Count ALL vegetable calories?

earlnabby

I count everything (well, except chewing gum and diet soda). I do eyeball rather than weigh my leafy greens but I still log them.

abatonfan

Vegetables and fruit count. I'm eating at about a 200-calorie deficit (and eat at least 200-250 calories in fruit in veggies a day). If I didn't log those fruits and vegetables, I would be gaining weight instead of losing.

loulamb7

ds6099 wrote: »

Sounds good but I will use veggies towards exercise calories so I should have enough to eat.
Am I considered active or lightly active if I run 4.5-6 miles 6 days a week?

The way MFP works, activity level is based on your normal daily activity, excluding exercise. For example, desk job versus mailman. Running is considered exercise and you add it when you do it.

Mr_Stabbems

i honestly dont bother, i dont treat them as "free" but if i get all pedantic about it then it'll just start to be a chore and piss me off.

CSARdiver

You have to be as accurate as you need to be. If your goal is to maintain a deficit and you're losing weight, there's no issue. If you are not losing (over several weeks), then review your accuracy to ensure you aren't missing something.

Considering the high degree of error in nutritional labeling (~20%), it is better to err on the side of caution - log all intake and overestimate, while underestimating your physical activity. As for eating back depends on your goals, but I eat back protein at a minimum to help maintain muscle and carbs to a lesser degree to ensure I have enough energy for the next training session.

ds6099

loulamb7 wrote: »

ds6099 wrote: »

Sounds good but I will use veggies towards exercise calories so I should have enough to eat.
Am I considered active or lightly active if I run 4.5-6 miles 6 days a week?

The way MFP works, activity level is based on your normal daily activity, excluding exercise. For example, desk job versus mailman. Running is considered exercise and you add it when you do it.

Ok so then I'm not active per se lol! I'm an accountant so yes, long hours for me at the desk

loulamb7

[/quote]Ok so then I'm not active per se lol! I'm an accountant so yes, long hours for me at the desk [/quote]

But you're running 4-6 miles 6 days a weeks. This should give you a nice calorie bump, even if you only eat 50-75% of them back. Don't forget to log your running.

seska422

It all depends upon which works best for you.

If you want to track your exercise, you can put sedentary or lightly active and then eat back 50% or so of those exercise calories.

If you don't want to track your exercise but you exercise nearly every day, then there's nothing wrong with setting it to "active" with the knowledge that those 220 extra calories take into account that you'll be exercising. If you get hurt or stop exercising for some reason, you can always reduce the activity level at that point.

It doesn't really matter how you arrive at the number of calories as long as you eat enough and still hit your deficit.

pixiesgreene

Think about it this way - it's not about what "counts" and what "doesn't count". Thinking like that is like thinking you can "cheat" - you only cheat yourself.

It's about learning about what you eat. If I didn't bother to weigh and log all my veggies, I wouldn't be constantly reminded of how large in mass yet low in calories they were. Realising that vegetables are large mass, low calories, and that nuts and oil, for instance, are low in mass and high in calories, arms me with knowledge that I can use to adapt recipes.

So now I can do something that I couldn't do when I started counting calories - I can pick up a new recipe, peruse the ingredients, and go "right, I'll cut the oil to 5ml instead of 20ml, only put in 30g of nuts rather than 90(!!!) and double the amount of leafy greens and shaved zucchini." I can easily revise a 500 calorie meal down to a 300 calorie meal in this way - just through intuition and knowing what works.

I dunno, YMMV, but I really value that skill.

TL;DR version - Just log everything, you learn a lot.

cwolfman13

well, they have calories...why the feck wouldn't you count them if you're counting calories. I eat around 200 calories in veg per day...why wouldn't I count that?

loulamb7

seska422 wrote: »

It all depends upon which works best for you.

If you want to track your exercise, you can put sedentary or lightly active and then eat back 50% or so of those exercise calories.

If you don't want to track your exercise but you exercise nearly every day, then there's nothing wrong with setting it to "active" with the knowledge that those 220 extra calories take into account that you'll be exercising. If you get hurt or stop exercising for some reason, you can always reduce the activity level at that point.

It doesn't really matter how you arrive at the number of calories as long as you eat enough and still hit your deficit.

Agreed. You can always manipulate the calculator through activity settings or custom settings. You can use TDEE, which includes your expected exercise, if you prefer.

ASKyle

Count them, preferably with a food scale.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE- I just got one, and turns out I can eat WAY MORE veggies than I thought for the same amount of calories. I thought my Greek salads were about 350 cals, was only 198 when I weighed it all out. Awesome.

Queenmunchy

I don't count my sugar free mints or weigh vegetables like spinach and lettuce, but I still log them in at least eyeballed cups. My goal is slightly lower (200 calories or so) so I can account for those variables.

TeaBea

ds6099 wrote: »

Sounds good but I will use veggies towards exercise calories so I should have enough to eat.
Am I considered active or lightly active if I run 4.5-6 miles 6 days a week?

MFP does NOT include running as part of your activity level. Activity level is based upon your job. Exercise gets added (by you) when the task is completed. This is great for people who are inconsistent at exercise.

If you know your exercise will be consistent, look up your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). Include jogging up front. Then take a number / percentage of calories away. Say 500 calories for 1 pound weight loss per week.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

arditarose

I weigh my dang spinach. I eat so many things that are 10-20 calories, at the end of the day they can add up to 100 calories. For a 5'4" woman trying to lose .5 lbs a week, that's a big deal.

2wise4u

I count everything and that consistency keeps me honest.

PumpJockeyy

I just don't count green veggies like spinach,broccoli,cucumber, etc. If you're gaining weight/staying the same weight while dieting, it's not because you ate 200g of cucumber (for example)

azulvioleta6

Count all the veggies!

I will admit that I am not super-precise about things that are know are very low calorie and low carb, such as spinach and kale. I just use measuring cups for those because I know they are not problematic enough for me to require weighing.