Sugar- Help
khushu2009
Posts: 4 Member
FitPal allows me to take upto 45g of sugar, no matter how much I try it always goes more than that even when I am at my total calorie intake (1200). I take strwberries in yogurt as breakfast, few cranberries in lunch salad and as a evening snack one plum or 100g of watermelon. These all fruits all together adds up more than 45g of sugar. I am working hard to stay in 1200 calorie range but not loosing any, not sure if having fruits sugar is the problem. Also I am vegeterian so my protein intake also get compromised and often does not reach to required amount. Do you guys think fruit sugar can be a big blocker in not loosing weight even when you are eating required calorie suggested by the app?
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Replies
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Do you have a medical reason to limit sugar? Many of us disregard the sugar limit (unless we have a medical reason to limit sugar). If you are hitting your calorie target, going over sugar will not prevent weight loss.
Being vegetarian isn't going to prevent you from getting adequate protein. Vegetarians can get protein from beans, grains, vegetables, tofu, tempeh, seitan, nuts, and seeds. If you are lacto-ovo, you can also get protein from eggs and dairy. If you don't have enough room for these protein-containing foods in your daily calories, it could be because you are eating too much fruit -- that could be a reason to cut back on fruit. But fruit, by itself, isn't going to prevent you from losing weight.0 -
MFP's sugar 'recommendation' is notoriously low, and is based on some published recommendations for "added" sugars.
Like janejellyroll said, unless you have a medical reason to watch your sugar intake, it isn't of much importance, provided you're meeting your calorie and macro goals.0 -
juggernaut1974 wrote: »MFP's sugar 'recommendation' is notoriously low, and is based on some published recommendations for "added" sugars.
It is a figure for total sugars, not added. Too much sugar ? eat less fruit, or less sweet ones. Sorted.0 -
juggernaut1974 wrote: »MFP's sugar 'recommendation' is notoriously low, and is based on some published recommendations for "added" sugars.
It is a figure for total sugars, not added. Too much sugar ? eat less fruit, or less sweet ones. Sorted.
I tend to agree with that. I can't say for sure that is what MFP means BUT I think common sense and healthwise you're fine with sugar in fruit with all of it's wonderful fiber.
I guess you can adjust if you have problems losing weight. If you're losing weight stick with what you are doing.
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I wouldn't blame the sugar, and that fruit is all good for you. If anything, I'd work to get more protein in during the day.0
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No, if you are really eating 1200 calories, getting more calories from fruit (or sugar) or too little protein wouldn't be the reason for not losing. Protein is important for health and maintaining muscle mass, and helps keep you full (for many people), so you don't go over your calorie target. Sugar for some makes them have a harder time sticking to their calorie target. But if you are hitting it, that's not the issue.
How long have you been stalled?
You say you are working to stay within 1200--are there days you go over? Many people find it easier to have a higher goal they hit more consistently and with no rebound desire to have way over days.
What's you height/weight and goals?0 -
I'd like to see reputable literature for any recommendations citing TOTAL sugars. The WHO recommendations are for FREE sugars, which, as stated, are for added sugars.0
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These. It's all about calories in calories out.juggernaut1974 wrote: »MFP's sugar 'recommendation' is notoriously low, and is based on some published recommendations for "added" sugars.
Like janejellyroll said, unless you have a medical reason to watch your sugar intake, it isn't of much importance, provided you're meeting your calorie and macro goals.
I swapped out my sugar tracking and track fibre instead.
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Thanks alot guys, I appreciate it. Sorry I did forget to mention that few months back I did diagnosed with pre- diabetes so sugar control is very important for me. Pre- diabetes was the motivation for loosing weight. There are days when I do go more than 1200 but never more than 1500. I do yoga twice a week and my job required lots of walk so in general i am pretty active. I am doing it from last two month and have lost only 2lb. I am 165lb and my goal is 130lb. Not loosing weight hits me some time and my motivation goes down, sugar was the only part which I could think to blame, do not know what else to do? I cant run or do heavy exercise due to chronic pain in my right ankle. Any other relevent suggestion in my case to loose weight would be highly appreciated. Thanks once again.0
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khushu2009 wrote: »Sorry I did forget to mention that few months back I did diagnosed with pre- diabetes so sugar control is very important for me.
Given what you just said here, then yes, the fruit is where most of your sugar is most likely coming from. If you must eat fruit, stick to lower sugar fruits like any kind of berry (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, etc.) and only in very small portions (2-4 ounces). Watermelon is much higher in sugar per serving than berries. That's why it tastes to good (i.e. is so sweet). For protein, try hemp seed or hemp hearts. They are a very good (high) source of protein.0 -
khushu2009 wrote: »FitPal allows me to take upto 45g of sugar, no matter how much I try it always goes more than that even when I am at my total calorie intake (1200). I take strwberries in yogurt as breakfast, few cranberries in lunch salad and as a evening snack one plum or 100g of watermelon. These all fruits all together adds up more than 45g of sugar. I am working hard to stay in 1200 calorie range but not loosing any, not sure if having fruits sugar is the problem. Also I am vegeterian so my protein intake also get compromised and often does not reach to required amount. Do you guys think fruit sugar can be a big blocker in not loosing weight even when you are eating required calorie suggested by the app?
