Over on Sugar?

kaitlinmre
kaitlinmre Posts: 86 Member
edited September 27 in Food and Nutrition
Would being over on sugar hinder my weight loss? I'm good about watching my sodium and staying under my calories, but now I'm over on sugar all the time. :/ Help? I'm also over on carbs quite a bit.

Replies

  • wheelieblade
    wheelieblade Posts: 323
    sugar's a real problem for me I love drinking milk and go over a lot, I tend to exercise more to make up for it
  • dls06
    dls06 Posts: 6,774 Member
    I don't track sugar. I was told by a diabetic nutritionist to consentrate on carbs sugars are included. As long as you are not eating a lot of refined sugars, Cakes, cookies, candy.
  • ladyjade68
    ladyjade68 Posts: 56
    Hi! My doctor explained it to me like this - sugar turns to fat, so I would think that it wouldn't necessarity be a good thing. I try to really cut out the sweets and carbs as much as possible. I did have one square of a symphony chocolate bar yesterday - best chocolate I've ever had. HAHA.
    Anyway, my doctor told me to use Stevia in place of anywhere I would use sugar or sugar substitute, such as my coffee or tea and cereal. Some people don't like the taste, but I'm so used to it that now anything else taste funny to me. I buy mine at Trader Joe's in a bottle.
    Good luck!
    Mary
  • sixpacking
    sixpacking Posts: 148 Member
    excess sugar is a BIG problem to weight loss for sure. Sugar is a carb, so if you're going over in your carbs, well sugar is part of it. The bad thing is that excess sugar continues to accumulate if you don't burn it off and unfortunately it is saved for energy and when all its not used, well it turns into fat. Sugar should be kept at its minimum, even from natural foods.
  • Where is your sugar coming from? If its mostly from fruit rather than added sugars you are fine. If you are getting it from added sugars in processed foods, not only can this up your calories, but it's the "bad sugar".
  • bhelmreich
    bhelmreich Posts: 254 Member
    I try to make sure that a lot of my sugars come from fruit and are not processed. There have been a few foods that surprised me with a lot of sugar.
  • absolament
    absolament Posts: 278 Member
    I'm over in sugar all the time too, usually by 50 which is about double my suggested. I think it would be nearly impossible to stay below the recommended. I don't believe I eat a lot of sugar. I do have a teaspoon of honey in my coffee or tea and some fruit and a small serving of candy (like 1/4 a chocolate bar). Not a lot. But still, it puts me over. I am at my goal weight and was able to get there in 2 months. So, I think if you keep your sugar on the conservitive side (even if it is still over the MFP recommendation) you will be fine. And go for natural sugars over the processed kind (no high fructose corn syrup and less of the refined granulated white sugar).
  • romaan
    romaan Posts: 5
    This is a constant problem for me also... I usually go over my sugar intake because of natural sugars from fruits (blueberries, apples, bananas, etc), so I typically split my fruits in half.
  • kaitlinmre
    kaitlinmre Posts: 86 Member
    Thanks guys! Most of my sugar comes from special k cereals, fruits, yogurt, and the peanut butter i eat. also, the fiber one bars!
  • mynameiscarrie
    mynameiscarrie Posts: 963 Member
    i go over on sugar seriously every day... no lie. it's so frustrating. even if i pay attention to it, i go over...
  • perfectionxforever
    perfectionxforever Posts: 35 Member
    SAME exact problem for me. So extremely frustrating.

    However, I took a fitness class in school this past semester and I learned that while sugar is a carb, the greatest percent of your food should be from carbs in general. The powerpoint I still have says this -

    There are two types of carbs - simple carbs (soda, candy, sweets, fruits) and complex carbs (pasta, rice, breads, potatoes) and you should obviously have more complex carbs than simple carbs.. With that being said, the recommended dietary intake is 55-60% Carbs, 30% Fat, and 10-15% Protein. HOWEVER for us trying to lose weight, those numbers will most likely be a bit different (less fat, more protein, still a lot of carbs for energy from workouts).

    Basically I wouldn't worry about it a lot unless your intaking an extreme number of sugar. I would try to balance it as much as possible (as MFP tells you to). What I've been trying to do, is if towards the end of the day I'm already over my sugar a little, but still have some Carbs/Fat/Protein left, I'll try to find a food that is high in carbs/fat/protein with slim to none amounts of sugar, to balance out my diet.

    I hope this helped. Taking that class last semester has really made me think differently about my weightloss this time around, I'm expecting great results! Haha if anyone is interested in knowing more I still have some powerpoints saved on my computer and I'd be more than happy to send them to you, just let me know :)
  • FryingPanda
    FryingPanda Posts: 99 Member
    From what I always understood about the sugars listed under your carbohydrates are that these are always natural sugars a product contains and relatively simple (hence not considered a complex carbohydrate). So depending on your definition of "good" and "bad" sugars, the grams of sugars listed can be thought of as readily available energy. There are two caveates to this; one, if you aren't active these "energy sugars" can be converted into more complex carbohydrates and two, is the value that MFP gives you for sugars an appropriate amount. I personally only have 30g of sugar a day to eat, which if I eat 2 pears in a day I have eaten all my suagrs, but come no where near anything else in terms of carbs and such. So what does this all mean? Well how much is too much, I can really say. Too much of anything always tends to be bad. Going over on you MFP alloted sugars may be bad if you aren't very active. How acticve is active and how over is over? Well that is relative from person to person. If you are super worried, you can always look at polyols as a replacement to sugars, but then taste becomes an issue. :D
  • livinwell
    livinwell Posts: 47
    I have the same issue...I think it matters where the sugar comes from too. I eat alot of fruit and that is usually the reason I go over on sugar. I imagine it will hinder my wight loss somewhat.
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