Sugar Detox - Exercising through the Withdrawals

24

Replies

  • Posts: 1,122 Member
    mardetox wrote: »


    Fair enough, yeah, it's a personal choice. Huge sweet tooth to the point that I gained 20 lbs from lack of self-control.

    There you go. You said it. It's lack of self control, not an addiction, and not the fault of the sugar.

    Also, not allowing myths to continue to propagate is not the same as being unsupportive. In fact, correcting false views based on junk science is more supportive than just blindly allowing a person to believe in the woo.
  • Posts: 5,481 Member
    I need to just put all sugar on my Bingo cards, I would have a black out Bingo every single day!! LOL, ;)
  • Posts: 4,696 Member
    mardetox wrote: »
    Hmm definitely thought majority of replies here would be much less condescending. Not a very supportive community.

    First of all, no one here has been condescending towards you. This conversation takes pace on MFP literally every day, and it gets frustrating dispelling all of the misinformation surrounding sugar every. Single. Day. And then people come in with even more bizarre misinformation (like the poster above who garnered a couple eye rolls), which is frustrating because it confuses people, such as yourself, who are new to health and fitness and who need to learn the facts rather than a bunch of woo from a couple of crazy journalists and bloggers out there who want to get page hits.

    Secondly, there is absolutely no reason to "detox" from sugar. You are demonizing a food without completely understanding what it is and how the body processes it. Sugar is the latest "evil" food in the diet industry, and detox is a pretty-sounding buzzword to make you feel like you're doing something useful. Short of going to rehab for a severe drug addiction, there really is no such thing as a detox. Your liver and kidneys do your body's detoxing for you just fine.

    You would probably be best-served by STOPPING the food demonizing, learning about macronutrients and how they affect body composition, trying to hit your calorie and macronutrient goals for the day, and learning how to control your portions so that you can include treats that you enjoy during your day to avoid binging on them later on. There is nothing wrong with incorporating sugary foods into a balanced diet and active lifestyle.

    Mental health is important, too.
  • Posts: 26 Member
    RGv2 wrote: »

    It has nothing to do with men or women replying. In your "research" did you even run your numbers? You're 5'7 , 150....well within a normal weight range. By your stats and admitted workout schedule, you're TDEE is around 2100-2200 cals. If you're only eating 1200 calories your eating at TDEE -44%, if you eat your exercise cals back to 1500 you're at TDEE -30%. That is the reason you feel like you could fall over.....you're not properly fueling.

    I'd be interested in where you found TDEE -30% to TDEE -45% is recommended for someone within a healthy weight range. My 6 year old eats about 1000-1200 calories a day.

    literally, MFP spat that number out
  • Posts: 26 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »

    OP - I am a 5'2 female and netted 1500 cals/day to lose 1 lb/week and then netted close to 1700 cals/day to lose just under a half pound per week when I got closer to my goal weight. With only 20 lbs to lose you should have your goals set to lose no more than 1 lb/week, and MFP is designed such that you do eat at least a portion of your exercise calories back....because if you eat 1200 and exercise and burn 300, then yes, you are only netting 900 cals which is far too low.

    Do yourself a favor, read the stickies at the top of the Getting Started Forum, but especially this one:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1235566/so-youre-new-here/p1



    Got it - super helpful, thank you!
  • Posts: 28,055 Member
    edited July 2015
    mardetox wrote: »

    Sorry - to clarify, I'm not trying to lose 20 lbs in 30 days, just do a 30 day sugar detox. I'm hoping to lose 20 in 80 days. 5'7/150/23

    Good tip about fats, I will definitely incorporate more! I assume you mean avocados, coconut oil, etc. The 1200 calorie goal is what myfitnesspal gave me after I entered my goals =/

    I plugged your stats into the goals tool. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

    With only 20 pounds to lose, you should shoot for just losing 0.5 pound per week. More aggressive goals will cause suffering. 0.5 pound per week gives you 1,590 calories per day. You're 5'7" like me. 1,200 is for shorter women.

