Sugar is a big culprit

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Lookgreat
Lookgreat Posts: 63
in Health and Weight Loss
Just wanted to share my learning that - sugar is a huge weight gain culprit . Even if you are eating only the prescribed calories and exercising but not monitoring sugar - will lead to weight gain ! I learnt it the hard way - did not loose weight for past 6 weeks in fact gained 1 pound even after eating the right amount of calories and exercise. Then one day sat with my food dairy and analyzed as to why suddenly I stopped losing after shedding 9 pounds? Found the difference in my sugar intake - searched the net and learnt that if sugar intake is more than 40 - 50 mg in a day including all sugar - even from fruits - then weight loss is affected. So all those there who are not loosing despite all efforts - take a look at your sugar intake . All the best.

Replies

  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    While I agree that too much sugar can lead to excess FAT gain, it's really not true that if you stay in your calories but eat too much sugar, you will gain weight.

    What usually happens is that people don't know how many calories they REALLY need, sugar exacerbates the issue when eaten in excess because it leads to the body storing more fat, but let's be perfectly clear, you cannot gain weight while in a caloric deficit. Now, that assumes you are TRULY in a caloric deficit. Many people use the averages, eat the amount of calories associated with those averages, and then gain weight, but that's not because they are doing the wrong things, it's because their body doesn't confirm to the average, and usually their maintenance calories and metabolic rate are outside the norm (generally lower, but in some cases they have just eaten badly for so long that their metabolism is stunted, and what would normally be a deficit, is now an excess of calories).

    Anecdotal evidence is abound about this, which doesn't make it conclusive. Lookgreat, you're case is common.
    Specifically, 1 lb over 6 weeks is a tiny amount of weight, and can be attributed to many things that have nothing to do with permenant weight gain, such as water retention, glycogen level increase, stored waste, and yes, muscle increase (over 6 weeks it's absolutely possible to gain a lb of muscle). I wouldn't say that you definitely gained a lb of fat over this period, it's possible, but if you're eating and exercising as you say you are, I wouldn't say that's a definite.
    Also, there's a very large difference between fruit sugar and processed white sugar. Fruit sugar uses a different process to be transformed into energy, a process that takes hours to complete, there's no spike in blood sugar with fruit sugar, and thus, it's a slow release of energy, which is exactly what the body wants.
    And while 40 to 50 grams of sugar is high for many women, that's only true for woman who are average height and weight or below. If a woman is 5 foot 10 and 165 lbs (a good weight for an athletic woman of this height) then she could easily handle 40 grams of sugar over a day, as long as at least 1/2 of it is fruit sugar and it's not eaten all at once.

    I'm not extolling the virtues of sugar, it's not really a great tool for caloric energy, but it's not Satan either, it's just part of the equation that we need to be aware of.
  • Lookgreat
    Lookgreat Posts: 63
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    Well what you say may be perfectly true - But all of us do not have the deep understanding that you have.

    Look at it from my point of view - in the last six weeks I should have lost 6 pounds - but I gained 1 pound - so actually I am 7 pounds behind schedule - reason I think was sugar going way over 70 mg per day - as I was unaware and not tracking it . Now I am and the moment I control it I am back to losing 1 pound in a week !
    All I wanted to point out was that it needs to be tracked - that's all.
    Thanks for the informative post SHBoss.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    Well what you say may be perfectly true - But all of us do not have the deep understanding that you have.

    Look at it from my point of view - in the last six weeks I should have lost 6 pounds - but I gained 1 pound - so actually I am 7 pounds behind schedule - reason I think was sugar going way over 70 mg per day - as I was unaware and not tracking it . Now I am and the moment I control it I am back to losing 1 pound in a week !
    All I wanted to point out was that it needs to be tracked - that's all.
    Thanks for the informative post SHBoss.

    That's why I posted :wink: (in regards to your first statement)

    Yeah, I see your results, and like I said, anecdotal evidence is abound. But I question your statement about you thinking you should have lost 6 lbs. Why do you say that? I'm truly curious and just want to know a little more about how you came to that conclusion. Are you just going by deficit and what this site says? If so, you may need to examine that a little more. And remember, again, 1 lb loss may truly be a 1 lb loss, or it could be any number of the other things I stated.
    Remember, this site is a great tool, but it's very generalized for the average, not everyone can conform to it's numbers exactly. It takes a lot of tweaking. It's quite possible you have a sugar sensitivity, and your body reacts strongly to sugar intake, I don't know this and I'm not a doctor to be able to diagnose these types of things, but if, over the next month or so, you continue to lose again, then AWESOME! You may have found your trigger.

    All I'm trying to say is there usually isn't just one culprit to the plateau dilemma.

    But I hope this works for you. I really, truly do!

    best luck.

    -Banks
  • JoyousMaximus
    JoyousMaximus Posts: 9,285 Member
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    I have to agree with Banks on this. I struggle with sugar. I used to eat almost 100 grams a day,mostly from fruit. I've gotten it down to 60g a day and I am trying to get it down to around 40 grams. But I have never had a problem losing weght. Sugar maybe a problem for you but everyone is different. I just wanted to put in my 2 cents. :flowerforyou:
  • marm1962
    marm1962 Posts: 950 Member
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    Sorry, double post
  • marm1962
    marm1962 Posts: 950 Member
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    I found this article to be extremely useful to me. I don't have a problem with sugar......I am however a pasta freak. I now try to limit my pasta intake and I try to make sure it's brown, and or/ whole wheat, although I still prefer white spaghetti.

    http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/nutritionbasics/a/glycemicindex.htm
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    I found this article to be extremely useful to me. I don't have a problem with sugar......I am however a pasta freak. I now try to limit my pasta intake and I try to make sure it's brown, and or/ whole wheat, although I still prefer white spaghetti.

    http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/nutritionbasics/a/glycemicindex.htm

    don't we all marm! :wink:
  • pange
    pange Posts: 82
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    I struggle with too much sugar, too. If you're under on your calories, but you've eaten all bad foods like sugary snacks and cheeseburgers... you're gonna gain weight. That's why a lot of people (includign myself) struggle. They don't watch their sat. fat and their sugar.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    Options
    I struggle with too much sugar, too. If you're under on your calories, but you've eaten all bad foods like sugary snacks and cheeseburgers... you're gonna gain weight. That's why a lot of people (includign myself) struggle. They don't watch their sat. fat and their sugar.

