Should I Go Sugar Free?
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Just seeking clarification, as to why you feel so strongly that a grown man shouldn't go under 1650 calories. MFP gives a sedentary man looking to lose 1 lb/week quite a bit less than that.0
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For those of you giving sound advice, I thank you. I was only thinking of going sugar free for a while to try and break what I feel is close to an addiction. I apologize that I didn't scope out other posts first to avoid sounding like a broken record. To the others, thank you for reminding me why I never interact on this site.
I hope you do well in your venture, I had to eliminate high sugar (high glycemic) foods from my diet for health reasons. My naturopath told me it takes 9 months to get the cravings under control. For a short time I took Chromium Picolinate to help with sugar cravings, but I have it under control now. I do have the very occasional sweets, but I get a bad brain freeze headache from it so not too often. Just take it slow, don't cold turkey and you will be fine.
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Multiple. BMR = 1672 for example, 189 lbs 5'-8" 54yrs0
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It's a generalised example. A sedentary male, the TDEE is assumed to be 1.2 times the BMR ?0
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ah, it was specific advice to markopat rather than a generalisation. I didn't see his current weight. Still don't see the logic though.0
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In my experience, reducing added sugar and simple carbs in my diet was a great recipe for me to stick to my chosen level of intake better. I tapered back on both, rather than cut them out immediately, and think this helped a lot, in that I never really craved anything I reduced or eliminated then.
I also feel gradual change to be very effective in general, as while I have a weakness for sweeping and broad change, there tend to be less flashpoints for potential failure with more gradual changes. I will say though that the above excludes the case where there are some things that need to change straight away, as if there are some major fires, it tends to be best to extinguish those asap first, and then tackle the smaller ones.
An example here would be if you were eating substantially more than your maintenance calories every day, and it was critical to at least cut back to maintenance levels first before anything else. In such a case, a big immediate change is called for immediately, and I find it best to make such changes so you can at least get onto an even keel before properly tackling your larger goals.
Anyway, just my 2 cents, and would just add that how much you eat is more important than what you eat when speaking in purely weight-loss terms, but what you eat can play a big role in being able to sustain that level of how much you do eat. I find this was the case for me with added sugar and simple carbs.
Re: sugar and carbs in general, the way I look at it, if I eat these foods, they had better be wrapped up in some fibre/ be of the slow-releasing variety preferrably/ be part of an otherwise balanced meal, as otherwise they become problematic foods with regard to hunger and blood sugar levels I find personally, and those have a very real impact on how much I am inclined to eat that day
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Definitely watch Sugar: The Bitter Truth, it fired me up in gear to decide to go sugar-free which I would have never thought I would EVER do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
Chocolate, candies, ice cream, yoghurt, coffee, pop... you name it, I ate it! What I have done is I quit drinking coffee (a Timmies large double double has 300cals and 30g of sugar!!!) and pop because I knew that would make a HUGE difference in the lapse of a week. At the same time I started gradually lowered my carbs. Immediately I felt way better and started losing weight (4lbs is 10 days, counting xmas parties and which I exceeded my TDEE by about 400cals each time). On Dec 26th I started Atkins Induction Phase 1. This is a diet based off Low Carb High Fat (and lot of proteins too!). In 6 days so far I've lost another 4.4lbs! So this brings me so far to 8.4lbs in 16 days, DURING the holidays!
Since starting the induction phase of Atkins allowing 20g net carbs/day (net carbs = g of carbs - g of fiber), I feel so much better: my sleep quality and patterns have both improved, my face is clearing up, my cravings are gone (I've been binge-free for 16 days now!!! HUGE win for me, as this was getting really bad!).
Before going low carb, I've tried to only count calories, but I always felt like I was starving on 1200cals/day. Now, somedays I am even a little bit (50-100cals) under 1200cals! I don't know if you were to cut only carbs if it would work as well, as I have naturally consumed a minimal amount of calories while cutting out carbs. My diet consist of 3 servings of greens/day, 1 other serving of non-starchy vegetables, 1oz of cheese and I fill in the gap with quality fat and proteins. I use coconut oil for cooking, unless I just cooked meat then I use its fat, olive oil and vinegar for dressing. I eat 1-2 eggs and 2 strips of bacon every morning. Usually have cheese and deli meat/meatballs for snack, sometimes olives of pickled beets (watch for hidden sugar!).
It's been working so far from me! So pleased with the results. Eventually I will move on to the next phases and up the carbs and re-introduce them slowly so that I can transition from ''kick-start diet'' to ''life-long changes''. I am excited to keep going on that path and reap the benefits from it. So relieved to not be the slave to my cravings anymore.
If you are interested, I highly suggest that you read Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution and/or visit the website for more information! Personally, I don't use any supplement or meal replacement/no-sugar processed treats that they offer. I eat straight up real food. I have had enough of the processed junk, I've learned my lesson! This is what worked for me, we all are different so this may not be for you, but this way of eating helped me a lot to make it a lifestyle. While eating carbs, I was always hungry and had cravings and energy crashes all the time.
Hope it helps!
