Tired of being overweight and need help please!

funinthesnow
funinthesnow Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone,
I am fairly new and have now decided I am sick of being overweight....I want to get healthier and feel better. I am starting to log all my foods in the journal, but I find I'm always going over in the sugar category....this can be from having some fruit and splenda (they list points for sugar on that too, don't know why)....on weight watchers they would be considered 0 points so not sure if I am being better or not....I guess I'm just looking for insight on what is healthy to eat, and I have a big sweet tooth so I have been using Splenda to help with that craving, but is that bad too? Thanks for any help!

Replies

  • Ed98043
    Ed98043 Posts: 1,333 Member
    I got so tired of seeing those red sugar numbers that I finally just got rid of that column. I mean, one grapefruit and I would be almost over the grams they give me. Fruit and Splenda is not something you need to worry about.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    I don't worry about sugar from fruit. I also dropped the sugar column from my list and haven't had any problems with losing.

    I see a lot of people who have done WW have issues with things that were 0 points - seems like WW has kind of done a disservice with making some foods "free" - even fruit & veggies have calories, and they add up.

    Keep logging everything! It took me awhile to see patterns and start making adjustments to the foods I ate, portions and types of foods to make sure I was getting my protein, healthy fats, good carbs, not too much sodium, etc. It's a process, but keeping an accurate log was very eye-opening for me, and has really helped me make good changes over time.

    Welcome to MFP! :smile:
  • Bonny619
    Bonny619 Posts: 311 Member
    I don't track my sugar at all.
  • KathyWel
    KathyWel Posts: 140
    I don't track my sugar either.
  • juleszephyr
    juleszephyr Posts: 442 Member
    Hi,
    I too find it difficult to stay under my sugar macros but most of mine is due to fruit and low fat products. Low far tend to be high sugar. It's a trade unless you cut them out altogether.

    I would say concentrate on your protein staying high and making sure most of your sugars come from fruit, the more you stick to natural sugars the more your sweet tooth will rein itself back in - eventually!!!

    Just stick at it, this is not a quick fix, miracle diet it is about a lifestyle to be maintained in the real world.

    I lost 8 stones 5 years ago and use the site to keep on track, I fluctuate around a stone and a half and so am working to even the fluctuations out... If you want to add me please feel free. I log on everyday and record everthing I eat good and bad!!

    Good luck Jules xx
  • Melo1966
    Melo1966 Posts: 881 Member
    I don't track my sugar at all.

    This

    I have replaced flavored creamer with stevia for my coffee though.
  • Dulcemami4ever
    Dulcemami4ever Posts: 344 Member
    Stop looking at sugars and look at total carbs. If you lessen the amount of carbs you are intaking then your sugars should go down as well. Great to see you on here and making a change :)
  • Bownzi
    Bownzi Posts: 423 Member
    Keep logging your food intake read up on items which are naturally tasty instead of sugar added..... When. You get a little down... Post it here... All of us will offer motivation.... And the most important thing.....stay happy....
  • funinthesnow
    funinthesnow Posts: 5 Member
    LOL! Exactly! That's great you can get rid of the column, I'll have to do that!
  • mklassy123
    mklassy123 Posts: 153
    There's a big difference between natural sugar and added sugar. I keep the sugar macro but I subtract my natural sugar (fruits, vegies, dairy) from the total to make sure I am staying at or under 25 grams per day.

    I also joined in October 2012 and I did this for about two weeks, then I stopped. Around January 4th I started again and I haven't stopped - what a difference. The weight is coming off. I have my bad days, bad weekends -but I get right back on here and it's amazing what tracking your food will do.

