Low Sugar/Sugar Free Diet Help

mikeCFNI wrote: »

So my diet plan is to eat as little carbs as possible. However, I've struggled to hit the 1,200 calorie minimum that this app sets. A friend recommended adding peanut butter where I could, but wouldn't that defeat the point of the diet? What about Milk, or Fruit?

im going by your name as you being male? if so the minimum for men is 1500/1600(not sure some say 1500 and some say 1600) 1200 is the minimum for sedentary,short.elderly women or a combo of the 3. also why as little carbs as possible?

When you go very low carb, you're supposed to up your fat. Fat isn't "bad" and low calorie doesn't necessarily = "good". Your undereating and doing yourself no favours. Ironically, undereating the way you are is far, far more unhealthy than any one given food.

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Ok. When you get your calories is technically less important than getting your calories. It only matters if you don't function well. Personally, I feel like I need to eat every few hours. Lots of people on here do intermittent fasting, so you might look up some of those threads and see if that is something that will work for you. If you have time in the morning, oatmeal with fruit, a couple of eggs and toast, a toaster waffle smeared with a little peanut butter if that's what floats your boat. Can you throw a sandwich in your backpack? A piece of fruit? A handful of nuts? Some hummus and carrot sticks? Hard boiled eggs? Something quick and easy, and preferably cheap, if you're like most college students. On the weekend, can you make a pot of lentils or chili or something to eat for dinner during the week? I pretty much lived on lentils and rice when I was a college student, and I still like them. I can't eat ramen anymore, though. Egh. You aren't that heavy, so you should look at losing 1/2-1 lb a week. If you look at making changes to how you're eating that you can sustain now and in the future, you'll be successful managing your weight, long term.

To avoid sugars you will want to skip foods with added sugars (sucrose, dextrose, honey, syrup, HFCS) and limits fruits. Tropical (bananas, mangos, grapes, etc) and dried fruit (raisins, figs, dates) have the most sugar among fruits. Temperate fruits like oranges, apples, nectarines, plums, grapefruit, melons (just part) and pears have moderate to lower sugar levels, and berries (just a handful) are generally lowest in sugar.

To limit carbs, the easiest way is to avoid anything made primarily from flour (like bread, muffins, pizza crust, bagel, pasta) and grains (corn, rice, oats). Starchy root vegetables (potatoes, turnips, carrots) are also fairly high in carbs and may need to be limited. Unfortunately these are all really cheap foods for a student to eat.

Once you have limited carbs you'll want to increase fat and protein. Fat won't make you fat if you eat at a deficit. I lost my weight eating 70-75% fat. I personally think fat is at its worst when paired with lots of refined carbs. (or is a vegetable oil or trans fat.) Peanut butter, plain butter, or whipped cream in coffee will not harm your weight loss unless you eat too much.

Fruit or milk will not harm your weight loss either but it will increase carbs and possibly make it hard to stay low carb (under 100-150g of carbs a day).

My LCHF snacks are: cheese and pepperoni, eggs, nuts, coffee with cream and protein powder, veggies with cheese dip/cream cheese/ full fat salad dressing, salad, can of tuna, or leftovers.

mikeCFNI wrote: »

Yes male, and 1200 cal is what MFP requires for men to complete the journal for the day.I just don't have time to eat enough for that without eating bad food. Also low carb because that facilitates fat loss, or so I'm told.

did you check and make sure your settings say male? because that is the lowest calories FOR A WOMAN. not a male.now 1200 net maybe but males are supposed to eat no less than 1500/1600. Thats the minimum. so I dont see how you can close it out at 1200 if you are male, unless there is a glitch or something else. at your height,age and weight you are eating too little if you are eating less than the minimum for males.

Im female and I eat more than 1500 calories. when I was over 200 lbs I was eating more than 2000 calories(while sedentary) and losing weight. Im 5'6 1/2 and 43 years old.

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

mikeCFNI wrote: »

Yes male, and 1200 cal is what MFP requires for men to complete the journal for the day.I just don't have time to eat enough for that without eating bad food. Also low carb because that facilitates fat loss, or so I'm told.

did you check and make sure your settings say male? because that is the lowest calories FOR A WOMAN. not a male.now 1200 net maybe but males are supposed to eat no less than 1500/1600. Thats the minimum. so I dont see how you can close it out at 1200 if you are male, unless there is a glitch or something else. at your height,age and weight you are eating too little if you are eating less than the minimum for males.

Im female and I eat more than 1500 calories. when I was over 200 lbs I was eating more than 2000 calories(while sedentary) and losing weight. Im 5'6 1/2 and 43 years old.

Re the bolded - men get the 'warning' if they're under 1200, women get it if they're under 1000. However, MFP will not set a goal for men under 1500 or for women under 1200.

mikeCFNI wrote: »

6'0, ~225lbs, 19.
Im a college student and the time restraint is because I don't have time to fit in 3 meals between classes. This is my first time on a diet so a lot of this is new to me.

So there is no need to est 3 meals a day or anything like that. But eating 1200 cals or less is going to provide you little opportunity to get adequate nutrients to help sustain a healthy body. It will increase muscle loss with such an aggressive goal.

Second, the only thing that drives fat loss is a calorie deficit. Eating low cab can only do that if you are able to restrict calories. You can actually juat as easily gain weight on low carb as you can on high carb.

Ultimately, if you want a lean healthy body, than increasing calories will be key.

How much weight are you trying to lose?
What rate of loss did you select?
What calorie goal did MFP provide?

Disregard whatever you heard about needing to cut carbs in order to lose weight. The only thing requires to lose weight is to cut calories, you can do that and still eat fruit, peanut butter, drink milk and even beer (you're in college right?!).

Set a reasonable calorie goal for how much weight you have to lose. It should not be more than 1 lb/week. Eat a variety of foods you enjoy within that calorie target. If your university meal program is run by a company like Aramark or Eurest then many of the foods may already be in the database. If you exercise, log and eat those calories back.

I'm a 5'2 female over forty and I lose weight eating 2000 calories. There's no reason a young male needs to cut to 1200 or lower to lose. You've been absorbing a lot of misinformation, disregard it and start all over. Read the stickied most helpful forum posts at the top of the getting started section on these boards.