is my sugar goal unreasonable?

cbelt82
cbelt82 Posts: 62
edited October 4 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey Yall! I'm feelin really discouraged and need advice! I've been doing myfitness pal for almost 2 weeks. I'm not large by any means but I am wanting to lose some extra pounds so I can wear a bikini on vacation and I want to learn to maintain my weight. Because of my shape I find that I'm losing weight slower then most I guess. But counting my calories alone has helped me lose 2 pounds since I began! Now I've decided to start paying closer attention to individual nutrients I'm taking in (the truth is I didn't realize I had nutrient goals until yesterday lol). I noticed that I am ALWAYS over on sugar, dietary fiber, and sometimes carbs ( I was proud of the fact that I am never over on sodium or fats). the Problem is... they have my sugar intake goal at 24g a day. Is that normal??? I just ate a banana for breakfast and that little banana had HALF of my daily sugar intake! Is there a such thing as good sugar and bad sugar? I LOVE fruit and I can't imagine that it would be bad to eat more than 2 fruits a day. i don't understand. Someone please help me! P.S. i'm still having issues uploading a picture and Im still looking at adding more friends so please feel free to add me.
love
Cassie

Replies

  • Heatherbledsoe
    Heatherbledsoe Posts: 106 Member
    I just added sugar to my goals and i was like more than double over, wtf! so most of it was from my banana and apples, That would mean basically everything else I ate would have to be sugar free. I think the goals on MFP are unreasonable for sugar. I manage to be way below my goals on carbs, sodium, cals, fat, and alwasy way over in the good parts such as fiber and protein. I dont even care anymore lol
  • wickedcricket
    wickedcricket Posts: 1,246 Member
    24 is a good goal. FDA suggests 20 mg for an adult. Americans eat WAY too much sugar. As far as bananas go, here's what I do. Tho MFP does, I do NOT count sugar from fruit - don't eat T00 MUCH fruit - but I only count the sugar in food, refined etc. That gets me closer to 24 which is also my goal.
    I don't worrry too much about refined or complex sugar - our bodies DO need some sugar and definitely need fruit.
    Keep up the good work!
  • sk2775
    sk2775 Posts: 699 Member
    Cassie...I am always over on sugar also...but it all depends on the what kind of sugar you are taking in. If you are getting natural sugars such as fruits and vegetables, they are much better than getting sugar from candy and sweets. I have always been over my sugar, but have been able to lose about 55 pounds in the last 7 months. I don't worry too much about this number. I focus on sodium (mainly) and calories.
  • mbmorse1011
    mbmorse1011 Posts: 492 Member
    I have the same problem with the sugars. I LOVE fruit too and have found it hard to stay under my goal of 26. I do find that with exercise it gives me extras back but its still difficult. I've been able to do it but I've sacrified have apples and oranges and things because of their high sugar content. I have decided that if I go over I need to go back and look at why. If its because of eating healthy things like fruits then I will be ok with it. If it is from sugars from "naughty" things then I'm not ok with it. Almost everything has sugars in it, even milk. So it would be very hard to eath healthy and keep it under 26.
  • daram05
    daram05 Posts: 80
    The crazy thing about this is, I just talked to my trainer about this yesterday. I think MFP automatically sets sugar at 24, because mine was set at 24g too. He said for my age, weight and activity level, I should not exceed 80, but should be around 50ish. I am 30 years old, 145lbs and workout anywhere from 4-6 times a week. This said above numbers is based off a 1700 caloric intake diet.

    I hope this helps!
  • Ashbee1224
    Ashbee1224 Posts: 65
    Ive been doing some research on sugars b/c I, like you had noticed I was going over on my sugar intake. Apparently sugar is sugar, the body doesnt recognize a fruit sugar from processed sugar any differently. Which confuses me because I thought we were suppose to eat 2-4 servings of fruit a day!? If I did that + added in the lil sugars here and there that are hidden in so much of my food I would be @ 60-90g. a day! So Ive been eating 1/2 an apple, 1/2 a banana. The last 2 wks ive been keeping my sugars at or below my daily recommended and honestly I can tell a difference, it broke my plateau. Anyway, Im no expert but Ive been doing a lil reading here and there and trying to figure it out as I go, hope it helps!
  • jessfresh
    jessfresh Posts: 22
    yeah i do as someone does above...i don't over eat fruit (maybe one or two pieces a day), but don't count it as it is a different type of sugar (fructose?)...so just count the sugar intake in the rest of my diet instead and try and keep that under 24g
  • abby459
    abby459 Posts: 694 Member
    I agree, I dont think that MFP takes into account the natural sugars that are found in fruits, ect. I have one apple or peach and I'm already over for the day. I try to make sure that no more then 20gm come from refined/processed sugars!! Hope that helps!
  • daj150
    daj150 Posts: 815 Member
    Despite what many people say, it is medically shown that sugar is sugar. Also, you may be surprised to know that sugar is also a carbohydrate. If you are a fruit lover, one thing you can do is try and shoot for the following:

