Quitting Sugar - any success stories out there
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A year ago, I stopped eating sugar - I don't eat anything with more than 5g of sugar (this means pretty much no milk, etc). Try it and you'll realize how much sugar there is in everything. I dropped 100 pounds in a year. I didn't do much else, besides avoid sugar.0
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A year ago, I stopped eating sugar - I don't eat anything with more than 5g of sugar (this means pretty much no milk, etc). Try it and you'll realize how much sugar there is in everything. I dropped 100 pounds in a year. I didn't do much else, besides avoid sugar.
So you didn't create a calorie deficit? Just not eating sugar made you lose weight?-1 -
A year ago, I stopped eating sugar - I don't eat anything with more than 5g of sugar (this means pretty much no milk, etc). Try it and you'll realize how much sugar there is in everything. I dropped 100 pounds in a year. I didn't do much else, besides avoid sugar.
Congrats on the loss! Sounds like a pretty simple way to approach it.0 -
Try eating Quest Bars and Pure Protein bars. Yes they are sugar free but taste delicious. That's how I stopped eating sugar.0
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »megsmith45 wrote: »Years ago I cut out high fructose corn syrup to help manage my triglycerides.
Did your triglycerides go down?
They went from 1,100 to 430 just by cutting high fructose corn syrup (it's a known thing - there are lots of studies on NIH's site). Now that I walk for an hour a day they are down to 210. After being 800 or higher since I was 10 years old, that 210 feels like a huge victory.
. If you get all the HCFS out of your diet, you can probably see a better test result in 30 days.
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I don't eat HFCS. My doc is always impressed with my numbers. (My triglycerides are 40, currently. I have often told him I think it's because I limit heavily refined carbs. Perhaps I'm right.megsmith45 wrote: »Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »megsmith45 wrote: »Years ago I cut out high fructose corn syrup to help manage my triglycerides.
Did your triglycerides go down?
They went from 1,100 to 430 just by cutting high fructose corn syrup (it's a known thing - there are lots of studies on NIH's site). Now that I walk for an hour a day they are down to 210. After being 800 or higher since I was 10 years old, that 210 feels like a huge victory.. If you get all the HCFS out of your diet, you can probably see a better test result in 30 days.
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Nope you're right about that. I shoot for sustainable weight loss. 10% deficit. .5 pounds a week (or less). MFP shoots for calories too low. Body needs fuel to function. Slow and steady weight loss and having a more sustainable deficit helps both physically and psychologically.Balance_Moderation wrote: »Use a GOOD calculator to calculate your calories, too NOT MFP. MFP says I should be eating just a wee bit over 1500 -- Um my BMR is 1520
I use Scooby Workshop for my calculator and it recommends for a modest deficit (10%) I should be eating 2300 calories and guess what? I am down 10 pounds. I highly recommend checking out the Eat More 2 Weigh Less group here. They'll help you figure out your calories based off of your exercise and daily activity. 1200 is WAY TOO LOW!!
Bit of misinformation here as MFP isn't a TDEE calculator.
The MFP goal is plus exercise calories, Scooby isn't and I don't suppose you dialled in the same rate of weight loss into both Scooby and MFP either.
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
I don't eat HFCS. My doc is always impressed with my numbers. I have often told him I think it's because I limit heavily refined carbs. Perhaps I'm right.megsmith45 wrote: »Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »megsmith45 wrote: »Years ago I cut out high fructose corn syrup to help manage my triglycerides.
Did your triglycerides go down?
They went from 1,100 to 430 just by cutting high fructose corn syrup (it's a known thing - there are lots of studies on NIH's site). Now that I walk for an hour a day they are down to 210. After being 800 or higher since I was 10 years old, that 210 feels like a huge victory.. If you get all the HCFS out of your diet, you can probably see a better test result in 30 days.
I think so, too. I'm six months away from my next test, but I've reduced wheat to a once-a-week thing, which might make it go down even more. I'm impatient to find out. 0 -
A year ago, I stopped eating sugar - I don't eat anything with more than 5g of sugar (this means pretty much no milk, etc). Try it and you'll realize how much sugar there is in everything. I dropped 100 pounds in a year. I didn't do much else, besides avoid sugar.
So you didn't create a calorie deficit? Just not eating sugar made you lose weight?
The only way to lose weight is a calorie deficit.
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megsmith45 wrote: »Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
I don't eat HFCS. My doc is always impressed with my numbers. I have often told him I think it's because I limit heavily refined carbs. Perhaps I'm right.megsmith45 wrote: »Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »megsmith45 wrote: »Years ago I cut out high fructose corn syrup to help manage my triglycerides.
Did your triglycerides go down?
They went from 1,100 to 430 just by cutting high fructose corn syrup (it's a known thing - there are lots of studies on NIH's site). Now that I walk for an hour a day they are down to 210. After being 800 or higher since I was 10 years old, that 210 feels like a huge victory.. If you get all the HCFS out of your diet, you can probably see a better test result in 30 days.
I think so, too. I'm six months away from my next test, but I've reduced wheat to a once-a-week thing, which might make it go down even more. I'm impatient to find out.
