Do you add raw fruits to your calorie count?

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I'm confused if I should be adding the raw fruits/veggies to my daily food count.

I know fruits have sugar, but aren't they the good sugars?

So do I NEED to count them?

IDK, I might just be looking for an excuse to snack and if I replace my snacks with fruits and veggies it might be better.
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Replies

  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
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    Of course you should. They have calories don't they? If you are counting calories you need to count ALL calories.
  • scrapbookingtm
    scrapbookingtm Posts: 1,916 Member
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    Of course. Doesn't matter if you consider it good or bad, if it has calories, you need to count it.
  • Mycophilia
    Mycophilia Posts: 1,225 Member
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    Does it contain calories?

    If the answer is yes, then no matter what it is, you should log it.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,899 Member
    edited March 2015
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    Yes ... if you're counting calories, you need to count fruit. Fruit can be quite high in calories.

    A banana, for example, might be 100 calories. If you're going for a 1200 calorie limit, that's 1/12 of your total.

    Some fruit is lower, but I was actually a bit surprised how high pears are.

    Veggies tend to be lower in calories, but they still have calories.


    Before I started here, I was eating a lot of fruit rather than other snacks. When I started here and started tracking how many calories were in all that fruit, I cut back a bit.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    Fruits have enough calories to make a difference, so yep you need to count them.

    You can still replace other snacks with fruit, they tend to be more filling for longer periods of time compared to stuff like chips or candy.
  • Phoenix_Down
    Phoenix_Down Posts: 530 Member
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    Count everything.
  • slucki01
    slucki01 Posts: 284 Member
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    Everything you eat counts and fruits and veggies, although good choices, still have calories.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    I've been seeing so many threads like this lately. Yes, fruits have calories. Weigh them on a food scale and log.
  • carolynmo1969
    carolynmo1969 Posts: 120 Member
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    I record everything. Today for example, I am over my daily sugar limit and I've had only fruit.
  • ForeverSunshine09
    ForeverSunshine09 Posts: 966 Member
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    Yeah my lunch was a banana and it was 111cals all by its lonesome.
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    edited March 2015
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    Today I ate 143 calories worth of raw veggies and fruit. With a calorie goal of only 1240, that's over 10% of my total intake. It would have been a significant portion of my calories had I not logged it and really eaten into my deficit had I eaten that many additional calories because I still thought I had calories left to consume.

    Log EVERYTHING.
  • lisawinning4losing
    lisawinning4losing Posts: 726 Member
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    Some people say that it's ok not to count veggies. Weight Watchers lets you eat veggies for "free". I do count veggies, but I'm pretty lax when it comes to measuring them out exactly, because they're just veggies. But fruit you should absolutely count because fruit is quite high in calories and sugar.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    Look at it this way.. if you have 3 snacks a day: a banana, an apple, and an orange. That's roughly 100 calories each and 300 calories you aren't counting. If your deficit is 500 calories and you expect to lose a pound a week you will end up losing less than half a pound (or hardly any weight if you eat more fruits than that). If your deficit it 250 you will actually gain weight if you fail to account for calories from fruits!

    You count foods not because they have sugar, you count them because they have calories. Natural or not, if you eat more calories than you burn you will end up gaining weight.
  • CooCooPuff
    CooCooPuff Posts: 4,374 Member
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    If I didn't count my fruits and veggies for today, I'd have 310 calories unaccounted for.
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
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    I think I have seen this question a few times now.

    Do you think they are former weight watchers? They don't allocate points to fruit and veggies do they?

    Seems odd question to me. Imagine counting anything but deciding not to count specific things.

    How many people are on the bus?
    20, so we can fit 6 more on.
    Yeah 20 but I didn't count the 5 people with red hair.
  • SabrinaLovesPandora
    SabrinaLovesPandora Posts: 33 Member
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    Oh goodness! This is difficult, haha!

    I'm one of those people who grazes on snacks in between meals all day long, so this transition is a little difficult for me.

    I'm definitely going to continue counting them then. I can't say I'm not a bit bummed though. :\
  • SabrinaLovesPandora
    SabrinaLovesPandora Posts: 33 Member
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    Merkavar wrote: »
    I think I have seen this question a few times now.

    Do you think they are former weight watchers? They don't allocate points to fruit and veggies do they?

    Seems odd question to me. Imagine counting anything but deciding not to count specific things.

    How many people are on the bus?
    20, so we can fit 6 more on.
    Yeah 20 but I didn't count the 5 people with red hair.


    I don't really know if this is a Weight Watchers thing. This is my first time trying to diet.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    Oh goodness! This is difficult, haha!

    I'm one of those people who grazes on snacks in between meals all day long, so this transition is a little difficult for me.

    I'm definitely going to continue counting them then. I can't say I'm not a bit bummed though. :\

    I snack too. You just have to log them!
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    My morning smoothie has 300 calories. 100 of that is greek yogurt and milk, and the other 200 is fruit/veggies. If you add in the veggies from the rest of my day we're probably talking about at least 400-500 calories today, which would wipe out the average person's deficit (assuming they're trying to lose 1 lb per week).
  • SarahECSpragg831
    SarahECSpragg831 Posts: 3 Member
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    Yeah, you have to count everything. I feel like such an anti-social person at parties when I'm going on my phone periodically to keep things up dated, but everything counts. (Do I stress over every chip and bit of hummus no, do I try to account for it yes and usually over count on purpose)