Fruits & sugar???

You should probably cut back on the fruits. Too many natural sugars can cause fat. Maybe focus on vegetables and protein.

As long as you are under your calorie count, your sugar intake will not cause weight gain. The sugar limits on MFP seem restrictive because they lump added sugars and natural sugars together. If most of your sugar comes from whole fruit, and you don't have problems with sugar levels (like diabetes), there is no problem with going over your sugar limit on MFP. Fruit is beneficial to your health.

be smart about fruit intake. make sure its got good amount of fiber and isn't a big carb load.

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/whatfruit.htm

You should probably cut back on the fruits. Too many natural sugars can cause fat. Maybe focus on vegetables and protein.

Calorie surpluses cause you to gain fat...not sugars, carbs, dietary fat...whatever.

OP...the recommendation for sugar is based on the American Heart Associations recommendation for ADDED/REFINED sugar; to my knowledge there is no recommendation for total sugar. It is the added and refined sugars that seem to make there way into just about everything that are contributing greatly to the obesity epidemic...not an apple a day.

You should definitely balance out your veggies and sugar...I shoot for 4-6 servings of veg and 2-4 servings of fruit daily...but fruit is good for you.

As long as you are under your calorie count, your sugar intake will not cause weight gain. The sugar limits on MFP seem restrictive because they lump added sugars and natural sugars together. If most of your sugar comes from whole fruit, and you don't have problems with sugar levels (like diabetes), there is no problem with going over your sugar limit on MFP. Fruit is beneficial to your health.

This is correct in that a caloric deficit = weight loss. Technically I could lose weight on nothing but twinkies and water (assuming my organs don't shut down first)

But, you will find that without adequate protein your muscles will deteriorate as your body breaks them down for energy, whereas if you consume massive amounts of sugar your body will have no problem storing fat. This leads to what this community has termed "skinny fat". Your goals will determine how you want to balance carbs and protein. I'm trying to retain as much muscle as I can while cutting up, so I limit my sugar and carbs as much as possible. The only fruit I eat would be the few raisins in my trail mix.

Complex and simple sugars cause the same physiological response, insulin, fat storage, lipogenesis, etc.

Unless you're diabetic, prediabetic, hypoglycemic, or on some spiffy new "all pastries and ice cream" diet, there's no reason to track sugar separately from other carbs except idle curiosity, barring a doctor's specific advice to do so.

Too much sugar doesn't cause weight gain by itself; carbs don't cause weight gain by themselves either. Eating at a caloric surplus causes weight gain. Doing this without exercising can cause that weight to show up as fat.

+1

For many people, how much sugar is consumed DOES matter. Anyone with metabolic issues, which includes all people who store extra fat, need to keep sugar low. Obesity and diabetes go hand in hand because they are related to metabolic disorder. Obesity does not CAUSE diabetes, though that's what we get told.

I love the advice that says "don't worry about sugar unless you have diabetes". Since excessive dietary sugar/carbs can CAUSE diabetes it seems quite ridiculous to ignore dietary sugar until one gets diabetes. Wouldn't choosing to not get diabetes be easier?

And yes, different macros do affect hormones, and metabolism, very differently. Calories in/calories out is a very over-simplified explanation of metabolism.

You'll do what you want, but I just hoped to offset some of the "sugar doesn't matter" advice.

For many people, how much sugar is consumed DOES matter. Anyone with metabolic issues, which includes all people who store extra fat, need to keep sugar low. Obesity and diabetes go hand in hand because they are related to metabolic disorder. Obesity does not CAUSE diabetes, though that's what we get told.

I love the advice that says "don't worry about sugar unless you have diabetes". Since excessive dietary sugar/carbs can CAUSE diabetes it seems quite ridiculous to ignore dietary sugar until one gets diabetes. Wouldn't choosing to not get diabetes be easier?

And yes, different macros do affect hormones, and metabolism, very differently. Calories in/calories out is a very over-simplified explanation of metabolism.

You'll do what you want, but I just hoped to offset some of the "sugar doesn't matter" advice.

Even with obesity on a hypocaloric diet, sugar control is not a problem with non-diabetics.
even with diabetics sugar control is normally fine if they are consuming less energy than what they put out..

Most people on this website should not have a "sugar control" issue due to dieting..... They should all by hypocaloric.
Most of that sugar in the blood system is becoming metabolized for energy so there is actually less circulating blood sugar due to dieting.

I highly suggest you start reading even high carbohydrate low fat studies in regards to insulin sensitivity before you are spewing out information like this

You should probably cut back on the fruits. Too many natural sugars can cause fat. Maybe focus on vegetables and protein.

Calorie surpluses cause you to gain fat...not sugars, carbs, dietary fat...whatever.

OP...the recommendation for sugar is based on the American Heart Associations recommendation for ADDED/REFINED sugar; to my knowledge there is no recommendation for total sugar. It is the added and refined sugars that seem to make there way into just about everything that are contributing greatly to the obesity epidemic...not an apple a day.

You should definitely balance out your veggies and sugar...I shoot for 4-6 servings of veg and 2-4 servings of fruit daily...but fruit is good for you.

^^^THIS^^^ There is a bit of difference in how the body treats natural sugars in something like fruit (which has the fructose and other sugars locked in fiber for slow release during digestion) and a big slug of high fructose corn syrup, in a can of soda. It isn't that the body cannot handle fructose, it is the total amount that is ingested at one time---without the fiber to slow down its transmission---that is the problem. The total amount of fructose in a can of "orange" soda has about the same amount of sugar as 10-12 oranges. While no one sits down to a meal of that many oranges (which also have the protective effect of the fiber) many people can and do drink down a can of soda in a very short time. Therein lies the problem. The dose makes the poison.

I eat a boat load of fruit every night. It is my passion! I love it and look how far I have come. I also work my butt off everyday of the week except for Sundays working out too though.

There is a lot of evidence that exercise in general and weight training in particular, help the body to avoid the leptin-resistance and insulin resistance that results from eating too many simple carbs. Fruit is a bonanza of phyto-nutrients (blueberries are one of the all-time great foods along with strawberries).