Good luck! I hope that number is even lower then!0 -
Balance_Moderation wrote: »
Nope you're right about that. I shoot for sustainable weight loss. 10% deficit. .5 pounds a week (or less). MFP shoots for calories too low. Body needs fuel to function. Slow and steady weight loss and having a more sustainable deficit helps both physically and psychologically.Balance_Moderation wrote: »Use a GOOD calculator to calculate your calories, too NOT MFP. MFP says I should be eating just a wee bit over 1500 -- Um my BMR is 1520 I use Scooby Workshop for my calculator and it recommends for a modest deficit (10%) I should be eating 2300 calories and guess what? I am down 10 pounds. I highly recommend checking out the Eat More 2 Weigh Less group here. They'll help you figure out your calories based off of your exercise and daily activity. 1200 is WAY TOO LOW!!
Bit of misinformation here as MFP isn't a TDEE calculator.
The MFP goal is plus exercise calories, Scooby isn't and I don't suppose you dialled in the same rate of weight loss into both Scooby and MFP either.
Nope - you select the rate of weight loss yourself.
MFP doesn't "shoot calories too low", many people select an inappropriate rate of weight loss and then compound the problem by not eating back exercise calories. That's a problem with the person and not the method.
I totally agree with you about the benefits of a slow rate of weight loss by the way so just trying to clarify the differences in methods between TDEE calculators and MFP.-1 -
Balance_Moderation wrote: »A year ago, I stopped eating sugar - I don't eat anything with more than 5g of sugar (this means pretty much no milk, etc). Try it and you'll realize how much sugar there is in everything. I dropped 100 pounds in a year. I didn't do much else, besides avoid sugar.
So you didn't create a calorie deficit? Just not eating sugar made you lose weight?
The only way to lose weight is a calorie deficit.
Yes, that was my point.-1 -
Balance_Moderation wrote: »
Nope you're right about that. I shoot for sustainable weight loss. 10% deficit. .5 pounds a week (or less). MFP shoots for calories too low. Body needs fuel to function. Slow and steady weight loss and having a more sustainable deficit helps both physically and psychologically.Balance_Moderation wrote: »Use a GOOD calculator to calculate your calories, too NOT MFP. MFP says I should be eating just a wee bit over 1500 -- Um my BMR is 1520 I use Scooby Workshop for my calculator and it recommends for a modest deficit (10%) I should be eating 2300 calories and guess what? I am down 10 pounds. I highly recommend checking out the Eat More 2 Weigh Less group here. They'll help you figure out your calories based off of your exercise and daily activity. 1200 is WAY TOO LOW!!
Bit of misinformation here as MFP isn't a TDEE calculator.
The MFP goal is plus exercise calories, Scooby isn't and I don't suppose you dialled in the same rate of weight loss into both Scooby and MFP either.
Nope - you select the rate of weight loss yourself.
MFP doesn't "shoot calories too low", many people select an inappropriate rate of weight loss and then compound the problem by not eating back exercise calories. That's a problem with the person and not the method.
I totally agree with you about the benefits of a slow rate of weight loss by the way so just trying to clarify the differences in methods between TDEE calculators and MFP.
Possibly. I might have been selecting an activity level that was too low. For the longest time I was underestimating the amount of activity in my life (as I think a lot do). I think it is easy to only account for intentional activity and not the daily busy (aka NEAT activity). It wasn't until I came to the EM2WL group that I figured I was waaaay underestimnating my daily activity. In the past I would shoot for the 1200 calorie diets and would simply crash. No energy for anything. Now, at a steady weight loss I am eating 2300+. But I was using MFP but setting my activity level as too low. So, you might be right. I just like the Scooby because it automatically figures 5, 10, 15% deficit. Simply put the numbers in as goal for MFP and not account for any additional activity since it is already figured as a part of the Scooby numbers.
So, long story short -- I do think that you might be right. However to the OP, I do think that the numbers she stated are way too low and she should look at those rather than "quitting sugar". Figure out an appropriate and modest deficit and moderate the diet instead of eliminating/vilifying foods.0 -
Balance_Moderation wrote: »A year ago, I stopped eating sugar - I don't eat anything with more than 5g of sugar (this means pretty much no milk, etc). Try it and you'll realize how much sugar there is in everything. I dropped 100 pounds in a year. I didn't do much else, besides avoid sugar.
So you didn't create a calorie deficit? Just not eating sugar made you lose weight?
The only way to lose weight is a calorie deficit.
Yes, that was my point.
Ah, gotcha -- amazing to me how many people really believe "cutting carbs" or "quitting sugar" is the reason for their weight loss. It isn't.
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
I don't eat HFCS. My doc is always impressed with my numbers. (My triglycerides are 40, currently. I have often told him I think it's because I limit heavily refined carbs. Perhaps I'm right.megsmith45 wrote: »Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »megsmith45 wrote: »Years ago I cut out high fructose corn syrup to help manage my triglycerides.
Did your triglycerides go down?
