Calorie Deficits and Sugar

You can't be serious.. Even slow cycling will burn about 1000 calories per hour.

Ah, no.

Not even close.

That's what most apps give me for gross burn. What is close? Why does that matter? I thought the point was whether or not you're storing fat during a 6 hour cycling session?

Because essentially all I am doing by eating the sugar is creating a deficit while I eat it. So if sugar is still stored as fat automatically, what is the difference if I am burning an immense amount of calories while eating an abnormal amount of sugar compared to someone who eats a moderate amount yet burns it off during the day?

You didn't read everything I wrote. Sugar is stored when the body can't process it. Otherwise the blood would become too dense and you'd die. Triggering this process too often leads to health problems. Obviously eating sugar while exercising heavily would not create this conditions.

I know there is a lot of people here with absolutely no license giving medical advice - but all calories are not equal, all carbohydrates are not equal. Same with fats and proteins. They are general groupings and the science is so much more complicated that it's getting laughable when people make it so generic.

Sugar does have an effect on virtually all people regardless of the caloric intake. Find a medical journal that would say differently. No sugar or too much sugar is a very broad band. But between the two there are differences with the exact same number of calories on the human body.

No you didn't read anything I wrote. Which one of us is trolling again?

The general consensus is that you can still gain weight even if you are at a very high calorie deficit.

This is not an issue when eating in a calorie deficit, as your body will be using body fat to some degree throughout the day to fuel itself.

It really comes down to ADDED sugar. You're not supposed to consume more than 32g of added sugar/day. This means your coffee, yogurt and other things that they add sugar to. Of course, there is natural sugar in fruit, veggies, etc. I think a lot of it is genetic. I have diabetics in my family and I seem to be VERY sensitive to extra sugar because when I really watch my added sugar intake I lose much easier. That being said, the more you have to lose the less little things like this matter because you can make small changes with big results... but once you get down to that last 20-30lbs it will matter more. Good luck!

Why are we not supposed to eat more than 32g of added sugar? Who said that? What happens if we do?

Why have so many of us continued to eat sugar, have hit our weight goal and even surpassed it?

Keep in mind I'm not diabetic so please don't respond with some diabetes stuff.

This could be the only diet web site where lots of posters tell you not to worry about sugar.

Of course you have to worry about sugar. If you are just starting on your weight loss journey, and you are going from a daily intake of say 2,400 calories to 1,500 calories, why in the world would you want to waste (yes, waste) calories on a Coke or a donut, which do nothing for satiety?

It's not easy to cut calories by 40%. But it is easier if you avoid refined sugar as much as possible. Skip the donut for breakfast and eat two eggs. Fewer calories, and more filling (at least for me and others I know). Drink Diet Coke instead of Coke. It's just common sense.

"Time spent doing something you enjoy is never wasted time." The same applies to foods and calories.

No you didn't read anything I wrote. Which one of us is trolling again?

Well, you started us off with this gem:

The general consensus is that you can still gain weight even if you are at a very high calorie deficit.

And now you're agreeing with this:

This is not an issue when eating in a calorie deficit, as your body will be using body fat to some degree throughout the day to fuel itself.

So which is it? :huh:

You can't be serious.. Even slow cycling will burn about 1000 calories per hour.

Ah, no.

Not even close.

That's what most apps give me for gross burn. What is close? Why does that matter? I thought the point was whether or not you're storing fat during a 6 hour cycling session?

Because essentially all I am doing by eating the sugar is creating a deficit while I eat it. So if sugar is still stored as fat automatically, what is the difference if I am burning an immense amount of calories while eating an abnormal amount of sugar compared to someone who eats a moderate amount yet burns it off during the day?

You didn't read everything I wrote. Sugar is stored when the body can't process it. Otherwise the blood would become too dense and you'd die. Triggering this process too often leads to health problems. Obviously eating sugar while exercising heavily would not create this conditions.

At what point would the bold occur? Would it be at calorie surplus levels?

I'm having a hard time getting a straight answer in regards to calorie deficits and sugar consumption.

I've seen many people, including on this site, claim that sugar doesn't matter so long as you hit your macros (mainly protein and fat) and stay at your caloric deficit.

