"low sugar/no sugar" diet to lose weight

HannahWastlund
HannahWastlund Posts: 10
in Introduce Yourself
I'm curious because I've been struggling with this recently. My calorie intake is good! However, the sugar intake is too high. I'm eating stuff like Belvita breakfast biscuits, nonfat yogurt, black beans, oatmeal, eggs..fruit. It's so frustrating to feel like I'm doing good, then see the HIGH SUGAR thing..and be like...ugh. Advice please? Has anyone on here lost a decent amount of weight by not cancelling out sugar?

Thank you!! :)

Replies

  • stephdeeable
    stephdeeable Posts: 1,407 Member
    I haven't been at it very long, but I've been losing weight pretty steadily and easily so far, and I don't track or watch my sugar. I don't go crazy, but I usually have at least one sweet treat a day. I also eat plenty of fruit, dairy, etc. I don't have a medical reason to cut out sugar, so I'd rather just eat it in moderation like anything else.It hasn't seemed to slow me down. Although, I have stopped using sugar in my coffee, but I'm a bitter person so I don't; mind bitter coffee. :smile:
  • HypersonicFitNess
    HypersonicFitNess Posts: 1,219 Member
    I lost 35 lbs on low glycemic and I still stick with it...I have sugar issues (meaning I like it and if I eat it, I crave more and it spins out of control).

    Low glycemic foods do not spike your blood sugar immediately after you eat, whereas high glycemic foods do and therefore not long (maybe an hour) after you've eaten, your blood sugar then drops dramatically and you are hungry again when you should be satisfied for at least 3 hours.

    I try to keep sugar foods out of my diet
    I do not eat white flour foods b/c they are the same as eating sugar...they are digested too quickly. Instead I stick with high fiber, whole grains
    I do not use sugar in my coffee, instead I use Truvia
    If I am going to eat cold cereal or oatmeal that is in a package, it has to have 6 or fewer grams of sugar and it has to be high in fiber 6 or more grams of fiber

    I do eat fruit but I try to eat the higher glycemic fruits sparingly

    Here are some links to low glycemic foods:

    http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Glycemic_index_and_glycemic_load_for_100_foods.htm

    http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/planning-meals/the-glycemic-index-of-foods.html

    http://www.southbeach-diet-plan.com/glycemicfoodchart.htm

    http://www.glycemicindex.com/

    http://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/glycemic-index

    http://childrenshospital.org/clinicalservices/Site3080/Documents/LowGlycemicShoppingList.pdf
  • albertine58
    albertine58 Posts: 267 Member
    I definitely think low-sugar is the way to go, although I don't pay attention to my total sugars on MFP because plenty of things have natural sugar including milk, vegetables, etc. I just limit foods with added sugar. I don't think fruit should be eliminated from anyone's diet, but I do think it should be somewhat limited in a weight-loss diet because of how much fructose spikes blood sugar and insulin (both of which promote fat storage, not burning!). I typically have 1-3 fruit servings a day, but always pair it with another food to limit the blood sugar spike (such as banana+oatmeal, or apple+almond butter, or berries+greek yogurt).

    When I get a significant amount of healthy fat in my diet, I notice my sugar cravings shrink to almost nothing! It's pretty amazing. Make sure you've got adequate protein too. 2 hours ago I had a tofurkey sandwich on Ezekiel bread with a side of cut-up veggies dipped in 2 tbsp tahini, plus a handful of cashews. Fairly high in calories but unbelievably satisfying- I have my favorite brownies leftover from the holidays sitting on my counter and I don't even want one!!
  • malilini
    malilini Posts: 39
    If you keep an eye out for your net calories, strictly in terms of weight loss, it doesn't matter if you eat the desired calories in Lindt or broiled chicken. So you most definitely can lose weight while eating sugar. The problem that you'll likely hit (at least that I hit in one of my I-eat-cheesecake-exclusively diets) is food amount. Sugary food is very calorie dense. The associated pitfall is that you had 3 cookies, which basically ate up your whole lunch budget, and because 3 cookies are nothing (I'm saying this as someone who used to count cookie servings per box), you're starving 20 mins later, and you end up eating more. Bottom line, it's doable, but you better be ready to starve. And consider supplementing your diet with vitamins, minerals, etc, so you're not malnourished. Sugar isn't really anything your body needs.

    If you have success the way you're eating right now and you're staying within your calorie range, more power to you. But if you decide you want more bang for your calorie, sugar detox is an amazing thing to do. It bloooooows for a week ro so, but after, you don't end up giving up sugar and eating bland sweets, it's just that your taste buds become more in tune with natural sugars already in food. E.g. I made a big batch of oatmeal for breakfast the other day and my partner commented how unsweetened oatmeal could be either sweet or savoury. I thought he must've banged his head on something because I tasted sweet, with no sugar added. Totally different taste buds eating the same food. If you detox from added sugar, you just start appreciating naturally sweet foods that much more and adding all the extra processed sugar becomes unnecessary.
  • stephv38
    stephv38 Posts: 203 Member
    bump for great low glycemic info
  • grnqueen
    grnqueen Posts: 35 Member
    I've been researching the low sugar diets for awhile, but what many people don't realize is that your carbs turn into sugar. Natural Sugars are ok, but substitute sugars are just as bad. Check out the Beyond Diet site, no pills, no calories to count, I love it!
  • martib
    martib Posts: 1 Member
    I'm the same as Wmgals. Sugar is my addiction. I went on a pretty strict program (no gluten, diary or sugar) a few years ago and lost 76 lbs in 9 months. However, due to my sugar addiction, once I started "cheating" it became more and more until now I've gained back about 60 of the pounds over the last 5.5 years. I've realized that I felt so much better without the sugar (meaning white sugar, brown sugar etc), wheat and dairy that I'm now back on my plan and hope to get the weight back down and eventually reach the goal I didn't make 6 years ago.

    I do use honey, xylitol, agave and the like to sweeten. I do not really count calories. The only restriction is that I can only have a cup of rice max per meal (which is plenty) and I try the same with rice pasta too. I need to eat more vegetables so I'm trying to find recipes for vegetables in my many cookbooks (which I haven't been using).

    For me, I need to treat it like an addiction...one piece, one bite, one cookie..it just isn't enough and the cycle starts. Maybe it's the chocolate too. :smile:
  • HannahWastlund
    HannahWastlund Posts: 10
    Thank you all so much! I really appreciate it : ) Judged on these post I'm going to attempt to lower my sugar intake! I don't do refined sugars much, it's mainly in skim milk.

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