Who's given up their sugary diet? What were your results?

[jdoggg12]

I'm a thin, relatively healthy guy in my 30s that has (what feels like) a pretty large deficit of physical and mental energy for someone so young and not overweight. I've always been an athlete, however, my diet has been fairly crappy for a long time; I've relied on a fast metabolism to demolish any and all food that I consume. I've decided to eat healthier as a means to improve my well-being and step 1 is to cut out most processed sugar from my diet. No more sodas, candies, etc.

I've been reading articles about doing this and they all say (roughly) the same thing: 1-2 weeks of cravings/withdrawals followed by 'blissfull oneness with the universe'. I have never been one that's acutely attuned to cause/effect in my body; it took me about 6 separate doses of benedryl to figure out that I was passing out in college classes because of the drug rather than delayed party hangovers.

What have been your experiences with cutting sugar (mostly) out of your diet? Did you relapse? How'd you feel after relapsing?


Oops: mods, can you move this to Health/Fitness? Sorry

 

[disappoint]

I haven't cut out all sugar but I've reduced it some. Removing sugar is one of the best things you can do for yourself so I think if you can do it then it's worth doing in my book.

 

[DigDog]

2500 posts exactly!!

i have not used sugar in .. idk, 10 years? never eat candy, never put it in my coffee, never eat cake, never ever any soda.. i don't do sugar at all.
it had zero positive impact on my diet. i'm overweight, have salt + fats cravings. due to my lifestyle (i work sitting down a lot) and lazyness.

i suspect the short rush of happiness that you get from sugar might ahve an actual positive effect. when i was at my thinnest .. both due to an active lifestyle .. but also due to the fact that i consumed a lot of dark, unsweetened chocolate.
not a direct correlation of sugar vs health , but rather "happy food = health".

i assume the same goes for everything you normally crave. have a balanced diet that feeds + nourishes you, and that makes you happy. do it in moderation, don't sit on your ass all day, and pronto - you will be healthy.

 

[slag]

I have cut out soda, but not other sugary things. I did just switch to sugarfree creamer, but love a cookie or granola bar from time to time.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I went through a long period when I was losing weight this year where I ate almost no processed sugar. It wasn't because I was deliberately trying to cut sugar from my diet, just that so many of the foods that had a lot of sugar in them were a combination of having very high amounts of calories along with not being very satiating. I'm talking about a couple of months where the only thing sweet I ate was fruit. I didn't really notice any difference in my sense of well-being. I ate a lot of fruit though, so I don't know if the sugar content in those would throw off my results or not.

Lately I've been loosening the reins on my caloric restrictions due to being more or less at the weight I want to be at and not wanting my body to start cannibalizing the muscle I've built in the same time period. That means I've been allowing myself sweets more frequently and generally eating more every day. One definite difference is that I'm hungry more now than I was when I was eating less sugar. I'm guessing that's the insulin response you hear about so often. I feel like my performance hasn't suffered though. Far from it in fact, my strength gains in the weight room were almost immediately better when I started eating more and I feel just as mentally sharp as I ever was.

 

[Annisman*]

There is a growing theory that sugar, more specifically HFCS is like a poison to your body. Look it up on YouTube when you've got a spare 20 minutes.

Besides that, I did a low carb diet a number of years ago, I lost 60 lbs while eating steak bacon and beer (more or less), what's not to like about that.

 

[paperfist]

I dropped almost 40 pounds last year due to not drinking soda anymore and not eating at McDonalds. Well at least not french fries.

I do have a lot more energy, not limitless. I used to have to take naps, but not anymore. I think I was consuming so much sugar/soda that my brain seemed to go into a coma from the overload.

I still eat candy once in a while, but most of it tastes like crap and it feels like I'm wasting calories on something not so yummy.

BTW carbs according to your body is just like sugar and I've dramatically cut down on those too so my cutting down on 'sugar' to loose weight may be misleading.

 

[Rakehellion]

I basically just eat meat and sugar. I feel like I'm starving if I omit one from my diet.

 

[MrDudeMan]

I gave up pretty much all sugar (except whatever is in fruit and an occasional cookie) and I've never felt or looked better to be honest. I dropped almost 40 pounds in about three months after I changed my diet and started exercising. I no longer have any desire whatsoever to eat sugar; actually, now it's kind of disgusting because I'm used to eating much healthier food. If I want something sweet, I'll eat half of a banana or an orange.

