CARBS AND SUGAR PLEASE HELP!!

B21goddess

I go over my carbs a little bit sometime and I almost ALWAYS go over my sugar, but Im still right at my calorie intake or a little less. Is this going to slow down my weight loss. Im just confused blah.

Kalynx

suggest you search the message boards for carbs and sugar - there are many many threads on this same topic. good luck!

B21goddess

thankies I may do it tomorrow if I get nothing here.. Im really tired atm

kdeaux1959

Probably not. The problem with going over on these areas is that you may be missing some other nutritional components that your body really needs to function properly. Carbs really can be important building blocks in muscle development so it is not necessarily bad if it goes over periodically.. as long as they are good carbs and not processed carbs. Of course protein is absolutely critical for muscular development and maintenance so make sure you get plenty of that... I USUALLY go over on protein because of my weight training regimen.

myfitnessval

try eating whole grain high fiber carbs when you do eat em and up your protein. also fruit can be high in sugar so if you've got a sweet tooth make sure to watch it.

Kandyhar

Me to!!! I hope someone replies because I have this same question. it seems like no matter what I go over in carbs and sugar. I didn't realize just how much sugar every single food seems to have.

suziecue66

I would change your percentages of macros. Rather than:

Carb: 165g
Protein: 45g
Fat: 40g

I would change it to:
Carb: 120g
Protein: 90g
Fat: 40g

Or Carb and Protein at 105g each.
Make sure 1,200 calories is sufficient for you.

Sarauk2sf

Unless you have a pre-existing medical condition - do not worry about it. 1) Hit your calorie target 2) hit your macros (Fat, Protein, Carbs) 3) get a balanced diet.

stupidloser

Eat more pizza! Always make me feel more better. By eating more fat and protein, your carb intake will be more balance with your protein intake.

Sarauk2sf

Eat more pizza! Always make me feel more better. By eating more fat and protein, your carb intake will be more balance with your protein intake.

While I agree with the last sentence, how does eating pizza help with that?

jsapninz

You should really only limit ADDED (refined, like in processed foods) sugars, not non-added ones in fruits and natural things like milk. Read the nutrition label: if it says sugar (or high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, etc etc) then it goes towards your limit. If not, ignore it.

If you are eating fruits and berries you are going to be waay over on your "limit" even though these things don't have added sugars. But in reality you don't have to limit them because they are not going to mess with our insulin levels like the added sugars do because they are natural and have lots of fibers and things. And so you should eat them up!!

This is a big problem with MFP, it is very misleading.


BUT...

Now that I look at your diary....:noway:

OBVIOUSLY you are eating waay to much added sugars. Marshmallows, teaspoons of sugar, snickers bars, mountain dew?!?!?!...this stuff is CRAP hon. It is NOT doing anything good for your body, and is NOT helping. Using up your calories on crap is not a good way to eat. Start eating real food. Like vegetables, dairy products, etc, etc ETC. Stay away from packaged, processed, stripped-of-all-its-nutiritonal-value sweet stuff. Your body will thank you for it. I don't know how anyone could EVER stay under their goal eating all that processed crap, it doesn't keep you feeling full and doesn't fuel your body well.:sad:

If you stay under your goal eating all that crap won't slow down your weight loss. However, it is not healthy for you and it is going to make staying under your goal VERY difficult as those foods do not keep you full.

cheesy_blasters

Eat more pizza! Always make me feel more better. By eating more fat and protein, your carb intake will be more balance with your protein intake.

While I agree with the last sentence, how does eating pizza help with that?

Yeah, I don't get it. Pizza is mainly carbs. Wouldn't that just add to the concerns? Wouldn't eating more seafood or avocado or something be a better suggestion?

suziecue66

The Mountain Dew - 290 calories, 76g Carbs - all sugar - waste of calories.
What is florida crystals - you have it as 6 tsp - is this sugar in coffee??
Another entry 8 tsp of sugar - you must have one hell of a sweet tooth?

cheesy_blasters

You should really only limit ADDED (refined, like in processed foods) sugars, not non-added ones in fruits and natural things like milk. Read the nutrition label: if it says sugar (or high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, etc etc) then it goes towards your limit. If not, ignore it.

