Meeting calorie limit without exceeding sugar and sodium

Amie_Girl
Amie_Girl Posts: 80 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have exceeded my sugar limit nearly every day (not by much and mostly from fruit) but I have a feeling that sugar is a big problem for me in regards to weight gain. It's also hard to keep my sodium low (but I am doing well on that I think).

How do you meet your calories without an obscene amount of sugar?

What are some high calorie foods that are low in sugar, sodium and cholesterol (which I have also exceeded monstrously)?

Replies

  • Calliope610
    Calliope610 Posts: 3,783 Member
    Cut out the banana bread. Yeah, I know it's good - I love it myself. Or at least limit it.

    I don't worry about the sugars from fruit, I only add real sugar to my coffee. And I don't eat sweets as a general rule.
  • ryry_
    ryry_ Posts: 4,966 Member
    I honestly would not worry about it...The sugar limit is set extremely low.
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
    don't freak out about the sugar unless you've been told to.

    eat less processed food to avoid sodium levels.

    so, looking at your diary...

    you're not hitting protein goals and unless you've put the banana bread recipe in, made it yourself, and have figured out the portions, I wouldn't be too concerned about that.

    You might wanna consider changing your goals up too, 1300 calories seems a little low. Eat back the exercise calories, hit your carb/protein/fat goals. Those are goals, not limits.
  • clareabow
    clareabow Posts: 17 Member
    I find this hard too so interested to know what other people do.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    Unless you are diabetic or predisposed to it, I would not even track sugar. Sugar is a carb and you already track those, it has very little or nothing to do with weight gain/loss. Cals in vs. cals out.

    As for sodium, just eat less processed stuff, or increase potassium intake. Unless you have high blood pressure, the problem with salt is water retention. So either take in less sodium, drink more water, or get more potassium to bring your sodium/potassium intake more balanced, all of which would reduce the water retention associated with sodium.
  • patbeharry
    patbeharry Posts: 13
    I don't count the sugars from "real, unadulterated" food such as milk, fruit, some vegetables. I think it is the processed sugars we need to cut out e.g. sweetened yogurts, granola bars and the obvious pies, cookies, cakes....just my humble opinion although I know there are a lot of people out there who will disagree about the fruit
  • conniemaxwell5
    conniemaxwell5 Posts: 943 Member
    Don't count the sugar from fruit. I add up the natural sugars at the end of the day and subtract from the total and I am always well under the daily limit because I eat very little 'added sugar' foods. Calories = pounds. It doesn't matter where the calories come from if you're only concerned with weight loss.
  • saxmaniac
    saxmaniac Posts: 1,133 Member
    Don't bother with sugar. Track carbs. Even if you are diabetic, tracking sugar is useless. Your body turns it in glucose, with amazing efficiency.
  • Amie_Girl
    Amie_Girl Posts: 80 Member
    Cut out the banana bread. Yeah, I know it's good - I love it myself. Or at least limit it.

    I don't worry about the sugars from fruit, I only add real sugar to my coffee. And I don't eat sweets as a general rule.

    I know it says that it has lots of sodium and sugar but it doesn't. I use half the sugar and no salt or baking soda to make it.
  • Amie_Girl
    Amie_Girl Posts: 80 Member
    don't freak out about the sugar unless you've been told to.

    eat less processed food to avoid sodium levels.

    so, looking at your diary...

    you're not hitting protein goals and unless you've put the banana bread recipe in, made it yourself, and have figured out the portions, I wouldn't be too concerned about that.

    You might wanna consider changing your goals up too, 1300 calories seems a little low. Eat back the exercise calories, hit your carb/protein/fat goals. Those are goals, not limits.

    1300 is what MFP set me at. I haven't changed anything.
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
    don't freak out about the sugar unless you've been told to.

    eat less processed food to avoid sodium levels.

    so, looking at your diary...

    you're not hitting protein goals and unless you've put the banana bread recipe in, made it yourself, and have figured out the portions, I wouldn't be too concerned about that.

    You might wanna consider changing your goals up too, 1300 calories seems a little low. Eat back the exercise calories, hit your carb/protein/fat goals. Those are goals, not limits.

    1300 is what MFP set me at. I haven't changed anything.

    okay, so I'm guessing you said you were sedentary with a goal of 2lbs per week...?
  • Amie_Girl
    Amie_Girl Posts: 80 Member
    don't freak out about the sugar unless you've been told to.

    eat less processed food to avoid sodium levels.

    so, looking at your diary...

    you're not hitting protein goals and unless you've put the banana bread recipe in, made it yourself, and have figured out the portions, I wouldn't be too concerned about that.