I don't desire sugar or have any cravings nor have I even come close to a relapse. Every time I think about it, I remember that I dropped 12 inches off of my waist and a little bit of sugar isn't worth risking that progress. A moment on the lips, forever on the hips...

 

[Capt Caveman]

A pretty large deficit in physical/mental energy may be due to more than just diet. I had a similar issue and learned I had hypothyroidism.

 

[Jimzz]

I stopped drinking regular soda, still drink some diet, and ate less fast food. The result was I lost a lot of weight just from that alone and had more energy. I also changed some of my other eating habitats but those 2 things alone were the big ones.

I put some weight on when I took desk work, better pay but added 10 pounds or so back. No where near as much as before but still there.

 

[dullard]

About 10 years ago I cut most of the processed sugar and fatty foods out of my diet. I used to drink nothing but sugary drinks and sodas. I used to eat a lot of fried fatty foods (eating fast food a lot). But at the same time I started eating yogurt (which does have sugar) and dairy so it isn't a great cause/effect test.

Net result: basically nothing.

I have no less energy. I have no more extra energy. I have no fewer energy swings. I have no noticeable heath change. My sleep and exercise habits are about the same. My yearly blood tests don't have any major change to anything. There is basically no real change from this large diet change. The only change that I think is important is that I save a lot of money on drinks.

I am 20 lbs heavier than before I cut out the sugar/fatty foods. This put me from gaunt/underweight to the low end of the normal weight. But note that I had serious irritable bowel problems (especially with any dairy) that were solved by eating the yogurt (since now the probiotics in the yogurt digest the dairy for me). So, I suspect the 20 extra pounds are due to ending the non-stop diarrhea rather than from the diet change.

I cut out the sugary drinks for the money savings. I cut out the fast food since my wife doesn't like it. I cut out the desert since I realized that most deserts are not really that great (especially after the first bite) and I no longer get up from the table feeling like I've over eaten. I didn't do this change for health reasons--and there were no health benefits for me.

 

[bradley]

About 10 years ago I cut most of the processed sugar and fatty foods out of my diet. I used to drink nothing but sugary drinks and sodas. I used to eat a lot of fried fatty foods (eating fast food a lot). But at the same time I started eating yogurt (which does have sugar) and dairy so it isn't a great cause/effect test.

Net result: basically nothing.

I have no less energy. I have no more extra energy. I have no fewer energy swings. I have no noticeable heath change. There is basically no real change. The only change that I think is important is that I save a lot of money on drinks.

I am 20 lbs heavier than before I cut out the sugar/fatty foods. This put me from gaunt/underweight to the low end of the normal weight. But note that I had serious irritable bowel problems (especially with any dairy) that were solved by eating the yogurt (since now the probiotics in the yogurt digest the dairy for me). So, I suspect the 20 extra pounds are due to ending the non-stop diarrhea rather than from the diet change.

I cut out the sugary drinks for the money savings. I cut out the fast food since my wife doesn't like it. I cut out the desert since I realized that deserts are really that great and I no longer get up from the table feeling like I've over eaten. I didn't do this change for health reasons--and there were no health benefits for me.

Probably because you did very little to improve insulin sensitivity and reverse metabolic damage. High consumption of refined sugar also accelerates the aging process of your endocrine system and ramps down your metabolism. Make no mistake, the ever-increasing availability of refined sugar [and other refined foods] is a significant bane to the modern industrialized world.

That weight and additional subcutaneous and visceral fat isn't going anywhere until you retrain your body to burn fat without as much reliance on glucose.

Incidentally, your caloric expenditure at rest will increase dramatically with more lean muscle tissue. Only way that's happening is simply through the dreaded e-word, exercise.

 

[maddogchen]

i went a month without sugary drinks and candy/chocolate. Was horrible. But I did lose almost 10 lbs.

 

[MustISO]

I never ate a lot of sweets as an adult and as a kit no more than average. I gave up anything that would be considered a dessert or sweet treat almost two years ago. Made no difference in how I felt, no change in weight/fat (I'm not overweight). Now I kind of just keep it up. I was very easy to stop, at least for me. After a week or two my body just didn't crave sweets anymore.