If you are eating fruits and berries you are going to be waay over on your "limit" even though these things don't have added sugars. But in reality you don't have to limit them because they are not going to mess with our insulin levels like the added sugars do because they are natural and have lots of fibers and things. And so you should eat them up!!

This is a big problem with MFP, it is very misleading.

I just joined and this is something I noticed! I don't eat things with a lot of added sugar very often but when I tried to track my sugar, I couldn't believe how quickly I went over. I eat a lot of protein, vegetables and fruit and my sugar was insane(according to them). I figure I'll give it some time eating the way I am and if I don't notice changes, then I'll modify. I'm tracking iron and calcium instead, haha. I wish there was some differentiation because I think it could lead people who are new to eating well (and eating whole foods) to believe they aren't being healthy when they're actually improving their diet.

MoreBean13

You should really only limit ADDED (refined, like in processed foods) sugars, not non-added ones in fruits and natural things like milk. Read the nutrition label: if it says sugar (or high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, etc etc) then it goes towards your limit. If not, ignore it.

If you are eating fruits and berries you are going to be waay over on your "limit" even though these things don't have added sugars. But in reality you don't have to limit them because they are not going to mess with our insulin levels like the added sugars do because they are natural and have lots of fibers and things. And so you should eat them up!!

This is a big problem with MFP, it is very misleading.

I have thought and thought about this problem, and the way nutritional standards are defined, there's no way to fix it on the MFP level. The only thing I can think of would be to add entries in the database manually for whole fruits and veggies that zero out the sugar, similar to what people have done with the "net carbs" entries. Unfortunately, I don't trust the judgement of the random MFP population to make that distinction correctly, so I would only trust entries I made myself for this purpose.

Cr357

Unless you have a pre-existing medical condition - do not worry about it. 1) Hit your calorie target 2) hit your macros (Fat, Protein, Carbs) 3) get a balanced diet.

Simply put^^^^^

suziecue66

You should really only limit ADDED (refined, like in processed foods) sugars, not non-added ones in fruits and natural things like milk. Read the nutrition label: if it says sugar (or high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, etc etc) then it goes towards your limit. If not, ignore it.

If you are eating fruits and berries you are going to be waay over on your "limit" even though these things don't have added sugars. But in reality you don't have to limit them because they are not going to mess with our insulin levels like the added sugars do because they are natural and have lots of fibers and things. And so you should eat them up!!

This is a big problem with MFP, it is very misleading.

I have thought and thought about this problem, and the way nutritional standards are defined, there's no way to fix it on the MFP level. The only thing I can think of would be to add entries in the database manually for whole fruits and veggies that zero out the sugar, similar to what people have done with the "net carbs" entries. Unfortunately, I don't trust the judgement of the random MFP population to make that distinction correctly, so I would only trust entries I made myself for this purpose.

It looks like its mostly sugar as in 8tsp sugar in beverage, not fruit and veg.

jsapninz

This is a big problem with MFP, it is very misleading.

I have thought and thought about this problem, and the way nutritional standards are defined, there's no way to fix it on the MFP level. The only thing I can think of would be to add entries in the database manually for whole fruits and veggies that zero out the sugar, similar to what people have done with the "net carbs" entries. Unfortunately, I don't trust the judgement of the random MFP population to make that distinction correctly, so I would only trust entries I made myself for this purpose.

Yeah it would be logistically very difficult. You would have beginners sorely confused either way.:ohwell:

jsapninz

You should really only limit ADDED (refined, like in processed foods) sugars, not non-added ones in fruits and natural things like milk. Read the nutrition label: if it says sugar (or high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, etc etc) then it goes towards your limit. If not, ignore it.

If you are eating fruits and berries you are going to be waay over on your "limit" even though these things don't have added sugars. But in reality you don't have to limit them because they are not going to mess with our insulin levels like the added sugars do because they are natural and have lots of fibers and things. And so you should eat them up!!

