
Anyway, just my 2 cents, and would just add that how much you eat is more important than what you eat when speaking in purely weight-loss terms, but what you eat can play a big role in being able to sustain that level of how much you do eat. I find this was the case for me with added sugar and simple carbs.
Re: sugar and carbs in general, the way I look at it, if I eat these foods, they had better be wrapped up in some fibre/ be of the slow-releasing variety preferrably/ be part of an otherwise balanced meal, as otherwise they become problematic foods with regard to hunger and blood sugar levels I find personally, and those have a very real impact on how much I am inclined to eat that day
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Definitely watch Sugar: The Bitter Truth, it fired me up in gear to decide to go sugar-free which I would have never thought I would EVER do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
Chocolate, candies, ice cream, yoghurt, coffee, pop... you name it, I ate it! What I have done is I quit drinking coffee (a Timmies large double double has 300cals and 30g of sugar!!!) and pop because I knew that would make a HUGE difference in the lapse of a week. At the same time I started gradually lowered my carbs. Immediately I felt way better and started losing weight (4lbs is 10 days, counting xmas parties and which I exceeded my TDEE by about 400cals each time). On Dec 26th I started Atkins Induction Phase 1. This is a diet based off Low Carb High Fat (and lot of proteins too!). In 6 days so far I've lost another 4.4lbs! So this brings me so far to 8.4lbs in 16 days, DURING the holidays!
Since starting the induction phase of Atkins allowing 20g net carbs/day (net carbs = g of carbs - g of fiber), I feel so much better: my sleep quality and patterns have both improved, my face is clearing up, my cravings are gone (I've been binge-free for 16 days now!!! HUGE win for me, as this was getting really bad!).
Before going low carb, I've tried to only count calories, but I always felt like I was starving on 1200cals/day. Now, somedays I am even a little bit (50-100cals) under 1200cals! I don't know if you were to cut only carbs if it would work as well, as I have naturally consumed a minimal amount of calories while cutting out carbs. My diet consist of 3 servings of greens/day, 1 other serving of non-starchy vegetables, 1oz of cheese and I fill in the gap with quality fat and proteins. I use coconut oil for cooking, unless I just cooked meat then I use its fat, olive oil and vinegar for dressing. I eat 1-2 eggs and 2 strips of bacon every morning. Usually have cheese and deli meat/meatballs for snack, sometimes olives of pickled beets (watch for hidden sugar!).
It's been working so far from me! So pleased with the results. Eventually I will move on to the next phases and up the carbs and re-introduce them slowly so that I can transition from ''kick-start diet'' to ''life-long changes''. I am excited to keep going on that path and reap the benefits from it. So relieved to not be the slave to my cravings anymore.
If you are interested, I highly suggest that you read Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution and/or visit the website for more information! Personally, I don't use any supplement or meal replacement/no-sugar processed treats that they offer. I eat straight up real food. I have had enough of the processed junk, I've learned my lesson! This is what worked for me, we all are different so this may not be for you, but this way of eating helped me a lot to make it a lifestyle. While eating carbs, I was always hungry and had cravings and energy crashes all the time.
Hope it helps!
Atkins: How it works http://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/atkins-20
Atkins Phase 1: Induction http://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/atkins-20/phase-10 -
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Correct me if I'm wrong but one doesn't need to exercise to lose weight. As it is my understanding from all the information on the board one just needs to reduce their calorie intake.
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Definitely watch Sugar: The Bitter Truth, it fired me up in gear to decide to go sugar-free which I would have never thought I would EVER do. https://www.youtube.ch?v=dBnniua6-oM
Chocolate, candies, ice cream, yoghurt, coffee, pop... you name it, I ate it! What I have done is I quit drinking coffee (a Timmies large double double has 300cals and 30g of sugar!!!) and pop because I knew that would make a HUGE difference in the lapse of a week. At the same time I started gradually lowered my carbs. Immediately I felt way better and started losing weight (4lbs is 10 days, counting xmas parties and which I exceeded my TDEE by about 400cals each time). On Dec 26th I started Atkins Induction Phase 1. This is a diet based off Low Carb High Fat (and lot of proteins too!). In 6 days so far I've lost another 4.4lbs! So this brings me so far to 8.4lbs in 16 days, DURING the holidays!
Since starting the induction phase of Atkins allowing 20g net carbs/day (net carbs = g of carbs - g of fiber), I feel so much better: my sleep quality and patterns have both improved, my face is clearing up, my cravings are gone (I've been binge-free for 16 days now!!! HUGE win for me, as this was getting really bad!).
Before going low carb, I've tried to only count calories, but I always felt like I was starving on 1200cals/day. Now, somedays I am even a little bit (50-100cals) under 1200cals! I don't know if you were to cut only carbs if it would work as well, as I have naturally consumed a minimal amount of calories while cutting out carbs. My diet consist of 3 servings of greens/day, 1 other serving of non-starchy vegetables, 1oz of cheese and I fill in the gap with quality fat and proteins. I use coconut oil for cooking, unless I just cooked meat then I use its fat, olive oil and vinegar for dressing. I eat 1-2 eggs and 2 strips of bacon every morning. Usually have cheese and deli meat/meatballs for snack, sometimes olives of pickled beets (watch for hidden sugar!).
It's been working so far from me! So pleased with the results. Eventually I will move on to the next phases and up the carbs and re-introduce them slowly so that I can transition from ''kick-start diet'' to ''life-long changes''. I am excited to keep going on that path and reap the benefits from it. So relieved to not be the slave to my cravings anymore.
