lend me some sugar!

[kellsmarie]

OKAY - So I've been working on figuring my marcos out & a good diet where I eat more than 1200 cals a day (yay me!)

 

I've got it pretty well figured out, expect for one thing.

 

SUGAR

 

how much sugar am I allowed to have? IIFYM is the macro counter I am using, but it doesn't tell me!! Myfitnesspal says I can have 29g

 

because I am sitting here starring at this apple. and thinking about how I want a fruit smoothie with my breakfast and yogurt as a snack later.  But going on my 29g's I'm gonna be waaaay over.

 

basically i need some guidance.

[notanartmajor]

I'd just worry about total carbs, unless you have some sugar-specific health requirement.

[PaulG]

Notanartmajor is right. No need to worry about whether carbs are coming from sugar or other sources. Better to focus on hitting your macro goals and enjoying the food you eat in the process.

[kellsmarie]

HURRAY cause i love fruit! good call on the carbs. i will have to have less than i would like to. but im happy to know i don't have to cut it completely

[SoftSoul]

I third the motion of notanartmajor and PaulG. Just don't let ALL your carbs come from simple sugar sources, ie., a cup of sugar.

[VintageCustard]

I wouldn't cut fruit, the good stuff about it outweighs the sugar I'm with you on the 29g from myfitnesspal. Even if I limit to 1 banana and 2 strawberries a day, I still go over that with what I eat the rest of the day, even if it's perfectly healthy (like certain veggies)

[Random Chic]

I think it does matter where the sugar comes from.. I avoid refined sugar which these days comes from GMO beets (or high fructose corn syrup) not cane.  

 

However, I love low glycemic fruit like apples and berries in moderation.  I tend to make one meal or snack a day all about the low glycemic fruit.  My current favorite is apple slices dipped in almond or sunflower seed butter.  Yum.  The dairy sugar is a no no for me though (puts weight on me), if I am having yogurt (or butter or half and half) I limit it to a tablespoon or two not the whole cup.  

[lawrencep93]

Just be careful of too much fructose in your diet, limiting to 1-2 whole fruits per day should be fine.

 

My old diet I would have 8-10 bits of fruit thinking it's healthier than chips, I ended up with fatty liver disease.

 

I fixed that after going low carb.

 

I would watch sugar intake, use stevia where possible, and eat low fructose veggies, like have a piece of fruit, but make sure all your other carbs come in high quality green veggies and non starchy veg.

 

Also have fruit around your work out.

[PaulG]

Just be careful of too much fructose in your diet, limiting to 1-2 whole fruits per day should be fine.

My old diet I would have 8-10 bits of fruit thinking it's healthier than chips, I ended up with fatty liver disease.

I fixed that after going low carb.

I would watch sugar intake, use stevia where possible, and eat low fructose veggies, like have a piece of fruit, but make sure all your other carbs come in high quality green veggies and non starchy veg.

Also have fruit around your work out.

I think you're going a bit overboard here. A few pieces of fruit a day is not going to give someone fatty liver. Not even 8-10.

There's really no need to watch sugar intake specifically (or only get carbs from "non-starchy veggies"), especially when you're IIFYM, which the OP specifically stated she was.

[Kaylya]

Sugar guidelines suggesting no more than something in the 20-30g per day range are really thinking of *added* sugars, though I'm not sure of My Fitness Pal's reasoning for that number. I would not worry at all about going over 29g of sugar (which is about what is in 2 small apples), if it's mainly because of fruits and veggies. You might still use that as a target for sugar that isn't part of fresh/frozen fruits & veggies - i.e. unprocessed or frozen & chopped with no added sugar. I would count the sugar in fruit juice though (because it's removed a lot of good stuff like fiber), if that's part of your smoothie recipe.

[Waldo]

There's really no need to watch sugar intake specifically (or only get carbs from "non-starchy veggies"), especially when you're IIFYM, which the OP specifically stated she was.

This.

Carbs are carbs, taken beyond that and you are making useless eating rules for yourself that do nothing for you but overly complicate things and confuse the big picture.

[kellsmarie]

gotcha, thanks everyone!

 

fruit & yogurt are the only source of my sugar intake so i think im good

[Vintage]

Yeah, I just track total carbs. And then if I'm going over on total carbs pretty often, I take a look at whether it's because of sugar intake. No need to create extra challenges and rules. Of course, if you try out that method for a while and aren't getting the results you want, you've always got the option of testing out whether reducing sugar helps.

 

Just a random MFP note: There's an option to change the names of your meals and I use this to help me easily see how much of certain foods I'm getting if I need to for a while - I just make an extra meal and call it "fruit" or "caffeinated drinks" or "dairy"... this works well for me when I want to be able to see at a glance how much of a certain thing I'm shoveling in per day. Actually, none of my meals are titled breakfast or lunch or dinner... I have the day split into four chunks of time, and then I have additional categories for whatever I'm paying particular attention to at a given time ("pure junk food," "post-workout protein," "alcohol" etc.)

[Q_est]

Just want to jump and say "I am your neighbour! Shake it..."

[pirateradio]

unless you are thinking of doing one of the no carb plans like atkins (I hope not, that is a bloody disaster), I agree with the others. Stay away from added sugar and stay away from processed foods, which often use high fructose corn syrup as filler (best one..lot of those 'low fat' pre done meals branded with weight watchers, or lean cuisine, have HFC in them). Berries are pretty good for you, as are bananas and apples and oranges, apples are pretty good because they burn calories trying to digest them and the fiber counters the carbs in the form of fructose. Obviously, you can pig out on fruit and have problems, eating too much of anything is bad, but with fruit if you keep within general carb ratios of 40% protein 30% carbs and 30% fats, you will be in good shape:).