Sugar is not why you are not losing weight. I suspect your logging may be off, which is pretty normal.
Do you weigh your food?
Log everything you eat?
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khushu2009 wrote: »Thanks alot guys, I appreciate it. Sorry I did forget to mention that few months back I did diagnosed with pre- diabetes so sugar control is very important for me. Pre- diabetes was the motivation for loosing weight. There are days when I do go more than 1200 but never more than 1500. I do yoga twice a week and my job required lots of walk so in general i am pretty active. I am doing it from last two month and have lost only 2lb. I am 165lb and my goal is 130lb. Not loosing weight hits me some time and my motivation goes down, sugar was the only part which I could think to blame, do not know what else to do? I cant run or do heavy exercise due to chronic pain in my right ankle. Any other relevent suggestion in my case to loose weight would be highly appreciated. Thanks once again.
Gotcha. I did not see this post before replying.0 -
PeachyCarol wrote: »I'd like to see reputable literature for any recommendations citing TOTAL sugars. The WHO recommendations are for FREE sugars, which, as stated, are for added sugars.
MFP's recommended number is without doubt for total sugars, the link is in http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10197460/sugar-faq-june-2015/
The WHO recently adopted Free sugars, which include added sugars, but their calorie % and hence g/day would be lower than MFP's.
MFP took a similar line to the EU, Australia and Canada in setting a daily figure to encompass both added / free sugars and sugars inherent in a typical healthy diet. So 90 or 100 g/day on a maintenance 2000 cals are used.0 -
khushu2009 wrote: »Thanks alot guys, I appreciate it. Sorry I did forget to mention that few months back I did diagnosed with pre- diabetes so sugar control is very important for me. Pre- diabetes was the motivation for loosing weight.
Diary closed - what's your daily carbohydrate intake ? Most digestible carbohydrates become blood sugar so don't just look at the stuff that sets out as sugar.0 -
khushu2009 wrote: »Thanks alot guys, I appreciate it. Sorry I did forget to mention that few months back I did diagnosed with pre- diabetes so sugar control is very important for me. Pre- diabetes was the motivation for loosing weight.
Diary closed - what's your daily carbohydrate intake ? Most digestible carbohydrates become blood sugar so don't just look at the stuff that sets out as sugar.
Thanks, my daily carb intake is 150gram. I'm trying to be as accurate as possible in logging whatever I eat.0 -
As a pre-diabetic, sugar CAN be a factor of you stalling in your weight loss. Try and research low GI foods. This will allow you to not spike your blood sugar as high or dip your blood sugar as low. If you can, eat more of that 0% fat greek yogurt (since your protein is lacking). If I had to guess, the blueberries are fine as are the watermelon, but the strawberry and the plum are higher in sugar (check online to be sure though). Try to substitute these fruits that are higher in sugar with something else. In general, the more sour the fruit, the lower in sugar they are. If you can stand it, just do blueberries and watermelon. I'm good with repetitive meals and snacks, some people aren't. I'm also a pre-diabetic. When I hit my protein numbers and stay below my carb and sugar numbers, I feel great and don't go over on my calories.
My suggestion is to substitute at least one of the fruit snacks to all veggie snacks (carrot, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.). I had difficulties with keeping under my sugar and carb numbers when I started the day with a fruit smoothie. Now I have to skip my protein smoothies or go with frozen blueberry and protein smoothies (it's a treat in the summer time).
I started out at 165 as well and now I'm close to my goal weight of 140 (I weight train so I can't get down to 130 like I had initially wanted to).0 -
khushu2009 wrote: »khushu2009 wrote: »Thanks alot guys, I appreciate it. Sorry I did forget to mention that few months back I did diagnosed with pre- diabetes so sugar control is very important for me. Pre- diabetes was the motivation for loosing weight.
Diary closed - what's your daily carbohydrate intake ? Most digestible carbohydrates become blood sugar so don't just look at the stuff that sets out as sugar.
Thanks, my daily carb intake is 150gram. I'm trying to be as accurate as possible in logging whatever I eat.
There are errors that people commonly make in logging that hinders their weight loss. If you change your Diary Sharing to Public, we might be able to spot areas that you could improve. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
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You can stick to the macros/sugars you are eating now, but simply add a little protein when you eat your fruit. Like peanut butter or almond butter with the apple, or yogurt with berries. You will metabolise the sugars more slowly when paired with protein and a little fat. Natural sugars from fruit come with fiber that also slow the release of sugar in to your system. I never restricted my fruit intake when I was diabetic.0
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Strawberries are also low in sugar and high in fiber, so I wouldn't substitute away from them.0
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If you are pre-diabetic you should sit down with a registered dietician who specializes in diabetic diets. With diabetes you must eat carbs but you need to be accurate when counting them. Also you are more concerned about net carbs than sugar, with diabetes. Net carbs are total carbs minus fibre. When I was on a diabetic diet for gestational diabetes my net carb targets were 45g for breakfast, 60g for lunch/dinner and 30g each for 3 snacks per day.
