Zero Cal Vegetables/ Weight Watchers: Help the constant grazer!

MelissaHopeG

Hi all,

I tried Weight Watchers in the past, and they said that vegetables on this list wouldn't give you any points: http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=59781

However if you log them in MFP they definitely have calories! Anyone have experience with any zero to no calorie vegetables? I think after some time I'll get use to eating less calories again, but currently its like I want to snack all the time.

KimofTas

I was wondering about this too! I'll follow this thread with interest ...

malibu927

There are no foods that have zero calories

KimofTas

Maybe their points system doesn't focus on cals?

ndj1979

in…for zero calorie foods….

concordancia

That was mostly weight watchers' way of getting people to eat more veg. The other part is that the point system uses a formula that is dependent on both calories and fiber, so that higher fiber foods were less points than other foods with the same calories.

67mirunner

This is why weight watchers didn't work for me!! I'd have a big fruit salad snack, and it wouldn't count for anything "points" wise.....but that was so lame.....my fruit salad included 2 bananas and a peach with some berries. Looking at how many calories now that I'm "smarter" makes me laugh.....seriously....for someone who is trying to lose those last few pounds, EVERY calorie counts.

Train4Foodz

malibu927 wrote: »

There are no foods that have zero calories

^^ This ^^ Those foods don't exist. If you find some.. Please point them my way lol

MelissaHopeG

67mirunner wrote: »

This is why weight watchers didn't work for me!! I'd have a big fruit salad snack, and it wouldn't count for anything "points" wise.....but that was so lame.....my fruit salad included 2 bananas and a peach with some berries. Looking at how many calories now that I'm "smarter" makes me laugh.....seriously....for someone who is trying to lose those last few pounds, EVERY calorie counts.

This makes sense... bummer, because I was hoping to find something zero cal!

ndj1979

Adam2k10 wrote: »

malibu927 wrote: »

There are no foods that have zero calories

^^ This ^^ Those foods don't exist. If you find some.. Please point them my way lol

I think they exist in the tenth dimension ….

rivka_m

concordancia wrote: »

That was mostly weight watchers' way of getting people to eat more veg. The other part is that the point system uses a formula that is dependent on both calories and fiber, so that higher fiber foods were less points than other foods with the same calories.

This. Plus the number of points you're assigned takes some fruit and veg into account - the minimum 26 points is roughly 1000-1100 calories so they're assuming that you will eat some calories in fruit & vegetables every day.

PhoenixEve

A serving of Miracle Noodles (Shirataki) with some Walden Farms sauce/dressing will log in at 0 calories... but the texture and flavour will be so unpleasant that it will also probably make you throw up.

Zevia Cola is decent though, if you like stevia.

SnuggleSmacks

PhoenixEve wrote: »

A serving of Miracle Noodles (Shirataki) with some Walden Farms sauce/dressing will log in at 0 calories... but the texture and flavour will be so unpleasant that it will also probably make you throw up.

Zevia Cola is decent though, if you like stevia.

Doesn't that make it net negative calories?

nicoleyg

I found a source that lists some low calorie veggies. Here are some examples.
radish (small)- 0 calories, radish (medium-large)-1 calorie, lettuce (1 cup shredded)-5 calories, celery (7 1/2 inch stalk)-6 calories. Doesn't sound like a bunch of stuff you want to munch on 24 hours a day, but would make a great little salad.

Alatariel75

Weight Watchers knows that if someone could have a banana for a point, or a cookie for a point, they'd take the cookie.

They made vegetables and fruit "free" to encourage you to reach for them first, and built a tolerance into your point allocation to allow for the assumption that you'd eat at least a few serves of fruit and veg per day.

No fruit or vegetable is 0 calories, and don't believe the myths about some food taking more to burn that you gain from eating them, either.

When I switched from WW to calorie counting way back when, I was irked that I had to count vegies. But when I started doing it, it amazed me how many calories I could munch in a couple bowls of "zero point" soup!

Justin_7272

malibu927 wrote: »

There are no foods that have zero calories

Unflavored snow cone.

GingerbreadCandy

Justin_7272 wrote: »

malibu927 wrote: »

There are no foods that have zero calories

Unflavored snow cone.

