Sugar - how much is acceptable???

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ERIKARJ
ERIKARJ Posts: 32 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello!!!! I'm 29 years old, do excercise almost 5 times per week ke 1 hour every time, that includes cardio, strength training and sometime dancing lessons! I'm having troubles finding the right amount of sugar to eat everyday... Because if I eat a little bit of mango and blueberries I end up with my daily need of sugar....
I don't eat sugar ... I put stevia on my tea or coffee, sometimes Splenda, but sugar like it self... Never do, for the last 4 years I gave up to regular sugar... So when MFP says I already passed my sugar needs per day, I stress out.... Pease help, feel free to comment anything that you think it might help me.

Replies

  • iva001
    iva001 Posts: 162
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    bump..cuz I am the same age, same problem only difference is I haven't reached my goal and hope its not due to my sugar intake.
  • ke4zed
    ke4zed Posts: 7
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    I am definitely not an expert here but I was having the same issue with sugar. It didn't seem right to bypass a piece of fruit for something less healthy because the sugar content was less. There are different kinds of sugar and the kind in fruit is processed better by your body versus processed sugar in packaged items.

    I would say as long as the sugar is coming from fruit, your okay.

    I changed my settings so I don't follow the sugar, but I do follow the carbs which I think is a better indication of the sugar that turns to fat.

    Again, this is just my thoughts on it.
    Good Luck.
  • msue482
    msue482 Posts: 55
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    I think maybe 25 g per day is acceptable? Don't quote me on that but I did a sugar detox a few months ago and that drastically changed the way I eat sugar. I no longer take any sugar/splenda in my coffee and this is coming from someone that used to always put 2 packets in per cup of coffee. I also try to stay away from too many fruits and get most of my fiber in vegetables.

    Although, this week I have had a sweet tooth, as you can see in my food diary.:grumble:
  • kathym59
    kathym59 Posts: 51
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    I don't eat any processed sugar at all, but with skimmed milk, 2 pieces of fruit a day and one yoghurt, I am over what MFP gives you. I have set my sugar level to 60 because I know that most of that is in the fruit, not biscuits or cakes
  • iva001
    iva001 Posts: 162
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    25g thats just 2 pieces of fruit....
  • Zichu
    Zichu Posts: 542 Member
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    I read about 11% of your calorie intake is fine. So according to what I have read, you can have around 148 calories from sugar which is about 37g of sugar.

    Enjoy :D

    Just make sure it's from fruits, veggies, etc. Obviously some things you can't help, but as long as you aren't stuffing yourself with cookies, cakes etc.
  • ConnieSG
    ConnieSG Posts: 376
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    bump
  • rheelizabeth
    rheelizabeth Posts: 160 Member
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    I always hit my daily goal with sugar, but generally over half is from fruit/veg. I generally think as long as half or more of it is good sugar (fruit or veg etc) then it's okay. If you have no fruit all day and still hit your target of sugar, you need to think about what you are eating a bit more. Does that make sense?

    My target is 25g though I do not give it a thought if I go over that with fruit.
  • carajo
    carajo Posts: 532 Member
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    As long as i am eating clean, i dont worry about the sugar. Natural sugars in whole foods are not going to effect you like sugar in cake or cookies. Choose lower sugar fruits like berries over dried fruits, milk and yogurt have natural sugars as well. It definately doesnt mean you should consume less of these things to stay under a certain number of sugars, eat clean and you will be fine!
  • sweetmelissa40
    sweetmelissa40 Posts: 79
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    I agree with all the above. I'm constantly going over on my sugar intake but it's usually all from fruits and veggies.
    I think I will turn off sugar monitoring as well so it's not always "in my face" :wink:
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    As long as you aren't diabetic, sugar doesn't matter. About 20% of your maintenance calories are generally "discretionary." In other words, they aren't needed specifically for nutritional purposes, but strictly for energy purposes. Those can be all sugar, all fat, or any combination of them.

    Keep in mind, that's maintenance, if you are eating at a calorie deficit, then the deficit comes from the discretionary calories, as you can't expect to have good results by slashing actual nutrition.

    Also, total carbs matter much more than sugar. Sugar is only bad if the sugary food puts you over your calorie needs, and that's more a matter of eating too many calories being bad, not specifically sugar.
  • 81Katz
    81Katz Posts: 7,074 Member
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    I quit tracking my sugar. I would estimate that at least 90% of my sugar is from fruits and vegetables, or the natural sugars in certain dairy. Only a small amount comes from 'processed' foods, such as cereal, crackers, sometimes I like little treats like Fiber One brownies or other little 'goodies' like that.

    I try to eat a lot more sugar free when it comes to the processed stuff. For example I switched from regular jelly to sugar free jelly. It tastes exactly the same to me. Sometimes I like hard candies (fruit flavored, peppermints, etc.) but I buy the sugar free. Blue Bunny makes a pretty awesome chocolate raspberry ice cream bar, it's sugar free.

    I am a lot more careful than I ever was about things like this, but I still eat some processed items and 'indulge' so to speak. I just try to pick the best option, or what I feel is the better option despite it still being 'processed'.
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
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    As long as you aren't diabetic, sugar doesn't matter. About 20% of your maintenance calories are generally "discretionary." In other words, they aren't needed specifically for nutritional purposes, but strictly for energy purposes. Those can be all sugar, all fat, or any combination of them.

    Keep in mind, that's maintenance, if you are eating at a calorie deficit, then the deficit comes from the discretionary calories, as you can't expect to have good results by slashing actual nutrition.

    Also, total carbs matter much more than sugar. Sugar is only bad if the sugary food puts you over your calorie needs, and that's more a matter of eating too many calories being bad, not specifically sugar.

    Ka-ching. Dependent on how many calories a day you can afford to eat every day to lose weight, you can spend more of them on non-nutritional foods. I have 2500 to play with a day and generally consume 80% 'clean' foods and 20% whatever the hell I want. I'm generally over 200g of protein a day, and ensure I have enough fiber before anything else. Make sure you're getting enough protein, fats, vitamins and minerals and carbs, including sugar, will fall into place.

    Also; eat your damn fruit. The sugars won't do you any harm unless you're diabetic and fruit tends to have a...lightening effect before it will make you fat.
  • ERIKARJ
    ERIKARJ Posts: 32 Member
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    Thank you all for giving me your thoughts , I'm considering stop worrying about it since most of my sugar comes from fruit and veggies.... Thanks a loooot feel free to post any though on this topic... Sometimes I think there's no formula for anybody, and a lot of many combinations are there o try....
  • philliep
    philliep Posts: 1 Member
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    Thank you for asking the question. I received a better understanding from all the responses.

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