I can't go no sugar because almost everything has some sugar but the majority of the sugar I consume is from fruits and veggies.

 

[Capt_Kob]

I have mostly cut out sugary snacks and, this sounds counter intuitive, but it has really helped my energy level. Probably a result of dropping weight. I have never had much of a sweet tooth, but completely avoiding sugary stuff has really helped keep pounds off...

 

[Markbnj]

I didn't "give up my sugary diet," but I did stop taking sugar in coffee, and I drink a lot of coffee. I don't really eat much sugar in other forms. No soda and maybe one sweet thing every other day or so, after dinner.

Combined with walking 2 mi. per night losing the sugar in my coffee also lost me ~65 lbs.

 

[fiberst]

I have less sugar but eat lots of fruits, such as apples, bananas, etc. I feel much healthier by eating the fruits.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I try to reduce it, but cutting it out completely is near impossible. There's sugar in almost everything, even healthy stuff like fruit has sugar in it. I used to have multiple Pepsi's per day, now I'm down to 1, sometimes none. One big thing is HOW you get sugar. Liquids is the worse, as your body gets it fast. But in something like fruit, or with a meal, your body does not absorb it as fast.

I don't take sugar in coffee either, I actually prefer it black.

My nemissis is junk food like chips, cookies etc... that's probably where I get a good part of my sugar.

Which reminds me, I have eggs in the fridge I have to use as they expired in December. I think I'm going to make brownies.

Edit: Brownies in progress. I had no nuts to put in them though. Next time.

 

[amicold]

I'm a thin, relatively healthy guy in my 30s that has (what feels like) a pretty large deficit of physical and mental energy for someone so young and not overweight. I've always been an athlete, however, my diet has been fairly crappy for a long time; I've relied on a fast metabolism to demolish any and all food that I consume. I've decided to eat healthier as a means to improve my well-being and step 1 is to cut out most processed sugar from my diet. No more sodas, candies, etc.

I've been reading articles about doing this and they all say (roughly) the same thing: 1-2 weeks of cravings/withdrawals followed by 'blissfull oneness with the universe'. I have never been one that's acutely attuned to cause/effect in my body; it took me about 6 separate doses of benedryl to figure out that I was passing out in college classes because of the drug rather than delayed party hangovers.

What have been your experiences with cutting sugar (mostly) out of your diet? Did you relapse? How'd you feel after relapsing?


Oops: mods, can you move this to Health/Fitness? Sorry

I did/do "the anabolic diet" I personally don't notice a sag in energy when "reinducing" and I stopped producing ketones around two months in. It works, it's a bit extreme, but it took me to single digit bodyfat first time in my life.

I'd imagine cutting sugar and high gi carbs along with limiting starches would do similar over time. Key word and key to success is time.

 

[duragezic]

Yah I'm not too sure about the "OMG you'll feel amazing". I heard that about caffeine a lot. Quite a few years ago I stopped caffeine completely, which at the time was solely from regular pop (I'd have maybe 20-30 oz per day). So I was cutting caffeine completely and most of sugar. I did this for at least a couple months and felt no difference.

Nonetheless, I'm sure the majority of us intake too much sugar. It would definitely be good to cut down.

 

[disappoint]

For all of the people that felt no difference, your mind and body are likely compensating. If it stops doing that then you would see a difference.

Not speaking from personal experience but from what I've learned about the issue.

 

[Kaido]

A couple years ago, I made a New Year's Resolution to not eat sugar (i.e. added white refined sugar in stuff like candybars & donuts...fruit & honey & "natural" stuff were OK) for a whole year. I got about 2 months into it...without any changes. Weight was the same, emotionally felt the same (sugar doesn't make me hyper), didn't have teeth issues before (or after), etc. Note that I am a sugarholic, so I was giving up something I loved (sugary treats) just to see what it would do. Nada, no effect. I went back on sugar, also no effect. I should note here that I tend to eat 3 meals plus 2 or 3 snacks during the day (between meals), so I also don't like giving myself a chance to get hungry. Overall, this has been my health progression over the years:

1. Decided to get in shape, learned about dieting & bodybuilding, started eating healthy, homemade meals.

2. Switched to 6 meals a day. I found that bigger meals make me more tired, especially after lunch, and it's easier to stay full because everyone gets hungry for snacks between meals. I define a meal as anything I eat, including snacks...so that could be a handful of energy bites (basically a ball of homemade granola bars), or a protein smoothie, or half a sandwich, or carrots & hummus. That eventually turned into a nice mix of protein, carbs, and fats per "meal". Lost like 50 pounds doing this when combined with some light cardio.

