Counting the calories in fruits & veggies?

planetfatty

Hi,

For a short while I was following Slimming World which basically allows you to "eat as much as you want" of fruits, veggies, grains, fat free dairy and lean meats while restricting the amounts of high fat/sugar foods. I liked the concept but I struggled with being allowed to eat gross packet noodle things as a "free food" but needing to "syn" (the Slimming World version of pro points) something like an avocado which contains the same amount of calories.

ANYWAY! While I loved the idea of eating lots of fruits and veggies without having to weigh them out, I feel like MFP is better for me because of the freedom. So when I signed up to MFP, it gave me a calorie allowance of 2510 (I have 260+ lbs to lose, so... yeah.) but I cut it down to 1600 with the idea of not counting the calories in fruits or vegetables (aside from dried fruits, potatoes & avocados) - has anyone else tried this? Am I setting myself up for failure?

I feel like it's a good idea, at least for the time being, but then again if I knew what I was doing would I be this fat in the first place?! I did test my idea out by logging my whole day of food yesterday and it came to around 2200-ish. But again, I'm far from an expert on this stuff!

I'm trying to build up healthy food habits as well as lose weight and I feel like if I see 2510 calories allowance a day I will waste them on crap then still be hungry then eat something else, feel bad about it, write the day off, then the week, then give up because "waaah this is hard!"

Any advice/tips/suggestions/warnings would be great!

cwolfman13

I eat around 300 calories in fruits and vegetables pretty much everyday...sometimes more...my body is going to count those calories...a calorie is just a unit of energy and all foods contain energy...you're body doesn't give a crap if that energy came from fruit or veg or something else...if you consume more energy than you require to lose weight then you're not going to lose weight regardless of source...plain and simple.

jemhh

Wait, MFP gave you a goal of 2510 and you're eating 1600 plus fruits and veggies?

While I think that lowering your daily goal by an average daily calorie amount of fruits and veggies so that you don't have to log them is fine, I'm a bit hesitant about just how much you've cut down your goal. What pounds-lost-per-week goal did you enter into your profile that gave you 2510?

janejellyroll

I think your chances of success depend on how much fruits and vegetables you will be eating. I can easily eat hundreds of calories in fruits and vegetables each day so this wouldn't work for me. If someone didn't eat many, then cutting their calories and not logging fruits and vegetables could one.

One potential problem that you might encounter is that if your weight loss stalls or slows down, you will have less information to troubleshoot than someone who is logging everything that they eat. Only you can decide if the increased data is worth logging the fruits and vegetables.

But *could* this work? Yes, it could. As long as it results in you getting in a caloric deficit, it will work.

minniemoo1972

I wondered why I wasn't losing on sw . .....600+ cals of fruit and veg a day plus food.....make it that if you eat it you log it.

besaro

3 dates contain about the same amount of calories as a "typical" serving of packaged cookies. i would weigh and log every thing that goes in my mouth (well....insert dirty joke here) and stick to the amount of calories mfp set up for you. i lost 100 pounds using the mfp method including eating back every single exercise calorie i burned (using a hrm) its not a perfect system but its pretty damn close.


adding, by perfect i mean, a banana, depending on its ripeness isn't going to contain the exact same calorie as the next even if they weigh the exact gram. HRM are tools to give you a great estimate. lots of variables but in the long run the +/- of error should level out.

one1fast68

Sometimes I won't log onions or bell pepper that I put on something but some of those things can add up. If you have 260 lbs to lose, you can probably eat a lot of calories in fruits and vegetables. Just to be safe, I would log them all for at least a few months. Then as you stall and are getting closer to your goal weight, start logging them again.

CatMama526

Hi! I started recently and had this same question because I'd done Weight Watchers in the past and they allow you to eat fruits and veggies that are zero "Points." This can encourage healthy food choices, but if you're going for the method of monitoring calories, I personally think that you should be including the calories of fruits and vegetables for the sake of accuracy. Good luck on your journey!

st476

It could work but I don't see why you're making it difficult for yourself. You're going to be logging and weighing things anyways, it can't be that much of a hassle to log fruit and vegetables too.

fr33sia12

I eat fruit and/or veg for every meal including snacks, so would always log the calories for them. I even weigh and log cucumber or salad leaves even though I know I don't really need to, but I want to get into the habit of knowing how much to have within my calories so eventually I won't need to weigh foods.

JustMissTracy

More than half of my daily consumption is fruits and veggies, if I didn't count/log them, I'd only be fooling myself.

heybales

jemhh wrote: »

Wait, MFP gave you a goal of 2510 and you're eating 1600 plus fruits and veggies?

While I think that lowering your daily goal by an average daily calorie amount of fruits and veggies so that you don't have to log them is fine, I'm a bit hesitant about just how much you've cut down your goal. What pounds-lost-per-week goal did you enter into your profile that gave you 2510?

^^^ This.

OP - bigger is not better in relation the amount of deficit or how extreme you make the diet.

If you indeed added another 1000 calorie deficit on top of the likely 1000 deficit that MFP already gave you - only do that for 2 weeks max.

Then drop back to suggested and follow the program.

You didn't gain it fast - don't attempt to lose it fast.

And don't think eating fat makes you fat - just incase you have that misunderstand that many have. Because you'll likely need it to get your calories so your body isn't freaked out.

Lounmoun

I would just log absoluty everything you consume. I think it is easier to learn that way than guessing how many calories of fruits and vegetables you eat. Do you really eat 900 calories of vegetables and fruits every day? You don't know that yet because you haven't logged everything for awhile. With MFP you are supposed to eat some of the calories you earn from exercise. I'd say you are setting yourself up for a hard time sticking to this if you start out undereating and guessing.

What you might do is plan your meals and prelog your whole day so you see how different foods fit your day best. Make sure you get enough protein, fats and fiber. Use the bulk of your calories on nutritious, filling foods. It is okay to use some of your calories on low nutrition food or drinks.
You need to eat in a sustainable way.

planetfatty

Thank you for all the advice!

I'm going to continue this week at 1600 calories + uncounted fruits and vegetables just to see if or how it affects my predicted 2lbs loss, and then starting Monday I'll switch to MFP's recommended allowance and log everything.

I was thinking about it last night, and I realised that MFP will recalculate my recommended calorie intake every time I lose a certain amount of weight, but if I'm doing my own thing and not keeping track, I run the risk of eventually going over my calories without realising it.

So, again, thanks!