2 weeks with no sugar?

Tarowah

Tarowah

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Hey all, does anyone have any experience with doing a “no sugar for 2 weeks” type of thing, I started doing a little research and holy crap, EVERYTHING is loaded with sugars…..

I am down 40-45 lbs and sitting around 225 lbs from 265-275 but I’m looking to shed more but I’m not in a position to add much more exercise for various reasons so I started googling a bit and I ran across this video, the logic appears sound, but I wanted to see if anyone had any real world experience doing it.

Any insight either way is welcome!


 
It is logistically hard to do unless you use fresh produce for just about everything. Konjac noodles are your friend for bulk, but have no flavor on their own.
 
Sugar is kinda evil. I don’t normally ingest hardly any, but have had a few Kashi waffles lately with maple syrup. I let myself have a little now and then. But I could stand to cut back on some carbs and booze which are basically sugar in the system anyway. Lean meats and veggies are where it’s at, but every once in a while a man‘s gotta live.
 
You can cut more carbs.

I was at 220 and pushing over 400 in bench and 450 squats.

Doing cardio 3 days a week. Absolutely shredded side of beef.

But it’s unsustainable long term unless you’re single with no kids.

I’m still at 220 ish but not as svelte.

Sometimes you have to decide between making your kids baseball games and going to the gym.

Or waking up with your wife or sneaking out of the house an hour earlier.

And as stated. It’s a miserable existence to eat zero (or next to) carbs.
 
Everyone is different and some can tolerate missing certain types of food from their diets. For me, I find that striking a balance between the number of calories I take in and the number of calories I burn per day to be the best course of action. And the calories must be a well balanced diet of meat and vegetables.

I love food! And not just any food but food with great savory flavors and textures. The sad part is that food with great flavors and textures are also the foods that are the loaded with bad stuff and must be eaten in moderation.

Since my injuries, I have not been able to run and circuit train as I did before. And I have not really been eating well. My body, physical health, and mental health shows my lack of a balanced life. I really need to find another way.
 
Average Joe said:
Everyone is different and some can tolerate missing certain types of food from their diets. For me, I find that striking a balance between the number of calories I take in and the number of calories I burn per day to be the best course of action. And the calories must be a well balanced diet of meat and vegetables.

I love food! And not just any food but food with great savory flavors and textures. The sad part is that food with great flavors and textures are also the foods that are the loaded with bad stuff and must be eaten in moderation.

Since my injuries, I have not been able to run and circuit train as I did before. And I have not really been eating well. My body, physical health, and mental health shows my lack of a balanced life. I really need to find another way.
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Eat right for your blood type is an excellent resource. And surprisingly accurate.

I’m O and Amy is AB.

She can sustain low fat and I can sustain low carb much easier.
 
Everything in moderation, and no pain no gain.

You can try cutting added/processed sugar (soda/sweets/empty carbs, etc) for 2 weeks as a personal goal and see if you lose any. You just have to make sure you don’t make up the calories over-injesting in something else.

Long term, unless you implement some sort of cardio exercise to help you use up calories (it doesn’t have to start off as anything too extreme) then it’s hard to keep the momentum on the weight loss.
 
If you cut out high sugar foods and especially those with high frutose corn syrup, like soft drinks, candy, etc. you won't like them after about two weeks. That's how long it takes to acclimate. Everything will taste too sweet. You'll take one bite of a candy bar and put it down. I did it for a long time, but sweets have crept back into my diet. I need to do it again. If you just cut out the high frutose corn syrup you'll benefit.
 
Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

Start cutting out added sugars. Do you put sugar in things? Anything that is a sweet/candy/soda. When you find a lot of sugar in stuff look for substitutes with less sugar.

We did Keto for a while and loved it. But when I got to my target weight we started adding things back in. We were still low carb until the last 2 weeks. I'm having to do a lot more physical labor at work and had to add carbs back in while I'm doing it. Being low carb but not keto and working like that was just exhausting. But Keto basically reset and mostly turned off my sweet tooth. I'll eat somethings occasionally but no craving for them anymore. And anything highly processed just tastes like garbage to me now.
 
I’m walking a minimum of 2-21/2 miles a day just walking the dog and with work my phone says I’m averaging 4-5 miles 5 days a week.

I don’t really eat “sweets” per say, but I’ll have a couple of scoops of ice cream or a couple of mini snickers a couple times a month, my day to day diet avoids fast food except maybe 2-3 days a months, I’m normally eating something like subway, Jimmy John’s or another type sandwich, due to my wife’s diet restrictions we only use avocado or olive oil and non wheat flours like almond flour, but 95% of what we eat is either baked or grilled.

