Do you count your veggies and fruit?

sarahpro85

Obviously we know veggies and fruit add great nutritional value and very low in calories so you can eat a ton and not gain weight. But, does that mean we should add it to the diary ?

TheCupcakeCounter

That is not an entirely true statement. Bananas and Avocado for example have a higher calorie count than one would expect. Definitely log them

kobolover

Yeah I count everything

janejellyroll

I can easily eat 300-400 calories in fruit and vegetables in a day. If I didn't log them, I don't know if I could be successful. Your body will count the calories whether you log them or not. People who eat very little fruit and vegetables (or exclusively extremely low calorie vegetables) may be successful by not logging them, but for many people this wouldn't be a good strategy.

Luna3386

Yes. It all adds up.

SuzySunshine99

They have calories, so you need to log them. And yes, you can gain weight if you "eat a ton" of fruits and vegetables and it puts you over your calorie goal.

sarabushby

You cannot eat a tonne and not gain weight.
You should log all your fruit and vegetables, juices and smoothies. It is entirely feasible to gain weight by eating nothing but fruit and vegetables since weight gain is simply about consuming an excess of calories vs those burned each day.
Some fruits are quite high in sugar so they will affect your macro split too by increasing the % calories from carbohydrates. Fruit juices and smoothies are very calorie dense whilst providing a low level of satiety.
Veggies are high in Fibre which is good for you and good to keep track of too so all the more reason to log them.

RelCanonical

Weight watchers does free fruits and vegetables because their points system often does not add up to your actual calorie needs. What they hope is that you'll develop habits around eating more fruits and vegetables along with feeling less restricted on days where you feel a little extra hungry (and make up for it on days you don't need them as much). Here, you got all your calories. That's what you get.

sarahpro85

Ok, maybe a ton was not the correct word lol. I meant you can eat a good amount all day and lose weight, but I just was not sure if you really have to log them in seeing as though they help with weight loss. True on the avocado and bananas. I guess I just meant really low cal veg/fruit...

Ready2Rock206

Of course. If it has calories then it should be logged. Fruits and veggies both have calories - some more than others.

cwolfman13

My veg calories today...

100g beets 43
V8 70
6 oz cucumber 23
100g black berries 43
85 grams avocado 136


So far that's 315 calories...calories are calories...if you overeat your calories, you overeat your calories regardless of where they come from.

I also haven't had dinner yet which will be more veg on top of what's already there...I'll probably have an apple after my lifting session as well so I'm looking at probably another 150-200 calories.

TeaBea

sarahpro85 wrote: »

Obviously we know veggies and fruit add great nutritional value and very low in calories so you can eat a ton and not gain weight. But, does that mean we should add it to the diary ?

Log everything.

Weight Watchers has this thing where fruits & veggies are "free." But they are not (really) because you start with a lower daily calorie intake. MFP doesn't lower your calories......so log everything.

diannethegeek

If I grab a baby carrot out of the fridge or put a couple of spinach leaves on my sandwich I might not log them. But anything more, yes I log it. Not only because the calories can add up, but I'm also looking at numbers like iron, fiber, vitamins, etc, that are highly impacted by my veggie intake. Plus, having a complete log let's me go back through it down the road to see what I've changed if I don't see the results I want.

sarabushby

Yes, you should still log them even if you think they are 'low calorie' as lots of low calories going uncounted could add up to you going over your calories and then not understanding why you're not losing weight at the rate you expected or MFP predicted.

If you want to change how MFP is set up then you could monitor for a few weeks how many calories you typically consume of these foods that you do not want to bother to log, then of manually amend your calorie goal to be reduced by whatever that number is, perhaps plus a bit more for safety margin.
Eg if you add up you have 1 banana, 2 apples and some veg each day that, for example, comes to 300 calories then you could change your calorie goal from the 1600 MFP gave you to 1300, continue eating the same level of these foods and the results should be the same regardless. But, if you start having trouble with not losing weight as expected you might then want to tighten up your logging again.

Also remember if you do choose to do this that as you lose weight (depending how much you have to lose) MFP will automatically reduce your calorie goal since your daily BMR will reduce. That means you would need to reduce your manually set number too.

sarahpro85

I do not just eat fruits and veggies all day lol and I can see how someone could gain if they ate too much of just that, I guess what I was saying on normal servings a day, do you really need to add? But, I will from now on even though I did not really see a difference in weight when I was not adding. Calories are calories, I get it

LonniJay

Definitely have to count them. People can gain weight by eating too many fruits and veggies just like anything else. You ever see paintings of overweight people from hundreds of years ago? They didn't get fat on processed food lol.

amtyrell

Always I often eat several hundred calories of fruits and vegetables

cwolfman13

sarahpro85 wrote: »

I do not just eat fruits and veggies all day lol and I can see how someone could gain if they ate too much of just that, I guess what I was saying on normal servings a day, do you really need to add? But, I will from now on even though I did not really see a difference in weight when I was not adding. Calories are calories, I get it

Weight management isn't about eating too much of this or that...it's the cumulative effect of your overall calorie intake vs expenditure.