3. Tried avoiding sugar for a couple months, no real effect positive or negative. This led me to dig deeper into nutrition & learning about IIFYM, which basically boils down to "it's not what you eat, it's primarily how many calories you eat in a day, and secondarily, how many grams of protein, carbs, and fat you eat in a day". I had a really hard time accepting that it really boiled down to calories in vs. calories out. The documentary "Fathead", a rebuttal to "SuperSize Me", got me considering that food quality, in terms of healthiness, had no relation to how fat or skinny you were, and that you could technically remove exercise from the equation as well if your only metric was weight. And in the show, he capped himself at 2,400 calories a day & got to an ideal weight by literally eating out every single meal...which was still plenty of food, but just not pigging out all the time (i.e. large soda instead of super-sized). More & more information started confirming this, like the Twinkie diet experiment:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/

And this great article by Nicole Capurso on how eating donuts helped give her an 80kg snatch: (via IIFYM)

https://nicolecapurso.wordpress.com/2014/08/31/how-donuts-gave-me-abs-an-80kg-snatch/

Ultimately, I think the best combination if you want specific results is IIFYM with whole foods...which isn't to say that's the diet you should go on, because even IIFYM with goodies is still fine. I've done paleo before as well with good results, although if you look at the lady's pictures above, there's a clear difference between just eating clean & eating specifically for your body & your goals. Plus long-term, a diet consisting mostly of junk food will probably have negative health effects, so again...moderation.

Obviously, a plant-based (not saying vegan, but just integrating more fruits, veggies, nuts, leafy greens, etc.) diet is going to yield the best results because you're getting a lot of natural, healthy stuff into your body instead of processed chemicals. "Forks over Knives" really convinced me that a plant-based diet was the best way to go, especially after seeing those like 20 people get out of the hospital & that one lady start doing marathons & stuff after switching up her diet. But, based on my own experience, sugar, at least in moderation, isn't going to completely wreck your life or add to your waistline. As per the Twinkie diet guy, if you keep it at or under the max calories you need, your weight isn't going to be affected, nor are your various blood levels. From what I can tell, it seems that being overweight is pretty much the worst thing you can do for your body long-term because of the internal complications it leads to.

Regarding the physical & mental energy that you mentioned, I've found that's like 80% tied to sleep. When I go to bed early & get enough hours of sleep, and do that for a few days straight, I'm pretty much bulletproof to not working out, eating junk food, etc. because my body isn't already depleted. Sleep also has an enormous affect on my motivation levels, especially the mental friction I have from how hard it is to do everything from the dishes or laundry to my daily workout routine. I think & feel a very strong sense of "I don't wanna" when I'm wiped out from lack of sleep, which is a constant issue for me.

Ultimately for me, what it really boiled down to was going to bed early, eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day, and doing at least a bit of cardio every day to keep my digestion going (at minimum, I do best with at least 30 minutes of cardio a day if I'm not doing anything else physically). Sugar hasn't really had an impact on me, surprisingly, because it's lauded as the great evil of our times. I don't think it's great for you, but neither is ingesting preservatives, smoking, drinking, doing drugs, not exercising, not getting enough sleep, etc., so it's all kind of a balance.

 

[Kaido]

I'm a thin, relatively healthy guy in my 30s that has (what feels like) a pretty large deficit of physical and mental energy for someone so young and not overweight. I've always been an athlete, however, my diet has been fairly crappy for a long time; I've relied on a fast metabolism to demolish any and all food that I consume.

Let's do some Q&A:

1. You mentioned being an athlete, what's your daily workout routine like? Are you consistent or is it intermittent?

2. What time do you typically go to bed, how many hours do you get, and do you know how many hours you need, on average, for your body to be happy?

3. Realistically, what is your diet like? That includes snacks, drinks, meals, desserts, everything. When & what do you eat?

 

[SearchMaster]

And this great article by Nicole Capurso on how eating donuts helped give her an 80kg snatch: (via IIFYM)

:O

I shudder to think that very many women want an 80kg snatch but I guess donuts would do it.