    I have to respectfully disagree. And this may be just a semantics's issue, but it's important for people who are just learning to know the differenc. You cannot gain weight while in a caloric deficit. It's physically impossible. The only way this can happen is if you have set the wrong amount of calories as your maintenance calories, and that's not being under in calories, that's being incorrect in your determination of how many calories you need.

    What you CAN gain while in deficit, is fat.
  • pange
    pange Posts: 82
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    I struggle with too much sugar, too. If you're under on your calories, but you've eaten all bad foods like sugary snacks and cheeseburgers... you're gonna gain weight. That's why a lot of people (includign myself) struggle. They don't watch their sat. fat and their sugar.

    I have to respectfully disagree. And this may be just a semantics's issue, but it's important for people who are just learning to know the differenc. You cannot gain weight while in a caloric deficit. It's physically impossible. The only way this can happen is if you have set the wrong amount of calories as your maintenance calories, and that's not being under in calories, that's being incorrect in your determination of how many calories you need.

    What you CAN gain while in deficit, is fat.

    I'm sure you're right. My knowledge is based on college courses and limited outside studying. You're definitely not going to get the results you want by eating bad calories, though. We can probably agree on that.
  • ivykivy
    ivykivy Posts: 2,970 Member
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    I'm just putting it out there in support of Banks.

    I eat about 120g of sugar a day. Mostly from yogurt and sugar I put in my coffee. I have been losing weight consistently every week since I increased to this amount. So sugar is not necessarily the culprit. It could be that you just changed your ratios which gave your metabolism a little bump. Like Banks said it can be a lot of different factors not necessarily sugar.

    You can lose weight on bad food (not that I'm advocating that). When I first started I ate pizza hut for lunch Wendy's for dinner and still lost weight because I stayed within my calories. Every body is different.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    Options
    I struggle with too much sugar, too. If you're under on your calories, but you've eaten all bad foods like sugary snacks and cheeseburgers... you're gonna gain weight. That's why a lot of people (includign myself) struggle. They don't watch their sat. fat and their sugar.

    I have to respectfully disagree. And this may be just a semantics's issue, but it's important for people who are just learning to know the differenc. You cannot gain weight while in a caloric deficit. It's physically impossible. The only way this can happen is if you have set the wrong amount of calories as your maintenance calories, and that's not being under in calories, that's being incorrect in your determination of how many calories you need.

    What you CAN gain while in deficit, is fat.



    I'm sure you're right. My knowledge is based on college courses and limited outside studying. You're definitely not going to get the results you want by eating bad calories, though. We can probably agree on that.

    we can. You may in fact lose weight, but it won't really be a healthy weight loss. As Ivy just stated above.
  • totallytasha
    totallytasha Posts: 134 Member
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    I found this article to be extremely useful to me. I don't have a problem with sugar......I am however a pasta freak. I now try to limit my pasta intake and I try to make sure it's brown, and or/ whole wheat, although I still prefer white spaghetti.

    http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/nutritionbasics/a/glycemicindex.htm

    Curses on pasta!!!!!! :angry:
  • totallytasha
    totallytasha Posts: 134 Member
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    Because I love it so much :smooched:
  • tabbydog
    tabbydog Posts: 4,925 Member
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    I found this article to be extremely useful to me. I don't have a problem with sugar......I am however a pasta freak. I now try to limit my pasta intake and I try to make sure it's brown, and or/ whole wheat, although I still prefer white spaghetti.

    http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/nutritionbasics/a/glycemicindex.htm

    Curses on pasta!!!!!! :angry:

    While we're cursing: Curses on bagels!! Curses on Cake and Pie!!! :devil:
  • chgudnitz
    chgudnitz Posts: 4,079
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    I'm just putting it out there in support of Banks.

    I eat about 120g of sugar a day. Mostly from yogurt and sugar I put in my coffee. I have been losing weight consistently every week since I increased to this amount. So sugar is not necessarily the culprit. It could be that you just changed your ratios which gave your metabolism a little bump. Like Banks said it can be a lot of different factors not necessarily sugar.

    You can lose weight on bad food (not that I'm advocating that). When I first started I ate pizza hut for lunch Wendy's for dinner and still lost weight because I stayed within my calories. Every body is different.

    Ditto. I eat between (normally) 80 - 130g of sugar a day. I lose a lot of weight. And yes, I still have my muscle. Eating sugar is not the problem as much as eating the WRONG sugar. 25g of sugar from my banana and 25g of sugar from your snickers don't equal the same thing.

    Somebody last week (can't remember who) gave advice to someone and told them they should not eat bananas ever, it will make them not lose weight...??? Maybe a banana split, :laugh:
  • calinus
    calinus Posts: 8 Member
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    Lookgreat, with all due respect, I would like to point out that one mg, which means one milligram- or one thousandth of a gram, is a very, very small amount. I think you mean grams, not milligrams. I think that accurate values make for a safe blog. Good luck to all!

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