o calorie per serving foods-do you track them? and if so how?

kaitlinrt

I log almost everything, even 'no' calorie items such as pickles, gum, etc. While a calorie deficit is my first priority, I want to do so while maintaining a healthy sodium intake and proper vitamin intake. Therefore, I count it all.

Angierae75

Since I'm only cutting 1# a week, and often have calories left on the table, I don't log a lot of things - like lettuce and whatnot in my salad. If I were cutting things a lot closer (say I only had a little bit to lose and was only cutting 250 calories a day) I would, but so far it hasn't hindered me. Pickles I'd track for the sodium, though

Dragn77

I log everything I eat and drink on here...except for water, I use a different app to log that. Not only are calories important to me, but also my sodium intake...not for health reasons, more so, just to keep track. Its usually the explanation to why I am gaining / not losing weight, and I know then to drink more water when my sodium intake is high to avoid that.

Anyway, yeah, I log everything, even my tea even though it is 0 all across the board in everything. For me, its a matter of developing a routine and habit to log. If I only track some times, then it will be too easy for me to let things I definitely should track slide between the cracks.

Plus, even though Im not focused on my micros ...macros?! LoL obviously not...at this point, at some point I might be. And I think it would be good to have a legit log of how Ive been eating to know what changes need to be made to how I eat. Just because its not my priority now, doesnt mean it wont be at some point when this data would be useful to have.

CrabNebula

I didn't think about logging zero calorie things like Splenda until I found out Splenda actually had 3 cals a packet and I was using like 10 a day for coffee and oatmeal. I switched to Truvia which has a whopping .2 calories a packet and don't bother logging it.

arditarose

I log my cholula hot sauce. It says it has 0 calories but I find it hard to believe. Regardless, there's tons of sodium in it.

jonrenly

Dont feel like you're doing something wrong if you're not logging <5 calorie foods. jesus christ. when it gets to the point where you're obsessing over a single calorie thats reaching an unhealthy relationship with food. Take this from someone who has suffered with an ED for years and still does, its a living hell when you waste your life worrying about whether you ate an extra half dozen calories or not.

Sassy_xo

From someone who is currently in nursing school and is taking a required nutrition course, there is NO SUCH THING as a zero calorie food. The only thing with zero calories is water. Pickles actually do have a significant amount of calories depending on the type, and they have a very high sodium content which causes bloating and is not great for you. The Walden Farms products are basically chemical soup, and they have been called out for not being entirely truthful on their labels as far as calorie content. Read the ingredients list on one of those bad boys, and I can promise you you won't recognize anything on there. Why would you want to put that in your body? It is much better for you to have a normal sized portion of the real thing, and track that into your daily calorie amount vs. throwing off your body with weird chemical items that you don't even know the nutrition info or contents of.

That being said, I am not perfect either. I use Stevia, which while it is a natural zero calorie sweetener, I'm sure it's still not great for you. But I still log it all. Even though it is zero calories, it is still something I put in my body and consumed that day, so I track it. I even track water and vitamins. That's the whole purpose of keeping a food journal, is to make you aware of what all you really are consuming in a day, so I'd say yes...if you are choosing to consume those things, definitely track them!

crazyjerseygirl

I'll track 0kcal items if I'm eating/drinking a lot. I try to log either way to keep track of Na too

jonrenly

Sassy_xo wrote: »

The Walden Farms products are basically chemical soup, and they have been called out for not being entirely truthful on their labels as far as calorie content. Read the ingredients list on one of those bad boys, and I can promise you you won't recognize anything on there.

This isn't surprising, though. They seem a little suspicious. I've only tried one of their products, but it was kind of gross and I could never figure out if it was vegan or not because the ingredient list was in some made up language, I swear. I'm wary of that entire brand.

CooCooPuff

I track my diet sodas just to keep the sodium count as accurate as I can.

The only thing I don't really log is plain water.

sardelsa

I don't log cooking spray, garlic, onions, some condiments, some veggies (even though I know they obviously have cals), but I have a large intake to play with so in the grand scheme of things they are insignificant (for me) - depending on your intake and how much of these items you consume as well as your current results up to this point, you may want to consider logging them

PikaKnight

Tatarataa wrote: »

I eat a lot of 0 calorie per serving foods like pickles, traditional shirataki noodles, walden farms products etc. and now I heard they can have up to 5 calories per serving so I was wondering whether I should not track them and if so should I track 1 serving as 5 calories? What do you think-does anyone have a similar problem?

Shirataki noodles tend to be round 40-60 cals for a bag. I remember they said zero for awhile, but now it's changed, at least for the brand I got.

Pickles are about 5 cals a serving too.

girlviernes

Up to you! I'm about 50/50, sometimes I'll track ultra low cal things like herbs and coffee, but usually I don't.

BWBTrish

i use some olive oil spray and butter spray and kernel seasoning. It says zero calories per serving. Also for sweeteners ( i use them in my tea).
But to be sure i just have everyday a quick add of 50 calories added. Specially on days i use more than normal.

