[huehue]

I might not be the average HN user, but I have to choke down ~4500 daily calories in order to maintain both weight and athletic performance, and doing so without simple sugars would be a pretty difficult task, not to mention if I suddenly started drinking oil instead as per advice.

Even at a standard 2500kcal diet half a can of coke still leaves enough room for micronutrient dense foods so I don't see what's the big deal.

Perhaps it's time to stop blaming it on foods.

[JeremyNT]

Liquid calories (especially in the form of sugar water) do not satiate somebody in the way e.g. fruits would (since fruit contains fiber and "fills" one up better). If one took a top-down approach to diet and planned out intake appropriately (as it sounds like you do) then it would certainly be easy enough to slot in some sugar water and still meet all of one's nutritional needs. The sad truth is that most people are not very mindful of what (and just as critically how much) they are eating, presumably due to poor education.

I would be inclined to speculate that in humans most of the benefit of reducing sugar intake is in the form of improved satiety when sugar is replaced with other foods. Sugar water and the like simply don't satiate in the way most other calorie sources do. That doesn't matter to a person who is mindful of how many calories they need to consume, but a person who is not educated or mindful of caloric and nutritional requirements might grab a glass of sugar water and later on (upon not being satiated) they might simply return for another one.

[pjc50]

4500 daily calories

That requirement puts you several standard deviations from the mean, yes.

[eitally]

It depends on age (and BMR in general) and type of athletics. When I'm in a marathon training routine (typically a 16-18 week cycle, ramping up to 55-70 miles per week), I'm burning an extra 1000-2000C/day. Considering I'm already an ectomorph, and tall (6'3" 185lbs), I have to eat a lot just to maintain. I don't always make good choices (last night I snacked on pretzels and toffee), but somehow my body self-regulates ingestion and I have never gained weight. I know it sounds hokey, but I am convinced my body does an excellent job telling me whether I need protein or carbs/sugar. Not so much fat, so I eat cheese & similar with intent, but you get the idea. My problem is finding healthy calorie heavy snacks. Avoiding empty sugars & simple carbs while snacking is a challenge.

[johnward]

Yeah. I have a hard time losing weight at 2,000 calories a day at a weight of 272. This person is either some type of endurance athlete (burns a ton of calories) or has a crazy metabolism. I run about 2 miles 2-3 days a week and do weight training 4 days a week. Although I will add that I have low T and am not on testosterone right now. When I'm on a low dose of T I can shed fat much easier. So obviously hormones come into play.