SUGAR! GRRRRR!

timmypeace
timmypeace Posts: 27 Member
in Food and Nutrition
This week I have been logging everything. It is crazy to see how much I intake. When I compare my diary and what I am eating to when I didn't log it is self explanatory as to why I gained weight. We tell ourselves it's not bad, just a little bit, or it won't hurt. Yet, it hurts all right. My biggest challenge with my diary is my sugar intake. I am always under my calories. However, my sugar is always in the negative. Honestly, I have only been eating healthy foods. I have been on a pretty serious diet. I love to make smoothies. Not powder smoothies with extra crap. Just all natural smoothies with fruit and vegetables. Yet, I notice that blast my sugar and takes up a good chunk of it for the day. It's a freaking smoothie!!!! Fruit is good, right? Has anyone else had the same trouble? If so, what can you suggest. One day I even cut out the smoothie and made eggs and that day I was still over. Just not as much. Should I just focus more on my vegetables? Thoughts? Any feedback will be very helpful!

Replies

  • kittyhasclaws
    kittyhasclaws Posts: 446 Member
    Unless you have a medical reason that you need to worry about your sugar intake, just ignore it. Seriously. You'll be WAY less frustrated. I just deleted tracking sugar and went with carbs, proteins, fat, fiber and sodium.
  • Gizziemoto
    Gizziemoto Posts: 430 Member
    It does not take into account that the sugar is from fruit and some fruits are high in sugar. It is the refined sugars that get you so I would just ignore the number unless you are a diabetic and really need to watch your total sugar and carb intake like my best friend.

    I ignore the sugar.
  • timmypeace
    timmypeace Posts: 27 Member
    No, no medical reason. I guess my only concern is I have heard my mom keep talking about sugar. She is on weight watchers and they hound you about sugar she was saying. For example, eat greek yogurt, just not a flavored greek yogurt. I agree with that. However, I feel like I do not even eat sweet items. So you guys think maybe I am just worried too much??? Myabe I should just hide it from myself ;]
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    MFP's sugar recommendation = American Heart Association's and WHO's recommendation for added and refined sugars. If you eat any nutritious and delicious fruit at all, you're going to be over on sugar. I don't even track it...with my workouts, I pretty much burn the **** out of my sugar intake anyway.

    MFP doesn't differentiate between natural occurring sugars in fruits and veg and added sugars in things like soda and processed foods.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Unless you have a medical reason that you need to worry about your sugar intake, just ignore it. Seriously. You'll be WAY less frustrated. I just deleted tracking sugar and went with carbs, proteins, fat, fiber and sodium.

    This!^

    You can customize items that your are tracking ..... fiber for me too.
  • alicialawes
    alicialawes Posts: 5
    I just changed my fiber to sugar and went.. whaaa???? So I changed it STRAIGHT back. Pfffft. Ignore it..
  • timmypeace
    timmypeace Posts: 27 Member
    Makes me feel a little better!
  • timmypeace
    timmypeace Posts: 27 Member
    Crazy, right? I need to do the same thing!
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    Sugar intake is irrelevant as long as you hit your fat and protein minimums and don't go over your daily caloric goal and you're not diabetic. I routinely eat over 100g of sugar a day, mostly from fruits, but other stuff too. There is nothing inherently bad about sugar, so don't worry about it. Most people who eat excess sugar go way over their TDEE. It's not the sugar, it's the excess calories coupled with lack of protein and fat intake that make people fat
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
    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.

    For information on setting your macro target, read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/911011-calculating-calorie-macronutrient-needs?page=1#posts-13821336
  • semarsh12
    semarsh12 Posts: 77 Member
    Yup. What they said. Totally deleted the sugar in my tracking thing and added fiber instead. The sugar tracking is for added sugars anyway, not the natural ones. Delete it if it's making you a little twitchy! Good Luck!
  • staceypunk
    staceypunk Posts: 924 Member
    I think your sugar intake matters more when you are down to that last 5 pounds to get to your goal. If you are stuck at a plateau maybe focus on reducing it. But if you are losing fine, then don't stress. Personally, I manually adjusted my sugars to be around 40 grams per day. Previosly, MFP defaulted me to 26 grams. I still usually go over, but I don't want to forget about it altogether as I have made better choices to keep my sugars lower.

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