    You might wanna consider changing your goals up too, 1300 calories seems a little low. Eat back the exercise calories, hit your carb/protein/fat goals. Those are goals, not limits.

    I've been way over my protein all week.
  • Amie_Girl
    Amie_Girl Posts: 80 Member
    don't freak out about the sugar unless you've been told to.

    eat less processed food to avoid sodium levels.

    so, looking at your diary...

    you're not hitting protein goals and unless you've put the banana bread recipe in, made it yourself, and have figured out the portions, I wouldn't be too concerned about that.

    You might wanna consider changing your goals up too, 1300 calories seems a little low. Eat back the exercise calories, hit your carb/protein/fat goals. Those are goals, not limits.

    1300 is what MFP set me at. I haven't changed anything.

    okay, so I'm guessing you said you were sedentary with a goal of 2lbs per week...?

    Yes. I get little to no exercise in the day.
  • SheriKCourtney
    SheriKCourtney Posts: 77
    I had this problem too. I (on my good days) shy away from added sugar but I eat lots of fresh fruit and my sugar always went over the goal. Therefore, I stopped tracking my sugar and started tracking sodium instead. It helps me stay away from processed foods because the sodium in these items are so high. I don't know why but it seems that if I eat too much sodium I crave more sweets??? Anyone else ever notice such a thing? Good Luck!
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
    don't freak out about the sugar unless you've been told to.

    eat less processed food to avoid sodium levels.

    so, looking at your diary...

    you're not hitting protein goals and unless you've put the banana bread recipe in, made it yourself, and have figured out the portions, I wouldn't be too concerned about that.

    You might wanna consider changing your goals up too, 1300 calories seems a little low. Eat back the exercise calories, hit your carb/protein/fat goals. Those are goals, not limits.

    1300 is what MFP set me at. I haven't changed anything.

    okay, so I'm guessing you said you were sedentary with a goal of 2lbs per week...?

    Yes. I get little to no exercise in the day.

    I haven't had enough coffee yet, you're hitting protein goals no worries. Thing is, MFP tends to set low goals. I also so where you had earned exercise calories.. so apparently you're doing something, right? Doing something = / = sedentary. MFP will also, and this is scary, continue to drop your calorie goals. Don't necessarily trust the number that MFP spits out at you for goals.

    check out:
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
  • Amie_Girl
    Amie_Girl Posts: 80 Member
    don't freak out about the sugar unless you've been told to.

    eat less processed food to avoid sodium levels.

    so, looking at your diary...

    you're not hitting protein goals and unless you've put the banana bread recipe in, made it yourself, and have figured out the portions, I wouldn't be too concerned about that.

    You might wanna consider changing your goals up too, 1300 calories seems a little low. Eat back the exercise calories, hit your carb/protein/fat goals. Those are goals, not limits.

    1300 is what MFP set me at. I haven't changed anything.

    okay, so I'm guessing you said you were sedentary with a goal of 2lbs per week...?

    Yes. I get little to no exercise in the day.

    I haven't had enough coffee yet, you're hitting protein goals no worries. Thing is, MFP tends to set low goals. I also so where you had earned exercise calories.. so apparently you're doing something, right? Doing something = / = sedentary. MFP will also, and this is scary, continue to drop your calorie goals. Don't necessarily trust the number that MFP spits out at you for goals.

    check out:
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

    I have no idea what half of that stuff is lol. I tried but I don't understand the things they want me to enter.
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
    don't freak out about the sugar unless you've been told to.

    eat less processed food to avoid sodium levels.

    so, looking at your diary...

    you're not hitting protein goals and unless you've put the banana bread recipe in, made it yourself, and have figured out the portions, I wouldn't be too concerned about that.

    You might wanna consider changing your goals up too, 1300 calories seems a little low. Eat back the exercise calories, hit your carb/protein/fat goals. Those are goals, not limits.

    1300 is what MFP set me at. I haven't changed anything.

    okay, so I'm guessing you said you were sedentary with a goal of 2lbs per week...?

    Yes. I get little to no exercise in the day.