    fb54ecd98fa187f86ef4fc3d94fd4124.png

  • Posts: 5,481 Member
    jul_ohare wrote: »
    I totally did feel fatigue coming off sugar. The good news is...it won't last. Are you eating a green apple every day. It really helps to balance blood sugar and makes the cravings back off. Make sure you are drinking lots of water...it helps if there is some lemon, a dash of cinnamon and Cayenne pepper in it (I know, sounds gross but it really does work and you get use to the taste...even start to crave it. It will help you flush all that sugar out of your system. When you eat fruit, make sure it is low on the glycemic index...green apples and berries are the best. Bananas and pineapple the worst. If you eat very sugary fruit, do it early in the morning so your body has time to burn it off. You may also want to switch to almond milk because cows milk has a great deal of natural sugar.
    So now natural sugar is bad now??
  • Posts: 26 Member
    paulfd wrote: »
    Depending on age/activity level/gender 1200 calories would be a fairly common recommendation from the guided calculator on MFP for losing 1lb/week.

    I'd look at your macros. It sounds like you want workouts as part of your plan and you need energy to do them.

    Make sure you're getting your carbs just make sure they're complex carbs. Basically anything "white" you probably want to avoid. Eat whole grains, beans, oats, there's lots more - do some web searches. Sugar detox is about keeping your blood sugars from looking like a roller coaster and complex carbs will give you consistent energy without the spikes. Research glycemic index for more info.

    Do 5 small meals versus 3 larger ones. I like to do fruit or granola bars between breakfast/lunch then between lunch/dinner. This will also contribute to slow and steady blood sugar levels, and energy levels.

    You're going to have to do a little trial and error with your macros. If you're doing moderate exercise I'd start with trying to hit MFP default macros. If you're trying to do more aggressive exercise and muscle gains like bodybuilding for example you'll need to increase your protein macro percentage from MFP defaults quite a bit, like double.

    Try to never fall too short of your calories and macros either. I've had busy days working in the yard and such, and I worked out, and I was short like 500 or 600 calories on the day and the next days I was so exhausted I barely got out of bed. If you're trying to get in good workouts falling really short on calories is counter productive.

    Some days it's going to be normal to feel lower than others. You need to learn to listen to your body and figure out if you should just go through the motions of a workout and get through it or bail on it all together. If you're just a little low energy and you've been working out a few months I'd push through the workout. If you're sore from doing some new athletic thing don't necessarily push through another workout. Rest and recovery are important components if you're trying to push yourself to new fitness milestones.

    Macros are a completely new concept to me so I definitely need to brush up on that research.

    Thanks for the tips! (And for not assuming I'm crazy for that 1200 number)
  • Posts: 4,696 Member
    Serah87 wrote: »
    So now natural sugar is bad now??

    Everyone knows that overly processed almond juice is much healthier than dairy... /s
  • Posts: 5,481 Member
    mardetox wrote: »

    literally, MFP spat that number out

    Because you put the numbers in there.

    With only 20 pounds to lose, half a pound a week would be a healthy weight loss.
  • Posts: 29,136 Member
    this thread is the poster child for broscience...
  • Posts: 6,208 Member
    edited July 2015
    Serah87 wrote: »
    I need to just put all sugar on my Bingo cards, I would have a black out Bingo every single day!! LOL, ;)

    that's cheating!!
  • Posts: 26 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »

    I plugged your stats into the goals tool. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

    With only 20 pounds to lose, you should shoot for just losing 0.5 pound per week. More aggressive goals will cause suffering. 0.5 pound per week gives you 1,590 calories per day. You're 5'7" like me. 1,200 is for shorter women.

    fb54ecd98fa187f86ef4fc3d94fd4124.png

    Yea that makes sense - I did put my goals as losing 2 lbs per week (the max it allows). Thanks for clarifying, I'm (as everyone has made very clear) obviously a newbie to this!
  • Posts: 26 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    this thread is the poster child for broscience...

    lol
  • Posts: 5,481 Member
    Alluminati wrote: »

    that's cheating!!

    I know. ;) LOL
  • Posts: 26 Member

    First of all, no one here has been condescending towards you. This conversation takes pace on MFP literally every day, and it gets frustrating dispelling all of the misinformation surrounding sugar every. Single. Day. And then people come in with even more bizarre misinformation (like the poster above who garnered a couple eye rolls), which is frustrating because it confuses people, such as yourself, who are new to health and fitness and who need to learn the facts rather than a bunch of woo from a couple of crazy journalists and bloggers out there who want to get page hits.

