Cutting sugar out of my diet

I just recently did a diet that required me to cut out sugar for about two months of the diet. The best advise I can give is to skip out on any pre-packaged or processed foods. Any sugar that you have should be naturally found in your fruits and vegetables and not added. Cook your own meals and read the labels of foods that you are buying (or best to avoid foods that require an ingredient list and make fresh yourself).

Yes, sugar is the biggest thing to help with weight loss and staying healthy! I have a major sweet tooth (chocolate.) I try to eat a piece of hard candy or gum or something else sweet but not as bad for me in place of desserts. I have tried cutting back on sweets and I feel a lot better! Clean eating -- eating veggies, fruits, whole grains, beans, etc. has really made a difference in me. I've lost about 18 pounds over two years (slow but steady!)

I currently follow weight watchers, and they have a two week simple start program when you first join that basically says exercise as much as you can, and eat from this list of foods, and you will be full, satisfied, and cravings will cease. and its pretty much guaranteed you'll lose weight. i didnt believe it, but after those first two weeks i had lost like 7 lbs and the cravings were gone. i am a big craver, not necessarily sweets but just things in general and it really helped. i continue to follow that program, they have a (large) list of foods that you can choose to eat from and the idea is to eat until youre full, but the foods are filling foods so you wont find yourself eating as much. it's great. between March 1-April 19 i had lost 19 lbs. fell off for a bit and now am back on just to feel great before the wedding.

Uughhh!! I"m trying to cut out sugar too!!! It's so hard! One of my good friend's who's a trainer said I had to cut out sugar and bread if I wanted to lose 20 lbs by October!! I don't drink soda so that's not it but I drink a lot of juices and Gatorade!! So now I'm trying to stick to just water or tea!! I'm trying to have natural fruit! No candy, no gum, no baked goods I've been packing healthy stuff to snack on at work and it seems to help.. baby carrots, cheese, apples, popcorn GOOD LUCK

I'm with Nicole on the weight watchers, I followed it strictly up until April or so and lost about 20lbs. Now, while I dont track my points anymore, I have learned to cook/eat in a completely different way. We cut out all white bread, pastas and rices and replaced with wheat (even then, no more than 1 cup) and LOTS of steamed veggies.

It will definitely work. Just be sure to check labels. EVERYTHING has sugar in it. I cut sugar and decreased carbs and I lost weight so fast.

Cutting sugar is super hard. I seriously love chocolate. Someone told me as long time ago that eating mushrooms releases the same endorphins as chocolate. It might just be in my mind, but when I eat mushrooms a lot, I eat less chocolate. Of course, I tried to find some info on the internet to see if there is a physiological basis to that, but it just brings up a ton of magic mushroom articles. Not quite what I was going for. lol

25 lbs is a lot in four months. Not saying you can't do it, but I am saying it's very difficult.

Just remember, every time you eat something that you would traditionally think as carbs, you're eating sugar. Fruit and milk also have sugar, but they are natural sugars, so I say that's okay.

Thanks for all the great advice!

One thing i've noticed when cutting out sweets; The longer you go without, the less you crave it. It gets easier and easier.

Emily's right - your taste buds will readjust. We did the Daniel Plan a few months ago and I can tell you, once you become accustomed to eating well (no processed foods, sugar, bad fats, extra salt, etc) you'll be amazed by how good food can taste! Good luck!