Are veggies a Free food?

Chrissygalpal

I am counting my calories, works best for me. I did Jenny Craig a few years back and veggies of all kind were a free food, eat as many as you want. I know I am kind of answering my own question but want to be sure. Doing 1200 to start off. When I enter my foods, veggies, it adds up the calorie count. So should I worry about those taking away my calories or should I still look at them as FREE foods. Thanks.

Ideabaker

I log everything that I eat... this includes veggies! The CICO model works for weight loss when your caloric intake is less than your caloric output. You can only monitor this accurately by counting all of the calories you consume, even lower-calorie options. All the best as you work to your goals!

leilaaitch

Vegetables have calories(albeit a low amount), so they should be logged. I'm a vegetarian and log all veggies in my meals, it all adds up !

malibu927

Veggies have calories. Log them.

queenliz99

Count them.

dragon_girl26

There are no "free" foods when you're calorie counting. Everything adds up!

VintageFeline

In the interests of accuracy, veggies have calories and therefore should be logged. Otherwise your logging won't be accurate.

cwolfman13

Veggies are not "free"...some diet plans do this in order to promote eating more veggies...plans like WW inflate points for other things to cover the "free" things...nothing is free.

Veggies are low calorie to be sure so you can eat a heap load of them...but they aren't free.

amfmmama

nothing is free... but you certainly get more bang for your buck with veggies ; )

sympha01

Foods with calories have ... calories. If you are relying on calorie counting for weight loss, there are no free calories. Vegetables are good for you -- eat them, but log them. Truly, it's hard to make them add up to much trouble in your plan, though some starchy ones are higher in calories than leafy or watery ones. I'm especially careful with portioning potatoes, corn, and peas (or beans) for example.

If eating vegetables is making it hard to stick to your calorie goal, honestly I'd advise raising your calorie goal to account for it. Because a 1200 cal a day diet is very much on the low side. I know plenty of women who successfully lost weight on 1400-1600 cal a day diets. I lost lots of weight in my 40s on an 1850 cal a day diet (I'm very active, though). It took longer than a low cal diet but it was much easier to stick to happily, and didn't tempt me to do dumb things like try to make room for a delicious cookie by skipping vegetables. Furthermore taking a long time with a more sustainable diet plan did way more for me to build long-term healthy eating habits that have made maintaining nearly a breeze.

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MelanieCN77

WW and similar plans with free fruit and veg are simplified to guide people who don't want to count calories to make better choices, that's all. Veg definitely isn't free. Their points were not a straight up and down reflection of calorie content, not at all.

cerise_noir

If it has calories, then it is not free. Your body is still counting them even if you don't.

I can easily rack up 400+ cals with fruit and veg alone. If I didn't count fruit and veg, I would wipe out my deficit and maintain instead of lose.

MrsKila

Log them

Aaron_K123

Eat veggies for health, but I wouldn't recommend them for hunger....they have very low saiety for most people. They aren't free but you'd be hard pressed to eat so many as y9 amount to a lot of calories. Some are more calories than others though.

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MommyL2015

I make a stir-fry that, aside from about 20 calories of Teriyaki sauce and 50 calories of oil, has about 200 calories. It's a huge plate and it's all vegetables, but they still have calories that add up in volume.

alyssa0061

united1974 wrote: »

veggies have almost no calories, not enough to impact a 1200 count unless you are eating a kilo of 5 diff types for your tea, as Aaron k said.

Asparagus cooked 100g 25 calories approx
broccoli 1 cup cooked 91g 31 calories
carrot 100g 42
cauliflower 100g 25
mashed potato! 100g 105
mushrooms 100g 15
peas tinned 100g 55
green pepper 100g 15
red/yellow 100g 25
spinach 100g 25
canned tomatoes 100g 15

you could have all that and not even go close to half of your daily calories etc

nothing is free, but you wont go wrong with vegetables at all. and as many as you like, spread over lunch and tea etc.

you dont need to log them even if the rest of your food gets close to 1000. but if you are logging everything else, you might as well put them in. They also of course, arent full of the same garbage that most processed food is as well.

I just ate 180 calories worth of Brussel sprouts. That's not "almost no calories". I consume anywhere from 120 to 300 calories in vegetables at each meal. Factor in the fruit I eat, that's another 100+ calories a day. By your count, that's 500+ calories a day I "don't need to log".

CALS0CCERBEAR87

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

Eat veggies for health, but I wouldn't recommend them for hunger....they have very low saiety for most people. They aren't free but you'd be hard pressed to eat so many as y9 amount to a lot of calories. Some are more calories than others though.

agreed. like brocc is most filling with something like grilled chicken breast and whole grain brown rice...and carrot sticks with hummus or guac

red beets are pretty filling when boiled and topped w/evvo+balsamic

Lynzdee18

Seriously? No. log them. Sorry. Nothing's free!

Seffell

What would all herbivore animals live off if they were free? Seriously?

Aaron_K123

gebeziseva wrote: »

What would all herbivore animals live off if they were free? Seriously?

Well to be fair herbavoires have special digestive enzymes in their guts that allow them to digest cellulose and derive nutrition from it. The reason we don't get that many calories out of vegetables is because for the most part we can't digest them. Hence the fiber. I don't know the numbers but I'm guessing if an herbivore ate a piece of celery they'd get a lot more out of it calorically than we do.

Vailara

I think it depends how you want to do it. If 1200 already gives you a good deficit, then you may well have capacity to eat plenty of vegetables, say 300 calories a day worth, and still have a decent deficit. Obviously, it won't be accurate and you wouldn't lose weight at the rate expected. But I think the point of vegetables being free (on some commercial diets) is to encourage you to eat more, which is generaly a good thing! Just be aware that some vegetables (avocado, potato, etc) are quite calorific. Good luck!

paperpudding

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

Eat veggies for health, but I wouldn't recommend them for hunger....they have very low saiety for most people. They aren't free but you'd be hard pressed to eat so many as y9 amount to a lot of calories. Some are more calories than others though.

I find potatoes quite filling, even just on their own. Eg leftover roast potatoes ( I use almost no oil)

Admittedly potatoes are not low calorie and I wouldn't suggest not logging them.

LyiannaTameka

Well, this is myfitnesspal. To accurately count calories, you have log to EVERYTHING.

Good luck ❤️.

Noreenmarie1234

No you have to count them! I have eaten anywhere from 300-500 calories in veg alone.

Alatariel75

Programs like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers which have 'free' vegetables will be adjusting for them in the allocation they give you (ie ProPoints for WW). They aren't free, they've just factored them in for you to encourage you to reach for veggies rather than something else. So your ProPoints allocation for WW might equal 1200 calories when MFP gives you 1400 because WW factors in that you will eat around 200 cals of veg a day.

BeGrandLike

Ha, I wish veggies were 'free'! Especially since I eat plant-based, so if veg were free I'd be able to stuff my face all day long. Unfortunately that isn't the case

Lots of veg are pretty low in calories though. But it's always good to eat lots of 'em! So I'd recommend making 'em a big part of your diet (cause it means you can eat tons) but log 'em. I'm on 1300 net per day and I can easily make up 300 cals or more of that with veg. Especially if you've a low allowance, it can make up a significant part of how much you're eating