Sugars

allaboutfitness13

Hello I need some advice on eating. I am constantly going over my sugar intake and it's because of fruit. I am trying to lose weight so I am usually anywhere from 1200 - 1500. If I have 2 fruits (ex: a pear and a banana) throughout the day I am already way over. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

ascends831

I think you could try to to eat fruits that are not to high, try berries. Bananas and pears are two of the highest fruits for raising blood sugar. Personally, I cant eat much sugar and lose weight at all. Also where else are you getting sugar? Starches act like sugar in the body too so watch that also.

allaboutfitness13

I try to have a variety like berries, apples, melons but, again just always seem to go over. I don't eat a lot of processed foods so most of the sugar intake is fruit

tricksee

I've said this is 100+ threads but I will say it again.

Unless you have a medical reason, there is absolutely no need to track your sugar intake whatsoever. Especially if that sugar is coming from fruit.

Eat fruit, lots of it and don't worry about the numbers. You will survive!!

cupcakealli87

He's exactly right! Processed sugar is what is bad...natural sugar is great! And to really overdoo sugar on fruit, you would have to eat A BUNCH

Living4alife

Thank you so much for this question. This is my first day utilizing MFP, I haven't had lunch yet, and I am also over. I had a smoothie this morning comprised of kale, green apple, lime, carrots, cucumber and celery and I only have 4 grams of sugar left. I am sure by the end of the day I will be 3-4x my recommended amount (without any frozen yogurt). Does anyone come close the goal amt.? If so, what do you eat?

paperangel87

I'd have to agree. Unless your sugars are coming from unhealthy foods like sweets, pops and such, there shouldn't be a worry.

AJ_G

They need a forum sticky for sugar intake or something, this question has been asked hundreds of times

allaboutfitness13

Lol that is exactly what I wanted to hear! I don't like sweets but, LOVE my fruit! Does it slow down weight loss?

susannamarie

Lol that is exactly what I wanted to hear! I don't like sweets but, LOVE my fruit! Does it slow down weight loss?

Some people say that cutting sugar helped their weight loss. Other people have not found a difference.

I have not found it to hurt mine.

Achrya

I Like to start my day with a cliff bar and some strawberries. That way I know I'm over my sugar goal from the get go and put it totally out of my mind.

carplady

I only recently added the sugars to my count because I found it in the list. I am always over but I do eat a lot of fruit, usually at midday and I have been steadily losing 1 - 1.5 lb a week so I'm not too worried about it - it's fats I really have to watch because of a health problem

alyhuggan

Sugar spikes your insulin which leads your body to start storing fat. However you are in a deficit so your body has no remaining calories to store as fat so has to burn fat as fuel instead. You could eat just sugar and still lose weight. Your body just sees it as carbs HOWEVER while bulking sugar is best avoided except post workout as you will store more fat then.

martyurzua

Hi I am still new to this program and I am running into the same issue, but not with sugar. I am going over in my PROTEIN intake. Any suggestions on that or ideas of foods that are low in protein.

Achrya

Hi I am still new to this program and I am running into the same issue, but not with sugar. I am going over in my PROTEIN intake. Any suggestions on that or ideas of foods that are low in protein.

The Protein suggestion is a minimum. Feel free to go over. Way over, even. I aim for at least 100g day, personally

ngyoung

Lol that is exactly what I wanted to hear! I don't like sweets but, LOVE my fruit! Does it slow down weight loss?

As long as you're not going crazy, wolfing down a bunch of bananas or a whole watermelon. Some fruits are more sugary than others but for most people who haven't damaged their metabolism from years of eating junk they can tolerate the amount of sugar that you get from whole fruits. As long as you're not stripping out all the fiber from the fruit it shouldn't cause your blood sugar to roller coaster. If you do find yourself still struggling you can try looking closer are modifying the type of fruits and portions to see if you get better results.

cbbrn2014

After reading these posts about sugar intake, I am a bit confused now. I am new to MFP, but a veteran "dieter." This is my last hope and I am already a bit disillusioned. I started late May and have exercised, kept my calories under the daily goal, drank the water, built personal recipes so I know what I am eating, and have not lost the 10 lbs I was hoping to by now. I have lost 6 and that was in the first 2 weeks, not much since (a tenth here and there...)
Soooo, if eating more than the sugar goal is "okay" because I like my fruit too, where am I missing it? This week I have decided to try this and NOT eat my exercise calories to see if that makes a difference. Any insights?

peacemongernc

I struggled with this question for a while. After researching it and analyzing how various sugar intake levels changed my weight loss, appetite, etc, I found that fruit sugar really doesn't seem to make much difference in my long term weight loss. However, if I eat a whole lot of sugar several days in a row, I tend to retain more water. I honestly think it makes at LEAST as big a difference as how much sodium I eat, and maybe a bigger difference. However, in terms of weight loss, over time, I don't see a difference.

If I think I'm retaining water I can cut back on all forms of sugar, including fruit, for a few days and I'll drop the excess quickly.

The sugar that comes from simple and refined carbs DOES cause me to notice a difference both in weight loss and appetite. If I eat simple carbs and highly processed carbs I stay hungry. And the craziest thing is that those calories don't seem to act in my body like other calories. I realize this flies in the face of most current thinking and I don't understand why I get the results I do. I tend to lose weight in an almost text book fashion. 3500 calorie deficit, I lose 1 pound. Like clockwork. However, if I eat an excess of 3500 calories made up of crap food, processed foods and simple sugars (this does not include fruit), I don't gain A pound. I gain a few. And they don't come off when I go back to eating normally... I work each of them off exactly as I have to work off every other pound.

So, at least inside MY body (I'm insulin resistant and have old lady hormone issues), sugars count, but not excessively so if they come from fruit. I honestly don't see any difference in my day or my losses if I eat blueberries or bananas.

So for most folks (and I would guess even diabetics) the fruit sugar you eat really makes little difference in the long run. However, you can use it to manipulate water retention sometimes. But if you are concerned, log different types of sugars and fruits over a couple of months and see if you notice any differences.