    I haven't had enough coffee yet, you're hitting protein goals no worries. Thing is, MFP tends to set low goals. I also so where you had earned exercise calories.. so apparently you're doing something, right? Doing something = / = sedentary. MFP will also, and this is scary, continue to drop your calorie goals. Don't necessarily trust the number that MFP spits out at you for goals.

    check out:
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

    I have no idea what half of that stuff is lol. I tried but I don't understand the things they want me to enter.

    answer the top six questions. then scroll down to your results.
  • jbonow1231
    jbonow1231 Posts: 75 Member
    I'll counter the other opinions. I myself count sugar and try to keep it on the low side. I have a tendency towards Candidiasis, and if I don't control my sugar fruit and natural sugar included, I get back into that ugly cycle. Each person has a different tolerance level. So - if you feel that eating a lower amount of sugar makes you feel better - go for it.

    But - if you want to look into ways to lower your sugar goals, one of my first suggestions, looking at your diary for today, would be pondering a different cereal, as that and the banana bread seem the major sources of your non-dairy/fruit sugar sources.

    A way to reduce sodium is if you do a lot of baking at home - buy the low-sodium baking power . Baking powder can be the major source of sodium in a homemade baked good and that simple change can save you a lot.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    I find this hard too so interested to know what other people do.

    Sugar - I don't worry about natural sugar .... I worry about ADDED sugar.

    Sodium - I don't worry about sodium (too much) - I don't have high blood pressure. Sodium is much lower for non-processed foods. I just try to keep processed foods to a minimum

    Cholesterol - again, no medical issues for me - so I don't worry too much.
  • Amie_Girl
    Amie_Girl Posts: 80 Member
    I'll counter the other opinions. I myself count sugar and try to keep it on the low side. I have a tendency towards Candidiasis, and if I don't control my sugar fruit and natural sugar included, I get back into that ugly cycle. Each person has a different tolerance level. So - if you feel that eating a lower amount of sugar makes you feel better - go for it.

    But - if you want to look into ways to lower your sugar goals, one of my first suggestions, looking at your diary for today, would be pondering a different cereal, as that and the banana bread seem the major sources of your non-dairy/fruit sugar sources.

    A way to reduce sodium is if you do a lot of baking at home - buy the low-sodium baking power . Baking powder can be the major source of sodium in a homemade baked good and that simple change can save you a lot.

    I will get a new cereal when this one is done. As fot the banana bread, it counts wrong because I used half the sugar and no salt or b soda
  • olliecbr900
    olliecbr900 Posts: 3
    Watch Skinny on obesity on youtube and read Fat Chance by Robert Lustig
  • olliecbr900
    olliecbr900 Posts: 3
    Food Industry has about fifty different names for sugar and does its best to hide it.
  • jbonow1231
    jbonow1231 Posts: 75 Member
    You should make a custom recipe then here so it counts it properly. :D
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,833 Member
    Recent science damns fructose pretty strongly. Watch "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

    It's a lecture explaining how our bodies process fructose differently from other sugars. Control your fructose intake and it will be easier to lose the weight. In the lecture it's recommended to only eat whole fruits, not juices or concentrates. Independently of my watching the video, hubby's doctor has told him to go off fruit juice and limit his fruit intake because his triglycerides were going up. You don't need to avoid fruit altogether but lean toward eating vegetables instead.
  • Amie_Girl
    Amie_Girl Posts: 80 Member
    Great advice from everybody, as usual. Thanks guys and gals!
  • lyndseykocher
    lyndseykocher Posts: 7 Member
    Sodium is my demon. I love pickles and nuts.

    ** That sort of sounds wrong. :D
  • Amie_Girl
    Amie_Girl Posts: 80 Member
    Sodium is my demon. I love pickles and nuts.

    ** That sort of sounds wrong. :D

    No it sounds just right, you perv! :)
  • jbonow1231
    jbonow1231 Posts: 75 Member
    If you want to lower the salt in salted nuts, but not affect the taste - you can get salted and unsalted and mix them together yourself. If they are like peanuts/cashews, etc that you eat by the handful rather than one by one, the effect is less noticeable than you might think, but helps cut back on extra sodium. You can start with a higher salted mix 75/25 and wean yourself down so your palate adjusts.

    I hate pickles, so I have no advice there, lol.
  • lisahewitt22
    lisahewitt22 Posts: 102
    I stopped tracking my sugar altogether because I became really paranoid about it when really the only thing making me go over was fruit.
  • hollyellard
    hollyellard Posts: 5 Member
    I agree with you, the fruits from sugar are natural, you do not have to worry about that. It does make it hard to keep track of accurately on this sometimes.

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