Others claim that the spike in your insulin levels from the sugar causes your body to store fat, and even if you're in a deficit, you will not be able to lose fat because of this. Some claim that even heavy weight training and a caloric deficit will not over-rule sugar consumption that is above 40-50gs.

So which one is it?

I know there is a lot of people here with absolutely no license giving medical advice - but all calories are not equal, all carbohydrates are not equal. Same with fats and proteins. They are general groupings and the science is so much more complicated that it's getting laughable when people make it so generic.

Sugar does have an effect on virtually all people regardless of the caloric intake. Find a medical journal that would say differently. No sugar or too much sugar is a very broad band. But between the two there are differences with the exact same number of calories on the human body.

I think that sugar is the easiest thing to cut out of a diet. I'm pretty much on a diabetic diet, even though I don't have diabetes - but have found that keeping my sugar below 10-15g per day has not effect on my cognitive abilities nor my appetite.

Evolutionary speaking, the amount of sugar Americans eat (I know this is a global site) is significantly more than 100 years ago and the farther back you go in time, the less sugars we had the opportunity to eat on a regular basis.

Keeping sugar down has been very efficient and effective in lowering my caloric intake. And because I don't have much of a sweet tooth, its no big deal. I can give up sugar easier than meat (fish, fowl, beef...). Others may be different.

Which is nice for you - but all it does is give you less calories.


the answer is A) unless you have a medical condition sugar has zero affect on weight loss when consumed in a deficit.

You can't be serious.. Even slow cycling will burn about 1000 calories per hour.

Ah, no.

Not even close.

That's what most apps give me for gross burn. What is close? Why does that matter? I thought the point was whether or not you're storing fat during a 6 hour cycling session?

Because essentially all I am doing by eating the sugar is creating a deficit while I eat it. So if sugar is still stored as fat automatically, what is the difference if I am burning an immense amount of calories while eating an abnormal amount of sugar compared to someone who eats a moderate amount yet burns it off during the day?

You didn't read everything I wrote. Sugar is stored when the body can't process it. Otherwise the blood would become too dense and you'd die. Triggering this process too often leads to health problems. Obviously eating sugar while exercising heavily would not create this conditions.

At what point would the bold occur? Would it be at calorie surplus levels?

The pancreas prevents it from happening in unless you have diabetes. Again the point is that all calories are not the same and just having a calorie deficit doesn't mean you'll get the results you're looking for. There's a reason sugar is stored as fat more quickly than other nutrients. I find it interesting that people who have lost 70-80 pounds are suggesting they did so without any concern for their sugar intake.

The sad part is that we live in a country that leads the world in every type of obesity imaginable. We're also nearing the point where over-eating kills more people than starvation. Some of the links posted are probably propaganda from the sugar industry. Yes, that's a thing. (http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/10/sugar-industry-lies-campaign) One could say this is the forefront of said epidemic and there are still more people defending sugar intake than not. This isn't funny it's dangerous.

Only on this web site. I have never heard of or seen of another weight-loss site where posters are pro-sugar.

It really comes down to ADDED sugar. You're not supposed to consume more than 32g of added sugar/day. This means your coffee, yogurt and other things that they add sugar to. Of course, there is natural sugar in fruit, veggies, etc. I think a lot of it is genetic. I have diabetics in my family and I seem to be VERY sensitive to extra sugar because when I really watch my added sugar intake I lose much easier. That being said, the more you have to lose the less little things like this matter because you can make small changes with big results... but once you get down to that last 20-30lbs it will matter more. Good luck!

Why are we not supposed to eat more than 32g of added sugar? Who said that? What happens if we do?

Why have so many of us continued to eat sugar, have hit our weight goal and even surpassed it?

Keep in mind I'm not diabetic so please don't respond with some diabetes stuff.

This could be the only diet web site where lots of posters tell you not to worry about sugar.

Of course you have to worry about sugar. If you are just starting on your weight loss journey, and you are going from a daily intake of say 2,400 calories to 1,500 calories, why in the world would you want to waste (yes, waste) calories on a Coke or a donut, which do nothing for satiety?

It's not easy to cut calories by 40%. But it is easier if you avoid refined sugar as much as possible. Skip the donut for breakfast and eat two eggs. Fewer calories, and more filling (at least for me and others I know). Drink Diet Coke instead of Coke. It's just common sense.