    I also bought myself a fabulous kitchen scale and I weigh and measure everything. That was a HUGE wakeup call to myself, to realize how much more I was eating than I realized.
  • funinthesnow
    funinthesnow Posts: 5 Member
    Thank you all for your support - coffee creamer is one of my downfalls too...I'm trying to be really accurate in the food log, accountability is prob the first step!
  • Madaly320
    Madaly320 Posts: 112 Member
    I also took out my sugar problem because it was a distraction to me. I was constantly seeing red and it was always from my bananas and grapes. Yes, I have real sugar in my coffee, but one tsp a day that I have was not putting me over. So I took it out
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,430 MFP Moderator
    Sugar is a useless macro to track unless you are diabetic. No sugar will hinder fat loss if you eat less calories than you burn. I frequently 100+ g of sugar a day with no issue of weight loss. And i know many that eat nightly ice cream and are ripped.
  • 04ward
    04ward Posts: 196 Member
    I've been tracking for 3 weeks and I'm not losing. I'm staying at or a little under my recommended numbers. My metabolism is really sluggish because I was hardly eating one meal a day and only drinking about 10-12 oz water a day for so long. I am now eating recommended protein etc and drinking about 75-80 oz of water a day and exercising 3-4 days a week. How long will it take to start losing?? I don't want to get frustrated.
  • mklassy123
    mklassy123 Posts: 153
    I've been tracking for 3 weeks and I'm not losing. I'm staying at or a little under my recommended numbers. My metabolism is really sluggish because I was hardly eating one meal a day and only drinking about 10-12 oz water a day for so long. I am now eating recommended protein etc and drinking about 75-80 oz of water a day and exercising 3-4 days a week. How long will it take to start losing?? I don't want to get frustrated.

    I lost pretty much nothing my first month, then the weight starting coming off my second month (I really started second week of January). Now I've hit a plateau, which is to be expected. Everyone is different.

    Make sure you are weighing and measuring your food. Once I started doing that I started losing. I was probably having a good 300 calories a day more than I realized because I wasn't weighing and measuring.
  • 04ward
    04ward Posts: 196 Member
    Thanks for the encouragement! I have been doing the weighing and measuring and watching my foods I eat to stay in the Carb/Protein/Fat ratio. How often do you exercise and what do you do? I've been trying to mix up between treadmill, elliptical, and some cardio and palates video workouts. I hear people say "the weight started falling right off" and I look so forward to when I can say that! :)
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    I hear people say "the weight started falling right off" and I look so forward to when I can say that! :)

    Remember, they usually say it *after* the weight has fallen off. It doesn't always look that way at the time, because your body weight normally fluctuates a few pounds depending on water retention, fiber in your diet, and other factors.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,430 MFP Moderator
    I've been tracking for 3 weeks and I'm not losing. I'm staying at or a little under my recommended numbers. My metabolism is really sluggish because I was hardly eating one meal a day and only drinking about 10-12 oz water a day for so long. I am now eating recommended protein etc and drinking about 75-80 oz of water a day and exercising 3-4 days a week. How long will it take to start losing?? I don't want to get frustrated.

    It probably isnt your metabolism that is slow.. its more likely you are starving your body so its working hard to conserve energy. How many calories are you actually eating and what are your stats?
  • mklassy123
    mklassy123 Posts: 153
    Thanks for the encouragement! I have been doing the weighing and measuring and watching my foods I eat to stay in the Carb/Protein/Fat ratio. How often do you exercise and what do you do? I've been trying to mix up between treadmill, elliptical, and some cardio and palates video workouts. I hear people say "the weight started falling right off" and I look so forward to when I can say that! :)

    I do "real" exercises 3-5 times a week. I'm a huge walker, but an exercise walker. The elliptical and I never got along well. I'm going to start a new routine of getting up early and going to the gym to do my weights twice a week in the AM and save my cardio for later. I'm not crazy with my exercise. My typical day has me walking over a mile just to and from the subway from home and to work - plus I walk the dog 3x a day (4x + on weekends, the dogwalker gets his fourth week during the week). I don't count my daily routine as exercise. When I walk home from work (3 1/2 miles), that I count as exercise.

    Most people I know who lost weight the healthy way, they didn't have the weight "falling off". It was slow and steady with some bad weeks thrown into the mix. People I know who did fad diets had the weight "falling off" and then coming right back on at lightening speed!
  • Katetw
    Katetw Posts: 188 Member
    Hi everyone,
    I am fairly new and have now decided I am sick of being overweight....I want to get healthier and feel better. I am starting to log all my foods in the journal, but I find I'm always going over in the sugar category....this can be from having some fruit and splenda (they list points for sugar on that too, don't know why)....on weight watchers they would be considered 0 points so not sure if I am being better or not....I guess I'm just looking for insight on what is healthy to eat, and I have a big sweet tooth so I have been using Splenda to help with that craving, but is that bad too? Thanks for any help!

    Welcome! I also am pretty new (2.5 weeks) and I feel the same as you--sick and tired of being fat! Plus my visit with the doctor and high cholesterol numbers really made me get serious.