They went from 1,100 to 430 just by cutting high fructose corn syrup (it's a known thing - there are lots of studies on NIH's site). Now that I walk for an hour a day they are down to 210. After being 800 or higher since I was 10 years old, that 210 feels like a huge victory.. If you get all the HCFS out of your diet, you can probably see a better test result in 30 days.
I eat refined carbs, hfcs etc etc and my triglycerides are a 49, which is still an excellent number (blood work done last week). Go figure 0 -
A year ago, I stopped eating sugar - I don't eat anything with more than 5g of sugar (this means pretty much no milk, etc). Try it and you'll realize how much sugar there is in everything. I dropped 100 pounds in a year. I didn't do much else, besides avoid sugar.
So lactose. Fruit also? I had a not especially large serving of blueberries (one of the lower sugar fruits) this morning, and it had more than 5 grams of sugar. Beets and sweet potatoes and carrots too (if the serving size is one cup, anyway)?
Often when people say this they mean added sugars, but if you take it so far that you are recommending cutting out dairy and fruit, etc., I don't think it's particularly good general advice and it certainly isn't consistent with mainstream nutrition advice, which is relevant as people always say it doesn't matter whether it's necessary for weight loss if it's supposedly good for health. I think it's a shame that the common sense advice to reduce added sugar (which is a reflection of the amount of sugar in the SAD) has gotten blown up into an anti fruit thing so often.
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »A year ago, I stopped eating sugar - I don't eat anything with more than 5g of sugar (this means pretty much no milk, etc). Try it and you'll realize how much sugar there is in everything. I dropped 100 pounds in a year. I didn't do much else, besides avoid sugar.
Congrats on the loss! Sounds like a pretty simple way to approach it.
Cutting out fruit and dairy, seriously?0 -
lulucitron wrote: »Greek yogurt only has about 5g of sugar in it and no fat.
Greek yogurt has however much fat as comes in the kind of yogurt it is--from around 10% to 0%. I don't know why you'd claim that by definition greek yogurt has no fat. (Also, nothing wrong with fat.)
A half cup of plain has about 5 grams of sugar, all lactose.0 -
I can relate, OP. I think of myself as a sugar addict. I mean it truly, in the sense that I am one of these people who can't have a high carb diet because I will eat and eat and eat...candy and carby snacks all day...my dad developed diabetes late in life and I am basically headed that way if I don't change my eating habits. I am about 25lb overweight now having lost about 10lb in the last month through a high fat, moderate protein and low sugar diet. I'm 36. You have to remember that white bread and potatoes and candy are all sugar in our digestive system.
I'd suggest that you look into a blood sugar-stabilizing diet, like some form of a vegetarian high fat diet...I am not vegetarian so it's easy for me to follow a high fat/medium protein diet...forget about calorie counting for now...that won't work.
From my experience, energy levels are all about stabilizing blood sugar and keeping the insulin levels low. I am not diabetic (yet!), but it has made total sense to me. I also think that if you happen to have had depression in the past (I have), you just HAVE to cut out sugar...I haven't felt this good in years. Sugar is all about mood swings.
I have a maximum of 50 g of carbs (aka "sugars") a day and that is the equivalent of three slices of whole wheat fiber bread. I tend to "spend" my carbs on greek yogurt in the morning (with chia seeds and almonds) and a slice of bread here and there. The rest is veggies and residual carbs from cheeses (which are now a big part of my diet). I also have coconut milk and chia pudding with stevia in the fridge at all times (and excellent "sweet" and high fat snack).
Good luck!0 -
I can relate, OP. I think of myself as a sugar addict. I mean it truly, in the sense that I am one of these people who can't have a high carb diet because I will eat and eat and eat...candy and carby snacks all day...my dad developed diabetes late in life and I am basically headed that way if I don't change my eating habits. I am about 25lb overweight now having lost about 10lb in the last month through a high fat, moderate protein and low sugar diet. I'm 36. You have to remember that white bread and potatoes and candy are all sugar in our digestive system.
I'd suggest that you look into a blood sugar-stabilizing diet, like some form of a vegetarian high fat diet...I am not vegetarian so it's easy for me to follow a high fat/medium protein diet...forget about calorie counting for now...that won't work.
From my experience, energy levels are all about stabilizing blood sugar and keeping the insulin levels low. I am not diabetic (yet!), but it has made total sense to me. I also think that if you happen to have had depression in the past (I have), you just HAVE to cut out sugar...I haven't felt this good in years. Sugar is all about mood swings.
I have a maximum of 50 g of carbs (aka "sugars") a day and that is the equivalent of three slices of whole wheat fiber bread. I tend to "spend" my carbs on greek yogurt in the morning (with chia seeds and almonds) and a slice of bread here and there. The rest is veggies and residual carbs from cheeses (which are now a big part of my diet). I also have coconut milk and chia pudding with stevia in the fridge at all times (and excellent "sweet" and high fat snack).
Good luck!
You absolutely do not "have" to cut out sugar. Nope.
And how will calorie counting not work? And why are you suggesting the OP adopt a vegetarian diet??-1
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