Sugar and Weight Loss
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JamesAztec
Posts: 524 Member
Towards the end of last year I gained a few pounds during a bout with shingles. So over the past couple months I've cut down my consumption of sugar dramatically. Doing that and exercising regularly again has gotten me into the best shape of my adult life.
I'm curious if others have tried cutting out sugar and how that affected your health? The more research I do on sugar, the more I'm convinced that it is toxic and should be limited as much as possible. Thoughts?
I'm curious if others have tried cutting out sugar and how that affected your health? The more research I do on sugar, the more I'm convinced that it is toxic and should be limited as much as possible. Thoughts?
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Replies
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100,000% agree with you @Aztec4Life. I've been reading more and more studies about (refined) sugar and how detrimental it is to your health. No surprise that the "soft drink" makers contribute donations toward questionable studies on the effects of sugar. For decades, fat has been the target for obesity when in fact, sugar is a much high contributor.
From personal experience, especially after my WLS, sugar makes me feel like pure crap. It makes me lethargic, tired, irritable, causes me to have oily skin and acne and worst of all - makes me crave MORE of it. It also makes me feel like my mind is in a "fog" if that makes sense.
And sugar also seems to make me hungry. I try to limit myself to a couple butterscotch discs or something similar a day, just to get a bit of sugary satisfaction. During Christmas when my wife bought bags of Hershey's Kisses, I was like a demon that was drawn to that damn tin full of them in the kitchen. Soooo glad they are gone!4 -
I have drastically decreased my intake of carbs and sugar, and I feel like crap when I have too much of either. I do indulge here and there because I also feel like you need to have some balance there as well. Biggest difference for me is that I eat much less of it than before and too much gets me sick.5
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I'm only 1 month out from my VSG and have to say that sugar makes me feel lethargic, foggy and irritable (also I notice more pain/swelling in my extremities when I have sugar/starches). I'll be 'low carb' for life most likely. Currently keeping sugar/carbs at or below 30 grams a day and will find my 'magic number' when I get to a healthy weight.
Being soo new to MFP I have only 1 friend on my feed at the moment and would thoroughly enjoy having more people as friends in my feed to help keep me motivated. Please, feel free to add me as a friend.
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Feel free to add me. I was sleeved 10/5/161
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It's now been about 2 months since I reduced added sugar intake and I feel better than ever. I'm losing about 1lb a week and I'm convinced reducing the sugar is reason why.3
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Sugar and CARBs are Bad bad bad!!!
Only to reiterate what is already said here. Truly that IS the saving grace of my WLS, and the only reason that I lost the weight. (down 130) No carbs no sugar. It is very hard to live without them, but they made me ill, just as stated above. Now at almost 2 years since surgery, it was only this past Holiday season where sugar was reintroduced into my menu, snacking on small bites and discovering it didn't affect me as bad. Soon the small bites got larger and I would put myself into a sugar coma. Laying on the couch passing out. I also gained 10-15 pounds from this holiday season. It wasn't just sugar that I discovered which I could now devour but bread! OH NO!!! Oh no! STOP ME PLEASE!
What did I learn... do not eat sugar or carbs. The really awful news about all of this... I am addicted again! I can't go a week with out bread or some chocolate. It is bad, Bad BAD drug that sugar addiction. STAY AWAY! It will only cause fat to increase in the areas you lost it.
MEAT and VEGGIES = GOOD!!!!!
Have a nice day!
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Agree, sugar is empty calories, makes one feel like "crap", and makes one hungry (so can artificial sweeteners). And remember, alcohol is just another form of sugar...3
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Sugar and carbs are not all bad, and not all alcohol turns to sugar.
Yes, everyone needs to limit their sugar and carb intake for health. There are so many diets, and such a variety of options that it's important to figure out what's best for your body. I will absolutely agree that too much of either makes me feel lethargic, bloated and gross. Sugars, I try to keep as low as possible. I try to only eat natural sugars (fruits and veggies). I will use artificial sweeteners, but not often. I was never a big "sweets" person, so that's really not an issue for me. Carbs, if I go under 50g a day, I feel horrible. I keep them between 60 - 75 grams most days. On days I'm running, I bump that up to a max of 100.
