Can I still lose weight on the same rate with high sugar?

I've just recently realised that I'm eating foods too high in sugar, around 50g sugar everyday, although 80 percent of all this is fruit sugar. Can I still lose weight the way I was losing before, or will it create an obstacle?
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Replies

  • LockdownLoser23
    LockdownLoser23 Posts: 93 Member
    Bit short and sharp from above poster :p
    Natural sugars are not going to be an obstacle and it doesn't sound like a vast amount of sugar. Keep under your calorie allowance and get exercise in where you can. Best of luck
  • LockdownLoser23
    LockdownLoser23 Posts: 93 Member
    Any type of sugar isn't going to create an obstacle.
    So going back to my regular statement.

    Calories are all that matters for weight loss.

    They are not all that matters.

    https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/science-says-sugar-bad-weight-loss/#:~:text=How does eating excess sugar,converted to fat for storage.
  • LockdownLoser23
    LockdownLoser23 Posts: 93 Member
    edited August 2020
    "How does eating excess sugar affect your weight-loss goals?

    Excess insulin drives sugar into muscle, fat and liver cells, where it’s stored as glycogen (a sugar) for later use. Sadly, we have a limited capacity to store glycogen. When this capacity is breached, the excess sugar is converted to fat for storage. Our fat cells are capable of creating chemical signals that lead to chronic inflammation, especially when you eat too many calories and too much sugar. Chronic inflammation in the body is detrimental because it’s a key indicator of heart disease among other chronic health conditions."
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    edited August 2020
    Dear posters,

    Please keep the threads in the help boards focused on the question presented by the OP. If you would like to further debate calories vs sugar intake there are plenty of debate threads on the topic.

    Thanks

    4legs
    MFP volunteer moderator
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,779 Member
    edited August 2020
    A calorie deficit is what determines weight loss.

    However, it's easier to stay in a calorie deficit if you are eating foods that satiate you. This is a very personal thing and requires some experimentation. If eating foods containing sugar makes you hungrier/less satiated or gives you cravings, it might be a good idea to replace those foods by something else.

    For example:
    Personally, I usually avoid drinks containing sugar (for example fruit juice and soft drinks), because I feel they are a waste of calories (they don't satiate me at all, or give me that much pleasure, so I'd rather use those calories for something else).
    But I do add banana and blueberries to my breakfast, as they make my breakfast tastier, healthier (more fiber and vitamins) and contribute to a fairly filling breakfast (combined with skyr yoghurt and protein powder).

    By the way, 50 grams of sugar per day is not high in my opinion.
    If you're concerned about sugar, it's more interesting to look at added sugar specifically (although it can be troublesome figuring out how much added sugar a product contains, nutrition labels usually don't specify.
    I'm not American myself, but apparently this is what the American Heart Association recommends:
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  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    The only conceivable way too much fruit could work against your weight loss plan is if it prevented you from eating enough other nutrients (namely protein and fat) while eating at your CICO goal.

    To be clear, you WILL lose weight at your CICO goal even if your fat and protein intake falls short. It would be better for your health, obviously, to get the minimum protein required for muscle sparing and the minimum fat required for hormone synthesis. Also, some people find fat and protein satiating, and feeling full makes it easier to stay within your CICO goal. If you are eating >~0.8g/lb goal weight of protein and >0.35g/lb body weight of fat, and as others have said baring medical considerations involving insulin dysregulation, fruit is great. Also nothing wrong with cake, candy or sucrose from the bag so long as -big picture- you get enough nutrients on average.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,209 Member
    edited August 2020
    50g, unless talking about 100% added as opposed to intrinsic sugar, is NOT a lot according to most National nutritional guidelines

    Sugar plus acidity *could* be detrimental to your tooth enamel... wait an appropriate amount of time and brush your teeth appropriately.

    If a caloric surplus exists, STILL sugar won't get converted to fat FIRST.

    Under surplus conditions you're likely to store fat that you've eaten first since it requires no conversion expense to store, and your body will generally strive for efficiency. Under a persistent surplus sugar might be converted into fat for longer term storage.

    Your body continuously expends energy and the energy intake process (eating) and its cues are not necessarily timed the same as when the energy becomes available to the body (digestion and processing of the intake are finished).

    Are you really going to micromanage the whole process?

    calories in for the week > maintenance for the week = overall weight gain for the week when viewed over a long enough timeline to account for un-related weight trend variations.

    Calories in for the week < maintenance = weight loss for the week when viewed over a long enough timeline to account for un-related weight trend variations.

  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,839 Member
    edited August 2020
    Sugar, especially refined white sugar is high in calories but low in nutrients. Therefore, added sugar adds calories without adding other nutrients. For example, a tablespoon of sugar and a peach have about the same number of calories yet the peach provides other nutrients and fiber the sugar doesn't have, so a peach is "better for you" than a spoonful of sugar.

    A fundamental flaw in the MFP numbers calculated for sugar is that it is based on the percentages recommended for added sugars yet the database (and many food labels) do not make those distinctions. If you log a peach, it will show up in your sugar numbers as if it were "added sugar." There are, at present, no recommendations on how much natural sugar to consume. You may, if you have type II diabetes or other carbohydrate sensitivity limit those and that will automatically limit your consumption of natural sugars.

    I generally ignore the MFP sugar percentage and numbers because of its computations are fatally flawed. I watch my carbs and usually avoid foods with any added sugars among the ingredients. MFP automatically sets your carb percentage to 50% of calories. With type II diabetes, I have mine set to 40% which makes my endocrinologist happy. Those in keto may use different numbers.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,731 Member
    Speaking of fruit, it's national watermelon day!

    Who likes watermelon? Who doesn't like watermelon? Who likes watermelon flavored gum and candy? Who can eat a whole watermelon and still need to eat something else because can it really fill you up? And if you eat that whole watermelon, are you inadvertantly eating "added" sugar because who needs to eat a whole, big *kitten* watermelon, anyway?

    (Sorry, OP :) )

    <----only fruit I eat these days are bananas (most likely because they're probably the highest sugared fruit)
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    Dear posters,

    Please keep the threads in the help boards focused on the question presented by the OP. If you would like to further debate calories vs sugar intake there are plenty of debate threads on the topic.

    Thanks

    4legs
    MFP volunteer moderator

    This type of message ^^^^^^

    In the future please know it is worth following these types of hints. If you would like to start a debate there is a debate section for that. Otherwise, hi-jacking help threads and turning them into you own personal debate is against guideline 3.
  • janetdebeer90
    janetdebeer90 Posts: 10 Member
    Whole fruit comes bundled with heaps of nutrients, and the sugars are slowly released thanks to the fibre!

    I am eating about the same sugar as you - 40-50g per day mainly from 2-3 pieces of fruit, milk in tea/coffee and some yoghurt every day. For the last 12 weeks I have consistently lost 700g per week on about 1300cal/day. (5ft6 54yr old female now 76kg). Maybe I would lose faster with less sugars, but I am happy with my eating patterns and rate of weight loss.