Don't count salad

kathymhardy

I count fruit and vegetables, but have never counted salad ingredients, i.e. lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, celery. Works for me. Anyone else do the same?

HMVOL7409

Nope, it still has calories. Some have a very narrow deficit so everything matters and frankly some make ridiculous sized salads topped with stuff that should be counted.

ken_hogan

I try my best to count everything. I may be a little 'picky' at times trying to be as close as possible, but do try to be as accurate as I can.

Alatariel75

I guess weigh/cups but still track the salad, and tend to overestimate. If I dont track everything, I start rationalising not tracking more and more things.

grrrlface

Tomatoes you should definitely log, they have more calories than lettuce, cucumber or celery.

Personally I log everything.

_Zardoz_

So food without calories! What a discovery!!

phieaglefan

I always count tomatoes and carrots. I have at times been guilty of not counting a slice or two of cucumber, not weighing my lettuce, etc. As HMVOL7409 said, it kinda depends on how close you are to your deficit.

Alatariel75

So food without calories! What a discovery!!

Fingernails, man! Seriously, they are already a part of you, so by eating them you are consuming yourself and burning calories gnawing at them. The only true negative calorie food!

kellehbeans

I track all of my salad items - as a lot of people say, they still have calories. With lettuce, I do tend to estimate how much I have used, but with tomatoes I weigh them and add them to my diary. I try to overestimate my lettuce.

kathymhardy

So food without calories! What a discovery!!

Lol, but I never said salad stuff didn't have calories! Each to their own - if it works, good. If not, change it

angelique_redhead

I track it all. I have been known to have a 500 calorie salad before so I TRACK, TRACK, TRACK! If it works for you though then go for it.

futuresize8

I count it all. Part of the discipline! And I know I'm never kidding myself about just what I'm eating.

caramelgyrlk

I log everything. That is the only way I can continue to hold myself accountable and have a visual view of what my intake is.

alpine1994

I guess weigh/cups but still track the salad, and tend to overestimate. If I dont track everything, I start rationalising not tracking more and more things.

This exactly

yaseyuku

Considering I love salads and have them often, of course I track.

siqiniq

So food without calories! What a discovery!!

Lol, but I never said salad stuff didn't have calories! Each to their own - if it works, good. If not, change it

I agree- do what works for you. I too, track everything. With lettuce, instead of weighing, I use a measuring cup.

JesterMFP

I count everything, but what's important is that it's working for you. I'm all for more flexibility where possible. I think that learning to manage your weight (whether you're losing or maintaining or whatever) while not being completely rigid in your counting is a really good thing. It's not something I can do (yet) but good for you!

bumblebums

Hah, well, I had a salad yesterday, and counting everything, it came to about 340 calories. It had 77 kcal's worth of dressing on it, and 168 kcal of avocado. But even if I left those out, that still means about 100 calories' worth of salad. Maybe not much if you are a lifter dude eating 3000 calories a day, but could be the difference between a deficit and a surplus for a 4'10" woman who is slightly overweight.

I am guessing OP is not worried about tracking things like fiber and micronutrients, either. If I didn't track the salad, I'd be 14 g off on my fiber count for the day. And I tend to like to know how much fiber I'm eating. Then there's iron, vitamins, and everything else I like to keep track of.

Plus it is nice to see how filling a salad can be at only 340 calories, compared to an equivalent amount of, say, cheese and crackers or whatever your favorite go-to snack is. Tracking allows me to see the numbers right in front of me.

fmouco

So food without calories! What a discovery!!

Fingernails, man! Seriously, they are already a part of you, so by eating them you are consuming yourself and burning calories gnawing at them. The only true negative calorie food!

LOL

darrensurrey

These bunnies don't count their salad:


This squirrel logs his nuts:

Alatariel75

These bunnies don't count their salad:


This squirrel logs his nuts:

Some of those bunnies are pretty chubby...

jen_zz

I track everything, but maybe not celery,since I won't ever have more than one bite of it since I hate it so much!:laugh:

ELEANOR43da

I stay on track and keep the discipline when I count all calories I eat. A calorie is a calorie no matter where it comes from.

nikkohli

I estimate on lettuce only. 2.5 cups is 15 cals so even if I double that it, it isn't anything that is going to crush my efforts. I do track/weigh/measure everything else.

rml_16

I count fruit and vegetables, but have never counted salad ingredients, i.e. lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, celery. Works for me. Anyone else do the same?

I count them, but really it's so few from those specific ingredients, you probably aren't hurting yourself.

I don't know how close to goal you are, but if you plateau, you may want to start counting those calories.

SmallestGoal

I didn't count salad for many years. I still just estimate on the iceberg lettuce, but boy do I count dressing now! I thought, because I was eating fat free Italian, that it was what, 15 calories? No big deal!

N O P E

There's apparently a big difference between how much dressing I put on when I'm measuring it out with a tablespoon, and how much I put on if I just pour. Checked one day by weight, and it turns out, on a dinner-sized salad, I'd put 3+ servings of dressing on there. Sometimes twice a day, so ~90 cals I was totally ignoring. Oops!

darrensurrey

These bunnies don't count their salad:


This squirrel logs his nuts:

Some of those bunnies are pretty chubby...

Exactly. Don't follow the bunnies' mistake of not counting salad!

kathymhardy

I am guessing OP is not worried about tracking things like fiber and micronutrients, either. If I didn't track the salad, I'd be 14 g off on my fiber count for the day. And I tend to like to know how much fiber I'm eating. Then there's iron, vitamins, and everything else I like to keep track of.

I have never tracked the macros, just glancing at them from time to time. Too much science for me, I'm afraid. Calories in and calories out are what matters to me. I can't be doing with obsessing about vitamins and everything like that. I think my diet is varied enough and I am healthy (touching lots of wood

Let's clarify that when I say I don't count salad, I ONLY mean lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, cress and celery. If I had dressing, mayo, avocado, nuts, etc. etc. of course I count.

kathymhardy

These bunnies don't count their salad:


This squirrel logs his nuts:

But the bunnies look happier, lol :laugh:

kayemmgee5

I could everything, even salads & toppings.

obrientp

I'm a bit of a slacker. I measure and log the dressing and things like olives, tomatoes, carrots, beets, and garbanzos, but I don't normally log the lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and cucumbers. I usually try to leave a little bit of deficit everyday, anyway. Haven't had any problems doing it this way yet.