A calorie is a unit of energy...your body requires XXXX amount of energy to function optimally...when you consume more energy (calories) than your body requires, that excess energy is stored as body fat...it's basically your backup generator. When you consume less energy than your body requires, that deficiency has to be made up for...so your backup generator kicks on and you burn body fat.

Also, what do you consider to be normal servings? 6+ servings of veg and fruit daily is what is recommended...serving can be variable, but it's usually somewhere in the neighborhood of 85 - 100 grams.

sarabushby

Today I had 300cal of fruit/veg, if I did not log them and still stuck to my 2000cal daily log then I could typically look to gain 1lb of weight every fortnight, even though "it's only fruit and veg".

kdavid1987

At this point raw fruits and veggies make up a little under half of my diet, so yes, log them. Notice of course they do tend to be lower calorie so you can eat MORE of them compared to some foods and still be eating light. But they still have calories and your body doesn't care if you eat 100 calories of spinach or 100 of cookies, it's still 100 calories.

RemoteOutpost

If it has calories you should log it. Things can add up quickly.

amusedmonkey

Well, lets see. An average apple has about 100 calories. That's more than 2 oreos. If you had 2 oreos would you not count them?

WVWalkerFriend

I currently count nothing but if you do count you should include fruits and veggies.

macchiatto

Yes. The only things I don't like are like chewing gum and I'm inconsistent with logging the zero-calorie sugar-free syrups I add to my coffee.

lemurcat12

kobolover wrote: »

Yeah I count everything

Me too (when I'm logging).

(1) I eat a LOT of vegetables as well as some fruit and they can add up. (Just breakfast alone today was 134 of 409 calories from vegetables plus not that many berries. I ate a bunch of veg with lunch too, and I'm sure I will for dinner, and I have pineapple I'm planning on for dessert.)

(2) IF logging (I often don't), my goal is to find my macros that I am eating and my TDEE, and leaving out fruits and veg would make this worthless (fruits and veg are a huge part of my carbs).

(3) My goal in logging is not merely to stay under a certain calorie goal, but to make sure I am eating a nutritious diet (including particularly a varied and adequate amount of vegetables regularly) and see if there are any connections between by diet and it being harder or easier not to overeat, mood, energy level, workout performance, etc. I am pretty confident that I do eat around 10+ servings of veg a day at this point, but it would be nice to know if issues are connect with being unusually low on them or skipping them on certain meals or not eating enough at certain meals, as well as to make sure I'm not in a rut and always eating the same 4-5 choices. Logging is really helpful with giving me a record to look at.

(4) I'm on or off with logging -- I'm logging everything or monitoring through a different way entirely. Trying to do some things and not others would drive me crazy and feel pointless. I might be looser on measuring low cal things, although I mostly measure veg when cooking so scale is the easiest option other than maybe greens.

Momjogger

I don't count any leafy greens, broccoli, zucchini, celery, cucumbers,etc. I do count all starchy vegetables including winter squashes and all fruits. I also do not eat back any exercise calories though. People that play with their numbers by eating back exercise calories live closer to the "edge" of their weight loss calories and need to count everything, so I guess it depends on how you are tracking everything. I can't live in minutiae. It would drive me crazy, but everyone is different. You need to figure out what works for you.

SherryTeach

The other reason to log fruit and veg is that MFP data lets you look at your total nutrition. Now that I've been on maintenance for several years, my main use of my diary is to make sure that I'm getting balanced nutrition.

Alatariel75

I don't eat fruit at all and still log my veggies, because I can eat 200-300 calories of them a day.

mlinci

I stopped weighing things like raw spinach and salad leaves, as it doesn't matter whether I eat 4 or 8 calories worth. I still log them approximately, more as assurance I'm eating enough vegetables. I also tend to eyeball the calories in raw tomatoes - they are very low calorie and consistent in size so easy to estimate. I tend to weigh and log everything else where possible.
Obviously, I don't always have access to a scale, so it's useful to learn e.g. what a 100 calorie banana looks like, calories in small vs. large apple etc. I am quite good now at guessing weight and calories of things.

dutchandkiwi

I eat it - I log it. I know my fruits and veg can add up to about 400 cal a day - 'forgetting' about that means that I'd forget up to third of my calorie goal for a day.That would not work

MiniMexxxxx

Yes. I lost weight doing Weightwatchers where you don't have to count fruit but I still knew I had to limit it otherwise my weight loss would slow right down. Fruit does actually contain a fair amount of calories - not withstanding it's obvious health benefits