I know that if you want to lose weight all you have to do is be in a calorie deficit, but what if you also have a high sugar intake while maintaining a calorie deficit?
As long as you are in a calorie deficit then you will lose weight, there is no denying this. While you can technically lose weight eating a high sugar diet by still being in a deficit, it is practically very difficult (possible in the short term sure, but virtually impossible in the longterm), because it is easy to consume a lot of calories from sugar due to being under-satiating. For example, it is much easier to consume 200 calories from fruit loops than from rolled oats which contains also dietary fibre.
I’ve certainly tried it. It makes me feel weak. Obviously you’ll lose weight in a deficit. You’ll prevent most of the harm that the sugars would have caused, I would say. But I feel like it is going to promote sugar cravings.
I think the main point here is that two things can be true at the same time:
Many people like to erroneously conflate health and weight loss. Diets high in sugar are not ideal from a health perspective, but this doesn’t mean you won’t lose weight in a calorie deficit.
In specifics to added sugars, it would affect your gut micro biome, favouring bacteria that thrive in a sugary environment. The science is still not well defined, but it could affect everything in your body, most of all you’d be less resistant to gut infection and disease, as well as more feelings of lethargy
So long as you are in a caloric deficit, you will lose weight.
Recall that fat is higher in calories than sugar at 9 calories per gram, it is easier to gain weight eating fatty foods since less is more.
Sugar is simply to be considered for “calories in”. When you’re in a deficit, you’re in a deficit. More complex carbs can satisfy you for longer with an equal amount of calories though. Sugar is almost always the best source of calories to cut out from a health stand point, unless the decision is between eating bacon grease and eating fruit.
https://www.npr.org/2010/11/12/131286626/professor-s-weight-loss-secret-junk-food
This was a an anecdotal tale of one nutrition professor that lost 27 lbs eating mostly junk food. His lipid levels improved. The mere act of losing weight even if diet quality isn’t great is generally associated with improvements in health outcomes. He ate exactly 1800 calories a day, which is like 4 honey buns.
The caloric deficit is what determines weight loss. Doesn’t matter what you are eating, as long as it’s in a deficit
What do you consider to be a high sugar intake? Generally, your sugar intake is okay if it’s 10% or less of your calories on an average day, but if you were to eat more than that, it won’t impact your weight loss if you’re still in a deficit
High calories with a short lived pay off usually resulting in fat storage.
It’s like if you did cocaine instead of eating eggs for breakfast, sure you’d get a good hit of energy but you’d probably crash before lunch and feel like shit.