So when i cook in butter i log those normally.
But when i cook in a olive spray and have my popcorn butter spray and seasoning i will add the extra 50 calories

Because the only thing that has no calories is water.

onyxgirl17

There are foods with 0 calories????? lol

If you are talking about food with low cals, you should still log them because they can add up. All food has calories... or else it wouldn't be considered food... right?

onyxgirl17

I also track micronutrients so I definitely track all fruits and veggies even if it has like 2 calories lol.

sgthaggard

I'm currently eating a serving of zero cal capers. I log them to remind myself tomorrow, when I'm retaining water, that my capers carry a crap-load of sodium.

ntinkham88

I would still track them so you get in the habit of logging everything. Whenever I leave something out simply because I'm too lazy to track it, I find that I start to leave more and more out. It never hurts to log anyway

Dragn77

TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »

i use some olive oil spray and butter spray and kernel seasoning. It says zero calories per serving. Also for sweeteners ( i use them in my tea).
But to be sure i just have everyday a quick add of 50 calories added. Specially on days i use more than normal.

So when i cook in butter i log those normally.
But when i cook in a olive spray and have my popcorn butter spray and seasoning i will add the extra 50 calories

Because the only thing that has no calories is water.

I was watching some show, that said that those oil and butter sprays..a serving is like a spray of a fraction of a second. and they said the average person actually holds the spray for 3 seconds or more, and actually using something like 20+ servings of the spray, in one go!

I dont use cooking sprays anyway, but that alone freaked me out..and this was before I started trying to lose weight. But yeah, at those quantities (20+ servings of a "0" calorie food) its definitely adding cals to your overall meal. Very unfair and a wrong way to label serving sizes of those things, I think.

Zedeff

Sassy_xo wrote: »

From someone who is currently in nursing school and is taking a required nutrition course, there is NO SUCH THING as a zero calorie food.

...

That being said, I am not perfect either. I use Stevia, which while it is a natural zero calorie sweetener

Does not compute.

crazyjerseygirl

Zedeff wrote: »

Sassy_xo wrote: »

From someone who is currently in nursing school and is taking a required nutrition course, there is NO SUCH THING as a zero calorie food.

...

That being said, I am not perfect either. I use Stevia, which while it is a natural zero calorie sweetener

Does not compute.

It is because, while a good might have negligible kcal for a single serving that rounds to 0 (say .2kcal) the food can still add up to something if you eat enough of it.
I think for most of these it's a non issue, but if you're drinking 30 diet sodas a day....

BWBTrish

Dragn77 wrote: »

TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »

i use some olive oil spray and butter spray and kernel seasoning. It says zero calories per serving. Also for sweeteners ( i use them in my tea).
But to be sure i just have everyday a quick add of 50 calories added. Specially on days i use more than normal.

So when i cook in butter i log those normally.
But when i cook in a olive spray and have my popcorn butter spray and seasoning i will add the extra 50 calories

Because the only thing that has no calories is water.

I was watching some show, that said that those oil and butter sprays..a serving is like a spray of a fraction of a second. and they said the average person actually holds the spray for 3 seconds or more, and actually using something like 20+ servings of the spray, in one go!

I dont use cooking sprays anyway, but that alone freaked me out..and this was before I started trying to lose weight. But yeah, at those quantities (20+ servings of a "0" calorie food) its definitely adding cals to your overall meal. Very unfair and a wrong way to label serving sizes of those things, I think.

Well i am not too worried about it. Lost almost 80 pounds in 5 months. So my guess is i do something right for me...winks

Dragn77

TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »

Dragn77 wrote: »

TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »

i use some olive oil spray and butter spray and kernel seasoning. It says zero calories per serving. Also for sweeteners ( i use them in my tea).
But to be sure i just have everyday a quick add of 50 calories added. Specially on days i use more than normal.

So when i cook in butter i log those normally.
But when i cook in a olive spray and have my popcorn butter spray and seasoning i will add the extra 50 calories

Because the only thing that has no calories is water.

I was watching some show, that said that those oil and butter sprays..a serving is like a spray of a fraction of a second. and they said the average person actually holds the spray for 3 seconds or more, and actually using something like 20+ servings of the spray, in one go!

I dont use cooking sprays anyway, but that alone freaked me out..and this was before I started trying to lose weight. But yeah, at those quantities (20+ servings of a "0" calorie food) its definitely adding cals to your overall meal. Very unfair and a wrong way to label serving sizes of those things, I think.

Well i am not too worried about it. Lost almost 80 pounds in 5 months. So my guess is i do something right for me...winks

Ohh..I wasnt implying that you're wrong or should be worried and didnt mean that in a negative way or personal way against you or your weight loss progress.

My point literally was what I said, the unfairness of the serving sizes that they put on them. Im going to back away from you now though..

tracie_minus100

Merkavar wrote: »

I track most things but if it's a matter of 10-30kj then I generally don't.

Things like chewing gum or coke zero where you would have to eat a fair bit to get the KJ to add up.

I think both chewing gum and come have like 6kj per serving. Say I drink 2L of coke what's that 50kj, hardly worth tracking, especially since I don't drink 2liters.

I'm sorry, I have to giggle at this typo. Tee hee.