If you are interested, I highly suggest that you read Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution and/or visit the website for more information! Personally, I don't use any supplement or meal replacement/no-sugar processed treats that they offer. I eat straight up real food. I have had enough of the processed junk, I've learned my lesson! This is what worked for me, we all are different so this may not be for you, but this way of eating helped me a lot to make it a lifestyle. While eating carbs, I was always hungry and had cravings and energy crashes all the time.
Hope it helps!
Atkins: How it works http://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/atkins-20
Atkins Phase 1: Induction http://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/atkins-20/phase-1
Oh look LUSTIG!!! Pass on that fear mongering individual that was already destroyed by Alan Aragon.
To expand on that, below are the articles.
http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/
Also, if you were starving on 1200 calories, it's probably because you weren't eating the right types of food to feel full and on top of that, if you are active, there is pretty much no reason to eat that low.
OP, regarding sugar, just try to get the majority of your calories from nutrient dense whole foods and lean meats. And if you have extra calories, enjoy yourself a little. Personally, i aim to get 80-90% of my diet from fruits, veggies, meats and dairy. And 10-20% from chocolate or ice cream.
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If you knock out all soda that is a huge step. Weight will start falling off. Fruits are fine and chocolate is okay in moderation. I would focus on drinking water only for a couple weeks. Then when you get an unsweet tea it will taste like heaven. You want to do something that you can stick to forever.0
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If you knock out all soda that is a huge step. Weight will start falling off. Fruits are fine and chocolate is okay in moderation. I would focus on drinking water only for a couple weeks. Then when you get an unsweet tea it will taste like heaven. You want to do something that you can stick to forever.
But you can lose weight AND drink soda... don't see your point.0 -
Chocolate, candies, ice cream, yoghurt, coffee, pop... you name it, I ate it!
The only sugar in plain yogurt is lactose, diet pop, of course, has no sugar (people might not want to drink it for other reasons, but this is apparently about sugar), and rather obviously coffee does not have sugar unless you add it.
Dropping coffee and pop would reduce my sugar intake by precisely 0.
Dropping yogurt and other dairy (containing lactose) would deprive me of an excellent source of protein and other benefits.
Dropping chocolate and ice cream would eliminate some tasty treats and seems unnecessary when you can just decide to eat them in smaller quantities depending on what fits into your overall diet. I actually do eat ice cream quite often still, but I've eaten pie twice in the past year, and yet I wouldn't claim I've eliminated pie. Why would eliminating it be healthier than simply eating it sparingly when I have discretionary calories?
I never binged anyway, but I've lost 90 lbs, so I know it's not necessary to drop sugar entirely.
I also wouldn't think that losing on less than 1200 calories is really the ideal to recommend to someone starting out.
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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.
People here can be *kitten* and feel like they know everything. There is nothing wrong with you asking for advice. There is also nothing wrong with not having fine tooth combed the whole site before asking a legitimate question.
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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.
People here can be *kitten* and feel like they know everything. There is nothing wrong with you asking for advice. There is also nothing wrong with not having fine tooth combed the whole site before asking a legitimate question.
I'm sorry if I came off as ****y for linking to a thread on the subject. It's a topic that brings out a lot of different opinions and arguments and I felt that it might be better if the OP saw it happening on another thread before it happened here where it was more likely to be taken personally.
Oftentimes topics have been well covered elsewhere and linking to the thread is just a lot easier than rehashing and retyping things over and over again. In this case it wasn't meant to call her out for not "having fine tooth combed the whole site" but an easy way to link her to all of the arguments for and against in one thread.
I'm a jerk if I post a link, I'm a jerk if I copy/paste advice. No winning around here.
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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?
pudgymana after a lifetime of sugar abuse I decided to cut back and did for Aug-Sept but was not able to cut it back day after day. I gotten really ticked that I was letting sugar abuse hurt me and when cold turkey first of Oct.
Thought I was going to die for the first two weeks but then the cravings failed away after I replaced the carbs with fat (coconut oil is my go to fat). I have lost 15 pounds in the last 90 days and still am off of sugar. Yes I gave up most all fruit.
A much younger person (I am 63) might not have to do that but I was eating 2000-3000 calories of carbs a lot of days so they had me bad.
Best of luck. Carbs are not required but if you cut them out they will tell you it is a lie. Try to not listen to the songs of the Carbs.
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When the experts talk about limiting sugar, they're talking about added sugars, not the sugar in fruit. For most people, there is no problem eating fruit. Unless your doctor tells you to cut the fruit out, there is no reason you need to do that.
If you want to cut every bit of sugar out of your diet, though, I am not here to fight about what you should and shouldn't eat, lol. Your body, your life, your choices. 0 -
When the experts talk about limiting sugar, they're talking about added sugars, not the sugar in fruit. For most people, there is no problem eating fruit. Unless your doctor tells you to cut the fruit out, there is no reason you need to do that.
If you want to cut every bit of sugar out of your diet, though, I am not here to fight about what you should and shouldn't eat, lol. Your body, your life, your choices.
Is that even possible?
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Laurend224 wrote: »When the experts talk about limiting sugar, they're talking about added sugars, not the sugar in fruit. For most people, there is no problem eating fruit. Unless your doctor tells you to cut the fruit out, there is no reason you need to do that.
If you want to cut every bit of sugar out of your diet, though, I am not here to fight about what you should and shouldn't eat, lol. Your body, your life, your choices.
Is that even possible?
Kind of possible but when limiting carbs to <50 grams for nutrition ketosis at will only permit nuts and some low carb veggies often.
Like almonds for example. An ounce contains 6 grams of carbs and one gram of sugar. Macadamia nuts I am looking at has 4g of carbs with 1 g being sugar.
Carbs do not cause health issues in all people is my guess but they do in my case.
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