quit sugar a week ago, should I be losing weight?

[jvdb]

I'm 24, 5'3", 115 lb and would like to lose those last 10 lb (my midsection looks quite "lazy)

I eat quite healthy, and a week ago I cut ALL refined sugar, white breads, anything that contains sugar.

Typical day:
peanut butter whole wheat toast and skim milk
cup of plain yogurt
stir fry with quinoa (lots of veggies, usually shrimp, always home made and very little olive oil made when cooking)
quarter cup almonds
supper (often similar to lunch, mainly lean meats with veggies, the occasional steak or lean ground beef meal, always home made no bad stuff added).
1/2 cup to 1 cup (in shell) pistachios

throughout the day i drink lots of decaf tea and water, with a cup of coffee. i never add sugar, and only add a splash of milk to my coffee.

BEFORE cutting sugar it usually looked the same but I ate THESE in addition:
-occasional white bread or home made pizza
-ALWAYS a pack of preventia cookies, or two per day
-probably one other item of "sugary" junk food.



When should I see some results? I work out twice a week, anyone have similar experiences?

[Rana]

Because you're really close to your goal weight, you're going to have to be more precise in creating a caloric deficit.

Do you know how many calories you eat in a typical day? Do you know how many you need to maintain?

Cutting out sugar is a good way to cut out "useless" calories (in the sense that they don't add a lot of nutritional value) or even "white" carbs like white bread or other junk food.

But you still need to have a deficit in order to lose weight. If you just replaced the "sugar/white carb" calories with other whole grains or fruits & vegetables, then your body won't lose weight or it will lose weight very slowly.

The other thing to note is that because you are close to goal, it might be harder to see the changes, than someone who has a lot more to lose.

[Serval87]

I just wanted to hop in here, and say "Congrats!" As a HUGE sugar-addict (who will hopefully be cutting out the majority of her sugar intake next month) I know how hard it can be to say goodbye to all that delicious (but evil) stuff.

[indiblue]

Like Rana said, reducing sugar will not result to weight loss. Eating less, or creating a caloric deficit, will.

Some people do see body recomposition changes (esp around the midsection) if they rearrange their macronutrient ratios. Usually this means reducing carbs and increasing proteins.

However, to be totally honest, your BMI right now is already on the lower end of normal. Cutting weight will most likely result in your ending up a smaller version of yourself right now (in other words, the last bit of "stubborn fat" spots are unlikely to be affected at this stage as you lose proportionally all over) What is concerning though is that weight that you lose at this point will include a decent amount of lean mass loss (from the muscle, bone, etc). This not only doesn't affect the appearance changes you're hoping for, but isn't great for your health.

What you may want to do instead is focusing on eating at or slightly above maintenance calories (not trying to create a deficit) and work on strength training. There are tons of success stories on this forum of women who have reshaped their bodies by lifting heavy and eating well with lots of protein. Their weight stays the same, even increases a few pounds, but because that weight is lean muscle mass and not flab, they look smaller and leaner. Women can make pretty impressive strides in their midsection through these strategies.

Good luck!

PS Reducing sugar is always a good thing- way to make some great changes in your diet