This is a big problem with MFP, it is very misleading.

I just joined and this is something I noticed! I don't eat things with a lot of added sugar very often but when I tried to track my sugar, I couldn't believe how quickly I went over. I eat a lot of protein, vegetables and fruit and my sugar was insane(according to them). I figure I'll give it some time eating the way I am and if I don't notice changes, then I'll modify. I'm tracking iron and calcium instead, haha. I wish there was some differentiation because I think it could lead people who are new to eating well (and eating whole foods) to believe they aren't being healthy when they're actually improving their diet.

If you are interested: you can make your own entry that has 0 cals and negative units of sugar, and then at the end of the day count up all your sources of non-added sugars (apples, milk, strawberries, etc) and force add them in to see your true added sugar count for the day.

MoreBean13

You should really only limit ADDED (refined, like in processed foods) sugars, not non-added ones in fruits and natural things like milk. Read the nutrition label: if it says sugar (or high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, etc etc) then it goes towards your limit. If not, ignore it.

If you are eating fruits and berries you are going to be waay over on your "limit" even though these things don't have added sugars. But in reality you don't have to limit them because they are not going to mess with our insulin levels like the added sugars do because they are natural and have lots of fibers and things. And so you should eat them up!!

This is a big problem with MFP, it is very misleading.

I have thought and thought about this problem, and the way nutritional standards are defined, there's no way to fix it on the MFP level. The only thing I can think of would be to add entries in the database manually for whole fruits and veggies that zero out the sugar, similar to what people have done with the "net carbs" entries. Unfortunately, I don't trust the judgement of the random MFP population to make that distinction correctly, so I would only trust entries I made myself for this purpose.

It looks like its mostly sugar as in 8tsp sugar in beverage, not fruit and veg.

I assume you are referring to the OP's reason for going over on sugar? I just saw that. I guess in my post I was not specifically addressing the OP's question at all, more to the general MFP added vs. natural sugar issue- where a single banana puts you dangerously close to your daily sugar limit, and has people afraid of fruit.

cheesy_blasters

The Mountain Dew - 290 calories, 76g Carbs - all sugar - waste of calories.
What is florida crystals - you have it as 6 tsp - is this sugar in coffee??
Another entry 8 tsp of sugar - you must have one hell of a sweet tooth?

Yeah, I checked out the diary. There is some crazy amounts of sugar going on!

My suggestion is to stop drinking all the sugary stuff! Most of your diary is sweet drinks or liquids, period. Maybe try drinking unsweetened fruit based ice tea instead? I did that to help me give up pop/soda.

Also, this is just my personal reaction based on my history of eating terribly but unless you aren't logging a lot of what you eat, you are probably not getting enough nutrients. Maybe add counters for calcium or iron or fiber or something to help you focus on eating a more balanced diet with more whole foods and not fast food/restaurant dishes/liquids.

cheesy_blasters

You should really only limit ADDED (refined, like in processed foods) sugars, not non-added ones in fruits and natural things like milk. Read the nutrition label: if it says sugar (or high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, etc etc) then it goes towards your limit. If not, ignore it.

If you are eating fruits and berries you are going to be waay over on your "limit" even though these things don't have added sugars. But in reality you don't have to limit them because they are not going to mess with our insulin levels like the added sugars do because they are natural and have lots of fibers and things. And so you should eat them up!!

This is a big problem with MFP, it is very misleading.

I just joined and this is something I noticed! I don't eat things with a lot of added sugar very often but when I tried to track my sugar, I couldn't believe how quickly I went over. I eat a lot of protein, vegetables and fruit and my sugar was insane(according to them). I figure I'll give it some time eating the way I am and if I don't notice changes, then I'll modify. I'm tracking iron and calcium instead, haha. I wish there was some differentiation because I think it could lead people who are new to eating well (and eating whole foods) to believe they aren't being healthy when they're actually improving their diet.

If you are interested: you can make your own entry that has 0 cals and negative units of sugar, and then at the end of the day count up all your sources of non-added sugars (apples, milk, strawberries, etc) and force add them in to see your true added sugar count for the day.