Atkins: How it works http://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/atkins-20
Atkins Phase 1: Induction http://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/atkins-20/phase-10 -
Correct me if I'm wrong but one doesn't need to exercise to lose weight. As it is my understanding from all the information on the board one just needs to reduce their calorie intake.
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Definitely watch Sugar: The Bitter Truth, it fired me up in gear to decide to go sugar-free which I would have never thought I would EVER do. https://www.youtube.ch?v=dBnniua6-oM
Chocolate, candies, ice cream, yoghurt, coffee, pop... you name it, I ate it! What I have done is I quit drinking coffee (a Timmies large double double has 300cals and 30g of sugar!!!) and pop because I knew that would make a HUGE difference in the lapse of a week. At the same time I started gradually lowered my carbs. Immediately I felt way better and started losing weight (4lbs is 10 days, counting xmas parties and which I exceeded my TDEE by about 400cals each time). On Dec 26th I started Atkins Induction Phase 1. This is a diet based off Low Carb High Fat (and lot of proteins too!). In 6 days so far I've lost another 4.4lbs! So this brings me so far to 8.4lbs in 16 days, DURING the holidays!
Since starting the induction phase of Atkins allowing 20g net carbs/day (net carbs = g of carbs - g of fiber), I feel so much better: my sleep quality and patterns have both improved, my face is clearing up, my cravings are gone (I've been binge-free for 16 days now!!! HUGE win for me, as this was getting really bad!).
Before going low carb, I've tried to only count calories, but I always felt like I was starving on 1200cals/day. Now, somedays I am even a little bit (50-100cals) under 1200cals! I don't know if you were to cut only carbs if it would work as well, as I have naturally consumed a minimal amount of calories while cutting out carbs. My diet consist of 3 servings of greens/day, 1 other serving of non-starchy vegetables, 1oz of cheese and I fill in the gap with quality fat and proteins. I use coconut oil for cooking, unless I just cooked meat then I use its fat, olive oil and vinegar for dressing. I eat 1-2 eggs and 2 strips of bacon every morning. Usually have cheese and deli meat/meatballs for snack, sometimes olives of pickled beets (watch for hidden sugar!).
It's been working so far from me! So pleased with the results. Eventually I will move on to the next phases and up the carbs and re-introduce them slowly so that I can transition from ''kick-start diet'' to ''life-long changes''. I am excited to keep going on that path and reap the benefits from it. So relieved to not be the slave to my cravings anymore.
If you are interested, I highly suggest that you read Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution and/or visit the website for more information! Personally, I don't use any supplement or meal replacement/no-sugar processed treats that they offer. I eat straight up real food. I have had enough of the processed junk, I've learned my lesson! This is what worked for me, we all are different so this may not be for you, but this way of eating helped me a lot to make it a lifestyle. While eating carbs, I was always hungry and had cravings and energy crashes all the time.
Hope it helps!
Atkins: How it works http://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/atkins-20
Atkins Phase 1: Induction http://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/atkins-20/phase-1
Oh look LUSTIG!!! Pass on that fear mongering individual that was already destroyed by Alan Aragon.
To expand on that, below are the articles.
http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/
Also, if you were starving on 1200 calories, it's probably because you weren't eating the right types of food to feel full and on top of that, if you are active, there is pretty much no reason to eat that low.
OP, regarding sugar, just try to get the majority of your calories from nutrient dense whole foods and lean meats. And if you have extra calories, enjoy yourself a little. Personally, i aim to get 80-90% of my diet from fruits, veggies, meats and dairy. And 10-20% from chocolate or ice cream.
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If you knock out all soda that is a huge step. Weight will start falling off. Fruits are fine and chocolate is okay in moderation. I would focus on drinking water only for a couple weeks. Then when you get an unsweet tea it will taste like heaven. You want to do something that you can stick to forever.0
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If you knock out all soda that is a huge step. Weight will start falling off. Fruits are fine and chocolate is okay in moderation. I would focus on drinking water only for a couple weeks. Then when you get an unsweet tea it will taste like heaven. You want to do something that you can stick to forever.
But you can lose weight AND drink soda... don't see your point.0 -
Chocolate, candies, ice cream, yoghurt, coffee, pop... you name it, I ate it!
The only sugar in plain yogurt is lactose, diet pop, of course, has no sugar (people might not want to drink it for other reasons, but this is apparently about sugar), and rather obviously coffee does not have sugar unless you add it.
Dropping coffee and pop would reduce my sugar intake by precisely 0.
Dropping yogurt and other dairy (containing lactose) would deprive me of an excellent source of protein and other benefits.
Dropping chocolate and ice cream would eliminate some tasty treats and seems unnecessary when you can just decide to eat them in smaller quantities depending on what fits into your overall diet. I actually do eat ice cream quite often still, but I've eaten pie twice in the past year, and yet I wouldn't claim I've eliminated pie. Why would eliminating it be healthier than simply eating it sparingly when I have discretionary calories?
I never binged anyway, but I've lost 90 lbs, so I know it's not necessary to drop sugar entirely.
I also wouldn't think that losing on less than 1200 calories is really the ideal to recommend to someone starting out.
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