    Secondly, there is absolutely no reason to "detox" from sugar. You are demonizing a food without completely understanding what it is and how the body processes it. Sugar is the latest "evil" food in the diet industry, and detox is a pretty-sounding buzzword to make you feel like you're doing something useful. Short of going to rehab for a severe drug addiction, there really is no such thing as a detox. Your liver and kidneys do your body's detoxing for you just fine.

    You would probably be best-served by STOPPING the food demonizing, learning about macronutrients and how they affect body composition, trying to hit your calorie and macronutrient goals for the day, and learning how to control your portions so that you can include treats that you enjoy during your day to avoid binging on them later on. There is nothing wrong with incorporating sugary foods into a balanced diet and active lifestyle.

    Mental health is important, too.

    Right, but as someone who can't eat 1 cookie but has to eat 3, I think this approach will help reset my mindset (that is, a mindset of an addict). Thanks for the info though!
  • Posts: 26 Member
    GalaxyDuck wrote: »
    Projected Weight Loss 1.7 lbs/week


    With only 20 lbs you are looking to lose, I think you have your projected weight loss goal per week set too high. When you're that close to your goal weight, the 0.5/lb a week setting is recommended.

    Read through the information on this page:
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets/p1

    Yep, you nailed it. I've adjusted it, thanks!
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  • Posts: 26 Member

    There you go. You said it. It's lack of self control, not an addiction, and not the fault of the sugar.

    Also, not allowing myths to continue to propagate is not the same as being unsupportive. In fact, correcting false views based on junk science is more supportive than just blindly allowing a person to believe in the woo.

    How is that not an addiction? Genuinely curious
  • This content has been removed.
  • Posts: 5,789 Member
    mardetox wrote: »

    literally, MFP spat that number out

    So MFP is the extent of your research? What is your goal set at....2lbs per week?

    MFP is just a calculator.... It takes your stats, goals, and daily activity level and spits out a number to reach your goal. It also assumes you do no exercise. Entering your stats into a TDEE calculator as sedentary, I get ~1800. To lose 2lbs per week, that's a 1000 cal per day deficit or a daily caloric goal of only 800 calories. MFP bottoms out at 1200 (there is a glitch where some will get below 1200, but that doesn't happen too often).

    1lb per week would be 1300, .5lbs would be 1550. This also wouldn't include any exercise cals that you should be eating back.

    If your stats, diary, and exercise are all correct, you feel exhausted because your "tank of gas" has long since been empty.
  • Posts: 4,696 Member
    mardetox wrote: »

    Right, but as someone who can't eat 1 cookie but has to eat 3, I think this approach will help reset my mindset (that is, a mindset of an addict). Thanks for the info though!

    I fit 3 cookies into my day quite often. One cookie is not even worth it. I usually eat 2 or 3, depending on the brand/calories in each cookie.
  • Posts: 29,136 Member
    mardetox wrote: »

    Right, but as someone who can't eat 1 cookie but has to eat 3, I think this approach will help reset my mindset (that is, a mindset of an addict). Thanks for the info though!

    lack of self control does not equal addiction.

    So if you eat three cookies you are an addict?
  • Posts: 26 Member

    I fit 3 cookies into my day quite often. One cookie is not even worth it. I usually eat 2 or 3, depending on the brand/calories in each cookie.

    How's that workin out for your goals?
  • Posts: 4,696 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »

    lack of self control does not equal addiction.

    So if you eat three cookies you are an addict?

    I must be an addict.

    Time to check into rehab.
  • Unknown
    edited July 2015
    This content has been removed.
  • Posts: 26 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »

    lack of self control does not equal addiction.

    So if you eat three cookies you are an addict?

    If I literally cannot say no, and get super upset if I can't have it, I think so. Unless everything I know about addiction is wrong (quite possible, learn new things everyday!)
  • Posts: 4,696 Member
    mardetox wrote: »

    How's that workin out for your goals?

    Well I've been steadily losing weight, so I'd say it's working out just fine.

    As long as I've hit my calorie goal/around my protein goal, and I've gotten substantial exercise for the day, having a bowl of ice cream or a few cookies does not negatively impact my weight loss or my health.
  • This content has been removed.
  • Posts: 10,321 Member
    mardetox wrote: »

    How's that workin out for your goals?

    Not cookies, but I eat ice cream every single day and my goals are just fine...

This discussion has been closed.