    (Sugar Goal - Sugar Actual) + (Carb Goal + Carb Actual) <= (Fiber Goal - Fiber Actual)

    So if your sugar goal is 24 and carb is say 190, and fiber is 15, then you could have something like this for actuals: sugars = 40, carbs = 170 and fiber = 20.

    This would be (24-40)+(190-170) <= (15-20) --> -16+20 <= -5 --> now take absolute value of fiber since it is negative, which is good because it's good to go over your fiber goal --> 4 <= 5

    With this you are 1 over on your fiber, meaning you have balanced out your carbs/sugars for the day. This aids in your body maximizing weight loss and not storing up excess carbs and sugars. There is a little more in-depth you can go, but this is good for beginners.
  • amymeenieminymo
    amymeenieminymo Posts: 2,394 Member
    No advice on the sugar, but when you have less to lose it will go slower than if you have tons of excess to shed. However 2 pounds in 2 weeks is the recommended amound to lose, so you're doing just fine.
  • nanodot
    nanodot Posts: 154 Member
    It is interesting how the Conventional Wisdom (CW) diet wants us to eat very little sugar, but tons of complex carbs!

    Sugar is carbs is sugar is all the same thing. Complex carbs are slower to digest than simple sugars, but they all end up as sugar in your bloodstream.

    I don't track sugar, just carbs. Fiber doesn't count, though.

    If you are doing a CW diet (lowfat, calorie counting diet with grains) then i suggest staying under MFP's carb goal and ignoring the sugar goal. Or, customize your MFP settings to track a different macro.

    If you are doing low-carb, then 50-100 carbs a day is ideal for steady comfortable weight loss. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-primal-carbohydrate-continuum/
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    I'm always at least double my daily sugar goal, and it hasn't hindered me one bit. If anything it's made this more sustainable for me! Just watch your calories!
  • cbelt82
    cbelt82 Posts: 62
    Oh my goodness! So this whole Time I thought I would get an email alert if people responded to my posts and I just checked this today. Thanks Yall for all the responses!!! I'm trying not to pay attention to the natural sugars. I usually have about 2 apples a day and about a cup of strawberries. I haven't weighed in for about a week or so (we travel alot and I don't have a scale with me) but I plan on weighing in on Haloween since we are going to a get together and they have a scale! hahahahaha So hopefully i've lost some more. I feel smaller. And my clothes fit different so thats a good sign right?
    Love
    cassie
  • 22_12
    22_12 Posts: 1
    Thanks to everyone who responded on this thread I was beginning to freak out because I fruit takes me over my daily allowance. I really think mfp should have a sugar break of the sugars would work so much better. Well at least I can go back to eating my fruit without fear.
  • missikay1970
    missikay1970 Posts: 588 Member
    thanks for posting, i am curious about sugars, too (and fats)
  • angiec20
    angiec20 Posts: 4
    I recently started paying more attention to sugar/carb intake (focusing on a Primal way of eating- no grains, low sugar, high protein and fat) and have seen the best results yet. I've also been successful not paying any attention to anything but calories in, calories out (Weight Watchers), but found that stopped working eventually.

    All that to say, if you're close to your goal weight and/or have reached a plateau, paying attention to carbs/sugar can be a great shake up. Sugar is sugar, whether it's from a piece of fruit or a piece of candy- Americans in general eat wayyyy too much!
  • thelowcarbrecipes
    thelowcarbrecipes Posts: 89 Member
    Staying away from sugar is a great idea, you dont want to be having big insuline spikes promoting fat storage
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