I’m not looking to completely cut out sugars, as others have said, that’s nearly impossible these days, but I am keen on the idea of seeing if I can cut out enough sugar (mostly processed crap) to get my body to use fat rather than sugars, sort of a kick in the ass per say, my biggest issue is I am a meat a potatoes guy and I’m kind of an asshole just eating salads for 2-3 days in a row lol.

Thank you all for the insight and suggestions, I’ll definitely share this with my wife and we’ll come up with a game plan and and start slow and work our way up, rather than going cold turkey, that doesn’t sound fun at all!!
 
I completely agree with the above “don’t let perfect be the enemy of good”. It will be extremely hard to cut out all carbs/sugars from one’s diet and you can go nuts trying. We picked a target amount, like 20grams per day, and stuck to that.

But, I’ll also throw this out there: I think yer sexy just like you are. So, rule on king!
 
I kinda think there are different “types” of sugars also. As mentioned above high fructose corn sweeter is pretty much the worst (many European countries manufacturers have lowered the use HFCS because of public awareness). One big reason HFSC is so popular in the US is because it’s a big money product … so big they have there own Corn Refiners Association and lobbyists … for US businesses and it is less expensive than cane sugar to produce. The US exports huge amounts to Asia especially for their markets due to costs as well as little known tariffs on real sugar. The association is pretty much like any big business group … for the money.

Nutritionists in the UK have been more outspoken as to how the body breaks HFSC down vs cane sugar and demand for HFCS free products is enough to curb its use. Also some have spoken as to other affects on humans from liver disease to even cancer none which have been medically proven. I seem to remember years back US Nutritionists started in on how refined white sugar vs natural sugars found in foods was processed differently by the body also. At that point the points of sugars from complex carbohydrates & starches vs simple sugars was brought forth especially in the diets of the day. I specifically remember the juice diets and how many people where liking them beca there was “no sugar added” until they realized added did not mean sugar free and the fruits used had a pretty good amount of sugars all be it natural ones.

Sugars … natural ones … are going to be a part of your diet unless you only eat kale and such for the rest of your life. BUT we can choose what crappy sugars we add to our diets. Cutting back (or even eliminating) stuff like candy, sodas, sweet tea and such is good for your health but unless you’re a vegan who does crossfit 5 times a week and only drives an E-vehicle type I doubt you’ll cut out all sugars. Personally good eating habits … type, portion size and time of day … along with decent activity can do a lot.
 
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chiefjason said:
Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
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Words to diet by, right there.

I’ve been losing weight primarily to lower my blood pressure. At least that’s what got me serious about doing it.

I find if I really cut carbs out my digestive tract has major log jams that no reasonable amount of fiber seems to remedy. A nominal amount of carbs seems to be the fix, for me anyway. Edit: and by carbs, I mean like a piece of toast.

Now I’m finding the things that spike my blood pressure. Salt didn’t help for sure, but caffeine is a real culprit for me too.
 
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5 years ago I've discovered I'm a diabetic (II). blood sugar was almost 200-250. I've lost 45 lbs and figured out a diet for myself. Now I maintain my blood sugar around 100. I eat 4 times a day (taking metformin each time). It's eggs, home made (original recipe) bread with butter, home made fresh cheese and tiny piece of salmon on a top, at breakfast. Roasted mackerel with green salad (dressed with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, spices) at lunch. mixed fresh nuts. ground Flax seeds with yogurt, at 5 o'clock. and finish my meal with couple slices of salted pork fat (home made) with some greens and garlic. I also drink espresso with... organic 100% cacao, dry barberries (7-10 counts at a time), home made vanilla extract. Have past many problems I've been experienced
 
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And I’m over here trying to gain weight. This year I went from 135 to 169. I have lost 9 lbs in the last month due to having a sinus infection and COVID. Haven’t been hungry and not eating as much. Sucks because I fluctuate between size 32 and 34 pants.
 
It's extremely hard to cut out all sugar, it's in almost everything, and it's hard or expensive or impossible to find "sugar free" in some items. Ketchup, impossible. It's easy to find fat free salad dressings, but the sugar free options are scarce. If you have to eat something with a little sugar it in try to make sure the ingredient lists "sugar" and not "high fructose corn syrup" - that stuff is the devil.

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That said I've been sugar free for about 5 years. Meaning I can't eliminate all sources of sugar, but I don't do candy, cake, pie, doughnuts, cookies, ice cream, soda, juice, etc.. And it sucks. SUCKS. I grew up with a major sweet tooth, still have it.

