Natural Sugar and "Good" Fat

I am having a similar problem, but I haven't given up regular sugar, tho I limit it. I try to eat only the types of food that is recommended by the DASH Diet. Some days I have great success and on others I bomb badly, but I am still losing weight every week.

Sugar is just a carb. As long as you're eating enough fats and protein, your carbs/sugar aren't particularly important unless you have a medical issue that requires carbs/sugar to be monitored.

However, it should be noted that fructose and sucrose can only be stored as liver glycogen and not muscle glycogen. The liver can hold 100-120g glycogen so anything more than that will be converted to triglycerides. As long as you still have a calorie deficit this will even out. Just try to make most of your carbs glucose and not sucrose or fructose. Fructose in particular has been shown to decrease exercise performance, increased likelihood of gastrointestinal distress, and increase perception of exertion.

Here are some studies:
http://www.setantacollege.com/wp-content/uploads/Journal_db/the effects of glucose....pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3592616


As long as you're under your calorie goal, you'll lose weight. Some people find that sugar (even from fruit) causes them to have more sugar/carb cravings so keep that in mind.

As long as you eat enough protein (ideally 1g per pound of lean body mass but 1g per kg of body weight is acceptable) being over on fat is fine. Fats and protein should be viewed as minimum values so it's fine to go over. Carbs are unnecessary so you don't have to worry about eating enough. Some people do low carb, some people find their exercise suffers if they keep carbs too low, do what works for you.

What's important about fats is the ratio of saturated vs. monounsaturated vs. polyunsaturated fats. Saturated fat has been demonized in the past but some is necessary. Half of your cells membranes are made up of by saturated fats. Saturated fats are easy to get in your diet so try to focus on incorporating more essential fatty acids into your diet. Oily fish and flax seeds are a great source of omega 3 EFA's. You can take a fish oil or flax oil supplement if you have trouble getting it from your diet. Omega 6's are very easy to get into your diet so there's not need to supplement it. Most people eat too many omega 6's and too little omega 3's so to maintain a good ratio you shouldn't supplement your omega 6 intake.

For information of setting your macro target, go here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/911011-calculating-calorie-macronutrient-needs?page=1#posts-13821336

I've been thin all my life (until recently) and always ate tons of healthy fats and fruit. Never had an issue. When I started this diet thing I got completely crazy reading all of the" fat is bad" and "sugar and carbs are bad" posts, so I cut a lot of my fruit and nut intake. My weight loss did not do any better without my healthy fats and fruits, and on top of it I was very unhappy. I went back to eating my good fats and tons of fruit and have actually lost more weight than before.
Of course, my "evidence" is anecdotal, but JustSomeRandomGirl said the science part very eloquently.

people have an association that adipose fat is unhealthy. Which si not true.
all fats other than transfat are healthy fats. there is nothing wrong with saturated fat.
the chemical composition of "natural" sugar is no different than table sugar