Alcohol. It is a macronutrient the body does not need. It has seven calories per gram. There are several problems with alcohol. About 20% is absorbed through the stomach. So, right off the bat, your body is getting 1.4 calories per gram consumed. The other 80% is absorbed in the small intestines. The liver knows that alcohol is a toxin and prioritizes the filtering of it. In doing so, it's ~500 other duties get delayed, including the metabolism of fats, carbs and proteins; meaning they end up getting stored for later usage.
All alcohol is *not* converted to sugar. Distilled alcohols have no carbs, it is not processed into sugars. The problem is as stated above, plus a few more things. Most people mix in sugary drinks with their alcohol, so you have the calories and carbs (sugars) with those. Plus, while drinking, people tend to graze and don't always make the best decisions. Alcohol that does have carbs, is a double whammy.
I'm putting all this in, not to be bitchy or argumentative, but to make sure information is out there.3 -
Adding to the alcohol awareness should be the discussion about substitute addictions and the studies that show a increased risk for alcoholism after WLS (specifically gastric bypass) due to the direct path to the small intestine.3
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I feel I've become a bit of a "Sugar Nazi" but I can't stress enough how bad I think it is. @NicoleL874 , yes sugar in it's ORIGINAL FORM is fine. I eat multiple fruits a day. And yes, I do have the occasional sweet treat. (I had kettle corn on my birthday). But since cutting added sugar in late December I'm losing about 1lb a week, my inflamation in foot disappeared, my resting heart rate is 50, I can run farther and faster than ever, and I still eat as much as I want as long as it's healthy food. It just seems so simple as a start to healthy lifestyle. Consume as little refined sugars AS POSSIBLE.2
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My two cents: the sugar is evil/CICO/carbs are evil discussion is not WLS specific, but a more general topic.
I was successful ignoring carbs and sugars and focusing on protein and overall calories (which naturally lowered carb and sugar levels). I believe we will mostly find anecdotal testimony.
There is no one true path for a given person, but each of us needs to find a path that works for him or her. And by works I mean is sustainable, gives the weight results you are looking for.
Carry on!
Rob.
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Preaching to the Choir....
I remember going to a seminar on weight loss and hearing the scientific evidence of how our brains operate on sugar and how close it is to that of a brain on certain drugs! Processed sugar (not natural) is a drug and it is probably why obesity is so rampant in the US and growing in the world.
I know for me, like many of you, when I eat sugar, I feel bad. I feel tired, foggy, etc... it is just plain BAD for me. Right now because I have the sugar out of my system, I am not craving it right now... I never want to go back. I am afraid to even have the one taste because I fear where it could lead me... and so I am not eating it now. I have been, however incorporating berries and fruit back in my world... slowly (I just got the go ahead for raw fruits and veggies) and I look forward to the continued learning of good solid natural eating.
If you ever have a chance check out Dr. Hyman and Diabesity....
http://www.anewdayanewme.com/dr-mark-hyman-seven-steps-to-reverse-diabesity/
I saw him on TV and was convinced it was my problem!
Just my two cents! 1 -
@Elyseinchi thanks for that article - I DEFINITELY need to incorporate the relax part - and the link to the perfect plate article wasn't working so I will look for that later. Have you used the PGX supplement? I am curious about it.1
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@Elyseinchi, I'm fully on-board with the "sugar is evil" train. Do yourself a favor, don't get started on processed sugar if you can avoid it. It will suck you back in. Around the holiday's, a cookie here & there turned into me craving sweets. I manage to control it for the most part, but find myself thinking about it in what I consider an unhealthy manner. My wife brought home some of those Caramel Cadbury Eggs and last night I couldn't resist eating one even though I wasn't even hungry.
I have no doubt whatsoever that sugar acts like a drug in your brain. It also has many of the same physiological effects as drugs on your body such as feeling tired, foggy, etc. Coming down from sugar has many similarities to people coming down from drugs.
And it's funny how eating natural sugar such as fruits doesn't create the same effect as processed sugar. Makes you wonder what they are doing to refined sugar, corn syrup and other sweeteners that makes them so addictive. Hmmm....2 -
Added sugar was the first thing I cut out when I started to lose weight last year. Then, I cut out simple carbohydrates one by one: bread, rice, fruits (except for berries), grains, pasta, etc over several months. When I cut out sugar my joint pain decrease tremendously! Now, I indulge here and there, but I feel better when I don't. The thing with sugar is that even simple carbs, like potatoes, bread, fruits, pasta, etc convert to glucose in the stomach, so it renders the same effect in your body. It's truly like eating sugar, metabolically speaking.1