    I also go over with sugars, because I have replaced a lot of sweet deserts with fruit. I know veggies would be even better, but one step at a time, right?

    I personally feel that as long as it is natural, non-processed sugar (basically, fruit) it's okay to go over. I do still count all those calories--fruit is healthier than junk but it isn't free!

    I also don't eat artificial sweeteners like splenda or aspartame, some of the older ones have already been shown to be unhealthy and I think the newer ones will eventually shown to be bad for us too. That being said...sugar is also unhealthy. So it's more a personal preference than anything else.

    Anyway, to your original point, I'd say try to appease the sweet tooth with (moderate amounts of) fruit.

    Good luck! :)
  • kpstacy
    kpstacy Posts: 41 Member
    I would say most us get red in the sugar column. If you know it is coming from naturally healthy food, I wouldn't worry about it so much. Most important is that you are making healthier choices. Take it a day at a time and reach out when you need it. You are more than welcome to friend me. I am a personal trainer and used to weigh over 230 lbs. This is a big step, CONGRATS on deciding that you deserve more out of life! All the best.
  • 04ward
    04ward Posts: 196 Member
    I've been tracking for 3 weeks and I'm not losing. I'm staying at or a little under my recommended numbers. My metabolism is really sluggish because I was hardly eating one meal a day and only drinking about 10-12 oz water a day for so long. I am now eating recommended protein etc and drinking about 75-80 oz of water a day and exercising 3-4 days a week. How long will it take to start losing?? I don't want to get frustrated.

    It probably isnt your metabolism that is slow.. its more likely you are starving your body so its working hard to conserve energy. How many calories are you actually eating and what are your stats?

    I know that over the years I've been starving my body and dehydrating it because I hardly drank anything. I NEVER would eat breakfast and would maybe have a salad for lunch around 2:30 then just eat some quick junk food (chips, etc) in the evening if anything at all. I was never hungry and would forget to eat most times. I look back and I don't know how I kept going. I guess the fat built up and that's what kept me going. I'm now eating 3 meals a day and 2 snacks and staying around 1100 cal. I'm 5'6" and 193. MFP says that I can eat 1200 cal but my Fitbit says to stay at 1000 (if I don't exercise) so I've been staying in the middle. I've also been drinking about 80 oz water. When I exercise I get about 400 extra calories. I guess if I keep tracking, it'll finally work. It keeps saying if I continue at this pace, I should be at 177 in 5 weeks. I would be thrilled!
  • DaniAni19
    DaniAni19 Posts: 91 Member
    Try Stevia as a natural alternative to Splenda.
  • Bethnfelipe
    Bethnfelipe Posts: 1
    I am new to this and i only have been on here a week. My personal issue is carbs i make everything homemade and i try to add a salad with everymeal, well at least for me however, my family is purely mexican and yes the tortillas and guisada with rice and beans or carne picada. so this a challenge for me anyone have recipie ideas that i can sneak by my family. I may skip the torilla and eat the salad in place but i would love to secrectly include my family in my weightloss venture.
  • slwarmbrunn
    slwarmbrunn Posts: 7
    Do not give up i!!! you will see results
  • airangel59
    airangel59 Posts: 1,887 Member
    I track sugar (and everything else) but I don't freak out over being a bit over. Fruits are very high in sugar so I have to watch (have T2) as well as carbs but like others said, if it bothers you to see it in red all the time, make it go away. Best of luck on your journey.
  • goodenough13
    goodenough13 Posts: 78
    I think you should still pay attention to your sugar consumption from foods that it's added to. I wouldn't count fruit. You can either do this by not adding it to your log at all or just subtracting the sugar from the fruit.
  • christywolfe
    christywolfe Posts: 38
    Feel free to add me if you like. I can help where I can.
  • zoemayberry
    zoemayberry Posts: 3
    I LOVE all hispanic food and it has been tough to give up certain things. But focus on the elements that are good and increase those (like tomatoes, black beans) and cut down on cheese. Corn tortillas are slightly better than flour, and I put salsa on everything to up the flavor without adding many calories (and I love making my own salsa!). Rice has been my favorite food for ages but I have learned to measure it and eat it on days that I have worked out and feel I have "earned" extra carbs.

    Buena suerte!

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