A side effect of my diabetes is neuropathy. The pain is directly related to sugar intake, in my case it's usually carb intake. Thanksgiving night my feet are going to be on fire.
 
NCFubar said:
I kinda think there are different “types” of sugars also. As mentioned above high fructose corn sweeter is pretty much the worst (many European countries manufacturers have lowered the use HFCS because of public awareness). One big reason HFSC is so popular in the US is because it’s a big money product … so big they have there own Corn Refiners Association and lobbyists … for US businesses and it is less expensive than cane sugar to produce. The US exports huge amounts to Asia especially for their markets due to costs as well as little known tariffs on real sugar. The association is pretty much like any big business group … for the money.

Nutritionists in the UK have been more outspoken as to how the body breaks HFSC down vs cane sugar and demand for HFCS free products is enough to curb its use. Also some have spoken as to other affects on humans from liver disease to even cancer none which have been medically proven. I seem to remember years back US Nutritionists started in on how refined white sugar vs natural sugars found in foods was processed differently by the body also. At that point the points of sugars from complex carbohydrates & starches vs simple sugars was brought forth especially in the diets of the day. I specifically remember the juice diets and how many people where liking them beca there was “no sugar added” until they realized added did not mean sugar free and the fruits used had a pretty good amount of sugars all be it natural ones.

Sugars … natural ones … are going to be a part of your diet unless you only eat kale and such for the rest of your life. BUT we can choose what crappy sugars we add to our diets. Cutting back (or even eliminating) stuff like candy, sodas, sweet tea and such is good for your health but unless you’re a vegan who does crossfit 5 times a week and only drives an E-vehicle type I doubt you’ll cut out all sugars. Personally good eating habits … type, portion size and time of day … along with decent activity can do a lot.
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When we did keto I learned to look at the carbs. I ignored carbs from fiber and focused on added carbs. Mostly from sugar. Lost 40 lbs keeping the added carbs down in the 20-50 grams per day range. I also kept fresh fruit in me diet.


fieldgrade said:
Words to diet by, right there.

I’ve been losing weight primarily to lower my blood pressure. At least that’s what got me serious about doing it.

I find if I really cut carbs out my digestive tract has major log jams that no reasonable amount of fiber seems to remedy. A nominal amount of carbs seems to be the fix, for me anyway. Edit: and by carbs, I mean like a piece of toast.

Now I’m finding the things that spike my blood pressure. Salt didn’t help for sure, but caffeine is a real culprit for me too.
Click to expand...

Have you looked at probiotics? You might have some gut microbe issues going on too. It can keep you from digesting certain things. It might not help but it's not a terribly expensive thing to try either. I can tell a difference when I take them.
 
Being type 1, I try to avoid added sugars and prefer natural sugars over processed sugars. But I still have to dose up for any of them.
 
I have cut back on processed sugar and I am glad I did but it is very hard to do just because sugar is EVERYWHERE, pasta sauces, bread, cereal you name it so just cutting out cookies and ice cream will not do it.
Best rule of thumb to go by is the more “processed” the food is the worse it is for you. Basically you have to cook to make any progress. Not a chef myself but I try to do the least processed cereal in the morning, eggs for lunch, and some sort of animal protein off the grill with veggies in the evening.
One thing I have noticed and was wondering if anyone has experienced this as well is I do not get a “sugar crash” after eating. In other words I use to eat, get hyped up for 45 minutes then crash and need a nap or more sugar. Now my energy levels seem far more even.
 
Also besides sugar refined flour is not something you wanted a bunch of either. I am not talking glute-free type diet because of digestion problems but gluten can cause fat gain … Dunlop Belly Fat. Also gluten does something that mess with many peoples ability to metabolize fat with no other problems.
 
I was pretty strictly Paleo for a few years. When I first started I cut out all sugar and kept that up for months. Eventually adding some natural sweets back in. Also cut out wheat, rice, beans, corn processed seed oils, etc.... It was the healthiest I had been in years but hard to sustain.

I added back everything but the gluten and the processed oils. I'm 10lbs heavier than I was then and happy.
 
If you are mildly active and know when to push away from the table, that within itself is pretty much all you need.
I think people have a tendency to want to look for some magic solution. There isn’t a sustainable one or one that the average person can afford.
 
kcult said:
Eat food, not inventions, and I think you'll be pleased with the results.
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Very true, but if you buy stuff in a normal grocery store are you buying food or a GMO invention? I am not real sure when all the GMO started but I do remember the talk of the “new” GMO corn, soy beans and rice in the mid to late ‘90’s. Some universities have done studies on nutritional value, production increases, etc and published the great results … I would like to hear those studies on the human body that I am guessing have been done and hidden away. Some may say I’m just imagining things but heirloom local produce (corn, tomatoes, beans, etc) taste different and more flavorful than FoodLion produce. My tinfoil hat might be on to tight but they may be 98% the same but what does that 2% difference do?
 
