Does anyone just count calories for non-vegetable foods?

lilyreallywill

I was just thinking that no one ever got fat from eating veggies (minus starchy corn, yams, etc and avocado, which could be overdone...) So, does anyone allow themselves uncounted veggie portions and just count more nutrient dense foods (dairy, grains, meats, oils, sugar, etc.)

I would not recommend this for someone looking for a sneaky way to binge, but to save time on journaling and have a bit of a more relaxed approach to food, I am considering it. How would you figure your target goals? Maybe to take the lowest goal (1200) and then eat unlimited veggies...

For reference I am a 190 pound mama, not currently exercising much and nursing a toddler a few times a day. I'm focusing on a plant based diet with small amounts of meats, dairy, oils and almost no grains. I do eat potatoes, rice and rice noodles and whatever I have a hankering for in moderation, but not every day.

What do you think?

livingleanlivingclean

Do they have calories?

If the answer is yes, I log them.... How else am I going to accurately determine my intake?

It is more than possible that you could get fat by not logging vegies. I eat hundreds of calories of vegies a day.

usmcmp

If it's going to inspire you to eat more vegetables it should be okay with your current weight. Just keep in mind that they do have calories and if you aren't losing weight it means you are eating too much, so you should start logging them at that point.

TonyB0588

I count the calories of everything I eat.

fit_chickx

MFP is a food log. I consider veggies food. I log them

WakkoW

I weigh and log them, but not as strict about accuracy. Like, if the scale reads 120 grams I might log 100. I'm also prone to guesstimate vegetables.

paperpudding

I'm like Wakkow - I log them but I don't bother too much with accuracy and I guesstimate them much of the time

Christine_72

paperpudding wrote: »

I'm like Wakkow - I log them but I don't bother too much with accuracy and I guesstimate them much of the time

Same here, i dont try to be 100% precise with veggies. I log them mainly because of calories, but they also contribute hugely to my micros and fibre which i also like to keep an eye on.

voodoo304

I'm up in the air on this. While yes, veggies do have calories, many veggies are considered negative calorie foods. Meaning it takes more calories for your body to digest it than what you actually get from the food itself.
Personally, I try my best to count everything, but I'm not going to bother with a handful of baby carrots and celery (both negative calorie foods).

livingleanlivingclean

voodoo304 wrote: »

I'm up in the air on this. While yes, veggies do have calories, many veggies are considered negative calorie foods. Meaning it takes more calories for your body to digest it than what you actually get from the food itself.
Personally, I try my best to count everything, but I'm not going to bother with a handful of baby carrots and celery (both negative calorie foods).

No. If that were the case I would have starved myself to death despite my large intake of vegetables.

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Theo166

WakkoW wrote: »

I weigh and log them, but not as strict about accuracy. Like, if the scale reads 120 grams I might log 100. I'm also prone to guesstimate vegetables.

I also ballpark my veggies, since they add to my macros and fiber count. I use a lot of frozen veggies and just guess if I steamed 2 or 3 cups.

lauracups

I count them, though I will do a best guess for grams when I've weighed it all out thrown it in a big salad bowl and figuring if I have a third of that bowl, if I get 1 extra cherry tomato I'm not going to panic.

cmriverside

OP, you say you're trying to do a mostly plant-based diet with other things thrown in? Wouldn't it make sense to keep track of the major part of your diet?

I'm with everyone else on estimating on some vegetables that are low calorie, but I still try to guess as accurately as possible.

One thing that helped me is to make my favorite dishes that I eat frequently, like a side salad, and then save it as a meal -then all the little bits and pieces are accounted for and can easily be edited once they're added to my Food page.

sheermomentum

I often don't bother counting vegetables or condiments. But then, I also sort of mentally figure that my written count is up to about 100 calories off for the day. Of course, I could count them and it could still be off for the day. This is not a precise science. I wouldn't worry about it unless you're not meeting your goals; then you could try logging them and see if it makes a difference.

AboWajnaa

Well veggies have fibers which i like to watch as well as other vitamins and minderals and in some respectful amount of protein, carb

Lounmoun

How many calories are you okay not logging? 20, 50, 100, 200? I'd be okay with not logging 20 calories but not much more.
I log vegetables but don't worry about total accuracy over 40-50g of spinach I have in my salad.

If you eat the same foods often in about the same amounts they will be in your frequent foods list and be fairly quick to log. If you eat the same combinations of foods you can save them together as a meal or enter them as a recipe and also speed up logging.

You are thinking about setting your calorie goal to the minimum recommended calories to make up for not recording quite a bit of food because of the time it takes and is too uptight. You are not particularly concerned about making sure you are meeting your calorie or nutrition needs accurately. My opinion is that if you are guessing at your calorie goal and intake so much then you might as well not be logging at all. It is possible to lose weight without logging or calorie counting. See how you do with not logging anything for a few months. If that doesn't work for you though come back and log everything as accurately as you can.

Duchy82

Depends how you look at it, all veggies or just the low cal ones? I mean avocado is a vegetable and a bit of a calorie bomb if you don't log that you could be going way over for the day, same weight of lettuce not as much of an issue.

Btw I log everything but I haven't got much left to lose so I have to be pretty accurate.

I say try it, no losses in 4 weeks? Start logging those veggies.

annette_15

lol I eat probably 300 calories worth of veggies every day... so no, cant be free

macchiatto

Sounds kind of like a Weight Watchers approach where veggies are 0 points (or used to be; I haven't kept track of all the changes over the years). You could experiment with it and see how your weight loss goes but if you eat a plant based diet, it seems like you might get better results if you log them ...

Gallowmere1984

I log mine. I eat upwards of 4-5 pounds of veggies per day. I'd have to be nuts to not log 400-700 kcals/day.

cmtigger

Part of the reason I use MFP is for a food log. So I can go back and see what I've been eating for health reasons. I log everything. Even chewing gum.

mystic_elegance

I log everything, even vitamins. Although I used to work for a major weight loss company and they tracked everything, but said that you could eat as many vegetables as you wanted even if it put you over your calories for the day. So yes I count them, but if I am over because of the extra veggies or the macros are off because of them I do not worry about it.