Too much milk a bad idea?

Leonard Hofstadter

So, I've been going to the gym a lot lately and have had several PT sessions, and one thing I've noticed is that I haven't really lost any weight and my belly is bigger than I'd like.

This isn't so much of a problem, or so I thought, because my BMI is below 25 and what's more important is trying to get rid of the fat for muscle instead. I'm happy with my weight but want to tone up.

However, I've had some skinfold measurements taken, one set was when I just started several weeks ago, and another set during the week after a few sessions with him and a new (and much harder) workout programme.

To be honest, I was disappointed with the skinfold measurements.

While I definitely look better now (there is a good bit less fat underneath my jaw, my arms, legs, shoulders and pecs are definitely more muscular and more defined looking than before) and this is supported by the fact that the skinfold measurement my quads has come down from 28 to 25 and my pectoral one is down from 19 to 17.

I was however disappointed that the measurement for mid auxillary and umbilical have gone up so I've got more back fat and my belly is still too big and the back fat is a problem.

He said it's down to diet and I don't eat often enough during the day (which I accept as I do tend to eat a lot for breakfast and dinner but very little in between), and to that end I availed of myfitnesspal and registered a free account this morning.

I logged what I ate and drank today (which would be fairly typical), and it turns out that I'm consuming 126 g of sugar a day:eek:, so I'm basically adding nearly nearly 0.9 kilos of fat to myself a week:eek::eek:.

What is interesting, or rather, concerning, is that 87 of that 126 grams of sugar came from low fat milk, so it's not like I'm eating a load of junk food (another 15 of the 126 grams came from grapes)! I would go through 1.5 litres and sometimes maybe even 2 litres of milk a day, I can't get enough of the stuff to be honest!

My PT advocates full fat milk because he says it's lower in sugar and you use up the fat anyway. While I take his point about fat not being bad for you, and I appreciate it depends on the brand but I normally buy Sainsbury's milk and according to that there is only 0.1 grams more sugar per 100 ml in the semi-skimmed one than the full fat, which is hardly anything.

I'm a bit confused by all of this, I'm eating/drinking stuff that's 'healthy' but yet I'm wilfully adding fat (in the form of sugar), so I suppose I have two important questions.

1) Should I switch to full fat?
2) More importantly, should I cut down on my milk consumption given the amount of sugar I'm taking in even though it has all those other good things in it?

syklops

A litre of milk contains 500 calories. Sometimes you drink 2 litres? Thats 1000 calories a day.

Grapes are good for you but if you eat 3000 calories of grapes and only burn 2500 a day you will put on weight.

Im not an expert in this field but I think you need to look at why you consume so much milk. You say you cant get enough of the stuff. Is it because you are thirsty? Maybe swap out a couple pints of milk for pints of water? How much water do you drink a day?

Leonard Hofstadter

syklops wrote: »

A litre of milk contains 500 calories. Sometimes you drink 2 litres? Thats 1000 calories a day.

Grapes are good for you but if you eat 3000 calories of grapes and only burn 2500 a day you will put on weight.

Im not an expert in this field but I think you need to look at why you consume so much milk. You say you cant get enough of the stuff. Is it because you are thirsty? Maybe swap out a couple pints of milk for pints of water? How much water do you drink a day?

Oh fear not, I don't eat that many grapes! About 100 grams or so today.

What I was told is to worry about cutting sugar consumption and not to worry about anything else, in spite of all the milk consumption, according to myfitnesspal I'm on just under 2,100 calories based on what I ate today. Anyway, I drink low fat milk so far less calories than full fat of course, though I do wonder about it given what my PT said about the higher sugar content over full fat and come to think of it, he said there's other stuff in low fat that's not very good for you (the stuff that makes it taste almost like full fat milk).

It's just the fact that sugar is converted to fat is what's freaked me out. No particular reason for drinking so much milk other than I like the taste of it plus I was always led to believe it was good for you (I remember those 'them bones them bones need cal-ci-um adds from when I was a child' ).

I drink a lot of water at work (normally 2 litres), as I find I can't concentrate properly unless I'm well hydrated for starters, but unless I go to the gym, I don't bother at weekends, but I'd still go through a good litre plus of milk a day even during (including some in breakfast cereal it must be pointed out, not sure if that should be 'counted' or not).

Tar.Aldarion

Dunno if you'd like it but I drink soy milk. It has half the calories, it has pretty much 0 sugar and it has the same amount of protein. I just drink the 80c per litre one.
Think you really just need to drink less milk! That is some amount of sugar to be intaking every day from one thing.

Zillah

captainspeed wrote: »

I'm consuming 126 g of sugar a day:eek:, so I'm basically adding nearly nearly 0.9 kilos of fat to myself a week:eek::eek:.

You only gain weight if your total calories are above what you need, regardless of the source. Sugar doesn't magically turn into fat without eating too much of it.

The sugar in milk is lactose, which is actually quite low on the Glycaemic Index - it's far better for you than most sugars, and a lot of other carbs. I'm actually a little disappointed that MyFitnessPal lumps something like lactose in with sucrose/fructose and gives it one title of "sugar". Your problem is that you're drinking too much of it. If you want to lose fat you should be on a calorie deficit (though this is tricky if you're trying to gain muscle as well).

It's complicated, and you seem to have some wooly ideas about food/calories/fat - you should definitely try to learn more about food metabolism so you can make good choices going forward.

Keep drinking milk while lifting, milk is awesome. Low GI carbs, plenty of fat and protein. It's ideal. Just don't drink too much of it. You probably have much more promising areas in your diet to change than the milk you're drinking.

lyinghere

I used to have the same 'problem'. I LOVE milk! But I used to drink so much. I would easily drink a litre of full fat milk just before bed, not even counting other portions I drank during the day. I needed to lose some weight and I actually think a huge driver of change for me was cutting back on milk.

I now make sure to drink a pint of water before going the milk. I think the key is to quench your thirst first and then you can enjoy a smaller glass of milk if you wish.

I think reducing milk intake was a huge help for me, logically that make sense as you would be significantly reducing calorie intake. I'm still able to enjoy a nice glass with my dinner now or at another point in the day if I wish but its a more reasonable now that I'm not using it to quench my thirst.