I was pre-diabetic and cut out virtually all sugar. The first two weeks was a little rough but now I don't miss it at all. In fact I tend to find it rather discussing if I mistakenly eat something sweet.

Read your labels. The one's on the back of the product, the advertising on the front can be misleading.

I also do a low carb diet. I lost 65 lbs, gained about 10lbs back and have been maintaining at that weight which I'm happy with.

If your goal is weight loss, do NOT try to find substitutes for favorite foods/sweets. It won't work in my opinion. Everyone that I have seen that ate things like sugar free deserts etc. failed the diet and weight loss eventually. You have to change your way of thinking about food but at the same time you can't torture yourself either. It's a balance.
 
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One change I made 10 years ago that I've stuck with.... I do not drink sugar or artificial sweeteners.

Coffee with a little half and half, the occasional unsweetened iced tea, water, bourbon. Those are the things I drink. No sodas or juices or crap like that.

That alone cuts out a ton of sugary crap that we expose ourselves to.
 
What’s the word on using sucralose?
 
RR said:
One change I made 10 years ago that I've stuck with.... I do not drink sugar or artificial sweeteners.

Coffee with a little half and half, the occasional unsweetened iced tea, water, bourbon. Those are the things I drink. No sodas or juices or crap like that.

That alone cuts out a ton of sugary crap that we expose ourselves to.
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Troof.

The only sugar laden drink I'll have is that table wine of the south, sweet tea. But, I'll only drink it if we get to go plays from the local buffet place. As expensive as their meals are, with tea and dessert included, I drink the tea and eat the dessert. If we eat in, I drink water, eat meat and veggies, and skip the dessert.

My go to drinks are water, black coffee, bourbon/whiskey. The exception is during the summer, i like cold beer. My wife picks at me because i have my winter body during the summer, but my summer bod during the winter months. Beer does that.

I don't pretend to know everything about what to eat, and what to avoid, but I do know how my body reacts to what I ingest, and it seems to prefer minimal sugar and carbs, whole foods, and plain(ish) beverages. If i stick to that, weight falls off of me. I lose weight at a rate that usually pisses off my wife because she struggles to get to her desired weight.

My first experience with keto (or whatever you want to call what I was doing) convinced me of a couple of things, one being my body reacted positively to it, and calories in/calories out was bull crap.

A few numbers from back then.


20190102_203329.jpg
 
kcult said:
Troof.

The only sugar laden drink I'll have is that table wine of the south, sweet tea. But, I'll only drink it if we get to go plays from the local buffet place. As expensive as their meals are, with tea and dessert included, I drink the tea and eat the dessert. If we eat in, I drink water, eat meat and veggies, and skip the dessert.

My go to drinks are water, black coffee, bourbon/whiskey. The exception is during the summer, i like cold beer. My wife picks at me because i have my winter body during the summer, but my summer bod during the winter months. Beer does that.

I don't pretend to know everything about what to eat, and what to avoid, but I do know how my body reacts to what I ingest, and it seems to prefer minimal sugar and carbs, whole foods, and plain(ish) beverages. If i stick to that, weight falls off of me. I lose weight at a rate that usually pisses off my wife because she struggles to get to her desired weight.

My first experience with keto (or whatever you want to call what I was doing) convinced me of a couple of things, one being my body reacted positively to it, and calories in/calories out was bull crap.

A few numbers from back then.


View attachment 546056
Click to expand...
If you want to see something funny, be in the truck with me when a drive thru messes up and gives me sweet tea. My face turns inside out. Waaaaay more sugar than I can tolerate.
 
I havent had a single soft drink since 2005. Water, coffee w/heavy cream, bourbon, sugar free Gatorade.
 
I’ve been sugar free and very low carbs for 2+ years and have done fine with it. I’ve never liked sweets that much, bread and potatoes have never been a big deal either.

Low carb and sugar free aligns well with my food preferences so it hasn’t been a problem. I’m down 80 lbs, doing a 2 mile walk/run every other day and I feel really good. Something else I have done is cut out nearly all processed foods. I do sometimes have sugar in a bbq sauce or dressings but it hasn’t hurt me long term.

I think the secret, if there is one, is to find something you can stick with and just do that. Not everyone can tolerate or do well on the same diet plan.
 
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