Water smoothie topped with Ice

gothchiq

I tried weight watchers once. I looked up the calories on what they allowed me to eat and it came out to only 800 cal a day!!! Now honestly all foods have calories and the only calories that don't count are the ones you don't eat. I don't like the weight watchers system. It's proprietary and thus unsustainable unless you stay with them and keep paying. I also don't think it's realistic.

wendy0210

rivka_m wrote: »

concordancia wrote: »

That was mostly weight watchers' way of getting people to eat more veg. The other part is that the point system uses a formula that is dependent on both calories and fiber, so that higher fiber foods were less points than other foods with the same calories.

This. Plus the number of points you're assigned takes some fruit and veg into account - the minimum 26 points is roughly 1000-1100 calories so they're assuming that you will eat some calories in fruit & vegetables every day.

Yes, they figure people will be eating some calories from fruits and veggies, but they also stressed to eat fruits/veggies in moderation until satisfied, not that fruits/veggies were free and people could eat unlimited portions of them. My old leader did say that you should count fruits/veggies if you found yourself eating too many of them or if you were following the plan and not losing. Nothing's truly "free".

skinnybythanksgiving

There are a lot of things that will work but you still want to track the calories probably. Cucumbers, spinach, jicama, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, sugar free jello, sugar free frozen fudge popsicles, flavored water, lean lunchmeats.

lemurcat12

I don't believe in the no calories/points thing--they have calories, so might as well log them. However, the calories in many veggies is so low you could easily munch on them all day and not go over, or not go over by much.

tanowicki

As others have said, WW assumed you would eat the daily recommended amount of fruits and veggies and assigned them 0 points to encourage it. If you ate over the recommended amount (7?), you were supposed to log them with points. I think an apple or banana serving is a small to medium fruit and some of the giant fruit out there should count as two servings towards your daily goal.

ValerieMartini2Olives

Why would you think they wouldn't have calories?

obscuremusicreference

PhoenixEve wrote: »

A serving of Miracle Noodles (Shirataki) with some Walden Farms sauce/dressing will log in at 0 calories... but the texture and flavour will be so unpleasant that it will also probably make you throw up.

Zevia Cola is decent though, if you like stevia.

And the smell. I was watching someone on youtube subbing them in for spaghetti and eating them with marinara. Noooooooooooo thank you.

Shalva

I tried weight watchers and was very successful on the old plan... then they changed plans in the middle and it no longer worked for me... I tried it again this past summer and again the new plan did not work for me at all... the fact is that bananas and fruit both have calories

obscuremusicreference

When I started counting, I was amazed that a generic banana is 105 calories. I used to eat 3-4 a day! That's a third of my daily deficit and almost 20% of my maintenance.

Justin_7272

I would also look into Haribo Sugar Free Gummy Bears; from what I understand, while they are not 0 calorie, you will likely end up with less than when you started.

jennidee12

Vegetables are still calories, but they count as 'zero calorie foods' because they're good calories for your body and burn fat. So really, when you eat those vegetables you're burning calories.

VeryKatie

The way WW works (I did it and read up on it) is that they've already assumed you WILL eat an appropriate amount of veggies and fruits so they've built that into you daily goal.

For instance, before they switched to the WW 360 style, fruits and veggies still had points, but peoples daily goals were higher to allow for them.

If you doing WW 360 or WW points plus, you just need to make sure you have about 3 servings of veggies and up to 2 servings of fruit. It does NOT mean you can eat nothing but fruit all day and still give yourself 0 points.

Also, if you go to the exercise4weightloss site, you'll see that the WW food points formula doesn't use calories at all. It uses fat, protein, fibre and carbs only to get their values.

queenliz99

jennidee12 wrote: »

Vegetables are still calories, but they count as 'zero calorie foods' because they're good calories for your body and burn fat. So really, when you eat those vegetables you're burning calories.

This is wrong, eat too much and you will gain weight. Vegetables does not burn fat.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

jennidee12 wrote: »

Vegetables are still calories, but they count as 'zero calorie foods' because they're good calories for your body and burn fat. So really, when you eat those vegetables you're burning calories.

This is a common dieting myth. It's true that digesting food burns calories (it's called Thermic Effect of Food), but to my knowledge there are no foods that actually burn more calories than they contain. According to wikipedia, even celery (the most commonly referenced "negative calorie food") contains 6 calories per stalk and takes only half a calorie to digest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative-calorie_food

Also, the calories burned digesting food are part of the calculations MFP uses to come up with your calorie goal.