Oh cool! I'll look into that as soon as I'm more awake Thanks for the tip!

suziecue66

You should really only limit ADDED (refined, like in processed foods) sugars, not non-added ones in fruits and natural things like milk. Read the nutrition label: if it says sugar (or high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, etc etc) then it goes towards your limit. If not, ignore it.

If you are eating fruits and berries you are going to be waay over on your "limit" even though these things don't have added sugars. But in reality you don't have to limit them because they are not going to mess with our insulin levels like the added sugars do because they are natural and have lots of fibers and things. And so you should eat them up!!

This is a big problem with MFP, it is very misleading.

I just joined and this is something I noticed! I don't eat things with a lot of added sugar very often but when I tried to track my sugar, I couldn't believe how quickly I went over. I eat a lot of protein, vegetables and fruit and my sugar was insane(according to them). I figure I'll give it some time eating the way I am and if I don't notice changes, then I'll modify. I'm tracking iron and calcium instead, haha. I wish there was some differentiation because I think it could lead people who are new to eating well (and eating whole foods) to believe they aren't being healthy when they're actually improving their diet.

If you are interested: you can make your own entry that has 0 cals and negative units of sugar, and then at the end of the day count up all your sources of non-added sugars (apples, milk, strawberries, etc) and force add them in to see your true added sugar count for the day.

Thats a good idea.
If you look at the latest completed entry, the OP had 207g carbs - 62g good carbs, the rest 145g was sugar (did not include the sugar in fruit in the sugar amount of 145g).

jsapninz

If you look at the latest completed entry, the OP had 207g carbs - 62g good carbs, the rest 145g was sugar (did not include the sugar in fruit in the sugar amount of 145g).

Yeah, caught that. See my edit.

suziecue66

If you look at the latest completed entry, the OP had 207g carbs - 62g good carbs, the rest 145g was sugar (did not include the sugar in fruit in the sugar amount of 145g).

Yeah, caught that. See my edit.

Yeh, saw it - thanks.

yarwell

I go over my carbs a little bit sometime and I almost ALWAYS go over my sugar, but Im still right at my calorie intake or a little less. Is this going to slow down my weight loss

There is a body of opinion that says all calories are not the same and that carbohydrates are implicated in obesity.

MFP's sugar alarm can be turned off, or set to another number. You could just monitor total carbs for example.

Of course the sucrose grown by Florida Crystals is as natural as the sucrose in the oranges growing in the next field, so you will get confusing and mixed messages from people trying to differentiate one as good and the other as bad. Sympathy with that.

If you're serious about losing weight you could take out the excess sugars and reduce the calories accordingly. If "a calorie is a calorie" there would be no argument for replacing them.

jsapninz

If you're serious about losing weight you could take out the excess sugars and reduce the calories accordingly. If "a calorie is a calorie" there would be no argument for replacing them.

The arguement for replacing them is to be HEALTHY. not necessarily for weight loss.:huh:

lilahtov

I frequently go over my sugar and 99% of the time it's because of the fruit I eat. Common sense should apply here! A fruit that makes you go over your sugar is WAY better than a low-cal sugary dessert that's artificial but "healthy" because it's low-cal. The sugars in fruit are NATURAL and digest way easier than any chemical-rich sweeteners!

B21goddess

Me to!!! I hope someone replies because I have this same question. it seems like no matter what I go over in carbs and sugar. I didn't realize just how much sugar every single food seems to have.

it sucks.. but Im not sure Ill be able to give it up

B21goddess

Eat more pizza! Always make me feel more better. By eating more fat and protein, your carb intake will be more balance with your protein intake.

While I agree with the last sentence, how does eating pizza help with that?

lol thats why that person user name was stupid loser I guess xD

B21goddess

The Mountain Dew - 290 calories, 76g Carbs - all sugar - waste of calories.
What is florida crystals - you have it as 6 tsp - is this sugar in coffee??
Another entry 8 tsp of sugar - you must have one hell of a sweet tooth?

yes it organic sugar