Choosing items high in fibre was great because I could eat more of them :P. It helps with satiety too which will make you less prone to overeat.0 -
PeachyCarol wrote: »I'd like to see reputable literature for any recommendations citing TOTAL sugars. The WHO recommendations are for FREE sugars, which, as stated, are for added sugars.
MFP's recommended number is without doubt for total sugars, the link is in http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10197460/sugar-faq-june-2015/
The WHO recently adopted Free sugars, which include added sugars, but their calorie % and hence g/day would be lower than MFP's.
MFP took a similar line to the EU, Australia and Canada in setting a daily figure to encompass both added / free sugars and sugars inherent in a typical healthy diet. So 90 or 100 g/day on a maintenance 2000 cals are used.
Nice link to an MFP post made by you.
Here's the relevant part I found on MFP:
"Sugar
Following the recommendations to increase fruit and vegetable intake in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010, and using an average of the sugar found of sample menus provided by the USDA, recommended sugar intake limits have been set to 15% of total calories. "0 -
PeachyCarol wrote: »I'd like to see reputable literature for any recommendations citing TOTAL sugars. The WHO recommendations are for FREE sugars, which, as stated, are for added sugars.
MFP's recommended number is without doubt for total sugars, the link is in http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10197460/sugar-faq-june-2015/
The WHO recently adopted Free sugars, which include added sugars, but their calorie % and hence g/day would be lower than MFP's.
MFP took a similar line to the EU, Australia and Canada in setting a daily figure to encompass both added / free sugars and sugars inherent in a typical healthy diet. So 90 or 100 g/day on a maintenance 2000 cals are used.
That wasn't my question. Where did MFP get the 15% from? Every guideline for setting a limit I could find only mentions added or free sugars.
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How they all seem to do it is take the limited added sugar number and then add an average amount of non added sugars that someone eating a good balanced diet would eat.
They don't account for the fact that someone might eat more than that amount of intrinsic sugar or that that might even be much more common for someone eating at a deficit (personally I ate more vegetables and fruit when cutting calories, which in part replaced non sugary carbs like bread and rice and pasta).
More significantly, none of them seem to claim that eating over the recommended amount if from intrinsic sugars is going to be bad for you (and I'm not aware of any credible evidence that it is).
So IMO, people should be conscious of how much added sugar and total calories they are eating and decide if they are overeating sugar from non-nutritious sources. Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it (and don't).0 -
USDA sample meal plans:
https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/samplemealplans.aspx
Two cups of fruit a day, based on a 2,000 calories a day diet. So I took their "Meal Plan A" and chunked it in to MFP.
USDA claims this is a 2,000 calorie a day diet. Maybe. If some of the milk choices were switched out to full-fat cheeses. And we added a few sauces.
54 (g?) of sugar out of a total 283 of fats/carbs/protein, which works out to 19% of the meal plan.
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khushu2009 wrote: »Thanks alot guys, I appreciate it. Sorry I did forget to mention that few months back I did diagnosed with pre- diabetes so sugar control is very important for me. Pre- diabetes was the motivation for loosing weight. There are days when I do go more than 1200 but never more than 1500. I do yoga twice a week and my job required lots of walk so in general i am pretty active. I am doing it from last two month and have lost only 2lb. I am 165lb and my goal is 130lb. Not loosing weight hits me some time and my motivation goes down, sugar was the only part which I could think to blame, do not know what else to do? I cant run or do heavy exercise due to chronic pain in my right ankle. Any other relevent suggestion in my case to loose weight would be highly appreciated. Thanks once again.
Did your doctor give you a sugar limit for the day? If not, ask. You can set custom goals for macros in MFP, so you can adjust accordingly. Also, keep an eye on your carbs, they can be a problem in terms of getting too much sugar. My husband is T2, he talked with his doctor and he has a set sugar and carb limit (min and max) for each meal to stay balanced. But then, he's taking meds to keep his blood sugar under control, so he has to be careful to spread out his meals and sugar intake so it doesn't drop too low.
Hitting a wall and not losing weight for a week or two is common. Weight loss is not linear, and you will have stall times due to hormones or water weight or other things. Make sure you are weighing ALL your food as accurately as possible, a few ounces extra on a lot of items for the day can add a lot of extra calories you don't realize. You might be better off picking a calorie goal and sticking with it instead of 'i eat between 1200 and 1500 a day'. Maybe use some other online TDEE calculators and see what they say your daily goal should be. You can enter a manual calorie goal on MFP, and having a consistent number to work from each day might be helpful. I don't know, it doesn't help everyone, but it's something to try if you're looking for new directions.0 -
cerise_noir wrote: »I swapped out my sugar tracking and track fibre instead.
Likewise, I'm interested in my fiber and sodium intake, not sugar.
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This discussion has been closed.
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