Counting vegetables

Shazr2

Hiya. Please don't shoot me down for asking this. Does everyone add in their veg (not potatoes) to their diary? On previous "diets" I've followed veg was free. Was just wondering.....

debrag12

Yes they have calories. They can take you over your calorie goal like anything else. This is not a diet, it's a life style change.

Weight watchers or slimming world I wonder?!

WA_mama2

Yep, I want to keep track of fiber and vitamins. I weigh them in grams and use the USDA database entries to enter it in MFP. Some veggies can be scanned with the barcode reader, too.

PaulaWallaDingDong

Veggies have calories. The other diets dont count them because you're supposed to eat a "reasonable amount" and they give you fewer calories/points for the rest of the day to make up for it. So, yes, count them. Or don't, check your results and adjust as necessary.

SherryTeach

Absolutely. Besides that vegetables add calories, one of the benefits of tracking is that you can track your nutrition. Quite a lot of my nutrients come from veggies.

jkal1979

Yes. The calories can add up fairly quick. If you were on a program like WW they made up for the 'free' items by setting a lower calorie goal through their points. For example when I was on WW and double logged on here I noticed that I averaged about 1,000 calories before adding in fruits and vegetables.

Shazr2

I'm counting them into my diary, everything ate is logged. It's obviously new to me counting them, was just wondering. Wrong choice of work using "diet" other food plans I should have said. Scottish slimmers and slimming world I done before. Weren't for me hence why I'm doing this now.

Ready2Rock206

Of course! Your body counts them even if you don't log them.

Shazr2

SherryTeach wrote: »

Absolutely. Besides that vegetables add calories, one of the benefits of tracking is that you can track your nutrition. Quite a lot of my nutrients come from veggies.

Yeah didn't think of it like that.

fr33sia12

Most of my meals are made up from veggies, so I'd hardly be logging anything if I didn't.

rosebarnalice

Heck yeah! My veggies are easily 1/2 of my total calorie count for the day! For example, of the 727 calories I've logged between breakfast and lunch, 312 were veggies (mushrooms, onions, peppers, lettuce, celery, tomatoes).

I also log them for the macros. Lots of nutrients come from a variety of veggies, so I like to log my veggies accurately to help keep track of my vitamins and minerals.

Zipp237

I log everything, every grape, pea and sprinkle of wheat germ. I'm glad I do. If you track your nutrients, you may be in for a bit of a surprise, finding out that you don't ever get close to certain RDAs.

CChandler81

Of course! I try to keep an eye on both my nutrients and macros, moreso than calories!
Even though veggies are healthy, they contribute to the amount of calories, carbs, and sugar you take in.

MorganMoreaux

I count them - they do have calories and I also like to track my micronutient levels. While fruits and veggies are general regarded as low calorie, it is totally possible to go over calorie budgets by consuming too many.

CattOfTheGarage

I log everything except water (a lot of people log even that, the app has that facility) and sometimes I will skip logging unsweetened herbal tea (zero calories). I do log even that if I drink it with meals, though! The reason I log it is so that my diary is a full reflection of what I'm eating, so that it can be useful for other things - say a month down the line I'm not managing to lose weight or I'm hungry or something, I can think "what was I doing a month ago that was working better"? If there are holes in my diary is going to make that harder, so I might be like "I can't figure out a good drink to have with meals, what did I used to drink? Oh, herbal tea." (yes, my memory is that bad). Also, is a habit thing, if I know I have to log everything then it more easily becomes automatic.

TeaBea

Shazr2 wrote: »

Hiya. Please don't shoot me down for asking this. Does everyone add in their veg (not potatoes) to their diary? On previous "diets" I've followed veg was free. Was just wondering.....

Different plans.....different strategies.

For My Fitness Pal, I would recommend logging veggies. MFP gives you a calorie goal that includes all the foods you eat.

Now, I don't worry to much about measuring some of the really low calorie ones.

skinnyforhi

I log them, but I don't know how accurate it is, because I don't measure or weigh vegetables. I'll try to be somewhat accurate with sugary fruits (like grapes) but I can't get excited about measuring kale or lettuce. I absolutely measure the oil or butter that I put on my vegetables.

jwcanfield

Shazr2 wrote: »

Hiya. Please don't shoot me down for asking this. Does everyone add in their veg (not potatoes) to their diary? On previous "diets" I've followed veg was free. Was just wondering.....

Yes, if you're being accurate about your calorie intake and trying to stay close to 1200 or 1500 kcal daily - or whatever your goal is. An average serving of the lower-calorie vegetables (think zucchini, broccoli, green beans, ...) is usually between 25 and 35 calories. So if you select that type veg most of the time, and have 4 servings per day, you can probably manually add 100-140 calories to your diary using the "quick add" feature. Not ideal but will be pretty close.

cross2bear

Some4 one once said, "if you bite it, you write it" and I have followed that mantra - I log everything and find it really helpful - like someone else just said, it really becomes a habit.

melonaulait

Logging veggies can be fun because you can log quite a substantial amount of them and the calories will stay pretty low.

Annahbananas

Shazr2 wrote: »

Hiya. Please don't shoot me down for asking this. Does everyone add in their veg (not potatoes) to their diary? On previous "diets" I've followed veg was free. Was just wondering.....

I do because veggies have calories. My half a cup of Lima beans are 100 calories