How many grams of sugar a day for fat loss?

elsy

as above I'm trying to lower my bodyfat percentage I'm female 138lbs 5ft4 I know sugar is what is hindering this for me. I know the lower the sugar the better but as it is in absolutely everything its hard to completely avoid. I am on my fitness pal but the daily sugar goal on that is ridiculously high can anyone point my in the right direction of how many grams a day to try keep it under in order to help achieve my goal.

SuprSi

How do you know sugar is what's hindering your weight loss? Have you been counting your calories and if so, what are your macros (percentage of fat/protein/carbs)?

Specifically avoiding sugar may not yield the results you're looking for - are you eating a lot of complex carbs (bread, pasta, etc), do you snack much? You need to have a good idea of what you're consuming before you can make a call on what you need to cut out. You could cut out sugar almost completely but still not lose weight as you're eating a big bowl of pasta every night!

Bruno26

elsy wrote: »

as above I'm trying to lower my bodyfat percentage I'm female 138lbs 5ft4 I know sugar is what is hindering this for me. I know the lower the sugar the better but as it is in absolutely everything its hard to completely avoid. I am on my fitness pal but the daily sugar goal on that is ridiculously high can anyone point my in the right direction of how many grams a day to try keep it under in order to help achieve my goal.

Under 100 grams.

It's not hard to avoid. Stop buying the processed food and some real food that contains sugar.

When you say sugar this must include processed food, grains, fruit and certain starchy veg. To lower your sugar intake you need to limit or eliminate some of those.

conzy

Your total calorie and carbohydrate intake would be a more important factor.

e.g there is no point in lowering your "sugar" intake to 20g if you are still managing 300g of other carbohydrates.

What do your other macro nutrients look like? Do you eat 100g of protein a day? How much dietary fat do you eat?

elsy

I eat between 1200 and 1400 calories a day I track religiously on mfp and weigh all my food. I eat less than 150 grams of carbs a day and between 70 and 100 grams of protein my fat intake would be low about 30 grams. Over the past few years I've lost 5 stone through diet and exercise. I train5 days a week mix of cardio and resistance. I'm at the stage where it is my oldest fat that is left and finding it increasingly difficult to make further progress. My bodyfat is static the past year at 29% calipers tested. I'm someone who likes to track everything so having a set figure to stay underneath would be beneficial to me. Of course I'm aware that non processed food has less sugar but things like milk ect do and can quickly add up

elsy

In addition I do have a treat meal once a week

conzy

Congrats on that progress.

After losing such a huge amount of weight and dieting for so long it will get increasingly difficult to shed more bodyfat. You will need to look at carb cycling and perhaps totally changing up your training. Do you do heavy resistance training e.g squats dead lifts pressing?

Also your cheat meal. What is it? You are small and have a low BMR, so you cant create a huge calorie deficit over a week. Lets say you have a 300 calorie deficit 6 days a week (and that could be optimistic) Thats 1800 calories. If your cheat day has a pizza, a bowl of icecream and a bottle of wine the majority of that deficit is being eaten again. Just something to be aware. No matter how hard you work monday - friday its very easy undo that deficit on the weekend

Best of luck

cletus van damme

elsy wrote: »

I eat between 1200 and 1400 calories a day I track religiously on mfp and weigh all my food. I eat less than 150 grams of carbs a day and between 70 and 100 grams of protein my fat intake would be low about 30 grams. Over the past few years I've lost 5 stone through diet and exercise. I train5 days a week mix of cardio and resistance. I'm at the stage where it is my oldest fat that is left and finding it increasingly difficult to make further progress. My bodyfat is static the past year at 29% calipers tested. I'm someone who likes to track everything so having a set figure to stay underneath would be beneficial to me. Of course I'm aware that non processed food has less sugar but things like milk ect do and can quickly add up

Maybe look to switch your current carb and protein amounts around.
More protein less carbs and keep you calories as is and see how you get on.

I'm 60lb heavier and on a training day eat only 30g more carbs than you.
on a non training day you eat more cabs than me.

It not wrong as such , I believe food quality is the most important but ill bet if you ate 150g protein and 70 to 100g carbs you'd see an improvement.

that said everybody if different diet has guideline and basic rules but a lot it's trial and error

Bruno26

What's the point in a cheat (treat) day/ meal?

You eat well (on a diet) all week and the reward is to eat a pile of processed crap. You gorge on the crap and then you try to start (the diet) eating well again.

elsy

I wouldn't agree with this there are benefits of cheat meals the main one been boosting your metabolism and stopping your body adapting to the lower calorie intake. In fairness I have lost over 80lbs with incorporating cheat meals as part of my diet and have maintained my loss for over 2 years. I train 5 days a week some of these days I would train twice a day so I think a cheat meal once every week or 2 is not a problem. I do want to drop my body fat lower but thats me enjoying my training wanting to take it to the next level. for a 30 year old mother of 2 young children I'm in relatively decent shape cheat meals included. I just would like to improve more for personal acheivement and vanity if I'm honest as I am already healthy.

juke

OP, well done on your weight loss to date - fantastic. And a cheat meal is no biggie, as long as you're still tracking calories weekly

Not an answer to your question at all - but if you have stalled on weight loss or reducing fat, have you considered you might not be eating enough, and that's why you have stalled?

runawaybishop

elsy wrote: »

I wouldn't agree with this there are benefits of cheat meals the main one been boosting your metabolism and stopping your body adapting to the lower calorie intake. In fairness I have lost over 80lbs with incorporating cheat meals as part of my diet and have maintained my loss for over 2 years. I train 5 days a week some of these days I would train twice a day so I think a cheat meal once every week or 2 is not a problem. I do want to drop my body fat lower but thats me enjoying my training wanting to take it to the next level. for a 30 year old mother of 2 young children I'm in relatively decent shape cheat meals included. I just would like to improve more for personal acheivement and vanity if I'm honest as I am already healthy.

This is a largely a myth. Physically there is no need for a cheat day if you are eating a decent diet. Mentally though it can help a lot.

Tigger99

That's brilliant how much you've lost so far, well done.

I suggest you are eating too little calories considering how much you train tho. Also you mention a mix of resistance and cardio. Do you mean you weight lift? How much cardio do you do?
I eat 1600 cals on rest days and 1800 on training days but am eating very clean with 1g protein per lb, . 5 fat and the rest in low g.i. carbs with very little sugar.

I weight lift, am 11 lbs heavier than you but with less body fat. I think more weights would really help you.